Market pares losses, European Mkt open higher

The key equity indices pared all losses and traded with moderate gains in afternoon trade. The Nifty scaled above 22,550 mark after hitting day�s low of 22,303.80 in morning trade. Private bank, financial services and bank stocks advanced while realty, oil & gas, PSU bank and media shares declined. Trading was volatile due to the expiry of weekly index options on the NSE.

At 13:27 IST, the S&P BSE Sensex, was jumped 514.24 points or 0.71% to 74,398.37. The Nifty 50 index gained 126.10 points or 0.56% to 22,560.75.

The Sensex and Nifty clocked an all-time high of 74,501.73 and 22,619, respectively in early trade.

In the broader market, the S&P BSE Mid-Cap index added 0.08% and the S&P BSE Small-Cap index rose 0.53%.

The market breadth was strong. On the BSE, 2,356 shares rose and 1,408 shares fell. A total of 120 shares were unchanged.

The RBI Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) kicked off its 3-day meeting deliberating interest rates and analysing the state of the economy on April 3 and will end on April 5. While the RBI is widely expected to keep rates on hold, any signals on inflation and economic growth will be closely watched, as per reports.

Economy:

The HSBC India Services Purchasing Managers` Index , compiled by S&P Global, rose to 61.2 last month from February`s 60.6, pointed to one of the strongest growth rates seen in over 13-and-a-half years. The upturn was largely attributed to healthy demand conditions, efficiency gains and positive sales developments.

Ines Lam, Economist at HSBC, said, �India�s services PMI rose in March, following a small dip in February, on the back of strong demand that spurred sales and business activity. Service providers increased hiring at the fastest pace since August 2023 in order to expand production capacity. Input costs rose at a faster rate, yet service providers were able to broadly maintain margins by charging higher output prices.�

The HSBC India Composite PMI Output Index increased to 61.8 in March from 60.6 in February, highlighting the second-strongest upturn in over 13-and-ahalf years (behind July 2023).

Gainers & Losers:

HDFC Bank (up 3.07%), Divi`s Laboratories (up 1.38%), Titan Company (up 1.33%), NTPC (up 1.25%) and Tata Consultancy Services (up 1.05%) were major Nifty gainers.

Oil & Natural Gas Corporation (down 2.52%), Shriram Finance (down 1.84%), Grasim Industries (down 1.71%), Bharat Petroleum Corporation (down 1.71%) and Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone (down 1.65%) were major Nifty losers.

HDFC Bank rallied 3.07% after the Private lender`s gross advances jumped 55.4% to Rs 25,08,000 crore as of 31 March 2024 as compared with Rs 16,14,200 crore as of 31 March 2023.

Stocks in Spotlight:

Vedanta jumped 4.02% after the miner company informed that its total aluminum production jumped 4% to 5,98,000 tonnes in Q4 FY24 as compared with 5,74,000 tonnes in Q4 FY23.

L&T Finance Holdings added 1.38% after the company recorded retail disbursements for Q4 FY24 is estimated at approximately Rs 15,030 crore, i.e., a growth of nearly 33% on a YoY basis.

Angel One dropped 5.25%. The brokerage company announced that it its client base jumped 61.5% to 22.24 million in March 2024 as against 13.78 million recorded in March 2023.

Avenue Supermarts (DMart) rallied 3.64% after the company reported standalone revenue of Rs 12,393.46 crore in quarter ended 31 March 2024, recording a growth of 19.89% from Rs 10,337.12 crore posted in the same period a year ago.

AU Small Finance Bank jumped 3.58% after the bank reported 26% increase in total deposits to Rs 87,182 crore as on 31 March 2024 as against Rs 69,365 crore as on 31 March 2023.

RBL Bank added 1.31% after the bank�s total deposits jumped 22% to Rs 103,454 crore as on 31 March 2024 from Rs 84,887 crore recorded in 31 March 2023.

Global Markets:

European and Asian stocks advanced on Thursday taking some positive cues from a mildly stronger overnight close on Wall Street. Markets in Hong Kong, mainland China and Taiwan are closed for a public holiday.

U.S. stocks closed mixed on Wednesday as investors digest comments from U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell. Powell said it would take a while for policymakers to evaluate the current state of inflation, keeping the timing of potential interest rate cuts uncertain.

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