After opening the day on a positive note, Indian share markets continued their momentum throughout the trading session and held on to their gains.

Benchmark indices rose on Wednesday ahead of the US Federal Reserve rate decision, as concerns of a banking crisis eased further after the Credit Suisse rescue.

At the closing bell, the BSE Sensex stood higher by 136 points (up 0.2%).

Meanwhile, the NSE Nifty closed up by 44 points (up 0.3%).

HDFC Life Insurance, Bajaj Finance, and Sun Pharma were among the top gainers today.

BPCL, NTPC, and Coal India on the other hand were among the top losers today.

The SGX Nifty was trading at 17,168 up by 24 points, at the time of writing.

Broader markets ended on a positive note. The BSE Midcap index ended flat while the BSE SmallCap gained 0.5%.

Sectoral indices ended on a mixed note with stocks in the healthcare sector, the auto sector, and the FMCG sector witnessing most of the buying.

On the other hand, stocks from the realty sector and the metal sector witnessed selling pressure.

Shares of KPIT Technologies hit their 52-week highs today.

Now track the biggest movers of the stock market using the stocks to watch today section. This should help you keep updated with the latest developments...

Asian stock markets ended on a positive note. The Nikkei ended higher by 1.9%, while the Hang Seng was up 1.7%. The Shanghai Composite ended 0.3% higher.

The rupee is trading at 82.65 against the US$.

Gold prices for the latest contract on MCX are trading higher by 0.3% at Rs 58,730 per 10 grams.

Meanwhile, silver prices for the latest contract on MCX are trading up by 0.6% at Rs 68,814 per kg.

Speaking of stock markets, the Indian stock markets have been facing one event after the other that is making Mr. Market nervous.

First, it was the Adani saga. The recent events of the failure of SVB and Signature Bank, and now the concerns related to Credit Suisse are again feeding the fear element in the stock markets.

The last time the global banks failed, we witnessed a correction across the global including Indian stock markets.
 

L&T bags multiple orders

In news from the engineering sector, Larsen and Toubro (L&T), on Wednesday, secured orders for its water and effluent treatment and buildings and factories businesses.

Though the company did not disclose the total value of the orders, it indicated that they were of a 'significant' size.

The water and effluent treatment business has secured a repeat order from the Drinking Water and Sanitation Department of the Jharkhand government.

The order involves executing a Raw Water Transport System on a turnkey basis from the proposed intake at Neghra, Rajmahal.

Meanwhile, the building and factories business of L&T Construction has won an order from a reputed developer to construct residential towers in Bengaluru.

The scope of the work involves building civil structures, including waterproofing, masonry, and plastering for ten towers comprising two basements.

The company has rewarded investors with 10 bonuses over the last 7 decades and the CAGR over the last 20 years stands at an impressive 25.6%.

L&T has been an investor's favorite stock for a long time and also a stock that makes it to the top 5 infrastructure stocks.
 

10 out of 11 recent IPOs disappoint investors...

Moving on to news from the initial public offering (IPO) space, the primary market has turned out to be disappointing for investors so far in 2023.

All the hype around some of the recent IPOs has fizzled out in just a few months, with 10 out of 11 recent debutants trading at a discount over the issue price.

Except for Divgi TorqTransfer, other companies - Inox Green Energy, Keystone Realtors, Dharmaj Crop Guard, Uniparts India, Sula Vineyards, Abans Holdings, Landmark Cars, KFin Technologies, Elin Electronics, Radiant Cash Management Services are currently at a discount of up to 40% over the IPO price.

Interestingly, shares of 6 out of these 11 companies have debuted at a premium, while four others listed at a discount on the bourses, and one company had a flattish debut.

This muted performance of recently listed stocks can be due to pricey valuations and unfavorable market sentiments.

As most of these IPOs have hit the market in recent times, they are priced to perfection, leaving hardly anything for retail investors.

As market sentiments play a huge role in public offers, the current volatility has further dragged the debutants.

Indian equity markets have been volatile in the last couple of months, plagued by a host of issues, dragging Sensex and Nifty down by around 6% on a year-to-date basis.
 

Zydus Lifesciences' arm gets USFDA nod for generic drug

Moving on to news from the pharma sector, Zydus Pharmaceuticals (USA), a subsidiary of Zydus Lifesciences received final approval and tentative approval from the United States Food and Drug Administration (USFDA) for Tofacitinib tablets.

Zydus Pharmaceuticals was one of the first ANDA applicants to submit a substantially complete abbreviated new drug application for Tofacitinib tablets.

It is also indicated for the treatment of adult patients with moderately to severely active ulcerative colitis (UC).

The drug will be manufactured at the group's formulation manufacturing facility in Moraiya, Ahmedabad (India).

According to IQVIA MAT December 2022, Tofacitinib Tablets, 5 mg, and 10 mg had annual sales of $900 million in the United States.

The group now has 352 approvals and has so far filed over 440* ANDAs since the commencement of the filing process in the financial year 2003-04.

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