Trendlyne Analysis

Nifty 50 extended its gains throughout the day and closed sharply higher with the Indian volatility index, India VIX falling 9.8%. Most Asian stocks closed in the green with Chinese stocks easing after a sell-off on Tuesday. Crude oil prices continue to fall as investors expect positive developments in the Russia-Ukraine ceasefire talks. US indices rallied yesterday ahead of the US Federal Reserve’s monetary policy meeting, to be concluded today. Investors expect the Fed to commence the interest rate hikes despite the uncertainty of the impact of the Russia-Ukraine war on the US economy.

All sectoral indices closed in the green. Nifty Next 50 and Nifty Midcap 100 closed sharply higher, outperforming the benchmark index. Nifty Metal, which shed over 4% on Tuesday, closed in the green. Nifty IT also ended the day in green, tracking the tech-heavy NASDAQ 100, which rose 3.2% yesterday.

Markets rose in today's trading. Nifty 50 closed at 16,975.35 (312.4, 1.9%), BSE Sensex closed at 56,816.65 (1,039.8, 1.9%) while the broader Nifty 500 closed at 14,481.80 (266.0, 1.9%)

Market breadth is overwhelmingly positive. Of the 1,876 stocks traded today, 1,331 were on the uptrend, and 499 went down.

• WABCO India, Sundram Fasteners, Westlife Development, and CG Power and Industrial Solutions trading with higher volumes as compared to Tuesday.

• HDFC Securities maintains a 'Reduce' rating on Jubliant Foodworks but cuts the target price by 27%. The brokerage holds a negative view on the company post the resignation of its CEO Pratik Pota and believes that the execution risk is higher w.r.t its medium-term massive store expansion. HDFC Sec also reduces the profit growth estimates by 4% for next two years.

• Consumer facing companies are trading up with stocks like Havells, Voltas, Aditya Birla Fashion and Retail and Bajaj Electricals rising. The broader sectoral index i.e. BSE Consumer Durables is also trading in green today.

• Unichem Laboratories is rising as it receives approval for abbreviated new drug application of Nebivolol Tablets from the USFDA to market a generic version of Bystolic Tablets, of Allergan Sales, LLC. Nebivolol is used in the treatment of hypertension.

• General Insurance Corporation of India is trading with more than 25 times its weekly average trading volume. The New India Assurance Company, RHI Magnesita and Sundram Fasteners are trading at more than seven times their weekly average trading volumes.

• ICICI Bank rises after it announces a partnership with Emirates Skywards to offer co-branded credit cards in India. These credit cards will allow consumers to earn reward points or miles on travel and lifestyle related spending activities. The company consistently gained market share from HDFC Bank in terms of credit card spends in FY22

• Zomato’s board of directors approve a $150 million loan to Grofers India Private Limited (GIPL) in one or more tranches. This loan to Blinkit (formerly Grofers) will carry an interest rate of 12% or higher per annum for a period of up to one year. Reports suggest that Zomato is in discussions to acquire Blinkit (formerly Grofers) in a share swap deal. Shareholders of Zomato are expected to get 10 Blinkit shares for each held in their company.

• ICICI Securities maintains a ‘Hold’ rating on Mahanagar Gas with a target price of Rs 850, indicating an upside of 9%. The brokerage expects the company to benefit from the proposal by the Maharashtra Government to reduce VAT from 13.5% to 3%, as the company can pass on the benefit to its customers and maintain its prices in the near term.

• Macrotech Developers rises as its arm Lodha Developers International pre-pays $ 170 million (Rs 1,298 crore) of debt after recording its best-ever quarter sales of Rs 1,900 crore from two projects in London

• IT major Infosys is rising as the Board will consider the final dividend for FY22 in the board meeting to be held on April 12 and 13, 2022. The company will also finalize the results for year ended March 31, 2022 in this meeting.

• InterGlobe Aviation is rising as it resumes flights between India and Thailand from Tuesday after a span of two years. The company plans to operate the Thailand flights under air bubble agreement till March 26 and thereafter as part of its scheduled commercial international operations. Previously, the Centre had announced that scheduled commercial international flights will resume in India from March 27.

• Punjab National Bank reports a borrowal fraud of Rs 2,060.1 crore in one of its non-performing asset (NPA) account. The NPA account belongs to M/s IL&FS Tamil Nadu Power Co. Ltd. at Extra Large Corporate Branch at Delhi. The lender has provisions of Rs 824 crore as per prescribed prudential norms. This account was classified as a fraud account by Punjab & Sind Bank in February 2022.

Riding High:

Largecap and midcap gainers today include The New India Assurance Company Ltd. (124.75, 8.76%), General Insurance Corporation of India (122.30, 7.05%) and Nippon Life India Asset Management Ltd. (335.70, 6.28%).

Downers:

Largecap and midcap losers today include MphasiS Ltd. (3,098.00, -2.80%), Kansai Nerolac Paints Ltd. (448.60, -2.06%) and Ruchi Soya Industries Ltd. (1,071.35, -1.78%).

Crowd Puller Stocks

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

Top high volume gainers on BSE included The New India Assurance Company Ltd. (124.75, 8.76%), General Insurance Corporation of India (122.30, 7.05%) and Bharat Dynamics Ltd. (555.10, 6.24%).

Top high volume losers on BSE were TCI Express Ltd. (1,770.40, -2.19%), KEI Industries Ltd. (1,004.25, -1.90%) and Blue Star Ltd. (980.40, -0.23%).

RHI Magnesita India Ltd. (569.85, 4.47%) was trading at 12.3 times of weekly average. Sundram Fasteners Ltd. (862.40, 5.16%) and Balaji Amines Ltd. (3,081.25, 6.23%) were trading with volumes 8.7 and 6.6 times weekly average respectively on BSE at the time of posting this article.

BSE 500: highs, lows and moving averages

6 stocks hit their 52-week highs, while 1 stock were underachiever and hit their 52-week lows.

Stocks touching their year highs included - Cholamandalam Investment & Finance Company Ltd. (697.40, 1.69%), Linde India Ltd. (3,192.40, -1.97%) and Bharat Dynamics Ltd. (555.10, 6.24%).

Stock making new 52 weeks lows included - Thyrocare Technologies Ltd. (786.80, -0.69%).

22 stocks climbed above their 200 day SMA including Century Textiles & Industries Ltd. (804.40, 6.56%) and IDFC Ltd. (58.95, 5.74%). 5 stocks slipped below their 200 SMA including IIFL Finance Ltd. (288.95, -1.01%) and MMTC Ltd. (47.25, -0.94%).