The key equity benchmarks traded with small gains in mid-afternoon trade. The Nifty traded above the 23,250 mark. Metal shares extended gains for the three consecutive trading sessions. Trading could be volatile due to the weekly F&O series expiry today. At 14:30 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, added 226.65 points or 0.30% to 76,950.73. The Nifty 50 index rose 85.10 points or 0.37% to 23,298.30.
The broader market outperformed the headline indices. The S&P BSE Mid-Cap index added 1.03% and the S&P BSE Small-Cap index rallied 1.47%.
The market breadth was strong. On the BSE, 2,758 shares rose and 1,126 shares fell. A total of 115 shares were unchanged.
Economy:
India's trade deficit widened to $21.94 billion in December from $18.76 billion a year ago as merchandise exports contracted for the second month in a row, data released Wednesday showed. Exports contracted by about 1% year-on-year to $ 38.01 billion due to global uncertainties, while imports rose by about 5% to $ 59.95 billion. Gold imports in December amounted to $4.7 billion.
However, the merchandise trade deficit narrowed in December compared with November. The government had revised November's gold imports to $9.84 billion from $14.86 billion announced earlier. The correction had lowered the November trade deficit to $32.8 billion from a record $37.8 billion estimated earlier.
Buzzing Index:
The Nifty Metal index added 2% to 8,446.85. The index gained 2.16% in three consecutive trading sessions.
Hindustan Copper (up 4.61%), NMDC (up 4.3%), Vedanta (up 3.58%), Hindustan Zinc (up 2.78%), Hindalco Industries (up 2.55%), Adani Enterprises (up 2.34%), Welspun Corp (up 2.23%), Steel Authority of India (up 2.08%), Jindal Stainless (up 1.98%) and Jindal Steel & Power (up 1.45%) added.
Numbers to Track:
The yield on India's 10-year benchmark federal paper was up 0.98% to 6.880 as compared with previous close 6.925.
In the foreign exchange market, the rupee edged lower against the dollar. The partially convertible rupee was hovering at 86.5150, compared with its close of 86.4000 during the previous trading session.
MCX Gold futures for 5 February 2025 settlement rose 0.18% to Rs 78,850.
The US Dollar index (DXY), which tracks the greenback's value against a basket of currencies, was down 0.02% to 109.09.
The United States 10-year bond yield added 0.26% to 4.665.
In the commodities market, Brent crude for March 2025 settlement added 2 cent or 0.02% to $82.05 a barrel.
Stocks in Spotlight:
Bharat Dynamics (BDL) surged 5.16% after the Ministry of Defence (MoD) signed a contract with the company for the supply of medium-range surface-to-air missiles (MRSAM) for the Indian Navy.
EMS added 4.28% after the company received a letter of award (LoA) worth Rs 105.08 crore from Deltabulk Shipping India to develop the Multimodal Logistics Park (MMLP).
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