SENSEX, NIFTY ADVANCE IN EARLY TRADE; BREADTH POSITIVE

The domestic equity benchmarks traded with strong gains in early trade, on buying demand in index pivotals. The Nifty traded above 21,700 level. Pharma, healthcare and FMCG stocks advanced while media, oil & gas and realty shares declined.

At 09:25 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was up 563.18 points or 0.79% to 71,986.83. The Nifty 50 index added 153.05 points or 0.71% to 21,724.85.

In the broader market, the S&P BSE Mid-Cap index shed 0.02% and the S&P BSE Small-Cap index decline 0.17%.

The market breadth was positive. On the BSE, 1,746 shares rose and 1,260 shares fell. A total of 138 shares were unchanged.

Foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) sold shares worth Rs 545.58 crore, while domestic institutional investors (DIIs), were net sellers to the tune of Rs 719.31 crore in the Indian equity market on 20 January, provisional data showed.

Stocks in Spotlight:

ICICI Bank rallied 3.90% after the bank reported 23.58% jump in net profit to Rs 10,271.54 crore on a 24.28% increase in total income to Rs 59,479.76 crore in Q3 FY24 as compared with Q3 FY23.

Bharti Airtel rose 1.63% after the company informed that Bharti Airtel`s subsidiary Bharti Hexacom has filed a draft red herring prospectus (DHRP) with the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) for a Initial Public Offering (IPO).

Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) rose 0.89%. TCS has enabled Euroclear Finland, the National Central Securities Depository (CSD) of Finland, to integrate its core platform with the European securities settlement engine. This transformation program ensures easier cross-border settlements for investors in Finnish securities and has resulted in the most modern post-trade platform in Europe.

Zee Entertainment Enterprises (ZEEL) tumbled 9.99% after the ZEEL in its board meeting took on record communications received from Culver Max Entertainment Pvt. Ltd. (formerly Sony Pictures Networks India) and Bangla Entertainment (BEPL), purporting to terminate the Merger Co-operation Agreement (MCA), and seeking a termination fee of $90,000,000 on account of alleged breaches by ZEEL of the terms of MCA, invoking arbitration and seeking interim reliefs against ZEEL. ZEEL categorically denied all the assertions raised by Culver Max and BEPL on the alleged breaches under the terms of the MCA, including their claims for the termination fee.

Numbers to Track:

The yield on India`s 10-year benchmark federal paper declined 0.18% to 7.171 as compared with previous close 7.184.

In the foreign exchange market, the rupee edged lower against the dollar. The partially convertible rupee was hovering at 83.1125, compared with its close of 83.0700 during the previous trading session.

MCX Gold futures for 5 February 2024 settlement added 0.12% to Rs 61,942.

The US Dollar index (DXY), which tracks the greenback`s value against a basket of currencies, was down 0.06% to 103.30.

The United States 10-year bond yield shed 0.05% to 4.095.

In the commodities market, Brent crude for March 2024 settlement declined 0.15 cents or 0.19% to $79.91 a barrel.

Global Markets:

Most of the Asian stocks were trading higher while investors await interest rate decision from the Bank of Japan (BoJ) as it holds its first monetary policy of the year. Markets will also be influenced by the interest rate decisions of the BoJ and European Central Bank (ECB), along with US GDP data.

US stock market indices ended higher on Monday with the S&P 500 posting a second straight record high close led by a rally in tech stocks.

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