Indices trade flat; strong market breadth

The key equity indices traded near the flat line, with some negative bias, in early trade. The Nifty managed to hold above the 17,000 mark. Oil & gas, pharma and media shares advanced while metals, IT and financials lagged behind.

At 09:21 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was down 12.09 points or 0.02% to 57,414.83. The Nifty 50 index declined 58.90 points or 0.34% to 17,035.45.

ONGC (up 5.09%), NTPC (up 2.07%), Apollo Hospitals (up 1.52%), BPCL (up 1.23%) and Cipla (up 0.89%) were the top Nifty gainers.

Hindalco (down 2.33%), Titan (down 1.49%), Adani Enterprises (down 1.44%), Maruti Suzuki India(down 1.40%) and Kotak Mahindra Bank (down 1.09%) were the top Nifty losers.

In the broader market, the S&P BSE Mid-Cap index rose 0.14% while the S&P BSE Small-Cap index added 0.34%.

The market breadth was strong. On the BSE, 1,635 shares rose and 948 shares fell. A total of 143 shares were unchanged.

On the macro front, India collected Rs 1.48 lakh crore as Goods and Services Tax (GST) in September, registering an increase of 26% from the same month last year, the finance ministry said on October 1. The September GST mop-up was 2.8% higher from August.

India`s eight core infrastructure sectors` output grew 3.3% in August 2022, lowest in past nine months, as against 12.2% in the year-ago period, according to official data released on Friday. The previous low was in November 2021 at 3.2%. The production growth of eight infrastructure sectors - coal, crude oil, natural gas, refinery products, fertiliser, steel, cement and electricity - was 9.8% during April-August this fiscal, compared to 19.4% a year ago.

Stocks in Spotlight:

Housing Development Finance Corporation (HDFC) shed 0.26%. HDFC increased its retail prime lending rate (RPLR) on Housing loans, on which its adjustable rate home loans (ARHL) are benchmarked, by 50 basis points, with effect from 1 October 2022.

Coal India advanced 1.37%. The state-run coal major closed the first half of the current fiscal producing 299 million tonnes (MTs), up 19.7% as against 250 MTs of H1 last year.

Eicher Motors slipped 0.63%. The company`s total motorcycles (Royal Enfield) sales soared 145% to 82,097 units in September 2022 as against 33,529 units sold in the same period last year.

Global Markets:

Asian stocks are trading lower on Monday amid fears that central banks across the world will keep hiking rates until inflation is under control. China markets are closed for the Golden Week holiday, and South Korea`s market is also closed.

Sentiment of Japan`s large manufacturers worsened in the July-to-September quarter, according to the Bank of Japan`s latest quarterly tankan business sentiment survey. The headline index for large manufacturers` sentiment came in at 8, a decline from the previous quarter`s reading of 9.

US stocks dropped on Friday on concerns of hot inflation, rising interest rates and recession fears.

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