:::LALKAR GROUP::::

The key equity benchmarks traded with modest gains in the afternoon trade. The Nifty marched above the 17,100 mark after hitting day's low at 16,942.35 in the mid- morning trade. Oil & gas, IT and FMCG stocks advanced while metal, auto and financial services shares declined.

At 13:24 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was up 332.94 points or 0.58% to 57,478.16. The Nifty 50 index added 84.95 points or 0.50% to 17,101.25.

In the broader market, the S&P BSE Mid-Cap index rose 0.29% while the S&P BSE Small-Cap index advanced 0.80%.

The market breadth was positive. On the BSE, 1,941shares rose and 1,377 shares fell. A total of 143 shares were unchanged.

Concerns continued to persist among the investor community that the US Fed's ultra-hawkish monetary tightening to tame the red-hot inflation could push the largest economy into recession.

Meanwhile, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI)'s six-member Monetary Policy Committee is scheduled to meet this week during 28-30 September 2022. RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das will announce the MPC decision on 30 September 2022, the last date of the meeting. The RBI is widely expected to maintain the balancing act between growth and inflation.

In the past three policy reviews, the RBI's rate-setting panel has raised 140 basis points in total since May this year. Currently, the repo rate, the interest rate at which the RBI lends to the commercial bank, stands at 5.40%.

Gainers & Losers:

Bharat Petroleum Corporation (up 2.07%), Power Grid Corporation of India (up 1.84%), Shree Cements (up 1.81%), Tata Consumer Products (up 1.66%) and Dr Reddy's Laboratories (up 1.56%) were top Nifty gainers.

Hero MotoCorp (down 2.53%), Tata Steel (down 2.15%), Titan (down 1.85%), Apollo Hospitals Enterprise (down 1.45%) and Bajaj Auto (down 1.45%) were major drags.

Stocks in Spotlight:

Mahindra Logistics (MLL) rose 1.48% after MLL and Rivigo Services (RSPL) announced that they had reached an agreement for purchase of RSPL's B2B express business by MLL. Under the terms of the agreement, MLL will acquire the express business through a Business Transfer Agreement (BTA), including the customers, team and assets of RPSL's B2B express business, RSPL's technology platform and the Rivigo brand. RSPL will continue to own its truck fleet & the rights to the full truck load (FTL) operations. The acquisition will augment MLL's existing B2B express business leveraging Rivigo's strong network, technology and process capabilities.

Filatex India jumped 7.40%. The company has commissioned its project for debottlenecking a melt capacity of 50 MT per day and manufacturing lines of 120 MT per day at Dahej plant in Gujarat. In an exchange filing, the company said, “Our project for debottlenecking melt capacity of 50 MT per day and manufacturing lines of 120 MT per day POY at Dahej Plant have successfully been commissioned w.e.f. 26th September, 2022.”

Hindustan Construction Company (HCC) surged 17.59% after the company on Monday said it completed its debt resolution plan supported by 23 banks and financial institutions. The resolution plan has carved out a significant portion of HCC's debt along with commensurate assets from its balance sheet.

Global markets:

The Dow Jones index futures were up 383 points, indicating a positive opening in the US market today.

Shares in Europe as well as Asia advanced across the board on Tuesday after sharp falls on Monday. China's industrial profits for January to August fell 2.1% from the same period a year ago, official data showed.

Wall Street slid deeper into a bear market on Monday, with the S&P 500 and Dow closing lower as investors fretted that the Federal Reserve's aggressive campaign against inflation could throw the US economy into a sharp downturn.

The Bank of England on Monday said it is monitoring financial market developments “very closely” after a dramatic turmoil saw the British pound. The BOE governor said the central bank's monetary policy committee would make a “full assessment” at its next scheduled meeting in November, “and act accordingly.” “The MPC will not hesitate to change interest rates as necessary to return inflation to the 2% target sustainably in the medium term, in line with its” responsibility, he added.