The domestic equity benchmarks advanced on Wednesday, mirroring positive global cues. After opening higher at 16,977.30, the Nifty 50 index briefly turned red to hit the day's low of 16,940.60 in early afternoon trade. It bounced back and hit the day's high of 17,126.15 in late trade. Barring the Nifty Oil & Gas index, all the sectoral indices on the NSE ended higher. PSU banks, media, metals and realty shares rallied.

The barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex gained 346.37 points or 0.60% to 57,960.09. The Nifty 50 index added 129 points or 0.76% to 17,080.70.

Adani Enterprises (up 8.75%), Adani Ports & SEZ (up 7.25%), Hindustan Unilever (up 1.87%), HDFC (up 0.86%) and HDFC Bank (up 0.52%) boosted the indices.

The NSE's India VIX, a gauge of the market's expectation of volatility over the near term, slumped 9.75% to 13.63.

The broader market outperformed the frontline indices. The S&P BSE Mid-Cap index rose 1.67% while the S&P BSE Small-Cap index gained 1.68%.

The market breadth was strong. On the BSE, 2173 shares rose and 1345 shares fell. A total of 120 shares were unchanged.

Trading was volatile today due to expiry of March 2023 futures and options (F&O) contracts. The domestic stock market remains shut on Thursday, 30 March 2023, on account of Ram Navami.

Numbers to Watch:

The yield on India's 10-year benchmark federal paper declined to 7.302 from 7.321 previous trading session.

In the foreign exchange market, the rupee edged lower against the dollar. The partially convertible rupee was hovering at 82.30, compared with its close of 82.16 during the previous trading session.

MCX Gold futures for 5 April 2023 settlement shed 0.12% to Rs 58,970.

The US Dollar index (DXY), which tracks the greenback's value against a basket of currencies, was up 0.04% to 102.47.

The United States 10-year bond yield fell 0.54% to 3.549.

In the commodities market, Brent crude for May 2023 settlement advanced 70 cents or 0.89% to $79.35 a barrel.

Global Markets:

The Dow Jones index futures surged 250 points, indicating a positive opening in the US market.

Markets in Europe and Asia advanced on Wednesday as investor doubts over the health of the banking sector continued to wane.

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.

Stocks in Spotlight:

South Indian Bank slumped 13% after the bank said in a regulatory filing that its board in a meeting held on 28th March 2023, considered the request of Murali Ramakrishnan to not offer himself for re-appointment as MD & CEO due to personal reasons or family circumstances, on completion of the current term. Ramakrishnan's ongoing tenure will complete on 30 September 2023.

The Search Committee, constituted by the Board, will identify and evaluate suitable candidates for the position of Managing Director & CEO, the bank added.

NHPC zoomed 6.78%. 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.

NBCC (India) jumped 11.92%. The company received work orders worth Rs 146.39 crore from Ghani Khan Choudhary Institute of Engineering and Technology, (GKCIET) in West Bengal and Small Industrial Development Bank of India (SIDBI).

HFCL rose 3.75%. The company said that it has secured an order worth Rs 282.61 crore from Gujarat Metro Rail Corporation (GMRC) for setting up of telecommunication systems for Surat Metro Rail Project Phase-I.

NTPC rose 1.22%. The company said that its wholly owned subsidiary NTPC Renewable Energy has signed term sheet with Greenko ZeroC to supply 1300 MW round the clock RE power for powering Greenko's upcoming Green Ammonia Plant at Kakinada, India.

Mphasis advanced 2.71%. The company announced that it has no exposure to Silicon Valley Bank, Signature Bank or Silvergate Capital, either as a client or as a banker.

Vedanta gained 2.77%. 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.

Meanwhile, 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 0.65%. 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) shed 0.68%. JSL entered into a collaboration agreement with New Yaking 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 gained 2.49%. 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.

Granules India added 1.14%. The US Food & Drug Administration (USFDA) has approved Granules India's Abbreviated New Drug Application (ANDA) for Gabapentin tablets USP, 600 mg and 800 mg. The drug is bioequivalent to the reference listed drug product (RLD), Neurontin tablets, 600 mg and 800 mg, of Viatris Specialty LLC.

SML Isuzu advanced 2.41%. The company has decided to increase the prices of its vehicles (both trucks & buses) with effect from 1st April 2023.

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