Trendlyne Analysis

Nifty 50 recoups its losses to close in the green to snap its four-day losing streak. Buying pressure in the last hour of the trading session pushed the Indian indices from losses to gains. Investors continue to remain cautious amid rising commodity prices owing to the Russia-Ukraine war. The Indian assembly elections voting of five states ended on Monday with exit polls indicating BJP to retain power in four states.

Exports focused sectors Nifty IT and Nifty Pharma buck the trend to close sharply higher as depreciating Indian Rupee against US Dollar leads to a possibility of higher margins companies through forex gains. Nifty Smallcap 100 and Nifty Midcap 100 close in the green outperforming the benchmark index. Nifty Metal takes a breather to close in the red after rising close to 15% in six trading sessions.

Nifty 50 closed at 16,013.45 (150.3, 1.0%), BSE Sensex closed at 53,424.09 (581.3, 1.1%) while the broader Nifty 500 closed at 13,706.75 (142.5, 1.1%)

Market breadth is surging up. Of the 1,853 stocks traded today, 1,337 were on the uptick, and 477 were down.

• 3M India, GlaxoSmithKline Pharmaceuticals, KPR Mill, and Jyothy Labs are trading with higher volumes as compared to Monday.

• Alembic Pharmaceutical’s joint venture Aleor Dermaceuticals receives US food and drug administration (USFDA) approval for Nystatin and Triamcinolone Acetonide ointment. These products are used to help relieve redness, swelling, itching, and other discomforts of skin problems.

• Norway’s sovereign wealth fund puts Adani Ports & Special Economic Zone on watchlist for possible exclusion from its investments due to ethical concerns. The company's involvement in building a port terminal in military-ruled Myanmar is a major concern for the fund. The fund has a 0.7% stake in the company.

• Motilal Oswal maintains a ‘Buy’ rating on TCI Express with a target price of Rs 2,130 indicating an upside of 25%. The brokerage is bullish on the company due to its well-diversified client base, a 95% share in the high margin business-to-business (B2B) express segment, investment in value-added areas like sorting centers and a debt free balance sheet.

• Indraprastha Gas is trading with more than five times its weekly average trading volume. SIS, Mahanagar Gas, Natco Pharma, and Greaves Cotton are trading at more than two times their weekly average trading volumes.

• Natural gas companies' stocks such as GAIL, Gujarat Gas, Indraprastha Gas and Mahanagar Gas are trading higher. With the ongoing Russia-Ukraine conflict disrupting the natural gas supply chains in India, it may lead to a hike in the price of natural gas.

• Axis Securities maintains a ‘BUY’ rating on Infosys with a target price of Rs 1895, indicating an upside of 10%. The brokerage reduces the target price by 11.4% as the company’s operating margin fell 10 bps QoQ due to the unfavorable impact of higher subcontracting costs. However, the brokerage has a positive outlook as the digital transformation business growth is intact for the company.

• IT stocks like Larsen & Toubro Infotech, Coforge, MindTree, Tata Consultancy Services among others are trading higher. The broader sectoral index Nifty IT is also trading in green.

• IPO bound LIC's new business premium for February 2022 rises over 35% YoY and MoM to Rs 17,489.3 crore led by group single premiums. On the other hand, private listed insurers such as SBI Life and HDFC Life post over 7% and 9% YoY growth in new business premiums, respectively

• JSW Steel's crude steel production rises 21% YoY to 16.8 lakh tonnes in February. The production of flat rolled products rises 25% YoY to 11.54 lakh tonnes and long rolled products rises 8% YoY to 3.67 lakh tonnes

• Natco Pharma is rising as it announces the launch of first generic version of Revlimid (Lenalidomide capsules) in 5mg, 10mg, 15mg, and 25mg strengths in the US market. Lenalidomide is used to treat anemia (low red blood cells) in cancer patients.

• Metro Brands rises after the board approves interim dividend payment of Rs 1.5 per equity share for FY22. The record date is March 19, 2022.

Riding High:

Largecap and midcap gainers today include Indraprastha Gas Ltd. (370.15, 9.63%), SBI Cards and Payment Services Ltd. (781.90, 7.03%) and Atul Ltd. (9,106.85, 5.88%).

Downers:

Largecap and midcap losers today include Adani Total Gas Ltd. (1,629.65, -4.97%), Hindalco Industries Ltd. (589.95, -4.81%) and JSW Energy Ltd. (298.20, -4.64%).

Movers and Shakers

12 stocks in BSE 500 are trading on high volumes today.

Top high volume gainers on BSE included Indraprastha Gas Ltd. (370.15, 9.63%), GHCL Ltd. (443.95, 7.01%) and Mahanagar Gas Ltd. (761.85, 6.75%).

Top high volume losers on BSE were JK Cement Ltd. (2,189.15, -6.32%), Orient Electric Ltd. (310.00, -2.19%) and TTK Prestige Ltd. (762.40, -1.80%).

SIS Ltd. (446.80, 2.80%) was trading at 4.9 times of weekly average. KRBL Ltd. (204.75, 6.31%) and Greaves Cotton Ltd. (166.85, 2.99%) were trading with volumes 3.9 and 3.9 times weekly average respectively on BSE at the time of posting this article.

BSE 500: highs, lows and moving averages

2 stocks took off, crossing 52-week highs, while 35 stocks hit their 52-week lows.

Stocks touching their year highs included - Oil And Natural Gas Corporation Ltd. (179.10, -4.20%) and Power Grid Corporation of India Ltd. (212.35, -0.21%).

Stocks making new 52 weeks lows included - Akzo Nobel India Ltd. (1,824.40, -0.13%) and Ambuja Cements Ltd. (282.90, 0.60%).

22 stocks climbed above their 200 day SMA including Indian Bank (144.75, 9.29%) and Sobha Ltd. (752.90, 7.40%). 16 stocks slipped below their 200 SMA including Tata Motors Limited (DVR) (187.45, -2.65%) and Aavas Financiers Ltd. (2,554.30, -1.76%).