The Indian share market extended gaining momentum for the fifth straight session, ending marginal gains in the choppy trade on Thursday. The weak economic data at the domestic and global front as well as F&O expiry also injected volatility in the market. Metal stocks were the biggest gainers while buying across capital goods, pharma, oil & gas and power indices also supported the domestic bourses.

The BSE Sensex closed 85 points, or 0.14%, higher at 61,235, while the NSE Nifty gained 45 points, or 0.25%, to settle at 18,257. During the day’s trade, Sensex gained as much as 0.3% to hit an intraday high of 61,348, while the Nifty50 added 60 points to hit a high of 18,272.

In line with the benchmark indices, the broader markets also settled higher. The S&P BSE Midcap index added 0.38%, while the S&P BSE Smallcap index soared 0.49%.

The overall market breadth on the BSE was positive, with 1,888 shares advancing out of total 3,784 traded stocks. Out of the total shares, 1,788 shares declined and 108 were unchanged.

On the sectoral front, metal and capital goods were among top performers whereas realty and bankex sectors declined the most. The BSE metal index emerged as the top gainer by rising 3.86%, led by Tata Steel, Jindal Steel & Power, JSW Steel, Coal India, and NMDC.

The metal sector was followed by the BSE CGS index, which closed at 1.56% higher. The top gainers in the capital goods space were Polycab India, Praj Industries, Larsen & Toubro, Graphite India, and V-Guard Industries.

Top gainers and losers

The top gainer on the BSE Sensex pack was Tata Steel, the country’s largest steelmaker, which ended 6.4% higher. Some of the other notable gainers include Sun Pharmaceutical Industries, Larsen & Toubro, Mahindra & Mahindra, and Power Grid Corporation of India, which gained in the range of 1.5% to 3.5%.

On the flip side, IT heavyweight Wipro emerged as the biggest loser by falling 6% as investors gave thumbs down to its December quarter earnings report. The other top laggards include Asian Paints, HDFC Bank, IndusInd Bank, and Kotak Mahindra Bank, which fell up to 2.5%.

Newsmakers

Adani Enterprises: Shares of billionaire Gautam Adani-led company ended 0.8% higher after it teamed up with the Korean steel company POSCO to develop and establish a steel mill in Mundra, Gujarat with a planned investment of around ₹37,000 crore. The partnership with POSCO intends to further collaborate in various industries such as renewable energy, hydrogen, and logistics in response to carbon reduction requirements, Adani group said in a press release.

Wipro: Shares of IT major dropped 6% as investors gave thumbs down to its October-December earnings. The company reported a marginal rise in consolidated net profit of ₹2,969 crore for the quarter ended December 31, 2021, as compared to ₹2,968 crore in the corresponding quarter of the previous fiscal. The revenue from operations increased substantially during the quarter under review to ₹20,313.6 crore from ₹15,670 crore in the year-ago period.

Future Retail: Shares of retail company fell 1.4% after the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) today issued notices over the petition filed by e-commerce major Amazon, challenging a recent order passed by the fair trade regulator CCI that suspended the over-two-year-old approval for its deal with Future Coupons Pvt Ltd (FCPL). The tribunal has directed the Competition Commission of India (CCI) and FCPL to file their reply in next 10 days and Amazon to file a rejoinder over it.

Inox Wind: Shares of wind energy service provider settled 1.8% higher after the Appellate Tribunal for Electricity (APTEL) reinstated a 50 MW wind energy project in Kutch being undertaken by its arm at a tariff of ₹3.46 per unit.

Kotak Mahindra Bank: Shares of private sector lender dropped 1.4% lower after the bank passed resolution to cap promoters' voting rights at 26%.

Tata Motors: Shares of auto major skidded 1% after its UK arm Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) reported disappointing sales for December quarter of 2021. JLR retail sales fell 37.6% YoY to 80,126 units in October-December quarter of 2021. The sales in China dropped 6.9% and in Europe it was down 6.8% QoQ.

NALCO: Shares of state-owned company climbed nearly 2% after the metal firm said it has successfully put into operation all the 960 pots at its existing smelter plant located in Angul, Odisha.

Infosys: The share price of IT bellwether ended 0.95% higher as investors cheered its October-December quarter earnings. The country’s second-largest information technology firm reported an 11.8% year-on-year rise in its consolidated net profit for the quarter ended December to ₹5,809 crore. The software services company also clocked a 22.9% jump in consolidated revenues to ₹31,867 crore for the third quarter. It also raised its revenue growth estimate to 19.5-20% for the ongoing fiscal from 16.5-17.5% projected at the end of second quarter.

TCS: Shares of the country’s largest IT company in India, closed 1% higher after it recorded a consolidated net profit of ₹9,769 crore during the December quarter of the current fiscal as all verticals reported double-digit growth in mid-to-high teens. Total revenue jumped to ₹48,885 crore during the quarter ended December 31, 2021, as against ₹42,015 crore during the same period a year ago, marking a growth of 16.3%. The board of TCS also approved an interim dividend of ₹7 per equity share of ₹1 each for the current fiscal.

Global markets retreat on U.S. rate hike fear

Overseas, shares in the Asia-Pacific region, as well as European stocks, traded mostly lower on Thursday, following muted cues from Wall Street. The market sentiment was dented by the U.S. inflation data, which reinforced bets that interest rate hike will happen sooner-than-expected.

Data from the U.S. government showed the U.S. consumer price index surged 7% in December, its highest year-on-year rise in nearly four decades. Meanwhile, the figures from the U.S. Labor Department also revealed that the consumer price index climbed 0.5% last month, after rising 0.8% in November.

In the Asia-Pacific region, China’s Shanghai Composite emerged as the biggest loser in the regional market by closing 1.17% lower. It was followed by Japan’s Nikkei 225 index, which ended 0.98% lower. South Korea’s KOSPI also dropped 0.35%.

Bucking the trend, Australia’s ASX 200 index settled 0.48% higher, while the Hang Seng index in Hong Kong rose 0.11%. The Straits Times Index in Singapore closed a tad higher, paring opening losses, while Thailand’s SET Composite climbed 0.1%.

Meanwhile, European stocks opened lower, snapping a two-session gaining streak, as investors turned cautious after the data showed that the U.S. inflation surged to its highest level in four decades last month. Germany’s DAX was down 0.11%, while France’s CAC slipped 0.37%. In a similar trend, the UK’s FTSE 100 index also edged lower in early trade.

Meanwhile, Spain’s IBEX index and Italy’s FTSE MIB index traded marginally higher in opening trade.

In the overnight trade, all three major U.S. indices ended a tad higher for the second straight session on Wednesday despite the latest U.S. inflation data reinforcing bets that interest rate hike will happen sooner-than-expected. The blue-chip Dow Jones Industrial Average closed 0.11% higher, while the broader S&P 500 rose 0.28%. The tech-heavy NASDAQ Composite added 0.23%.

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