After opening the day on a positive note, Indian share markets gave up some gains as the session progressed and ended the day higher.

Equity markets were quick to give up early gains and swung between gains and losses in a narrow range on Wednesday.

At the closing bell, the BSE Sensex stood higher by 24 points.

Meanwhile, the NSE Nifty closed higher by 19 points.

SBI, Grasim Industries, and Hindalco were among the top gainers today.

TCS, BPCL, and Infosys on the other hand, were among the top losers today.

The GIFT Nifty ended at 22,012 up by 8 points.

Broader markets are trading on a positive note. The BSE Mid Cap ended 1.5% higher and the BSE Small Cap index is trading 0.4% higher.

Sectoral indices are trading mixed, with socks in the realty sector, power sector, and telecom sector witnessing the most buying. Meanwhile, stocks in the IT sector and capital goods sector witnessed selling pressure.

Shares of Abbott India, TCS and BOSCH hit their respective 52-week highs today.

The rupee is trading at 82.97 against the US$.

Gold prices for the latest contract on MCX are trading flat at Rs 62,484 per 10 grams.

Meanwhile, silver prices are trading 0.6% lower at Rs 70,195 per 1 kg.
 

IOB Shares Hit a 52-Week High. Here's Why.

In news from the banking sector, Indian Overseas Bank is on a 52-week high spree as it achieved the feat on BSE today for the fifth time in the month.

The stock of the PSU bank hit a 52-week high of Rs 79.9 on Wednesday, improving on Tuesday's performance of Rs 69.8.

Last month, the bank shared its quarterly results for the period that ended on 31 December 2023 through a stock market disclosure. IOB reported a 30% increase in net profit to Rs 7.2 bn for the December quarter of 2023-24, compared to Rs 5.6 bn logged in the same quarter a year ago. This was mainly due to core income improvement and a decline in bad loans.

The gross non-performing assets (GNPA) showed notable improvement, decreasing to Rs 84.4 bn with a ratio of 3.9%, compared to Rs 143.3 bn and a ratio of 8.2% in December 2022.

Net NPA for Q3 FY24 was 0.6%, a substantial improvement from 2.4% in the corresponding quarter of the previous fiscal year.

In absolute terms, net NPA stood at Rs 13 bn, compared to Rs 40 bn in December 2022.

The bank's provision coverage ratio also saw an increase to 96.9%, up from 91.3% in December 2022.

Interest income for the quarter ending December 2023 rose to Rs 61.8 bn, a notable increase from Rs 50.6 bn in the same period in 2022. The net interest margin for Q3 FY24 was reported at 3.1%, compared to 3.3% in Q3 FY23.

IOB's total business expanded to Rs 4.9 tn as of December 2023, up from Rs 4.3 tn in December 2022. Total deposits for Q3 increased to Rs 2.8 tn, compared to Rs 2.6 trillion in December 2022.
 

Why IEX Share Price is Falling

Moving on to news from the power sector, IEX shares fell nearly 4.8% intraday on 7 February, a day after the Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (CERC) ordered a shadow pilot on the market coupling of India's power exchanges.

In a 6 February notice, CERC said that Grid India will develop the necessary software over the next two months to run a shadow pilot for market coupling of the three power exchanges - Indian Electricity Exchange (IEX), Power Exchange of India (PXIL) and Hindustan Power Exchange (HPX). After the pilot, the exchanges will share data and information with the CERC to decide on the benefits of coupling.

However, the CERC made it clear that the results of the shadow pilot run shall not have any effect on the price and volume discovery in the actual real-time market (RTM) and day-ahead market (DAM) of the power exchanges. It also stated that the trial run will not impact the final schedule and settlement for any entity during the trial period.

Stocks of IEX hit a 52-week low on 9 June last year when the government had approved to introduction of market coupling for the exchanges.

In August 2023, CERC shared a draft paper on market coupling, inviting comments from stakeholders.

For Q3, IEX reported an 18.9% on-year increase in net profit to Rs 918 m, while revenue from operations for the same period grew 15% to Rs 1.2 bn from Rs 1 bn in Q3 FY23.

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