Barometers trade with moderate gains; oil & gas shares rally

The key equity benchmarks continued to trade with modest gains in the mid-morning trade. The Nifty traded above the 23,250 mark. Investors are looking ahead for Union Budget 2025, hoping for growth-supportive measures balanced with fiscal discipline. Investors evaluated the U.S. Federal Reserve's decision to keep interest rates steady, with limited guidance on potential future cuts. Trading was volatile due to the weekly F&O series expiry today.

Oil & gas shares witnessed buying demand for the second consecutive trading session.

At 11:29 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, advanced 313.84 points or 0.41% to 76,846.80. The Nifty 50 index added 105.25 points or 0.45% to 23,268.35.

In the broader market, the S&P BSE Mid-Cap index rose 0.39% and the S&P BSE Small-Cap index rallied 0.76%.

The market breadth was strong. On the BSE, 2,480 shares rose and 1,193 shares fell. A total of 156 shares were unchanged.

IPO Update:

The initial public offer (IPO) of Dr. Agarwals Health Care received bids for 55,30,735 shares as against 5,35,26,172 shares on offer, according to stock exchange data at 11:12 IST on 30 January 2025. The issue was subscribed to 0.10 times.

The issue opened for bidding on 29 January 2025 and it will close on 31 January 2025. The price band of the IPO is fixed between Rs 382 and Rs 402 per share. An investor can bid for a minimum of 35 equity shares and in multiples thereof.

Buzzing Index:

The Nifty Oil & Gas index added 1.72% to 10,411.25. The index rallied 2.34% in past two consecutive trading sessions.

Mahanagar Gas (up 3.15%), GAIL (India) (up 2.56%), Indian Oil Corporation (up 2.47%), Oil & Natural Gas Corpn (up 2.28%), Gujarat Gas (up 1.49%), Hindustan Petroleum Corporation (up 1.48%), Indraprastha Gas (up 1.42%), Aegis Logistics (up 1.22%), Adani Total Gas (up 1.2%) and Oil India (up 1.18%) advanced.

Stocks in Spotlight:

Hitachi Energy India hit an upper circuit of 20% after the company's standalone net profit stood at Rs 137.28 crore in Q3 FY25, steeply higher than Rs 22.97 crore in Q3 FY24. Revenue from operations jumped 27.16% to Rs 1,620.27 crore in Q3 FY25 as compared with Rs 1,274.20 in Q3 FY24.

K&R Rail Engineering jumped 4.56% after the company's net profit zoomed 523.30% to Rs 6.42 crore in Q3 FY25 as against Rs 1.03 crore posted in Q3 FY24. Revenue from operations stood at Rs 145.52 crore in the third quarter of FY25, registering a growth of 4.6% year on year.

Raymond rose 0.73%. The company's consolidated net profit tumbled 61.01% to Rs 72.28 crore in Q3 FY25 as against Rs 185.39 crore posted in Q3 FY24. Revenue from operations jumped 35.55% year on year (YoY) to Rs 985.35 crore in the quarter ended 31 December 2024.

Global Markets:

The US Dow Jones index futures were currently up by 93 points, signaling a positive opening for US stocks today.

Markets in Japan and Australia traded mixed on Thursday, breaking ranks with Wall Street that fell overnight as the Federal Reserve kept interest rates unchanged. Several Asia-Pacific markets were closed for the Lunar New Year holiday.

Recent data released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics showed that Australia's export price index climbed 3.6% in the fourth quarter of 2024, but fell 8.6% through the year. Its import price index rose 0.2% in the same quarter but fell 1.9% through the year. These indexes reflect the changes in prices of imports into and exports from the country.

Overnight in the U.S., benchmark indexes fell after the Federal Reserve left interest rates unchanged in its first policy decision of the year on Wednesday.

The S&P 500 slid 0.47% to close at 6,039.31, while the Nasdaq Composite lost 0.51% to end at 19,632.32. The Dow Jones Industrial Average shed 136.83 points, or 0.31%, to 44,713.52.

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