The key equity barometers traded in narrow range in afternoon trade. The Nifty continued to trade above 16,700 mark. IT and oil & gas stocks advanced while auto and metal shares declined.

At 13:23 IST, the barometer index, S&P BSE Sensex was up 418.46 points or 0.75% to 56,236.57. The Nifty 50 index rose 84.10 points or 0.51% to 16,712.10.

Reliance Industries (up 3.04%), Infosys (up 2.46%), Wipro (up 2.21%), HCL Tech (up 1.64%) and Larsen & Toubro (up 1.58%) were the top Nifty gainers.

Grasim (down 6.39%), Ultratech Cement (down 5.55%), Shree Cement (down 4.50%), Eicher Motors (down 2.09%) and Hero MotoCorp (down 2.04%) were the top Nifty losers.

In the broader market, the S&P BSE Mid-Cap index fell 0.61% while the S&P BSE Small-Cap index slipped 0.37%.

The market breadth was positive. On the BSE, 1,648 shares rose while 1,563 shares fell. A total of 152 shares were unchanged.

Economy:

The seasonally adjusted S&P Global India Services PMI Business Activity Index stood at 58.9 in May, up from 57.9 in April. The latest figure indicated the fastest rate of expansion in over 11 years.

Meanwhile, the S&P Global India Composite PMI Output Index rose to 58.3 in May, from 57.6 in April. The latest figure pointed to the fastest rate of expansion since last November.

Stocks in Spotlight:

Mahindra & Mahindra Financial Services advanced 1.05%. The company recorded disbursement of approximately Rs 2,973 crore in May 2022, delivering a 272% YoY growth. The collection efficiency (CE) was at 95% for May 2022 in comparison to a subdued CE of 67% for May 2021 which was affected due to Covid related lockdowns. The CE is in line with pre-Covid levels.

Va Tech Wabag advanced 3.83%. The company announced that it secured consortium order for 50 million litres per day (MLD) desalination project in Senegal, worth about 146 million euros.

Global Markets:

Most European markets advanced on Friday morning with traders focused on U.S. jobs data for May, while will be released later in the session.

Russia’s onslaught in Ukraine continued to remain in focus, as well as the recent EU announcement of a partial ban for Russian oil imports. OPEC and its oil-producing allies agreed on Thursday to hike output in July and August by a larger-than-expected amount as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine wreaks havoc on global energy markets.

Meanwhile, most Asian shares edged higher today, following overnight gains on Wall Street. Markets in mainland China, Hong Kong and Taiwan are closed on Friday for a holiday.

In the US, the three major indices snapped two-day losing streaks. The S&P 500 jumped 1.84% to 4,176.82. The Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 435.05 points, or 1.33%, to 33,248.28. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite surged 2.69% to 12,316.90.

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)

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