NIFTY TRADES NEAR 24,950 MARK; EUROPEAN MKT OPENS HIGHER

The key equity benchmarks traded with minor gains in afternoon trade. The Nifty traded near the 24,950 mark. Barring the PSU Bank shares, all the sectoral indices on the NSE were in green.

At 13:30 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was up 240.24 points or 0.29% to 81,692.24. The Nifty 50 index added 87.25 points or 0.35% to 24,944.55.

In the broader market, the S&P BSE Mid-Cap index gained 0.82% and the S&P BSE Small-Cap index rose 0.19%.

The S&P BSE Mid-Cap and S&P BSE Small-Cap index hit an all-time high at 48,680.74 and 55,685.07, respectively.

The market breadth was strong. On the BSE, 2,175 shares rose and 1,680 shares fell. A total of 117 shares were unchanged.

Sebi proposes stricter rules for index derivatives:

The market regulator is looking to curb speculation, protect investors, and stabilize the market by introducing measures like upfront option premiums, increased contract sizes, and restrictions on weekly index products.

Gainers & Losers:

HDFC Life Insurance Company (up 2.47%), Asian Paints (up 2.38%), JSW Steel (up 2.32%), NTPC (up 2.08%) and Sbi Life Insurance Company (up 2.05%) were major Nifty gainers.

Tata Consumer Products (down 1.54%), Divi`s Laboratories (down 0.66%), Grasim Industries (down 0.58%), Reliance Industries (down 0.55%) and Tata Motors (down 0.55%) were major Nifty losers.

Stocks in Spotlight:

GAIL (India) added 2.50% after the company�s consolidated net profit jumped 77.54% to Rs 3183.35 crore in Q1 FY25 as comapred with Rs 1792.99 crore in Q1 FY24. Revenue from operations (excluding excise duty) increased 5.94% YoY to Rs 34,737.77 crore during the quarter.

Indus Towers fell 3.15%. The telecom infrastructure provider�s consolidated net profit climbed 42.88% to Rs 1925.9 crore in Q1 FY25 as against Rs 1,347.9 crore reported in Q1 FY24. Revenue from operations stood at Rs 7383 crore, up 4.34% from Rs 7075.9 crore recorded in the corresponding quarter previous year.

Meanwhile, the company said that its board has approved a share buyback of upto Rs 2,640 crore at a price of Rs 465 per equity share through tender offer route. The company plans to buyback up to 5.67 crore equity shares, representing approximately 2.107% of the total number of equity shares in the paid-up share capital of the company.

Godrej Properties added 1.74% after the company reported its highest ever consolidated net profit of Rs 520.05 crore in Q1 FY25, steeply higher than Rs 124.94 crore posted in Q1 FY24.Revenue from operations declined 21.05% year on year to Rs 739 crore in Q1 FY25 from Rs 936.09 crore recorded in the same period a year ago.

Torrent Power zoomed 17.47% after the company�s consolidated net profit jumped 87.96% to Rs 972.24 crore in Q1 FY25 as against with Rs 517.27 crore posted in Q1 FY24. Revenue from operations grew by 23.28% year on year to Rs 9,033.73 crore in the quarter ended 30 June 2024.

Zaggle Prepaid Ocean Services gained 2.33% after the company�s consolidated net profit surged to Rs 167.34 crore in Q1 FY25 as comapred with Rs 20.55 crore in corresponding quarter last year. Revenue from operations stood at Rs 252.20 crore, steeply higher than Rs 118.47 crore in same quarter last year.

Global Markets:

European and Asian stocks advanced on Wednesday ahead of key interest rate decisions. Investor focus remained on central bank, with the US Fed`s decision due later in the day. While a rate hike is unlikely, markets anticipate signals of potential future cuts.

The Bank of Japan has raised its policy rate to 0.25% from it previous range of 0% to 0.1% and plans to cut its bond-buying program by 400 billion yen per quarter. From January to March 2026, the monthly purchases of Japanese Government Bonds (JGBs) will be reduced to 3 trillion yen, with a goal of decreasing the amount of JGBs bought in a predictable manner.

China`s manufacturing sector contracted for a third straight month in July, as indicated by the Purchasing Managers` Index (PMI) data. Manufacturing PMI fell to 49.4 in July, data from the National Bureau of Statistics showed. This reflects persistent weakness in domestic demand despite government support measures.

Australia`s inflation rate rose as expected in the second quarter, but a softer-than-anticipated core inflation figure increased bets on a pause in interest rate hikes by the Reserve Bank of Australia. CPI inflation grew 3.8% year-on-year in the three months to June 30, up from the 3.6% seen in the prior quarter.

US stocks declined on Tuesday, primarily due to a drop in Nvidia, ahead of the Fed meeting. The S&P 500 fell by 0.5% while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite dropped roughly 1.3%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.5%.

Market expectations are for the Fed to maintain interest rates on Wednesday but to signal a potential rate cut in September. This outlook is driven by encouraging inflation data.

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