The headline equity indices traded with major gains in morning trade. The Nifty scaled above the 22,500 level. Metal shares extended gains for the second consecutive trading session.

At 10:27 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was up 483.63 points or 0.66% to 74,144.12. The Nifty 50 index gained 176.55 points or 0.79% to 22,503.45.

The broader market outperformed the frontline indices. The S&P BSE Mid-Cap index added 1.36% and the S&P BSE Small-Cap index gained 2.17%.

The market breadth was strong. On the BSE, 2,985 shares rose and 576 shares fell. A total of 169 shares were unchanged.

Economy:

India’s forex reserves rose $140 million during the week ended March 22 to touch its all-time high of $642.631 billion, according to the latest RBI data. This is the fifth consecutive week of a jump in the overall reserves.

For the week ended March 22, the foreign currency assets decreased by $123 million to $568.264 billion. Gold reserves rose $347 million to $51.487 billion during the week. The special drawing rights (SDRs) were down by $57 million to $18.219 billion, the RBI said.

India’s reserve position with the IMF was also down by $27 million to $4.662 billion in the reporting week, the RBI data showed.

Meanwhile, the combined Index of Eight Core Industries (ICI) increased by 6.7% (provisional) in February 2024 as compared to the Index of February 2023. The final growth rate of Index of Eight Core Industries for November 2023 is revised to 7.9%. The cumulative growth rate of ICI during April to February, 2023-24 is 7.7% (provisional) as compared to the corresponding period of last year.

Buzzing Index:

The Nifty Metal index gained 2.64% to 8,475.35. The index jumped 3.92% in the two trading sessions.

Hindustan Copper (up 8.25%), JSW Steel (up 4.72%), Welspun Corp (up 4.57%), NMDC (up 4.01%) and Vedanta (up 3.64%), National Aluminium Company (up 3.51%), Steel Authority of India (up 3.24%), Tata Steel (up 2.73%), Hindustan Zinc (up 2.1%) and Hindalco Industries (up 1.77%) advanced.

Stocks in Spotlight:

G.M. Breweries surged 11.90% after said that the company’s board will meet Thursday, 04 April 2024, to consider a proposal for issue of bonus shares by way of capitalization of reserves, subject to approval from members of the company.

Escorts Kubota rose 0.60% after the company said that the company’s Agri Machinery Business has sold 8,587 tractors in March 2024, which is lower by 16.7% as compared with sales of 10,305 tractors recorded in March 2023.

JSW Steel rallied 4.88% after the company announced that its wholly owned subsidiary, JSW Vijayanagar Metallics has commissioned a hot strip mill at its integrated steel plant at Vijayanagar.