The headline equity indices pared some gains and traded with minor gains in mid-morning trade. The Nifty traded below 22,700 level. Metal shares witnessed buying demand for the fourth consecutive trading sessions. Trading was volatile due to the expiry of weekly index options on the NSE.

At 11:30 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was up 145.19 points or 0.19% to 74,828.15. The Nifty 50 index added 39.80 points or 0.18% to 22,682.55.

In the broader market, The S&P BSE Mid-Cap index rose 0.52% and the S&P BSE Small-Cap index added 0.12%.

The market breadth was negative. On the BSE, 1,684 shares rose and 1,906 shares fell. A total of 145 shares were unchanged.

Due to the observance of Ramadan Eid on 11 April 2024, the domestic market will be closed. Consequently, the Nifty weekly options expiry has been shifted to today.

Buzzing Index:

The Nifty Metal index gained 1.02% to 8,984.95. The index rallied 3.46% in the four trading sessions.

Vedanta (up 7.19%), NMDC (up 5.9%), Hindalco Industries (up 2.03%), National Aluminium Company (up 1.85%), Steel Authority of India (up 1.55%), Hindustan Zinc (up 1.39%), JSW Steel (up 0.78%), Tata Steel (up 0.75%), Ratnamani Metals & Tubes (up 0.31%) and Jindal Stainless (up 0.04%) advanced.

On the other hand, APL Apollo Tubes (down 2.24%), Welspun Corp (down 1.27%) and Hindustan Copper (down 1.24%) edged lower.

Stocks in Spotlight:

Shyam Metalics and Energy added 1.48% after the company established a new stainless steel hot rolled coils (HRC) facility at its existing plant in Sambalpur, Odisha as a part of its expansion plan.

RattanIndia Power declined 1.32%. The company announced that Manish Ratnakar will take over the position of chief financial officer (CFO) and key management personnel (KMP) from Ankur Mitra effective from closing business hours of 9 April 2024.

Global Markets:

Asian stocks traded mixed on Wednesday as of Japan’s corporate inflation climbed in March and rate decisions are assessed from New Zealand and Thailand’s central banks.

South Korea’s markets are closed Wednesday, as the country heads to the polls to elect its next parliament. Japan’s corporate goods price index rose 0.8% in March from a year ago, accelerating from the revised 0.7% increase in February.

U.S. stock indexes ended nearly flat on Tuesday, pressured by financial-sector stocks as investors awaited a key inflation reading and braced for major banks to kick off earnings-reporting season later this week. The widely watched report on March's consumer-price index is due on Wednesday.