Barometers trade with small gains; metal shares shine

The key equity benchmarks continued to trade with minor gains in mid-afternoon trade. The Nifty traded above the 22,550 mark. Metal shares extended gains for the five consecutive trading sessions.

At 14:30 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, added 75.05 points, or 0.09%, to 74,409.27. The Nifty 50 index rose 32.30 points, or 0.13%, to 22,574.30.

In the broader market, the S&P BSE Mid-Cap index shed 0.13% and the S&P BSE Small-Cap index added 1.05%.

The market breadth was positive. On the BSE, 2,579 shares rose and 1,361 shares fell. A total of 109 shares were unchanged.

Buzzing Index:

The Nifty Metal index rose 0.27% to 8,912.45. The index jumped 8.43% in the five consecutive trading sessions.

Welspun Corp. (up 1.47%), National Aluminum Company (up 0.98%), Hindustan Copper (up 0.92%), Hindustan Zinc (up 0.92%), NMDC (up 0.82%), Hindalco Industries (up 0.76%), Tata Steel (up 0.67%), Jindal Stainless (up 0.44%), Vedanta (up 0.41%), and Jindal Steel & Power (up 0.14%) added.

On the other hand, Ratnamani Metals & Tubes (down 0.92%), Adani Enterprises (down 0.85%), and APL Apollo Tubes (down 0.83%) edged lower.

NMDC rose 0.82%. The company has announced the appointment of Amitava Mukherjee as the chairman and managing director of the company, effective from 6 March 2025.

According to an exchange filing, his tenure will continue until his superannuation on 29 February 2028, or until further orders, whichever is earlier.

Numbers to Track:

The yield on India's 10-year benchmark federal paper was up 1.77% to 6.977 as compared with previous close 6.789.

In the foreign exchange market, the rupee edged lower against the dollar. The partially convertible rupee was hovering at 86.9650, compared with its close of 87.1200 during the previous trading session.

MCX Gold futures for 4 April 2025 settlement shed 0.01% to Rs 86,024.

The US Dollar index (DXY), which tracks the greenback's value against a basket of currencies, was shed 0.52% to 103.68.

The United States 10-year bond yield fell 0.58% to 4.257.

In the commodities market, Brent crude for May 2025 settlement added 82 cents, or 1.18% to $70.28 a barrel.

Stocks in Spotlight:

Omaxe jumped 7.55% after the company announced that the UPSRTC has awarded a contract to modernize six key bus terminals in the state under PPP model to BeTogether.

BeTogether is a wholly owned subsidiary of Omaxe. It aims to reshape the urban and economic development in India through strategic collaborations and public-private partnerships (PPP). The six key bus terminals for which the Uttar Pradesh State Road Transport Corporation (UPSRTC) has awarded the modernization contract are Ghaziabad, Lucknow (Gomti Nagar), Prayagraj, Kaushambi, Ayodhya, and Lucknow (Amausi).

Biocon rose 0.48%. The company said that its wholly owned subsidiary, Biocon Biologics, announced a strategic collaboration agreement with Civica, Inc. to expand access and affordability of Insulin Aspart in the United States.

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