On Thursday, the Indian share markets took a breather after logging solid gains in the last three sessions amid mixed global peers and spurt in crude oil prices.
The BSE Sensex closed at 37,755, up 3 points. During the day, the index hit a high and low of 37,908 and 37,694, respectively. The Nifty50 index settled the day at 11,343, down nearly 2 points.
Among the sectors, IT and automobile stocks remained under pressure, while buying was seen in in the metal and pharma stocks.
Breaking three-month easing trend, India's Wholesale price index (WPI) inflation surged to 2.93% in the month of February 2019, as compared to a 10-month low of 2.76% in January and 2.74% during the corresponding month of the previous year.
The rise in inflation was mainly due to hardening of prices of primary articles, fuel and power.
Zydus Cadila has received the tentative approval from the US Food and Drug Administration (USFDA) to market Sitagliptin and Metformin Hydrochloride extended-release tablets.
Reliance Infrastructure has approved the sale of its entire equity interest in DA Toll Road, a wholly owned subsidiary for an enterprise value of Rs 36.1 billion.
Reliance Industries, Venezuela's top customer in India, has capped oil purchases from the Latin American country and halted selling diluent following US pressure to cripple President Nicolas Maduro's government.
To know what's moving the Indian stock markets today, check out the most recent share market updates here.
US equity futures rose with European stocks on Thursday as investors digested the latest clues on growth from the world's largest economies.
The pound fell, trimming gains from a day earlier as the Brexit saga rumbled on.
Market participants have a lot to grapple with just now. US stocks have extended gains this week as economic data comes in neither too hot nor too cold, while traders in Europe on Thursday seemed to be shrugging off more warning signs from the region, perhaps because of hopes Brexit can be delayed or derailed.
Figures suggesting China's slowdown deepened in the first two months of the year added to reasons for caution following this quarter's rebound in Asian shares.
Here are some of the key events coming up:
Brent crude oil prices on Thursday hit their highest so far this year, pushed up by ongoing supply cuts led by OPEC and by US sanctions against Venezuela and Iran.
An unexpected dip in US crude oil inventories and production also lifted prices, the reports noted.
International Brent crude oil futures marked a 2019-peak of US$67.80 per barrel in Asia. That was also the strongest level since November 2018.
Brent was still at US$67.75 per barrel, up 0.3% from its last close.
US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures were at US$58.38 per barrel, up 0.2%, from their last settlement, and also close to November 2018 highs reached the previous day.
The initial public offer (IPO) by Miniratna MSTC received tepid response so far on Day 2.
The issue received bids for 1.4 million shares, which was 8% of the total issue size of 17.7 million shares.
At the upper price band of Rs 121-128 per share, the issue size stands at Rs 2.3 billion.
You can get access to our MSTC IPO note here.
We will keep you updated on all the developments from this space. Stay tuned.
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