Nifty 50 closed at 22,514.65 (80, 0.4%), BSE Sensex closed at 74,227.63 (350.8, 0.5%) while the broader Nifty 500 closed at 20,664.65 (59.0, 0.3%). Market breadth is in the green. Of the 2,122 stocks traded today, 1,266 were gainers and 827 were losers.

Indian indices recovered from the day’s low and closed in the green. The volatility index, Nifty VIX, dropped by 1.7% and closed at 11.3 points. Au Small Finance Bank's Q4FY24 total deposits rose 26% YoY to Rs 87,182 crore and gross advances grew by 25% YoY to Rs 73,999 crore. Its CASA ratio stood at 33% as against 38% in Q4FY23. 

Nifty Midcap 100 closed flat, while Nifty Smallcap 100 closed higher following the benchmark index closing flat. Nifty IT and Nifty Bank closed higher than Wednesday’s closing level. According to Trendlyne’s sector dashboard, retailing cemerged as the top-performing sector of the day, with a rise of over 2.5%.

Most European indices trade in the green. US indices futures trade flat, indicating a cautious start. The data released by Hamburg Commercial Bank indicated Eurozone’s Services PMI for March expanded to 51.5 against estimates of 51.1.

• Kotak Mahindra Bank sees a long buildup in its April 25 future series as its open interest rises 13.8% with a put-call ratio of 0.6.

• Equitas Small Finance Bank's Q4FY24 total deposits rise 43% YoY to Rs 25,349 and gross advances grow by 23% YoY to Rs 27,861 crore. Its CASA ratio stands at 42% as against 32% in Q4FY23.

• G M Breweries falls as its EBITDA margin drops 437 basis points to 15.8% in Q4FY24. However, the company's profit rises 146% YoY to Rs 86.6 crore, with a revenue growth of 11.7%.

• According to a poll of economists, the RBI will keep the repo rate unchanged and retain the monetary policy stance of 'withdrawal of accommodation'. Nirmal Bang expects a delay in rate cuts due to concerns over persistently high inflation fueled by heatwaves.

  RBI MPC | The central bank will likely keep interest rates unchanged, with chances of an early cut fading after the govt warned of a coming heatwave and the #economy grew faster than expected.
  
  Read this report to know more https://t.co/ynUAsGyY7t#RBI #MPC #inflation #reporate

  — Business Standard (@bsindia) April 4, 2024

• IT stocks like Tata Consultancy Services, Infosys, HCL Technologies, Wipro, and LTIMindtree are rising in trade. All constituents of the broader Nifty IT index are also trading in the green.

• Bharti Hexacom's Rs 4,275 crore IPO gets bids for 0.6X the available 4.1 crore shares on offer on the second day of bidding. The retail investor quota gets bids for 0.9X the available 75 lakh shares on offer.

• Au Small Finance Bank surges as its Q4FY24 total deposits rise 26% YoY to Rs 87,182 crore and gross advances grow by 25% YoY to Rs 73,999 crore. Its CASA ratio stands at 33% as against 38% in Q4FY23.

• Anand Agarwal, CFO of V-Mart, notes an improvement in demand and footfall compared to the last two years. However, he highlights uncertainty regarding further expansion in demand. Agarwal adds that the company's SSSG (same-store sales growth) is projected to increase in the high single digits in the medium term.

  #OnCNBCTV18 | In the medium-term, will still grow SSSg in high single digits. Should break even in #Limeroad by #Q4FY25, says Anand Agarwal of V-Mart pic.twitter.com/5qStjmSTj9

  — CNBC-TV18 (@CNBCTV18Live) April 4, 2024

• Suryoday Small Finance Bank surges in trade as its total deposits rise 50% YoY to Rs 7,775 crore, while gross advances increase by 50% YoY to Rs 8,650 crore in Q4FY24.

• ICICI Direct retains its 'Buy' rating on Coal India with an upgraded target price of Rs 550. This indicates a potential upside of 24.2%. The brokerage is optimistic about the stock due to healthy volume growth, a robust net cash positive balance sheet, and its significant contribution to India’s energy requirements. It expects the company's revenue to grow at a CAGR of 8.7% over FY23-26.

• Oil and gas stocks like Oil And Natural Gas Corp, Petronet LNG, Hindustan Petroleum Corp and Indian Oil Corp are falling in trade. The broader sectoral indices, BSE Oil & Gas and Nifty Oil & Gas, are also trading in the red.

• Macquarie expects Honasa Consumer to achieve a sales CAGR exceeding 20% over the next 3-5 years, driven by the offline expansion of its flagship brand, Mamaearth. The brokerage highlights Honasa's ability to understand changing preferences and its access to over 6 million users, facilitating growth across new brands.

  Brokerage Radar | Macquarie on Honasa Consumer - Sees 20%+ sales CAGR over the next 3-5 years on the offline expansion of key brand Mamaearth pic.twitter.com/DFlPDtgyxG

  — ET NOW (@ETNOWlive) April 4, 2024

• Brigade Enterprises is rising as it enters a joint development agreement with United Oxygen to develop a 3 lakh square feet office space in Bengaluru. The gross development value (GDV) of the office is Rs 340 crore.

• RBL Bank is rising as its total deposits grow by 22% YoY to Rs 1 lakh crore, while gross advances increase by 19% YoY to Rs 85,640 in Q4FY24.

• Vedanta's Q4FY24 total aluminium production rises 4% YoY to 6 lakh tonnes, driven by growth in Lanjigarh refinery's operational performance.

• Shantanu Roy, Chairman & Managing Director at BEML, expects orders worth Rs 6,000 crore in defence and Rs 58,000 in rail & metro segments. He aims to secure 50% of the available awards through bidding. Roy projects a revenue growth CAGR of 18-20% over the next 3-4 years.

  #OnCNBCTV18 | See an opportunity size of ?6,000 cr in #defence, #rail & #metro at ?58,000 cr. Expect to bag 50% of awards to be bid out in rail & metro segment. Defence opportunity size could be around ?15,000 cr in coming years, says Shantanu Roy of #BEML pic.twitter.com/LMUMI8BzZ3

  — CNBC-TV18 (@CNBCTV18Live) April 4, 2024

• HDFC Bank is rising as its gross advances surge by 55.4% YoY to Rs 25.1 lakh crore in Q4FY24, helped by growth in domestic retail, commercial and rural banking loans. Its deposits also increase by 26.4% to Rs 23.8 lakh crore during the quarter.

• Bajaj Finance invests Rs 2,000 crore in its subsidiary, Bajaj Housing Finance, by subscribing to a rights issue.

• Avenue Supermarts hits a 52-week high of Rs 4,715 as its revenue for Q4FY24 rises 19.9% YoY to Rs 12,393.5 crore.

• India’s Services PMI rises to 61.2 in March from 60.6 in February on the back of robust demand leading to sales growth and business activity. This is the 32nd consecutive month the PMI has stayed above the 50 mark.

  March saw a surge in Services PMI to 61.2, marking one of the strongest growth rates in 13.5 years! ????
  
  Here's more?????https://t.co/wvFxW0J7kK#Sales #Services #PMI #Economy

  — Moneycontrol (@moneycontrolcom) April 4, 2024

• KEC International touches its all-time high of Rs 838.8 as it bags an order worth Rs 816 crore across its various businesses. Its civil business secures orders for infrastructure projects in India, the transmission business secures orders for tower supply in the US, and its cable business wins an order for various types of cables in India and overseas.

• GE Power surges as it bags two orders worth Rs 774.9 crore from Jaiprakash Power Ventures to set up a thermal power plant in Nigrie and to supply and erect a boiler at the Bina thermal power plant.

• Mohnish Pabrai sells a 2.9% stake in Edelweiss Financial Services for approx Rs 188.2 crore in a bulk deal on Wednesday.

• Angel One is rising as its average daily turnover (ADTO) grows by 111.3% YoY to Rs 44 lakh crore in March. Its client base also improves by 61.5% YoY to 2.2 crore, with total order numbers rising by 41.9% YoY in the same month. The company appears in a screener of stocks with relative outperformance over the past month.

• Upbeat trading today, as Nifty 50 was trading at 22,580.65 (146, 0.7%), BSE Sensex was trading at 74,413.82 (537, 0.7%) while the broader Nifty 500 was trading at 20,754.80 (149.1, 0.7%)

• Market breadth is highly positive. Of the 1,909 stocks traded today, 1,680 were in the positive territory and 198 were negative.

Riding High:

Largecap and midcap gainers today include Zomato Ltd. (187, 4.9%), UNO Minda Ltd. (729.30, 4.6%) and Ipca Laboratories Ltd. (1,276.15, 4.2%).

Downers:

Largecap and midcap losers today include Dabur India Ltd. (506.05, -4.7%), Colgate-Palmolive (India) Ltd. (2,707, -3.3%) and ICICI Lombard General Insurance Company Ltd. (1,638.30, -3.2%).

Volume Shockers

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

Top high volume gainers on BSE included Elgi Equipments Ltd. (653.35, 10.9%), Alkyl Amines Chemicals Ltd. (2,159.20, 10.8%) and Jubilant Pharmova Ltd. (636.90, 9.9%).

Top high volume losers on BSE were Dabur India Ltd. (506.05, -4.7%), Nuvoco Vistas Corporation Ltd. (320.75, -2.1%) and AstraZeneca Pharma India Ltd. (5,080.50, -0.2%).

KEC International Ltd. (769.75, 5.6%) was trading at 91.9 times of weekly average. Balaji Amines Ltd. (2,273.70, 7.1%) and Gujarat Ambuja Exports Ltd. (180.45, 7.0%) were trading with volumes 9.9 and 9.8 times weekly average respectively on BSE at the time of posting this article.

BSE 500: highs, lows and moving averages

39 stocks made 52 week highs, while 1 stock tanked below their 52 week lows.

Stocks touching their year highs included - Adani Power Ltd. (642, 3.9%), Ambuja Cements Ltd. (624.70, -1.6%) and Blue Star Ltd. (1,348.30, 0%).

Stock making new 52 weeks lows included - Dabur India Ltd. (506.05, -4.7%).

15 stocks climbed above their 200 day SMA including Balaji Amines Ltd. (2,273.70, 7.1%) and Ujjivan Small Finance Bank Ltd. (54.30, 6.3%). 5 stocks slipped below their 200 SMA including Patanjali Foods Ltd. (1,380.80, -1.7%) and Eris Lifesciences Ltd. (839.70, -1.3%).