Indices trim gains; banks stocks rally

Indices trimmed gains in morning trade. The Nifty was trading below the 16,900 mark. The buying was supported by a slump in crude oil prices. Pharma and healthcare shares witnessed profit selling.

At 10:25 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, jumped 623.8 points or 1.12% at 56,400.87. The Nifty 50 index rallied 182.35 points or 1.09% at 16,845.30.

In the broader market, the S&P BSE Mid-Cap index jumped 1.1% while the S&P BSE Small-Cap index rallied 1.09%.

Buyers outnumbered sellers. On the BSE, 2,237 shares rose and 861 shares fell. A total of 113 shares were unchanged.

In the commodities market, Brent crude for May 2022 settlement rose 94 cents at $100.85 a barrel. Oil prices have declined 11% in two trading sessions and settled below the $100 mark for the first time since the start of Russia Ukraine conflict. Crude prices have also come under pressure amid spike in COVID-19 cases in China.

Buzzing Index:

The Nifty Bank index rallied 648 points or 1.87% to 35,677.25, resuming its uptrend after a day`s pause.

Axis Bank (up 3.36%), IndusInd Bank (up 3.29%), Federal Bank (up 2.25%), RBL Bank (up 1.78%), Kotak Mahindra Bank (up 1.57%), HDFC Bank (up 1.54%) and IDFC First Bank (up 1.35%) were top gainers in banking space.

Stocks in Spotlight:

A2Z Infra Engineering rose 0.75%. Rajiv Chaturvedi, the current chief financial officer (CFO) and key managerial personnel (KMP) of A2Z Infra Engineering resigned due to his personal reasons. Chaturvedi will be relieved from his responsibilities with effect from 31 March 2022.

Wockhardt rose 2.15% to Rs 295 after US-based National Institutes of Health (NIH) said it will conduct human phase 1 trial of the drug maker`s novel once-a-day multidrug-resistant (MDR) Gram-negative antibiotic WCK 6777.

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