The key equity barometers ended with strong gains on Thursday. The Nifty index managed to close above 15,550 mark, rising from its intraday low of 15,367.50 hit in the afternoon trade. Barring the Nifty Oil & Gas index, all the sectoral indices on the NSE ended in the green. Trading was volatile ahead of the expiry of weekly index options on the NSE today.

As per provisional closing data, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, up 443.19 points or 0.86% to 52,265.72. The Nifty 50 index gained 143.35 points or 0.93% to 15,556.65.

In the broader market, the S&P BSE Mid-Cap index gained 0.76% while the S&P BSE Small-Cap index rose 0.66%.

The market breadth was strong. On the BSE, 2,093 shares rose and 1,211 shares fell. A total of 130 shares were unchanged.

Investors digested U.S. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell's comments on central bank's aim to slow down the inflation. Powell told Congress on Wednesday that the central bank is strongly committed to bringing down inflation after the rate hit a 40-year high in the United States. He also noted that a recession is a possibility — a fear that has continued to weigh on investors sentiment.

Economy:

India's current account deficit (CAD) decreased to $13.4 billion (1.5% of GDP) in Q4 2021-22 from $22.2 billion (2.6% of GDP) in Q3 2021-22. The sequential decline in CAD in Q4 2021-22 was mainly on account of a moderation in trade deficit and lower net outgo of primary income.

In the financial account, net foreign direct investment (FDI) at $13.8 billion was higher than $2.7 billion in Q4 2020-21. Net foreign portfolio investment (FPI) recorded an outflow of $15.2 billion - mainly from the equity market. Net external commercial borrowings (ECBs) to India were lower at $3.3 billion in Q4 2021-22 as compared with $6.1 billion a year ago. There was a drawdown of $16.0 billion in the foreign exchange reserves (on a BoP basis) as against an accretion of $3.4 billion in Q4 2020-21

Buzzing Index:

The Nifty Media index rose 1.42% to 1,844.20. The index slipped 3.50% in the past trading session.

Nazara Technologies (up 3.77%), Network 18 Media & Investments (up 3.47%), TV18 Broadcast (up 1.51%), Inox Leisure (up 1.48%), Zee Entertainment Enterprises (up 1.47%), PVR (up 1.4%), Dish TV India (up 1.4%) and Sun TV Network (up 1.06%) edged higher.

Stocks in Spotlight:

Bajaj Auto advanced 4.54% after the company said its board is scheduled to meet on Monday, 27 June 2022, to further deliberate on the proposal for buyback of fully paid-up equity shares of the company.

Vodafone Idea shed 0.12%. The board of directors of Vodafone Idea approved raising of funds aggregating upto Rs. 436.21 crore to Euro Pacific Securities (a Vodafone Group entity and promoter of the company), on a preferential basis. In case warrants are allotted, each warrant would be convertible into 1 equity share and the rights attached to warrants can be exercised at any time, within a period of 18 months from the date of allotment of warrants. Separately, the board of directors of the company has approved the exercise of the option of deferment of the AGR related dues by a period of four years with immediate effect.

Larsen & Toubro rose 0.94% after the hydrocarbon division of L&T Energy secured three offshore packages from an overseas client for engineering, construction, and installation of various new offshore jacket structures. As per L&T classification, the value of the 'large' contract lies between Rs 2,500 crore and Rs 5,000 crore. The company said that L&T Energy Hydrocarbon (LTEH) is executing several domestic and international offshore projects, organized under offshore, onshore, construction services, modular fabrication and advanced value engineering & technology (AdVENT) verticals.

GPT Infraprojects surged 12.64% after the company said it bagged an order valued Rs 292 crore from East Coast Railway in Odisha. The order entails execution of viaducts, major bridges, road over bridges (ROBs), supply of vehicle, site facilities & other allied works in between Buguda- Baniguchha section and execution of ROB no. 229 in between Nuagaon - Daspalla section of East Coast Railway for Khurda Road - Bolangir New B. G. Link project. This contract is in joint venture. It was awarded by the office of the ECOR-CONST-HQ-ENGG, 2nd Floor, North Block, Rail Sadan, Samanta Vihar, Chandrasekarpur, Bhubaneswar, Odisha.

Acrysil jumps 8.16% after the company announced doubling the supply of quartz kitchen sinks to IKEA Supply AG (Switzerland) for their global requirement. IKEA Supply AG (Switzerland) is a part of International IKEA Group Sweden. IKEA has an expertise in distribution and supply of home improvement products. The production of aforesaid additional composite quartz kitchen sinks for IKEA will start from end of July 2022 and supply will commence from August 2022, the company said in a statement on Wedneday.

Glenmark Pharmaceuticals rallied 3.03%. The drug maker on Wednesday announced that the US drug regulator has issued Form 483 with six observations to the company's formulation manufacturing facility in Baddi, Himachal Pradesh (India). The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (USFDA) has issued Form 483 with six observations after an inspection at Glenmark Pharmaceuticals' formulation manufacturing facility based out of Baddi in Himachal Pradesh (India) between 13 June 2022 and 22 June 2022.

Global Markets:

European shares fell across the board while most Asian stocks advanced on Thursday, amid fears over surging inflation and slowing economic growth.

Chinese President Xi Jinping chaired a top-level meeting on Wednesday that approved a plan for the healthy development of China's large payment firms and fintech sector.

US stocks fell slightly Wednesday in choppy trading as markets struggled to sustain a rebound from earlier in the day. Traders also weighed comments from Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, who reiterated the central bank's stance to fight inflation.

The Federal Reserve is not trying to engineer a recession to stop inflation but is fully committed to bringing prices under control even if doing so risks an economic downturn, U.S. central bank chief Jerome Powell said on Wednesday. Powell said at a hearing before the U.S. Senate Banking Committee that a recession was certainly a possibility and events in the last few months around the world had made it more difficult to reduce inflation without causing one.

On Wednesday, Powell reiterated that ongoing increases in the Fed's policy rate would be appropriate, with the exact pace dependent on the economic outlook.

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