The headline equity benchmarks traded with moderate gains in afternoon trade, supported by value buying at lower levels after a sharp decline over the last five trading sessions. The Nifty traded above the 22,550 mark after hitting day’s low of 22,516.45 in early trade.
Media, auto and FMCG shares advanced while Metal, realty and PSU bank stocks corrected.
At 13:30 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, advanced 210.18 points or 0.28% to 74,664.28. The Nifty 50 index added 20.50 points or 0.09% to 22,573.85.
The broader market underperformed the frontline indices. The S&P BSE Mid-Cap index fell 0.43% and the S&P BSE Small-Cap index declined 0.13%.
The market breadth was negative. On the BSE, 1,840 shares rose and 1,945 shares fell. A total of 149 shares were unchanged.
The stock market will remain closed tomorrow, 26th February 2025, in observance of Mahashivratri.
Gainers & Losers:
Mahindra & Mahindra (up 3.20%), Bharti Airtel (up 2.39%), Adani Enterprises (up 1.81%), Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone (up 1.74%) and Bajaj Finance (up 1.51%) were the major Nifty gainers.
Hindalco Industries (down 2.63%), Dr. Reddy's Laboratories (down 2.19%), Sun Pharmaceutical Industries (down 1.52%), Trent (down 1.48%) and SBI Life Insurance Company (down 1.33%) were the major Nifty losers.
Stocks in Spotlight:
Gensol Engineering shed 0.69%. The company said that it has signed a non-binding term sheet for the sale of its US subsidiary Scorpius Trackers Inc. to a major renewable energy solutions provider in the US for Rs 350 crore.
Apollo Pipes slipped 3.34%. The company announced that it has made an additional investment by acquiring a 0.50% equity stake in its subsidiary, Kisan Mouldings (KML), through a secondary purchase.
Welspun Corp declined 1.14%. The company announced that it has incorporated a wholly a wholly-owned subsidiary, Welspun Europe S.A., in Spain, to give thrust to its exports across all our business verticals.
Sharda Motor Industries rallied 3.28% after the company announced that it has entered into an agreement to transfer the leasehold rights over the land and building of the company situated at Haridwar.
Jyoti Structures fell 1.73%. The company has announced the receipt of a notification of award from Adani Energy Solutions for a project valued at Rs 398 crore.
Global Markets:
Most of European shares declined on Tuesday after the release of disappointing economic data from Germany. The country’s Federal Statistical Office confirmed that Germany's economy contracted by 0.2% quarter-on-quarter in the final three months of 2024, matching the preliminary reading from the end of January.
Meanwhile, the conservative Christian Democratic Union and the allied Christian Social Union (CDU/CSU) secured the largest share of votes in the election on Sunday, with the alliance’s candidate Friedrich Merz set to take over from Olaf Scholz as chancellor of Europe’s largest economy
Asian stocks tumbled after Wall Street fell overnight as tariff threats by U.S. President Donald Trump stoked a risk-off mood. Concerns over potential U.S. investment restrictions on Chinese technology sectors and anticipation of Nvidia's earnings. The Bank of Korea's expected 0.25% interest rate cut provided limited support to South Korean stocks.
Hong Kong's Hang Seng index continued its downward trend from Monday, following U.S. measures aimed at limiting Chinese investment in strategic areas like semiconductors, artificial intelligence, and aerospace.
Investor sentiment was further dampened by continued uncertainty surrounding potential U.S. tariffs on Mexico and Canada, despite prior hopes of negotiated resolutions.
U.S. indices finished lower on Monday, with tech stocks leading the decline. This followed sharp losses in the previous session, fueled by growing concerns about a potential slowdown in the U.S. economy, as indicated by weaker consumer sentiment data.
The S&P 500 fell 0.5% to 5,983.49 points, while the NASDAQ Composite slid 1.2% to 19,286.93 points. The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed up 0.1% at 43,461.95 points.
All eyes are now on Nvidia’s quarterly earnings release, scheduled for after the U.S. market close on Wednesday. Investors are particularly focused on whether the company maintained its high growth trajectory driven by strong demand for its advanced artificial intelligence chips.