The key domestic indices traded with moderate gains in afternoon trade. The Nifty hovered above the 23,700 level. Barring IT all the other sectoral indices on the NSE were traded in green.

At 13:25 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, rallied 253.00 points or 0.33% to 78,220.82. The Nifty 50 index added 108.75 points or 0.46% to 23,724.80.

The broader market outperformed the frontline indices. The S&P BSE Mid-Cap index rose 0.92% and the S&P BSE Small-Cap index advanced 1.59%.

The market breadth was strong. On the BSE, 2,600 shares rose and 1,293 shares fell. A total of 124 shares were unchanged.

Gainers & Losers :

ONGC (up 1.42%), SBI Life Insurance (up 2.50%), HDFC Life Insurance (up 2.22%), IndusInd Bank (up 2.03%) and Tata Motors (up 2.01%) were the major Nifty gainers.

HCL Technologies (down 1.59%), Tata Consultancy Services (down 1.53%), Tech Mahindra (down 1.17%) and Bharat Petroleum Corporation (BPCL) (down 1.02%) and Eicher Motors (down 0.97%) were the major Nifty losers.

Stocks in Spotlight:

GM Breweries shed 0.80%. The breweries & distilleries company’s net profit declined 2.97% to Rs 21.97 crore in Q3 FY25 as against Rs 22.60 crore posted in the similar quarter previous year.

Shyam Metalics and Energy advanced 2.61% after the company announced that its stainless steel production surged 59% YoY to 7,889 MT in December 2024 as compared with 4,960 MT produced in December 2023.

S H Kelkar & Company tumbled 6.49% after the company said that gross margins were under pressure during the Q3 FY25 quarter, primarily due to supply constraints for strategic raw materials.

Paras Defence and Space Technologies jumped 9.19% after the company announced the grant of license under the Arms Act, 1959.

Mahindra & Mahindra shed 0.06%. The company said that its total production rose 19.93% to 53,361 units in the month of December 2024 as compared with 44,495 units produced in the same period last year.

Bajaj Finserv rose 0.75%. The company said that its subsidiary, Bajaj Allianz General Insurance Company recorded gross direct premium underwritten for December 2024 of Rs 1,330.9 crore, marking a 6.61% decrease compared to the same period last year (YoY).

Kalyan Jewellers India declined 1.01%. The company concluded the quarter by recording a consolidated revenue growth of approximately 39% when compared to the same period in the previous financial year.

Zydus Lifesciences rallied 4.01% after the company’s wholly-owned subsidiary, Sentynl Therapeutics, and Fortress Biotech received U.S. food and Drug Administration approval for filing and priority review of new drug application (NDA) for CUTX-101.

Info Edge (India) fell 4.09%. The company announced that its standalone billings jumped 15.84% to Rs 668.3 crore in Q3FY25 compared with Rs 576.9 crore in Q3 FY24.

Global Markets:

The Dow Jones index futures were down 19 points, signaling a flat-to-negative opening for U.S. stocks today, with focus remaining on key nonfarm payroll data due later in the week.

European market declined as investors in the region focus on the latest euro zone inflation data.

Most Asian stocks climbed on Tuesday, mirroring overnight gains in U.S. technology shares. However, Chinese markets lagged after the U.S. added two major tech companies to a blacklist.

Regional markets drew positive momentum from a robust Wall Street session, where technology stocks rebounded from a sluggish start to the year. NVIDIA Corporation, an AI leader, surged to a record high ahead of CEO Jensen Huang's keynote address at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.

The S&P 500 advanced 0.55% on Monday, while the NASDAQ Composite soared 1.24%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average underperformed, edging down 0.06%. Despite these gains, Wall Street indices remain under pressure due to concerns over a potential slowdown in interest rate cuts in 2025, driven by persistent inflation and a robust labor market.