Indices slip in early trade; breadth strong

The domestic equity barometers traded with small losses in early trade. At 09:25 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was down 211.98 points or 0.36% to 58,432.84. The Nifty 50 index lost 44.65 points or 0.25% to 17,471.65.

Hindalco (up 2.45%), ONGC (up 1.28%), Sun Pharma (up 1.12%), Asian Paints (up 1%) and Divi`s Lab (up 0.95%) were the top index gainers.

Hero MotoCorp (down 2.25%), SBI (down 1.97%), Mahindra & Mahindra (down 1.92%), NTPC (down 1.79%) and Eicher Motors (down 1.57%) were the top index losers.

In the broader market, the S&P BSE Mid-Cap index rose 0.24% while the S&P BSE Small-Cap index gained 0.43%.

The market breadth was strong. On the BSE, 1,260 shares rose and 554 shares fell. A total of 129 shares were unchanged.

The Reserve Bank of India`s Monetary Policy Committee will meet on February 8-10 instead of February 7-9, the central bank said on February 6. The change in the committee`s meeting schedule comes after February 7 was declared as public holiday by the Maharashtra state government following the demise of renowned singer Lata Mangeshkar.

Stocks in Spotlight:

Reliance Industries (RIL) added 0.61% to Rs 2346. Jio Platforms announced an investment of US$15 million in Two Platforms Inc. (TWO), a Silicon Valley based deep tech startup founded by Pranav Mistry, for a 25% equity stake on a fully diluted basis. Jio Platforms is a majority-owned subsidiary of RIL.

SBI gained 0.72% to Rs 534. The banking major reported 62.27% rise in net profit to Rs 8,432 crore on 4.41% rise in interest income to Rs 69,678 crore in Q3 FY22 over Q3 F21.

Tata Steel advanced 1.62% to Rs 1195.25. The steel major reported consolidated net profit of Rs 9,598 crore in Q3 FY22 from net profit of Rs 4,011 crore in Q3 FY21. Turnover rose to Rs 60,783 crore from Rs 41,935 crore.

Shree Cement was up 0.25% to Rs 24765.80. The cement major reported a 23.6% fall in consolidated net profit to Rs 482.70 crore in Q3 FY22 from Rs 631.58 crore posted in Q3 FY21. Consolidated net sales grew 2.2% to Rs 3,637.11 crore in Q3 FY22 over Q3 FY21.

Godrej Properties surged 6.20%. The realty firm said its board has decided not to proceed with a previously announced plan to invest in DB Realty. The decision was taken after the board took into consideration the feedback from the stakeholders and minority investors.

Global Markets:

Asian stocks are trading lower on Monday, with mainland China markets reopening following the Lunar New Year holidays last week. Stunningly strong US jobs data soothed concerns about the global economy but also added to the risk of an aggressive tightening by the Federal Reserve.

Investors continued to monitor the situation around Ukraine, with White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan reportedly warning Sunday that a Russian invasion could be imminent.

In US, the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite jumped Friday as continued strength in earnings reports extended the tech-led rebound from the January rout.

US employers added a burst of 467,000 jobs in January despite a wave of omicron inflections that sickened millions of workers, kept many consumers at home and left businesses from restaurants to manufacturers short-staffed. The Labor Department`s report on Friday also showed the unemployment rate ticked up from 3.9% to 4%. Estimated job growth for December was also revised much higher, from 199,000 to 510,000.

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