The domestic equity benchmarks traded with minor gains in mid-afternoon trade, supported by RBI's move to ease liquidity norms. Investor sentiment stayed positive, aided by continued foreign institutional inflows. The Nifty traded above the 24,150 mark. Consumer durable shares witnessed buying demand for eighth consecutive trading session. At 14:25 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex added 189.72 points or 0.23% to 79,591.45. The Nifty 50 index rose 52.95 points or 0.22% to 24,178.50. The broader market outperformed the frontline indices. The S&P BSE Mid-Cap index jumped 1.18% and the S&P BSE Small-Cap index advanced 1.06%. The market breadth was strong. On the BSE, 2,604 shares rose and 1,335 shares fell. A total of 148 shares were unchanged. Economy: In a relief to banks, the Reserve Bank of India has finalized its Liquidity Coverage Ratio (LCR) guidelines, reducing the proposed additional run-off factor on internet and mobile banking-enabled retail deposits to 2.5%, effective 1 April 2026. Under the new norms, stable and less stable retail deposits will now attract run-off factors of 7.5% and 12.5%, respectively. The RBI also lowered the run-off rate on wholesale funding from non-financial entities like trusts and LLPs to 40% from 100%, aiming to better reflect funding stability. These changes are expected to improve banks' LCR by about 6% while ensuring continued compliance with minimum regulatory The combined Index of Eight Core Industries (ICI) increased by 3.8% (provisional) in March 2025, as compared to 3.4% in February 2025. The production of cement, fertilizers, steel, electricity, coal, and refinery products recorded positive growth in March 2025. India's core sector registered a moderate growth of 4.4% in FY25, easing from the stronger 7.6% expansion seen in FY24. Buzzing Index: The Nifty Consumer Durables index jumped 1.89% to Rs 38,315.60. The index jumped 12.66% in the eight trading sessions. Dixon Technologies (India) (up 5.79%), PG Electroplast (up 4.1%), Crompton Greaves Consumer Electricals (up 3.56%), Voltas (up 2.03%), V-Guard Industries (up 1.98%), Cera Sanitaryware (up 1.98%), Whirlpool of India (up 1.67%), Bata India (up 1.64%), Century Plyboards (India) (up 1.42%) and Blue Star (up 1.12%) advanced. Number to Track: The yield on India's 10-year benchmark federal paper advanced 1.90% to 6.440 as compared with the previous close of 6.417. In the foreign exchange market, the rupee edged higher against the dollar. The partially convertible rupee was hovering at 85.1150, compared with its close of 85.1575 during the previous trading session. MCX Gold futures for the 5 June 2025 settlement were rose 0.88% to Rs 98,120. Gold prices touched the Rs 1 lakh mark in intraday trade today. The US Dollar index (DXY), which tracks the greenback's value against a basket of currencies, was up 0.02% to 98.37. The United States 10-year bond yield rose 0.20% to 4.414. In the commodities market, Brent crude for June 2025 settlement advanced 31 cents or 0.47% to 66.57 a barrel. Stocks in Spotlight: Tata Consultancy Services shed 0.37%. The IT major said that it has entered into an agreement with ICICI Securities for modernizing the latter's industry leading retail trading and brokerage platform. As part of this initiative, TCS will deploy the trading solution of TCS BaNCS. The solution would help ICICI Securities to improve the agility of its platform. HMA Agro Industries rose 2.13% after the firm announced the appointment of Gulzeb Ahmed as chief executive officer (CEO) of the company, effective 22 April, 2025. Hindustan Unilever (HUL) added 1.41% after the FMCG major announced the completion of its acquisition of a 90.5% stake in Uprising Science, the parent company of the skincare brand Minimalist, for Rs 2,706.44 crore. Powered by Capital Market - Live News |