After opening the day on a flat note, Indian share markets witnessed negative trading activity as the session progressed and ended lower.

Benchmark indices fell ahead of domestic retail inflation data due later in the day while the ongoing uncertainty and spillover effects from the Adani group's rout continued to create an overhang.

At the closing bell, the BSE Sensex stood lower by 251 points (down 0.4%).

Meanwhile, the NSE Nifty closed lower by 85 points (down 0.5%).

Titan, L&T, and NTPC were among the top gainers today.

Adani Enterprises, Adani port, and SBI on the other hand were among the top losers today.

The SGX Nifty was trading at 17,789, down by 88 points, at the time of writing.

Broader markets settled on a negative note. The BSE Midcap ended 1.3% lower while the BSE SmallCap index ended 1.2% lower.

Sectoral indices ended on a mixed note with stocks in the industrial sector and capital goods sector witnessing buying.

While stocks in the IT sector, realty sector, and power sector witnessed selling.

Shares of Jindal Saw, Cera Sanitary, and APL Apollo Tubes hit their 52-week highs today.

To know about the stocks which moved the markets, check out the stocks to watch today section on our website.

Asian share markets ended the day on a mixed note. The Hang Seng index fell 0.1%, while the Shanghai Composite index rose 0.7%. The Nikkei fell 0.9%.

US stock futures are trading on a mixed note. Dow futures are trading lower by 0.1% while Nasdaq futures are up 0.2%.

The rupee is trading at 82.74 against the US$.

Gold prices for the latest contract on MCX are trading flat at Rs 56,700 per 10 grams.

Meanwhile, silver prices for the latest contract on MCX are trading down by 0.6% at Rs 66,255 per kg.

Also, to understand what our readers are thinking about India's growth story, we recently conducted a poll on our telegram channel, and here are the results:

With over 1,000 responses from the participants till this morning, most of the readers think that India's rise is unstoppable.
 

Three Adani Group Companies pledge additional shares

Three Adani group companies have pledged additional shares for State Bank of India, days after a scathing report by a US short-seller led to over US$ 100 billion (bn) loss in its market value.

Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone (APSEZ), Adani Transmission, and Adani Green Energy pledged shares to SBICAP Trustee Company, a unit of India's biggest lender, SBI.

According to filings, as many as 0.8 million (m) more shares of Adani Ports have been pledged, taking the total to 1% of all shares with SBICAP. In the case of Adani Green pledge of 0.6 m more shares took the total to 1.1%. A pledge of 0.1 m more shares of Adani Transmission took the total to 0.55%.

Following the pledge and the group reducing its revenue target, Adani group stocks cracked up to 10% in intraday trade today.

All 10 Adani stocks were trading with a negative bias, with most locked in their lower circuit limits.
 

Why Natco Pharma's share price is rising

Moving on to news from the pharma sector, shares of Natco Pharma jumped 5% in intraday trade.

This rally comes after the company filed a generic version of an oncology drug in the US markets.

The drug major filed an abbreviated new drug application (ANDA) for generic versions of Olaparib tablets - 100 mg and 150 mg with the US Food and Drug Administration (USFDA). Olaparib is used to treat ovarian, breast, pancreatic, and prostate cancer.

Since Olaparib tablets are marketed in the US by AstraZeneca, under the brand Lynparza, the pharma major informed that it was named as a defendant in a lawsuit filed by AstraZeneca and Kudos Pharmaceuticals.

That said, NATCO and its co-development marketing partner Alembic Pharmaceuticals believe that ANDA's first-to-file basis could make the company eligible for 180 days of marketing exclusivity at the time of the launch of the product.

As per AstraZeneca, Lynparza recorded sales of US$ 1,226 m in the US market for the year ended December 2022.

JSW Steel records a 15% jump in steel production

Moving on to news from the steel sector, shares of JSW Steel were in focus today.

JSW Steel, on Monday, reported a 15% YoY rise in crude steel production at 1.8 m tons in January.

The company's crude steel production was at 1.6 m tons in January 2022. This is the highest-ever crude steel production for the month reported by the company.

The production of its flat-rolled products increased by 14% to 1.4 m tons over 1.2 m tons in January 2022.

Its output of long-rolled products also registered a growth of 14% to 0.4 m tons, against 0.3 m tons in January 2022.

The overall capacity utilization was higher at 99% in January 2023 from 96% in December 2022.

JSW Steel is the flagship business of the diversified USD 22 billion JSW Group, which also has business interests in sectors such as energy, infrastructure, cement, paints, sports, and venture capital.

While several steel companies are set to benefit from government aims to boost this industry, two well-known private players will also benefit from the growth of this industry. They are Tata Steel and JSW Steel.

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