Market near day`s high; Nifty above 16,550; Sensex adds 740 pts

The key equity indices traded in a narrow range near the day`s high with major gains in the mid-morning trade. Strong global cues boosted the sentiment. The Nifty scaled the 16,550 mark. Banks advanced for the fourth straight day.

At 11:28 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was up 740.67 points or 1.35% to 55,508.29. The Nifty 50 index gained 218.55 points or 1.34% to 16,559.10.

In the broader market, the S&P BSE Mid-Cap index rose 0.88% while the S&P BSE Small-Cap index added 0.99%.

The market breadth was strong. On the BSE, 2,255shares rose and 895 shares fell. A total of 159 shares were unchanged.

Buzzing Index:

The Nifty Bank index rose 1.24% to 36,162.25, extending its rising streak to the fourth trading session. The index gained 4.36% in four trading sessions.

Among the components of the Nifty Bank index, IndusInd Bank (up 2.87%), State Bank of India (up 2.16%), Axis Bank (up 1.53%), AU Small Finance Bank (up 1.46%) and Bandhan Bank (up 1.39%) were the top gainers.

Among the other gainers were Federal Bank (up 1.31%), HDFC Bank (up 1.07%), ICICI Bank (up 0.81%), Bank of Baroda (up 0.71%) and IDFC First Bank (up 0.71%).

On the other hand, Kotak Mahindra Bank (down 0.16%) declined.

Stocks in Spotlight:

Rallis India slipped 1.82% to Rs 204.70 after the company reported 18.3% fall in net profit to Rs 67 crore despite a 16.5% rise in revenue to Rs 863 crore in the quarter ending 30 June 2022 as compared with the same period last year. The Tata Group company said that the revenue growth was driven by 11.6% of price growth and 5% of volume growth. On the segmental front, Crop Care segment recorded revenue growth of 26.5% YoY while the Seeds segment revenue remained flat for the quarter.

ICICI Lombard General Insurance Company fell 2.60% to Rs 1,235.20. The insurance company`s net profit soared 79.6% to Rs 349.03 crore on 2.9% rise in total income to Rs 4,149.38 crore in Q1 FY23 over Q1 FY22. Profit before tax jumped 80.1% to Rs 465.11 crore in Q1 FY23 from Rs 258.26 crore posted in Q1 FY22. The insurance company reported capital gains of Rs 32 crore in Q1 FY23 as against Rs 327 crore in Q1 FY22.

Global markets:

Asian stocks traded with strong gains on Wednesday after a sharp bounce in U.S. stocks overnight.

China kept its one-year and five-year loan prime rates unchanged at 3.7% and 4.45% Wednesday.

Philip Lowe, Governor of Reserve Bank of Australia on Wednesday said inflation for the June quarter to be released next week. It will show a further step-up, and there needs to be a path back to 2% to 3% inflation. Prices rose 5.1% in the March quarter. In his speech, Lowe also said the neutral nominal rate is at least 2.5%, whereas current rates are at 1.35%

U.S. stocks closed with sharp gains on Tuesday as more companies joined big banks in reporting earnings that beat forecasts, offering respite to investors worried about higher inflation and a tightening Fed denting the corporate bottomline.

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