Market Commentary - End-Session
Benchmarks take a breather, but broader strength endures As on : 02-Apr-24  17:27

Key equity indices paused for a breather on Tuesday, snapping their three-day winning streak. The benchmark Nifty 50 held its ground above the 22,450 level, despite headwinds from IT, financial services, and healthcare sectors. On the other hand, consumer durables, media, and metal stocks managed to shine, indicating pockets of strength in the broader market. The mid-cap and small-cap indices continued their stellar performance, surging by over 1% each.

The barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was down 110.64 points or 0.15% to 73,903.91. The Nifty 50 index shed 8.70 points or 0.04% to 22,453.30. Both the indices advanced over 2% in the past three trading sessions.

ICICI Bank (down 1.63%), Infosys (down 0.84%) and Larsen & Toubro (down 0.78%) were major drags.

The broader market outperformed the benchmark indices. The S&P BSE Mid-Cap index added 1.14% and the S&P BSE Small-Cap index gained 1.28%.

The market breadth was strong. On the BSE, 2853 shares rose and 1003 shares fell. A total of 103 shares were unchanged.

The NSE's India VIX, a gauge of market's expectation of volatility over the near term, dropped 3.55% to 11.65.

Economy:

The seasonally adjusted HSBC India manufacturing purchasing managers? index (PMI) climbed to a 16-year high of 59.1 in March, from 56.9 in February. The notable improvement in operating conditions reflected stronger growth of new orders, output and input stocks as well as renewed job creation.

Numbers to Track:

The yield on India's 10-year benchmark federal paper rose 0.74% to 7.104 as compared with previous close 7.052.

In the foreign exchange market, the rupee edged lower against the dollar. The partially convertible rupee was hovering at 83.4300, compared with its close of 83.3925 during the previous trading session.

MCX Gold futures for 5 April 2024 settlement rose 0.64% to Rs 68,725.

The US Dollar index (DXY), which tracks the greenback's value against a basket of currencies, was down 0.06% to 104.95.

The United States 10-year bond yield rose 0.56% to 4.352.

In the commodities market, Brent crude for May 2024 settlement rose $1.64 or 1.83% to $ 89.04 a barrel.

Global Markets:

U.S. stock futures are pointing towards a negative opening today, with Dow Jones index futures currently down 173 points. This follows a mixed performance in European and Asian markets on Tuesday, as investors await key jobs data for clues about the U.S. labor market.

U.S. stocks closed mostly lower on Monday to kick off the second quarter, pausing a rally that has recently brought all three indexes to fresh record highs.

The Institute for Supply Management (ISM) reported that manufacturing activity grew for the first time in 18 months in March, with the PMI rising to 50.3 from 47.8 in February.

Stocks in Spotlight:

Computer Age Management Services (CAMS) surged 6.52% after the company announced its subsidiary, CAMS Repository (CAMSREP), will handle the issuance of all digital insurance policies in India.

Ashok Leyland rose 1.09%. The company said that its total vehicle sales have declined by 4% to 22,866 units in March 2024 as compared with 23,926 units in March 2023.

Bajaj Auto added 2.61% after the company reported 25% increase in total auto sales to 3,65,904 units in March 2024 as compared with 2,91,567 sold in March 2023.

Atul Auto shed 0.39%. The company said that its total sales shed 0.82% in March 2024 to 3,128 units as against 3,154 units sold in March 2023.

Hero MotoCorp slipped 2.61%. The company said that its total sales fell 5.57% to 490,415 units in March 2024 as against 519,342 units sold in March 2023.

Servotech Power Systems hit an upper circuit of 5% after the company and Electra EV has collaborated for innovative EV charging technologies.

South Indian Bank slipped 3.95%. The private lender said that its gross advances jumped 11.44% to Rs 80,337 crore as of 31 March 2024 as against Rs 72,092 crore as of 31 March 2023.

CSB Bank added 2.76% after the bank's total deposits jumped 21.27% to Rs 29,719 crore as on 31 March 2024 from Rs 24,506 crore as on 31 March 2023.

Mankind Pharma jumped 3.65% after the company?s board approved the sale of Over the Counter (OTC) business of the company to wholly owned subsidiary company on slump sales basis.

J K Cement rose 1.19% after the cement maker announced that its board has approved increase in the borrowing limit of the company to Rs 12,000 crore from Rs 7500 crore at required time.

Aeroflex Industries gained 3.05% after the company said that its board has approved to acquire 100% of the issued and paid-up share capital of Hyd-Air Engineering from the existing shareholders of the investee company.

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