The key equity indices traded near the day's high with small gains in the mid-afternoon trade. The Nifty regains the 16,400 mark. Shares of oil & gas, healthcare and pharma advanced while metal and PSU bank stocks corrected. Trading was volatile due to expiry of weekly index options on the NSE. Gains were capped due to negative global cues and persistent selling of domestic shares by FIIs. At 14:25 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was up 135.32 points or 0.25% to 55,027.81. The Nifty 50 index added 46 points or 0.28% to 16,402.25. In the broader market, the S&P BSE Mid-Cap index rose 0.15% while the S&P BSE Small-Cap index slipped by 0.11%. The market breadth was negative. On the BSE, 1,516 shares rose and 1,717 shares fell. A total of 141 shares were unchanged.

Economy:

The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) chaired by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi, on Wednesday (8 June) approved the increase in the Minimum Support Prices (MSP) for all mandated Kharif Crops for Marketing Season 2022-23.

The highest absolute increase in MSP over previous year has been recommended for Sesamum Rs 523 per quintal, Moong Rs 480 per quintal, Sunflower seed Rs 385 per quintal, Tur, Urad and Groundnut Rs 300 per quintal, Cotton (Medium Staple) Rs 354 and Cotton (Long Staple) Rs 355.

The government said that the hike will ensure remunerative prices to the growers for their produce and to encourage crop diversification.

MSPs are intended to act as a floor price for farm commodities and serve as a benchmark rate in wholesale markets, thereby helping to avoid distress sales.

Numbers to Track:

In the foreign exchange market, the rupee tumbled against the dollar. The partially convertible rupee was hovering at 77.795, compared with its close of 77.685 during the previous trading session.

The yield on India's 10-year benchmark federal paper rose to 7.501% as compared with 7.494% at close in the previous trading session.

MCX Gold futures for (3 June 2022) settlement fell 0.18% to Rs 50,960.

The US Dollar index (DXY), which tracks the greenback's value against a basket of currencies, rose 0.02% to 102.56.

In the commodities market, Brent crude for August 2022 settlement fell 25 cents or 0.20% at $ 123.33 a barrel.

Buzzing Index:

The Nifty IT index rose 0.48% to 29,614.55 amid weak rupee. The index has gained nearly 1% in two trading sessions.

Among the components of the Nifty IT index, Mphasis (up 2.67%), Larsen & Toubro Infotech (up 0.84%), L&T Technology Services (up 0.69%), Mindtree (up 0.63%) and Infosys (up 0.45%) were the top gainers.

A weak rupee boosts revenue of IT firms in rupee terms as the sector derives a lion's share of revenue from exports.

Stocks in Spotlight:

Marine Electricals (India) advanced 1.98% to Rs 28.30 after the company said that it has received an order from AdaniConnex amounting to Rs 21.75 crore. The order is for the supply of LT & HT Panels of 12MW package for AdaniConnex's Chennai site. The delivery of the said goods has to be made over a period of three months.

Tanla Platforms fell 1.12% to Rs 1,325.35. The company said that it has entered into an exclusive partnership with Kore.ai for five countries, viz. India, United Arab Emirates, Indonesia, Vietnam, and Philippines. This partnership is a step forward in offering enterprises and brands the ability to upraise the digital experiences of their key stakeholders: customers, partners, and employees through best-in-class conversational artificial intelligence (AI) based Natural Language Processing (NLP) system.