Sensex, Nifty bounce into positive terrain; oil & gas stocks in demand

The benchmark indices bounced off the day`s low in mid-morning trade supported by oil & gas and auto scrips. The Nifty traded above 17,350 mark.

At 11:30 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, rose 122.67 points or 0.21% at 58,119.35. The Nifty 50 index gained 43.55 points or 0.25% at 17,365.75.

In the broader market, the S&P BSE Mid-Cap index added 0.30% while the S&P BSE Small-Cap index slipped 0.09%.

The market breadth was positive. On the BSE, 1,627 shares rose and 1,526 shares fell. A total of 129 shares were unchanged.

Foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) sold shares worth Rs 1,890.96 crore, while domestic institutional investors (DIIs), were net buyers to the tune of Rs 1,180.14 crore in the Indian equity market on 16 February 2022, provisional data showed.

Meanwhile, oil skid in early Asian trade on Thursday after both France and Iran said parties were closer to an agreement to salvage Iran`s 2015 nuclear deal with world powers, offsetting ongoing concerns over the situation in Ukraine. In the commodities market, Brent crude for April 2022 settlement fell 95 cents at $93.86 a barrel.

Buzzing Index:

The Nifty Oil & Gas index rose 0.99% to 7,659. The index added 3.20% in three trading sessions.

Adani Total Gas (up 2.61%), Oil & Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) (up 1.36%), Reliance Industries (RIL) (up 1.12%), Oil India (up 1.06%) and GAIL (India) (up 0.90%) were the top gainers in the Oil & Gas segment.

Stock in Spotlight:

Wipro rose 0.04%. The IT major has been awarded a five-year, strategic engagement to drive transformation for ABB`s Information Systems digital workplace services. The agreement, worth over $150 million, will help ABB`s Information Systems deliver enhanced, consumer-grade digital experiences for its 105,000 employees in over 100 countries. This engagement, led centrally from Switzerland by ABB and Wipro, will deliver increased automation and enhanced user experience through personalised services underpinned by real-time analytics�all wrapped with Wipro`s superior endpoint security services. Wipro will also provide ABB with managed services support leveraging Wipro`s LiVE Workspace solution.

Hikal dropped 3.80%. The company received a notice from the Maharashtra Pollution Control Board (MPCB) for closure of the firm`s manufacturing unit located at MIDC Taloja, Dist. Raigad. The closure notice has been issued in view of certain alleged non-compliances of the conditional consent to operate and the recent Surat issue. The Taloja unit had contributed approx. Rs 260 crore amounting to around 15% of the turnover of the company for financial year 2020-21. The company is taking appropriate legal measures as advised by counsels before the Pollution Board as well as Courts to remedy the situation and seek reliefs against the closure notice.

Global Markets:

Asian stocks were mixed on Thursday as investors continue to monitor the situation surrounding Ukraine.

Japan`s January exports came in far below expectations, with official data released on Thursday showing a 9.6% year-on-year rise for that month.

In geopolitical developments, NATO on Wednesday accused Russia of increasing the number of troops it has gathered at the Ukrainian border, a day after Moscow claimed it had begun withdrawing some of its military units.

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