Closing Bell: Nifty above 22,100, Sensex up 526 pts; capital goods, realty, auto shine

Indian benchmark indices ended on a positive note with Nifty above 22,100. At close, the Sensex was up 526.01 points or 0.73 percent at 72,996.31, and the Nifty was up 119.00 points or 0.54 percent at 22,123.70

We wrap up today's edition of the Moneycontrol live market blog, and will be back tomorrow morning with all the latest updates and alerts. Please visit https://www.moneycontrol.com/markets/global-indices for all the global market action.

Market showed strength amid mixed cues and gained over half a percent. After the gap-up start, Nifty inched gradually higher for most of the session however profit taking in the final hour trimmed the gains. Eventually, it settled at 22,159 levels; up by 0.5%. Meanwhile, a mixed trend continued on the sectoral front wherein energy and auto performed well while IT and FMCG closed in the red. The broader indices also witnessed a similar trend wherein smallcap gained over a percent while midcap closed flat.

Nifty has finally surpassed the hurdle of short term moving average i.e. 20 DEMA but we need sustainability above 22,200 to extend the rebound. Also, since the volatility is still high across the board, traders should remain focused on stock selection and risk management.

The Nifty opened gap up and continued to inch higher throughout the day to close with gains of ~119 points. On the daily charts we can observe that the Nifty is inching towards 22200 – 22215 where multiple resistance parameters are placed. We believe that the retracement rally has more steam left and we expect the momentum to continue. Daily and hourly momentum indicator is providing divergent signals which can lead to a consolidation and hence in case of a dip towards 22100 – 22060 it should be used as a buying opportunity for target of 22215 - 22250.

Bank Nifty is consolidating within the range of 46500 – 47000 since last four trading sessions. A breach of this range shall lead to trending moves in that direction. We expect it to break out on the upside and expect levels of 47270 – 47300 from short term perspective and hence one can go long with a stoploss of 46530.

Stock-specific actions and positive undercurrents due to a healthy economic growth forecast led the market towards a positive closure. However, due to the holiday-led truncated week, investors are now focusing on US GDP data tomorrow and next week’s RBI policy announcement to gauge market direction. The mid- and small-cap space are outperforming as investors got bargaining opportunities, but volumes are low.

Diverging from their weak counterparts, Indian equities started the session on a strong note and compounded their gains under the leadership of select heavyweights; however, towards the end of the day, the Index pared off some of its gains to settle the day at 22,123.65 with gains of 118.95 points. Realty and Energy were the top performers on a sector-wise performance while PSU Banks and IT were the laggards.

A mixed trend was seen in the broader markets where Midcaps underperformed while Smallcap gained over 0.90% and outshined Nifty50. As indicated yesterday, the Index has formed an Inverted Head & Shoulder formation and now awaiting a breakout for the target of 22,640 while on the lower side, 21,900 will continue to act as a strong support.

Indian rupee ended 8 paise lower at 83.37 per dollar versus previous close of 83.29.

Indian benchmark indices ended on a positive note with Nifty above 22,100.

At close, the Sensex was up 526.01 points or 0.73 percent at 72,996.31, and the Nifty was up 119 points or 0.54 percent at 22,123.70. About 1564 shares advanced, 2130 shares declined, and 104 shares unchanged.

Biggest gainers on the Nifty were Reliance Industries, Maruti Suzuki, Bajaj Auto, Bajaj Finance and Titan Company, while losers included Hero MotoCorp, Tata Consumer Products, Apollo Hospitals, Dr Reddy's Labs and Wipro.

Among sectors, auto, bank, capital goods, power, realty, telecom up 0.5-1 percent, while metal, IT, media down 0.3-0.5 percent.

BSE Midcap index ended on a flat note and Smallcap index rose 0.7 percent.

Oil prices fell for a second day, dropping more than 1% on Wednesday on surging U.S. stockpiles and signs that the OPEC+ producer group is unlikely to change its output policy at a technical meeting next week.

Brent crude futures for May dropped 97 cents, or 1.12%, to $85.28 a barrel by 0929 GMT while the more actively traded June contract fell by 92 cents, or 1.07%, to $84.71. The May contract expires on Thursday.

U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures for May delivery fell 93 cents, or 1.14%, to $80.69.

Apollo Pipes has completed the acquisition of 53.57% stake in Kisan Mouldings. As a result of capital infusion, Kisan Mouldings has become the subsidiary of Apollo Pipes.

Sensex Today | BSE Metal index down 0.5 percent dragged by NMDC, APL Apollo, Coal India

Welspun Corp's wholly owned subsidiary Sintex–BAPL Limited has finalised an investment of upto ~ Rs 2,355 crore to set up manufacturing unit(s) in the states of Telangana, Odisha, Madhya Pradesh and Jammu & Kashmir through its wholly owned step down subsidiary, Sintex Advance Plastics Limited (SAPL).

The investment will be spread over the next two financial years starting from FY25 to FY26 and the projects will be funded through a combination of debt and equity.

Sensex Today | BSE Information Technology index shed 0.5 percent dragged by Ramco System, Nucleus Software, Cressanda Solution

Dynacons Systems & Solutions has received order worth Rs 41.72 crore for enterprise servers from National Payments Corporation of India.

Indian Rupee depreciated on Wednesday on strong US Dollar and importer demand for US Dollar. Weak Asian currencies also weighed on Rupee. However, surge in domestic markets and a decline in crude oil prices cushioned the downside. India’s Current Account Deficit (CAD) narrowed to $10.5 billion in Q3 2024 vs $16.8 billion in Q3 2023 and $11.4 billion in Q2 2024. US Dollar strengthened as Yen hit a 34-year low ahead of US inflation data and mixed to positive economic data from US. While durable goods orders topped forecast, CB consumer confidence missed forecast.

We expect Rupee to trade with a slight negative bias on strength in the US Dollar and weak Asian currencies. Demand for dollar from importers towards the end of the month may also weigh on Rupee. However, Positive domestic markets may support Rupee at lower levels. Investors may watch out for core PCE deflator index data from US on Friday. USDINR spot price is expected to trade in a range of Rs 83.10 to Rs 83.60.

Indian Hotels Company has infused $6.5 million in its wholly owned subsidiary IHOCO BV in Netherlands. The subsidiary will use for repaying debt and other operational purposes of its subsidiary United Overseas Holding Inc in USA.

Sensex Today | Market at 3 PM

The Sensex was up 558.71 points or 0.77 percent at 73,029.01, and the Nifty was up 142.40 points or 0.65 percent at 22,147.10. About 1545 shares advanced, 1867 shares declined, and 72 shares unchanged.

The Board of Directors of Titan Intech at their meeting held on March 27, 2024, approved the issue of bonus shares of 3 for every 5 equity shares held by the equity shareholders of the company as on 'Record Date'.

lpca Laboratories has entered into a Technology Transfer Agreement with Omexa Formulary Pvt. Ltd. (Omexa) for a biosimilar clone, process development and knowledge transfer for the global market.

Under this Agreement, lpca will grant to Omexa a non-exclusive right to research, develop, manufacture and market a anti-cancer biosimilar for global market.

PC Jeweller has received approval from Axis Bank for its one time settlement proposal. It had opted for one time settlement to settle the outstanding dues.

HCLTech has been selected by Oriola Corporation to accelerate Oriola’s digital transformation journey and deliver enhanced customer experiences.

HCLTech will implement a greenfield SAP S/4HANA and analytics environment hosted on Microsoft Azure to transform Oriola’s enterprise resource planning (ERP) and enterprise warehouse management (EWM) systems in Sweden and Finland.

Investment company Beige has sold 58,17,874 equity shares in Mankind Pharma at an average price of Rs 2,124.71 per share, 58,17,873 shares at an average price of Rs 2,120.31 via open market transactions. In total, it sold 2.9% equity stake worth Rs 2,469.7 crore in the company, against its shareholding of 2.99% as of December 2023.

Pradeep Srivastava, the erstwhile director of the Uflex's wholly owned subsidiary at United Kingdom (UK) - Uflex Europe, is found to have committed fraud, while being associated with the said subsidiary. The fraud has been detected by the management of the company on detailed examination of various operational expenditures and affairs of the company.

The Competition Commission of India (CCI) has approved 100% acquisition of Lanco Amarkantak Power by Adani Power. Lanco Amarkantak Power, a part of the Lanco Group and thermal power generation company, is currently undergoing corporate insolvency resolution process (CIRP) under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC).

Sensex Today | BSE Realty index rose 1 percent led by Mahindra Lifespace, Prestige Estate, Oberoi Realty

Angel One has opened its qualified institutions placement (QIP) issue on March 26. The floor price has been fixed at Rs 2,555.01 per share.

Varun Beverages has informed that after receipt of requisite approvals (including but not limited to PepsiCo Inc. and Competition Commission South Africa), company has completed the acquisition of The Beverage Company Proprietary Limited, South Africa along-with its wholly-owned subsidiaries. Accordingly, Bevco has become subsidiary of our company with effect from March 26, 2024.

Titan Company has completed the liquidation of its subsidiary TCL Watches Switzerland AG (earlier known as Favre Leuba AG, (FLAG). With this, TCL Watches Switzerland AG ceasedto be a wholly-owned subsidiary of the company with effect from March 21, 2024.

Sensex Today | BSE Smallcap index up 1 percent led by Arvind SmartSpaces, Tilaknagar Industries, Lakshmi Machine Works

The Board of Directors of Usha Martin at their meeting held on March 27, 2024, has approved the appointment of Mr. S B N Sharma as Whole-Time Director of the company for a term of five years effective from 1st April 2024 and also accepted the resignation of Mr. Sumit Kumar Modak from the office of Whole-Time Director of the company from close of business hours of 30th April 2024.

Also, approved appointment of Mr. Abhijit Paul as the Chief Financial Officer of the Company with effect from 1st May 2024 and resignation of Mr. Anirban Sanyal, Chief Financial Officer of the company from the close of business hours on 30th April 2024.

Brahmaputra Infrastructure Limited have received a LOA from the office of Executive Director ( T.) – National Highway & Infrastructure Development Corporation of India for the execution of the Rehabilitation and Up-gradation of road from design Km 25.250 to Km 36.460 (Total Length: 11.210 Km) of Kailashahar - Kurti Bridge section of NH-208A to two lane with paved shoulder in the State of Tripura on EPC mode (Package III)-Balance work- Letter of Acceptance (LOA)- of an total amount Rs 59.84 crores.

The Board of Directors of IFL Enterprises at their meeting held on March 27, 2024, approved the resignation of Mr. Kiritkumar Sendhabhai Parmar from the post of Managing Director and Chief Financial Officer of the company w.e.f. 26th March 2024.

However, board approved the appointment Mr. Jitendra Vaishnav as an Additional Executive Director cum Managing Director and Chief Financial Officer (KMP) of the company w.e.f. 27th March 2024.

Broking house expects revenue to improve on the back of strong formulation business, stabilisation of prices in US, launches of niche molecules and new agro brands.

However, increase in freight rates due to red sea crisis may impact profitability.

Hence, downgrade to Accumulate rating with a target price of Rs 1116 based on 12x FY26E EPS.

Gold prices edged lower on Wednesday due to an uptick in the dollar, although bullion traded in a narrow range as investors stayed on the sidelines awaiting more cues on the U.S. Federal Reserve policy.

Spot gold was down 0.1% at $2,176.80 per ounce, as of 0533 GMT. U.S. gold futures were flat at $2,175.40.

Shares of AstraZeneca Pharma India jumped over 4 percent on March 27, a day after the company informed that it has received permission to import, for sale and distribution, Trastuzumab deruxtecan lyophilized powder concentrate for solution for infusion 100mg (Enhertu) from the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation.

Trastuzumab deruxtecan is indicated for the treatment of adult patients with unresectable or metastatic HER2-Low (IHC 1+ or IHC 2+/ISH-) breast cancer who have received prior chemotherapy in the metastatic setting or developed disease recurrence during or within 6 months of completing adjuvant chemotherapy, AstraZeneca said. Read More

Shares of Wockhardt were locked in the 5 percent upper circuit at Rs 557.85 apiece on the NSE on March 27 after funds owned or managed by ace investors Madhusudan Kela and Prashant Jain invested in the company's Rs 480-crore Qualified Institutional Placement (QIP).

The pharma company closed its QIP on March 26 after it approved the issuance of 92.85 lakh equity shares at an issue price of Rs 517 per share, which offers a 5 percent discount to the QIP floor price of Rs 544.02 per share.

Former HDFC Mutual Fund veteran Prashant Jain managed 3P India Equity and Madhusudan Kela's Cohesion MK Best Ideas were among institutions that were allotted 5 percent or more of the QIP.

Sensex Today | Market at 11 AM

The Sensex was up 495.83 points or 0.68 percent at 72,966.13, and the Nifty was up 143.30 points or 0.65 percent at 22,148.00. About 1817 shares advanced, 1409 shares declined, and 108 shares unchanged.

Caplin One Labs Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of Caplin Point Laboratories Limited, announced the completion of its state-of-the-art Oncology facility at Kakkalur, near Chennai, and immediate commencement of operations.

The total investment commitment for this facility is Rs 150 Crores, funded entirely from internal accruals. To start with, the unit will focus on manufacturing a range of Oral Solid Dosage Oncology products, with the Injectable division to commence operations in the next few months. The company plans to expand the portfolio to over 50 oncology products progressively.

Shares of Chatha Foods Limited listed at Rs 73, a premium of 30.36 percent over the issue price of Rs 56 on the BSE SME. The Rs 34-crore offer got a good response and was subscribed 19.28 times.

Infibeam Avenues' subsidiary Avenues World FZ-LLC in UAE is raising $25 million through pre-IPO round prior to potential listing in UAE Capital Market with a select group of investors. Consequently, Avenues World FZ-LLC would cease to be a wholly owned step down subsidiary of the company post the said fund raising. The transaction would be completed within next 45 days and Vavian International, the wholly owned subsidiary of the company, will continue to hold 75% stake or more in Avenues World FZ-LLC due to indirect dilution upto 25% of the post issue capital.

Procter & Gamble Hygiene and Health Care has arrived at an advanced pricing agreement with the tax authorities, determining appropriate transfer pricing methodology for certain identified transactions with its affiliate(s) for the years FY11 to FY19.

As per the agreement, the additional tax liability payment is approximately Rs 36 crore (including interest), and there will be a reduction in contingent liabilities of approximately Rs 87 crore, subject to withdrawal of relevant tax litigations by the respective parties.

Today, the Sensex and Nifty 50 are expected to trade cautiously due to mixed signals from international markets. For today’s expiry, Bank Nifty is likely to experience volatility with a key range expected between 46000-47000 levels. Significant open interest is observed at 47000 Call and 46000 Put strikes, indicating potential price movements. For Nifty, the support level is at 21850 while the resistance level stands at 22125.

Given the shortened trading week, coupled with the monthly derivatives expiry and upcoming global economic data, investors are advised to adopt a cautious wait-and-watch stance.