Stock Market News Today: GIFT Nifty Indicates a Cautious Start; ONGC, Biocon in Focus

The Indian stock market ended the session on February 6, 2024, erasing the previous day’s losses. At close, Sensex jumped 454 points at 72,186.09 while Nifty gained 157 points and ended the session at 21,929.40.

Around 1635 stocks advanced and 943 declined while 90 stocks remained unchanged.

Among the sectors, except bank, FMCG, and power, all other sectoral indices ended in the green. Auto, oil & gas, capital goods, healthcare, metal, and IT added 1-3 percent each.

GIFT Nifty

Trends on GIFT Nifty indicate a cautious start for Indian indices.

US Markets

The S&P 500 closed slightly higher on Tuesday, as investors scrutinized a mixed bag of earnings at big US companies and digested comments from Federal Reserve policymakers for clues about its first planned interest-rate cut.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 141.24 points, or 0.37%, to 38,521.36. The S&P 500 climbed 11.42 points, or 0.23 %, to 4,954.23. The Nasdaq Composite gained 11.32 points, or 0.07 %, to end at 15,609, according to a Reuters report.

Also read: What is NAV in Mutual Funds?

Asian Markets

Asia-Pacific markets were mostly higher Wednesday, except Japan, tracking Wall Street gains as investors assessed corporate earnings from US and Asian firms.

South Korea’s Kospi jumped 1.8%, leading gains in Asia, while the Kosdaq gained 1.26%. In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.68%, a day after the country’s central bank held rates at 4.35%. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index extended gains, up 0.9% on its open. Japan’s Nikkei 225 was the only benchmark in the negative territory, down about 0.16%. The broader Topix inched 0.42% higher, according to a CNBC report.

Results today

Tata Consumer Products, Power Grid Corporation of India, Nestle India, Lupin, Manappuram Finance, Apollo Tyres, Ashoka Buildcon, Borosil Renewables, Cummins India, General Insurance Corporation of India, JK Paper, Parag Milk Foods, Protean eGov Technologies, Sobha, Trent, and Zuari Agro Chemicals.

Stocks in the news

• Rice stocks: Rice manufacturers such as LT Foods, KRBL, Chaman Lal Setia, Kohinoor Foods, and GRM Overseas, may react to the government’s decision to launch ‘Bharat Rice’ where it will distribute rice at a subsidised rate of Rs 29 per kilogram in a bid to provide relief to consumers amid a 15 percent rise in retail prices of the grain in the last one year.
• ONGC: ONGC has signed a Cooperation Agreement with TotalEnergies to carry out methane emissions detection and measurement campaigns using TotalEnergies’ pioneer AUSEA (Airborne Ultralight Spectrometer for Environmental Applications) technology.
• Lupin: Lupin has received approval from the United States Food and Drug Administration (US FDA) for its abbreviated new drug application for Bromfenac ophthalmic solution to market a generic equivalent of BromSite ophthalmic solution from Sun Pharmaceutical Industries in the United States.
• Biocon: The company has received tentative approval for its ANDA for Dasatinib tablets from the US FDA. This product is indicated for use in the treatment of Philadelphia chromosome-positive chronic myeloid leukemia in adults.
• Navin Fluorine: The company has approved a capex of Rs 288 crore for a new cGMP-4 facility at Dewas. The period within which the proposed capacity is to be added is 25-30 months.
• Quess Corp: The company has agreed to sell its wholly-owned subsidiary, Qdigi Services, to Onsitego.
• UPL: Moody’s Investor Service has downgraded UPL’s senior unsecured rating (BA1 from BAA3) for UPL Corporation as well as the rating on the company’s long-term junior subordinated bonds (BA3 from BA2).
• Max Financial Services: Insurance regulator, Irdai, has approved Max Financial Services capital infusion worth Rs 1,612 crore by Axis Bank into Max Life, subject to the approval of the competition watchdog CCI.

FII and DII data

Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) net bought shares worth Rs 92.52 crore. Domestic institutional investors (DIIs) purchased Rs 1,096.26 crore worth of stocks on February 6.

Bulk Deals

• Global Surfaces Limited: Vikasa India EIF I Fund – Incube Global Opportunities sold 2,20,000 shares at Rs 300.21
• Data Infra: Axis Bank Limited sold 6,06,00,000 shares at Rs 153.95

Stocks under F&O ban on NSE

The NSE has added Ashok Leyland to the F&O ban list for February 7.

Disclaimer: The content of this blog post is intended solely for informational purposes and should not be interpreted as investment or trading advice. The author does not assure the accuracy or completeness of the information presented. Any decisions or actions taken based on the content of this blog post are undertaken at your own risk.