The headline equity benchmarks continued to trade with limited losses in mid-morning trade. The Nifty traded below the 22,550 mark after hitting the day's high of 22,620.40 in early trade. Media shares extended gains for the second consecutive trading session. At 11:30 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was down 145.20 points or 0.20% to 74,192.33. The Nifty 50 index lost 35.30 points or 0.16% to 22,535.05.
The broader market outperformed the frontline indices. The S&P BSE Mid-Cap index rose 0.70% and the S&P BSE Small-Cap index added 0.62%.
The market breadth was strong. On the BSE, 2,156 shares rose and 1,392 shares fell. A total of 160 shares were unchanged.
Politics:
The second phase of voting, scheduled for April 26, encompasses 89 constituencies across 13 states and Union territories. The BJP seeks a third consecutive term, while the opposition, including the Congress, has united under the banner of the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) bloc to thwart PM Modi's re-election. The extensive Lok Sabha elections 2024 span seven phases from April 19 to June 1, with the results set to be announced on June 4.
Buzzing Index:
The Nifty Media index gained 1.79% to 1,922.40. The index rallied 2.27% in two consecutive trading sessions.
Saregama India (up 7.07%), Zee Entertainment Enterprises (up 3.89%), Sun TV Network (up 1.82%), Tips Industries (up 1.63%), Dish TV India (up 1.4%) and TV18 Broadcast (up 0.11%) advanced.
On the other hand, Network 18 Media & Investments (down 1.56%), Nazara Technologies (down 0.36%) and Hathway Cable & Datacom (down 0.22%) edeged lower.
Stocks in Spotlight:
Bharat Heavy Electricals (Bhel) advanced 2.76% after the company announced that its board has approved the appointment of Koppu Sadashiv Murthy as chief financial officer (CFO) with effect from 24 April 2024.
InterGlobe Aviation added 2.42% after the company agreed to place an order for 30 Firm A350-900 aircraft, which will enable IndiGo expand its network. From the various Indian metros, IndiGo will be able to connect to the world.
Sandur Manganese & Iron Ores (SMIORE) slipped 1.14%. The company said that it has signed a share purchase agreement (SPA) with an entity affiliated with ADV Partners, an Asia-focused private equity firm, to acquire a controlling interest in Arjas.
Global Markets:
Most of the Asian stocks advanced on Friday after Bank of Japan (BOJ) kept monetary policy unchanged. Holding its benchmark policy rate at 0%-0.1%
The BOJ now expects inflation between 2.5% and 3% for fiscal 2024, up from 2.2% to 2.5% in its January forecast.
US stocks dropped on Thursday after data showed a sharp slowdown in economic growth and pointed to persistent inflation.
The US economy grew last quarter at the slowest pace in two years as consumer and government spending cooled amid a sharp pickup in inflation. The US gross domestic product (GDP) increased at a 1.6% annualized rate in January-March 2024. The economy grew at a 3.4% rate in the fourth quarter.
Inflation surged, with the personal consumption expenditures (PCE) price index, excluding food and energy, increasing at a 3.7% rate after rising at 2% in the fourth quarter.
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