Trendlyne Analysis

Nifty 50 closed in the red after opening higher on a volatile day of trade. Barring Indian indices, all Asian indices closed in the green, tracking the US indices. The US index S&P 500 has risen in five of the last six trading sessions. US stocks have been climbing since the Federal Reserve handed down an expected quarter percentage point interest rate hike last week to curb high inflation levels. The current trend in the markets suggests that the investors believe that the US economy is strong enough to weather the higher borrowing costs. Crude oil prices edge higher as investors continue to monitor the war situation in Ukraine.

Nifty Smallcap 100 closed lower while Nifty Midcap 100 closed in the green to outperform the benchmark index. Nifty Metal closed sharply higher to extend its four-day winning streak. Nifty IT closed flat despite the tech-heavy NASDAQ 100 closing in the green yesterday.

Gloom in markets in today's trading. Nifty 50 closed at 17,245.65 (-69.9, -0.4%), BSE Sensex closed at 57,684.82 (-304.5, -0.5%) while the broader Nifty 500 closed at 14,695.15 (-28.9, -0.2%).

Market breadth is in the red. Of the 1,878 stocks traded today, 728 were on the uptrend, and 1,107 went down.

• AIA Engineering, J B Chemicals & Pharmaceuticals, CSB Bank, and SKF India trading with higher volumes as compared to Tuesday.

• Motilal Oswal maintains a ‘Neutral’ rating on Nestle India and increases the target price to Rs 18,700 from Rs 18,085, indicating an upside of 5%. The brokerage believes the company is well placed to capitalize on immense growth opportunities due to its strong brand and distribution strength. The brokerage finds the long-term narratives for earnings growth to be very attractive.

• ICICI Direct initiates coverage on Star Health and Allied Insurance with a ‘Buy’ rating and target price of Rs 800, indicating an upside of 23%. The brokerage expects the company to maintain its market dominance due to its focus on product innovation, competitive pricing, and a strong distribution push.

• Mtar Technologies gets declared lowest bidder by NPCIL for fuel transfer system of reactors and FM bridge & carriage assemblies of nuclear reactors. The total value of projects is approximately Rs 135 crore.

• Hero MotoCorp is falling on the bourses as Income Tax Department conducts search operations at the company’s 25 premises for suspected tax evasion. According to reports, the search operation is ongoing at the offices and residences of Hero MotoCorp senior management in Delhi, Gururgram, and in other parts of North India

• Indian Hotels’ stock surges as its qualified institutional placement (QIP) committee of the board approves its QIP issue. The company plans to mobilize around Rs 2,000 crore through the QIP and has fixed the floor price at Rs 203.48 per share.

• V-Guard Industries is trading with more than seven times its weekly average trading volume. Jyothy Labs, TeamLease Services, Zydus Wellness, and Gland Pharma are trading at more than three times their weekly average trading volumes.

• SBI Life Insurance announces an interim dividend of Rs 2 per share for FY22. The total payout amounts to Rs 200 crore. The record date is March 30, 2022.

• Adani Ports & SEZ records cargo volumes of 300 million tonnes on a year to date basis in FY22. APSEZ had achieved the target of handling 200 million tonnes of cargo three years back. The company is all set to reach the volumes milestone of 500 million tonnes by 2025, according to its latest press release.

• SBI Cards and Payments announces an interim dividend of Rs 2.50 per share for FY22. The total payout amounts to Rs 235.8 crore. The record date is March 31, 2022.

• Infosys announces acquisition of Oddity, a Germany-based digital experience and marketing agency, for Rs 419 crore in an all-cash deal. The company expects the acquisition to bolster its creativity, branding, and experience design capabilities.

• Piramal Capital and Housing Finance (PCHFL) initiates bankruptcy proceedings against Reliance Power and its subsidiary Reliance Natural Resources (RNRL) on default of Rs 526-crore loan. The housing finance company acquired Dewan Housing Finance (DHFL) for a total consideration of Rs 34,250 crore in 2021, merging it with PCHFL. DHFL went bankrupt as it owes more than Rs 90,000 crore to various lenders.

Riding High:

Largecap and midcap gainers today include L&T Finance Holdings Ltd. (87.25, 16.18%), Adani Power Ltd. (130.20, 5.21%) and Tata Communications Ltd. (1,184.30, 3.64%).

Downers:

Largecap and midcap losers today include Atul Ltd. (9,686.95, -2.86%), Info Edge (India) Ltd. (4,626.25, -2.82%) and Muthoot Finance Ltd. (1,336.50, -2.37%).

Movers and Shakers

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

Top high volume gainers on BSE included L&T Finance Holdings Ltd. (87.25, 16.18%), Suven Pharmaceuticals Ltd. (589.95, 10.43%) and IFB Industries Ltd. (1,005.95, 7.28%).

Top high volume losers on BSE were Lakshmi Machine Works Ltd. (9,957.45, -6.01%), TeamLease Services Ltd. (3,845.35, -3.63%) and Zydus Wellness Ltd. (1,470.60, -0.16%).

Jyothy Labs Ltd. (144.65, -0.07%) was trading at 15.5 times of weekly average. MOIL Ltd. (182.35, 5.40%) and Kalpataru Power Transmissions Ltd. (371.55, -0.01%) were trading with volumes 14.9 and 10.2 times weekly average respectively on BSE at the time of posting this article.

BSE 500: highs, lows and moving averages

12 stocks took off, crossing 52-week highs, while 1 stock tanked below their 52-week lows.

Stocks touching their year highs included - Century Plyboards (India) Ltd. (719.70, 1.29%), Cholamandalam Investment & Finance Company Ltd. (721.75, 1.38%) and Cummins India Ltd. (1,087.05, 3.35%).

Stock making new 52 weeks lows included - Procter & Gamble Health Ltd. (4,260.60, -0.67%).

19 stocks climbed above their 200 day SMA including L&T Finance Holdings Ltd. (87.25, 16.18%) and MOIL Ltd. (182.35, 5.40%). 2 stocks slipped below their 200 SMA including BEML Ltd. (1,534.50, -0.83%) and Welspun Corp Ltd. (147.60, 1.79%).