Sensex rises 185 pts; Nifty above 16,600 level

The benchmark indices reversed early losses and bounced into the green in morning trade. Metals and pharma stocks were in demand. The Nifty crossed the 16,600 mark after hitting a low of 16,470.90 in early trade.

At 10:20 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, rose 185.26 points or 0.33% at 55,649.65. The Nifty 50 index jumped 42.30 points or 0.25% at 16,637.20.

In the broader market, the S&P BSE Mid-Cap index fell 0.06% while the S&P BSE Small-Cap index gained 0.46%.

The market breadth was strong. On the BSE, 2,092 shares rose and 914 shares fell. A total of 133 shares were unchanged.

Foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) sold shares worth Rs 1,981.15 crore, while domestic institutional investors (DIIs), were net buyers to the tune of Rs 945.71 crore in the Indian equity market on 10 March 2022, provisional data showed.

Buzzing Index:

The Nifty Bank index rose 1.09% to 34,849.85. The index has jumped 6.01% in four trading sessions.

Axis Bank (up 1.45%), AU Small Finance Bank (up 1.27%), Kotak Mahindra Bank (up 1.24%), HDFC Bank (up 1.02%) and ICICI Bank (up 0.99%) were the top gainers in the Bank segment.

Stocks in Spotlight:

Future Consumer declined 2.73%. The company said that it has called off joint venture with Fonterra. The companies had inked the joint venture agreement on 8 August 2018. Future Consumer and New Zealand`s Fonterra Co-operative Group had agreed to wind down their 50:50 joint venture - Fonterra Future Dairy. The last few years have been challenging for the joint venture with COVID-19 causing significant disruption to the Indian market. "Considering the impact of COVID-19 on the operations and performance of the joint venture (JV) company, it has been decided to terminate the joint venture arrangement," Future Consumer said.

Upon the termination of the joint venture agreement, the JV firm will undertake the process of winding up the operations, subject to obtaining of necessary consent and approvals that may be required from statutory/ regulatory authorities, it added. The joint venture has 22 employees, all of which will receive appropriate entitlements, including career transition support and access to counselling.

Bayer Cropscience rose 0.46%. The company said that Bayer AG and and Cinven have entered into a definitive agreement regarding the sale of Bayer`s Environmental Science Professional business for a purchase price of $2.6 billion (2.4 billion euros). Bayer AG (Bayer) is one of the promoters of Bayer Cropscience. It held 8.43% stake in the company as on 31 December 2021. Cinven is an international private equity firm focused on building world-class global companies. Its funds invest in six key sectors: business services, consumer, financial services, healthcare, industrials and TMT (technology, media and telecommunications).

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