Stock Market Highlights: Nifty 2 pts shy of 17,500 led by financial, auto, IT shares; ONGC drops 5%

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Time to be cautious in market: Dinshaw Irani 

Dinshaw Irani, CIO of Helios Capital India, believes investors need to be cautious at the current juncture. "You have seen the rural demand wane for a very long time. In fact, that also is not abating. There are been sound bites about even urban side where some consumer durables and non-durables are seeing some downgrading and so on... That is an area of concern. You are going to compare the March quarter to a very heavy March quarter last year, which was just out of a lockdown, and you are seeing a lot of revenge buying and so that comparison will not hold good," he says. 

"We are probably being cautious with our investors’ money... Next couple of months are going to be fairly trying... We will just look at the market; how they play out and probably then take a call going forward," Irani adds. 

Expect gas rates to go up, city gas distributors to suffer: Sudip Bandopadhyay 

Sudip Bandopadhyay, Group Chairman at Inditrade Capital, expects gas prices to go up, making city gas companies suffer. He is extremely cautious on city gas companies. He is bullish on ONGC and Oil India from a fundamental perspective. He believes that after the Russia-Ukraine war, geopolitical sensitivities will make pretty much all the governments look at generating oil to the extent possible by domestic companies.

"We have not seen a significant increase in capacity as far as ONGC is concerned for the last five years. It is high time the focus is brought on production increases and other efficiencies as far as ONGC goes. We can look at buying ONGC with a one-year-plus time horizon in mind,” he says. 

ITC remains top consumption pick: Nischal Maheshwari 

Centrum Broking's Nischal Maheshwari has ITC as his top pick in the consumption space. He also likes Dabur, Emami and Britannia. 

"We have several consumption stocks on our 'buy' radar. But by and large, the issue is inflation. The commodity price increase that you have seen is impacting the consumption companies. Given that demand is not very strong, most of these companies have not been able to pass it on... So in the next 1-2 quarters, there will be margin pressure and that is why you are seeing this correction," he says. 

Market At Close | Reliance, HDFC twins, ICICI Bank lift Nifty by more than 100 points

Here are some highlights: 

--Metal stocks slip following fall in commodity prices; Nifty Metal down 2 percent

--Nifty Bank rises 487 points to 36,334; midcap index up 248 points at 29,591

--ONGC top Nifty loser; OFS floor price at discount to CMP

--ITC falls for 2nd day, stock down over 2 percent

--Tata Consumer rises 2 percent after co announces simplification of structure

--Bajaj twins among top Nifty gainers, up around 3 percent

--Reliance continues to gain momentum, hits 5-month high

--L&T Info, Godrej Conssumer, Dalmia Bharat, Ramco Cements top midcap gainers

--Nalco, JSPL, Vedanta, L&T Finance, Aurobindo Pharma top midcap losers

--Market breadth favours bulls; advance-decline ratio at 2:1

Disclaimer: Network18, the parent company of CNBCTV18.com, is controlled by Independent Media Trust, of which Reliance Industries is the sole beneficiary.

CNBC-TV18 Newsbreak Confirmed | Axis Bank to acquire Citigroup's India consumer business for $1.6 billion in all-cash deal

Market At Close | HDFC Life, Bajaj twins, Tata Consumer, Power Grid, Hero MotoCorp top blue-chip gainers

ONGC, Hindalco, JSW Steel, ITC and Tata Steel the worst hit among the 18 laggards in the Nifty50 pack. 

Here's how the 30-scrip basket looks like: 

Closing Bell | Sensex up 740 pts, Nifty 2 pts shy of 17,500

The Sensex finishes the day up 740.3 points or 1.3 percent at 58,684 and the Nifty50 at 17,472.3, up 147 points or 0.9 percent from its previous close. (Read more on the closing bell)

Hero MotoCorp refutes report of false expense claims; calls it speculative

Two-wheeler market leader Hero MotoCorp has denied the report of the IT Department finding Rs 1,000 crore false expense claims, saying it is speculative.

BSE IT index up 1% supported by Vakrangee, Nucleus Software Exports, Subex

Govt to announce revised natural gas price for next 6 mths, tomorrow

Reliance set to get a record price of $10/mmBtu for the KG Gas while ONGC may fetch more than double the rate for its Mumbai High & other fields.

Financial, auto, IT stocks help Nifty50 test 17,000: Key factors impacting market now

Indian equity benchmarks extended gains to a third straight day on Wednesday, led by financial, auto and IT shares even as metal shares played spoilsport. Globally, optimism on progress in negotiations between Russia and Ukraine boosted sentiment. The 30-scrip Sensex index jumped as much as 721.4 points or 1.2 percent to 58,665 and the broader Nifty50 benchmark rose to as high as 17,513.9, up 188.6 points or 1.1 percent from its previous close.

Cabinet approves amendment in Mega Power Policy 2009 for provisional mega power projects

Cabinet approves amendment in Mega Power Policy 2009 for provisional mega power projects. Extension to enable developers to competitively bid for future PPAs and get tax exemptions. Increased liquidity to ensure the revival of various stressed power assets.

ITC surges 17% in March, most among peers 

Shares of ITC Ltd surged nearly 17 percent in March, the most in sixteen months, even as its peers dropped on fears of margin pressure due to rising input costs. The stock has been an underperformer for the past few years due to stagnant financials, ESG concerns and exposure to COVID. Peers such as Godrej Consumer lost 8 percent in March, Nestle India dropped 3 percent, Hindustan Unilever declined 8 percent, Dabur India 7.6 percent while Marico fell 5.4 percent.

Hariom Pipe Industries IPO Day 1: 50% issue subscribed, retail portion booked 1.5 times

Hariom Pipe Industries Limited’s initial public offering (IPO) made its market debut on Wednesday and more than half of its issue was subscribed within three hours on the first day of bidding itself. Potential investors can bid for the IPO until April 5.

By 2 pm, the issue received bids of 44.72 lakh shares against 85 lakh shares offered. Retail investors booked 1.5 times the portion reserved for them. Non-institutional investors subscribed to more than 25,000 of the 29.75 lakh shares reserved for them. QIBs were yet to start bidding.

S&P revises Bajaj Finance outlook to 'positive', affirms rating: Bloomberg 

Bajaj Finance shares rise as much as 3.3 percent to Rs 7,271.

Bajaj Finserv gains to as high as Rs 17,246.8, up 4.5 percent from its previous close. 

Banking sector has high visibility on earnings: Nirav Sheth

Nirav Sheth of Emkay Global tells CNBC-TV18 that the banking sector has a high visibility on earnings. He is seeing 20% earnings growth in FY23 and 15 percent in FY24. 

Sheth expects commodities to continue to perform well going forward. 

ONGC OFS | Non-retail portion fully subscribed

Buy L&t Tech Services, Ramco Cement: Prakash Gaba

Here are two stock recommendations from Prakash Gaba of prakashgaba.com:

--Buy L&T Technology Services for a target of Rs 5,100 with a stop loss at Rs 5,000 

--Buy Ramco Cements for a target of Rs 780 with a stop loss at Rs 760 

Nifty Auto up 1.3%; Maruti Suzuki up 2.2%, Tata Motors 1.3%

Here's how other auto stocks look like at this hour: 

Buy Maruti Suzuki, Greaves Cotton: Kush Bohra 

Kush Bohra of kushbohra.com shares two trading calls: 

--Buy Greaves Cotton for a target of Rs 210 with a stop loss at Rs 190 

--Buy Maruti Suzuki for a target of Rs 7,700 with a stop loss at Rs 7,520 

CNBC-TV18 Exclusive | Sources say Citibank may announce sale of India consumer business today

Axis Bank is likely to acquire Citi's India consumer business, sources tell CNBC-TV18. 

CNBC-TV18 was the first to report that Axis Bank was the frontrunner for the deal. 

Citi declines to comment on the report and a response was awaited from Axis Bank.

Axis Bank shares up 2.3 percent at Rs 754.7.

Dilip Buildcon emerges lowest bidder for Rs 1,589-crore project 

Dilip Buildcon declared the lowest bidder for a new hybrid annuity mode (HAM) project to develop a six-lane access controlled highway on the Maradgi S Andola-Baswantpur section of National Highway 150C under the Bharatmala scheme, according to a regulatory filing. 

The stock rises as much as 4.5 percent to Rs 252.

IPO Corner | Uma Exports IPO subscribed over 5 times so far on final day

Here's how investors are responding to other IPOs:

Sun Pharma to introduce depressive disorder treatment drug in India; shares off day's low

Sun Pharmaceutical Industries shares down 0.8 percent at Rs 912, having fallen as much as 1.2 percent earlier in the day. 

Sun Pharma will introduce Vortioxetine in India under an exclusive patent license from Lundbeck. The drug is used in the treatment of major depressive disorder in adults.

Buy Tata Consumer, Tinplate: Ashish Kyal

Ashish Kyal of Waves Strategy shares two trading calls: 

--Buy Tata Consumer Products for a target of Rs 830 with a stop loss at Rs 747 

--Buy Tinplate for a target of Rs 437 with a stop loss at Rs 394 

ONGC shares fall as crude oil off recent highs

ONGC shares fall as much as 4.8 percent to Rs 162.9 in morning deals amid easing crude oil prices, with Brent hitting a two-week low. Higher oil prices benefit ONGC. 

Morgan Stanley retains an 'overweight' call on the stock with a target price of Rs 263. The brokerage sees earnings upside in ONGC on the back of gas price hikes and tight supplies in the oil & gas market. 

Meanwhile, the government is selling up to 1.5 percent in the state-owned company through an offer for sale (OFS), a move that is expected to fetch the exchequer Rs 3,000 crore. (Read more on ONGC shares)

Gold rises as dollar, yields fall amid progress in Russia-Ukraine talks

Gold prices rise as the US dollar and Treasury yields fall. However, signs of progress in Russia-Ukraine peace talks dented the yellow metal's appeal as a safe haven, keeping the upside in check. 

--Spot gold: up 0.3 percent at $1,924/ounce

--US gold futures: up 0.5 percent at $1,927.7 (Read more on gold rates)

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