Broader mkt outperforms; bank shares advance

The headline equity benchmarks continued to trade with decent gains in mid-afternoon trade. The Nifty traded near the 22,300 level. Bank shares advanced after declining for the past two consecutive trading sessions.

At 14:30 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, rallied 471.13 points or 0.62% to 76,493.18. The Nifty 50 index added 133.95 points or 0.58% to 23,299.65.

The broader market outperformed the frontline indices. The S&P BSE Mid-Cap index rose 1.14% and the S&P BSE Small-Cap index added 0.89%.

The market breadth was strong. On the BSE, 2,678 shares rose and 1,175 shares fell. A total of 159 shares were unchanged.

Economy:

India's manufacturing sector growth recovered the ground lost in February, picking up to its highest in eight months as a faster upturn in total sales underpinned a sharper increase in output. March's acceleration came despite a mild slowdown in international order growth. Buoyant demand led companies to tap into their inventories to meet increased client appetite, resulting in the most rapid decline in finished goods stocks since January 2022. Firms aimed to counter declining stock levels by acquiring additional inputs for their production processes at the quickest pace seen in seven months.

Meanwhile, a stronger increase in purchase prices contrasted with a softer rise in selling charges. Registering 58.1 in March, the seasonally adjusted HSBC India Manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) was up from 56.3 in February to its highest mark in eight months. The latest reading showed a substantial improvement in the health of the sector that was above its long-run average.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has announced an Open Market Operation (OMO) purchase worth Rs 80,000 crore in April. The purchases will be conducted in four tranches of Rs 20,000 crore each on April 3, April 8, April 22, and April 29, the central bank said in a statement released late Tuesday.

OMO purchases involve the RBI buying government securities from the market to infuse liquidity, ensuring smoother credit flow and stable financial conditions.

The central bank emphasized that it will continue to monitor evolving liquidity and market conditions and take appropriate measures as needed to maintain orderly market operations.

Buzzing Index:

The Nifty Bank index rose 0.76% to 51,212.60. The index fell 0.70% in the past two consecutive trading sessions.

IndusInd Bank (up 2.5%), AU Small Finance Bank (up 1.65%), HDFC Bank (up 1.43%), ICICI Bank (up 0.99%), Punjab National Bank (up 0.68%), Canara Bank (up 0.58%), Bank of Baroda (up 0.38%), IDFC First Bank (up 0.26%), Kotak Mahindra Bank (up 0.26%), and State Bank of India (up 0.23%) added.

On the other hand, Axis Bank (down 0.15%) and Federal Bank (down 0.1%) edged lower.

Numbers to Track:

The yield on India's 10-year benchmark federal paper was up 0.43% to 6.607 as compared with previous close 6.580.

In the foreign exchange market, the rupee edged lower against the dollar. The partially convertible rupee was hovering at 85.5850, compared with its close of 85.5000 during the previous trading session.

MCX Gold futures for 4 April 2025 settlement shed 0.01% to Rs 90,500.

The US Dollar index (DXY), which tracks the greenback's value against a basket of currencies, was down 0.03% to 104.19.

The United States 10-year bond yield rose 0.43% to 4.174.

In the commodities market, Brent crude for June 2025 settlement fell 16 cents or 0.21% to $74.33 a barrel.

Stocks in Spotlight:

Colab Platforms jumped 2% after the company announced its entry into the Rs 50,000 crore predictive gaming market to unlock new revenue streams.

Syngene International rose 1.20% after the company announced that its board approved the appointment of Peter Bains as managing director (MD) and chief executive officer (a key managerial personnel), effective from 1 April 2025, for a period of 2 years.

Hyundai Motor India (HMIL) fell 1.16%. The company reported a 2.6% YoY increase in total sales, reaching 67,320 units in March 2025, including domestic sales of 51,820 units and export sales of 15,500 units.

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