Nifty regains 18,200 mark; breadth turns positive

The main indices traded in a narrow range near the flat line in mid afternoon trade. The Nifty hovered above the 18,200 mark.

At 14:28 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, fell 28.98 points or 0.05% at 61,121.32. The Nifty 50 index rose 11.15 points or 0.06% at 18,223.

Broader markets were trading higher. The S&P BSE Mid-Cap index rose 0.21% while the S&P BSE Small-Cap index added 0.45%.

Buyers outpaced sellers. On the BSE, 1,720 shares rose and 1,673 shares fell. A total of 87 shares were unchanged.

Buzzing Index:

The Nifty Pharma index gained 1.38% to 14,025.05, snapping its two day losing run.

Sun Pharmaceutical Inds (up 3.32%), Granules India (up 3.21%), Divi`s Laboratories (up 1.82%), Cipla (up 1.57%), IPCA Laboratories (up 1.56%) and Glenmark Pharmaceuticals (up 1.41%) were top gainers in pharmaceutical space.

Stocks in Spotlight:

Ramkrishna Forgings rose 2.17% to Rs 1002.65 after the company won an export order worth Rs 57.50 crore from North America for supplying spindle. The export order will be supplied over a period of 3 years from one of the largest TIER-1 manufacturers in North America in commercial vehicle (CV) segment.

TVS Motor Company rose 1.01% to Rs 661.25 after the company announced a strategic partnership with Swiggy, India`s leading on-demand delivery platform. As part of the MoU, TVS Motor and Swiggy will test the implementation of TVS Motor`s electric vehicles (EV) for food delivery and other on-demand services of Swiggy. The two companies are exploring the co-creation of sustainable and comprehensive solutions for Swiggy`s delivery partners. This will include working on customised packages like a need-specific product, flexible financing options and, connected services.

Economy:

India`s retail inflation rose sharply to 5.59% in the month of December from 4.91% in November, pushed up by rising prices of manufactured items, data released by the government showed on Wednesday. Inflation as measured by Consumer Price Index (CPI) was 4.59% in the year-ago period.

Separately, industrial production for the month of November grew by 1.4% as compared to (-)1.6 % in the same month last year. IIP surged 3.2% in the month of October.

Numbers to Track:

The yield on India`s 10-year benchmark federal paper fell to 6.576% as compared with 6.593% at close in the previous trading session.

In the foreign exchange market, the rupee traded flat against the dollar. The partially convertible rupee was hovering at 73.93, compared with its close of 73.93 during the previous trading session.

MCX Gold futures for 4 February 2022 settlement rose 0.02% to Rs 47,817.

The US Dollar index (DXY), which tracks the greenback`s value against a basket of currencies, fell 0.16% to 94.748.

In the commodities market, Brent crude for March 2022 settlement fell 6 cents or 0.07% to $84.61 a barrel.

Global Markets:

European markets were trading lower while Asian markets ended mixed on Thursday.

In US, December reading for the consumer price index, a gauge of prices across a broad spectrum of goods, showed a gain of 7% year over year. That is the biggest jump since 1982, but was in line with expectations.

Investors are keeping an eye on Covid developments, as the World Health Organization reported a record 15 million new Covid-19 cases globally for a single week, as omicron rapidly replaces delta as the dominant variant across the globe. The World Health Organization warned that omicron cases are "off the charts."

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