Nifty50: 15,098 ▲ 142 (+0.9%)
Sensex: 51,025 ▲ 584 (+1.1%)
After a strong gap-up opening, the market nose-dived and turned negative during the middle of the session. However, the weakness was short-lived, and the indices closed near the day’s high. The market breadth was balanced with 24 of the Nifty50 shares ending in the green.
Among the Nifty sectoral indices, Financial Services (+2.2%) and Nifty Bank (+1.6%) gained the most, whereas Metal (-2.5%) and Media (-1.4%) were the top losers.
| Top gainers | Today's change |
| SBI Life | ▲ 4.9% |
| Kotak Bank | ▲ 3.0% |
| HDFC Bank | ▲ 2.9% |
| Top losers | Today's change |
| BPCL | ▼ 4.5% |
| Tata Steel | ▼ 3.9% |
| GAIL | ▼ 3.3% |
Here are the top stories of the day.
Private life insurers outperform in February
- Private life insurers such as HDFC Life (+2.3%), ICICI Prudential Life (+1.6%) and SBI Life (+4.9%) reported an improvement in their weighted received premium for February. Weighted received premium (WRP) measures the premium received on individual products.
- According to IRDAI, WRP for private insurers rose 23% YoY in February as compared to 7% in January. This figure is higher than the industry average of 17.8% as well that of LIC at 9.4%.
JMC Projects bags housing contract in Maldives
- Civil engineering company JMC Projects has bagged an order to design, finance and construct 2,000 social housing units in Maldives. The project is worth ₹1,000 crore.
- The deal is expected soon and the construction will begin thereafter. Its shares jumped 8.2% coupled with a spike in volumes. The stock has gained 14.5% so far in 2021.
Jindal Poly Films plans fundraise
- Shares of Jindal Poly Films have seen a sharp rise of over 45% this month. The company is India’s largest manufacturer of BOPET and BOPP films used in the packaging industry.
- As per reports, the company plans to sell a minority stake to raise up to ₹1,200 crore. The promoters own 74.5% of the company. Today, however, its stock took a breather and closed 2.3% lower.
Indoco rises after US drug launch
- The Mumbai-based pharma company has launched its brinzolamide ophthalmic suspension 1% in the US market. The drug, which is used to treat high blood pressure inside the eye, is the first generic version of Azopt eye drops made by Israel-headquartered Teva Pharmaceuticals.
- Indoco will manufacture the drug at its Goa facility for Teva. According to industry estimates, the US market size for this drug is $184 million as of December 2020. Shares of Indoco closed 3.9% higher today.
Closing bell
While the Indian markets inched higher today, on a broader basis, the markets have been range-bound for the past couple of trading sessions. Today, the cues from the international equity indices were also mixed. The weakness in copper prices and tumbling iron ore prices in China not only affected the metal stocks today but could also affect investors’ expectations of a demand-led recovery. Meanwhile, the discussion on India’s inflation could take centerstage over the next two days, till the data on inflation is released on Friday.
Good to know
What is hedging?
Hedging is a technique to offset risk in an investment. This is done by investing in financial instruments whose prices tend to move in the opposite direction of the primary investment.
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