The key equity indices traded with decent gains in afternoon trade. The Nifty traded above the 17,000 level after hitting the day's low of 16,940.60 early afternoon trade. Barring the Nifty Oil & Gas index, all the sectoral indices on the NSE were in the green.

At 13:29 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was up 156.73 points or 0.27% to 57,770.45. The Nifty 50 index added 64.80 points or 0.38% to 17,016.50.

The broader market outperformed the frontline indices. The S&P BSE Mid-Cap index rose 0.90% while the S&P BSE Small-Cap index gained 1.02%.

The market breadth was positive. On the BSE, 1,998 shares rose and 1,404 shares fell. A total of 133 shares were unchanged.

Trading could be volatile today as traders roll over positions in the F&O segment from the near month March series to April series. The March 2023 F&O contracts will expire today, 29 March 2023.

The domestic stock market will remain shut on Thursday, 30 March 2023 on account of Ram Navami.

Gainers & Losers:

Adani Enterprises (up 8.22%), Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone (up 6.40%), Eicher Motors (up 2.24%), Bajaj Auto (up 2.06%) and UltraTech Cement (up 1.90%) were the top Nifty gainers.

Reliance Industries (down 1.02%), UPL (down 0.87%), Bharti Airtel (down 0.87%), BPCL (down 0.47%) and Power Grid Corporation of India (down 0.43%) were the top Nifty losers.

Stocks in Spotlight:

Vedanta gained 2.52%. The diversified minerals company on Tuesday announced that its board has approved the fifth interim dividend of Rs 20.50 per equity share. The dividend will lead to a total payout of Rs 7,621 crore to shareholders. The record date for the same has been fixed on Friday, 7 April 2023.

Meanwhie, the mining company said that Ajay Goel has resigned from the position of acting chief financial officer (CFO) with effect from 9 April 2023, to pursue career outside the group. The company will announce the details of the successor in due course, Vedanta stated.

Larsen & Toubro (L&T) added 0.13%. The EPC major said that its Minerals & Metals (M&M) business has secured 'large' orders from the Vedanta Group. As per L&T classification, the value of the large project is Rs 2,500 crore to Rs 5,000 crore.

Separately , the EPC major on Tuesday announced that it has issued and allotted 2 lakh rated, listed, unsecured, redeemable non-convertible debentures (NCDs) of Rs 1 lakh each aggregating to Rs 2,000 crore, which will mature on 28 April 2028. The coupon rate on the NCD is fixed at 7.725%.

Jindal Stainless (JSL) rose 0.02%. JSL entered into a collaboration agreement with New Yaking Pte. Ltd. for the investment in, development, construction and operation of a Nickel Pig Iron (NPI) smelter facility located in an industrial park in Halmahera Islands, Indonesia. JSL will acquire a 49% equity interest for a consideration of around $157 million.

G R Infraprojects advanced 2.76%. The company has received letter of acceptance (LoA) for a project 'construction of tunnel work & allied works of Khurda - Bolangir new rail line project in east coast railway'. The estimated project is worth Rs 587.59 crore.

NHPC shed 0.41%. The power generation company on Tuesday announced that its board has approved raising of debt upto Rs 5,600 crore during financial year 2023-24 via corporate bonds and/or raising of term loans or external commercial borrowings.

Global Markets:

Markets in Europe and Asia advanced on Wednesday as Alibaba's Hong Kong-listed shares spiked at the open after the Chinese tech giant announced it will split into six business groups.

Australia's monthly inflation pace for February came in at a slower pace at 6.8% compared to the same period a year ago. This is lower than January's figure of 7.4%. Data from the country's statistics bureau revealed that the most significant price rises were in the housing, followed by food and non-alcoholic beverages, then in transport.

US stocks ended slightly lower on Tuesday as investors weighed comments from a top US regulator on struggling banks and sold shares of technology-related names after their recent strong run.

Consumer confidence inched up in March after two straight monthly declines. The Conference Board reported Tuesday that its consumer confidence index rose to 104.2 in March from 103.4 in February. The board said that despite the uptick in confidence, the index remains below 2022's average level of 104.5.

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