Sensex Rallies 476 Points, Nifty Ends Above 17,500, NTPC & Bharti Airtel Surge 5%

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HYPERLINK "https://www.equitymaster.com/stockquotes/indices" Indian share markets witnessed positive trading activity throughout the day today and ended on a strong note.

Benchmark indices extended gains as the session progressed, hitting fresh record highs after the US inflation print suggested Federal Reserve may keep supporting the economy.

At the closing bell, the BSE Sensex stood higher by 476 points (up 0.8%).

Meanwhile, the NSE Nifty closed higher by 139 points (up 0.8%).

NTPC and Bharti Airtel were among the top gainers today.

Tata Consumer Products and Nestle India, on the other hand, were among the top losers today.

The SGX Nifty was trading at 17,524, up by 139 points, at the time of writing.

The BSE MidCap index and the BSE SmallCap index ended up by 0.7% and 0.9%, respectively.

Sectoral indices ended on a positive note with stocks in the power sector, consumer durables sector and IT sector witnessing most of the buying interest.

Shares of Linde India and Bata India hit their respective 52-week highs today.

Asian stock markets ended on a negative note today amid concerns about a slower recovery from the pandemic and risks for the global economy from elevated inflation.

The Hang Seng and the Shanghai Composite ended the day down by 1.8% and 0.2%, respectively. The Nikkei ended down by 0.5% in today's session.

US stock futures are trading on a positive note today with the Dow Futures trading up by 79 points.

The rupee is trading at 73.49 against the US$.

Gold prices for the latest contract on MCX are trading down by 0.4% at Rs 47,088 per 10 grams.

Speaking of the stock market, India's #1 trader, Vijay Bhambwani shares how to profit from market cycles, in one of his videos for Fast Profits Daily.

Tune in to the video below to find out more:

In news from the cement sector, Shree Cement was among the top buzzing stocks today.

Shares of Shree Cement were in focus today after its board approved a slew of expansion plans.

The company will increase its clinker capacity by 3.8 million tonne (MT) and cement grinding capacity by 6.5 MT. Reacting to this, the stock rose around 2% on the NSE in today's opening trade.

The board also approved a proposal to set up 106 megawatt solar capacity at a total capex of Rs 48 bn. This is likely to be commissioned by March 2024.

Market experts say this expansion will help the company enhance the proportion of clean energy usage in total energy consumption, reduce fossil fuel use and help reduce its carbon footprint.

Post this expansion, its domestic grinding capacity would rise from 43.4 MT to 53 MT. Investors would reckon that the company aims to achieve 80 MT capacity by the fiscal 2030 and this expansion is a step towards that.

Furthermore, the company has proposed to set up an integrated cement plant in Rajasthan with clinker and cement capacity of 3.8 MT and 3.5 MT, respectively. This would be done at a capital expenditure of Rs 35 bn and would be funded through a mix of internal accruals and debt. This plant is expected to be commissioned by March 2024.

Shree Cement is one of India's premier cement makers. The company's manufacturing operations are spread over north and east India across six states.

Shree Cement share price ended the day up by 0.3% on the BSE.

Moving on to news from the defence sector...

HAL and Rolls-Royce Sign Pact for Make-in-India Adour Engine Parts

Hindustan Aeronautics (HAL) and Rolls-Royce on Tuesday signed an agreement for Make-in-India Adour engine parts to support the latter's international defence customer base.

Through this partnership, Rolls-Royce aims to strengthen the ecosystem for Adour engines in India by building on HAL's existing capabilities for manufacturing and supporting the Adour engines for Indian customers over several decades, Bengaluru-headquartered HAL said in a statement.

This follows the memorandum of understanding (MoU) signed by Rolls-Royce and HAL during the Aero India 2021 to establish an authorised maintenance centre for Adour at HAL to support international military customers and operators.

HAL's Managing Director, R Madhavan said that with over 30 years' experience of supporting repair and maintenance services for the Adour engines in India, HAL has the capability and capacity to support a large defence customer base.

President, Rolls-Royce India and South Asia, Kishore Jayaraman said his company's valued partnership with HAL has grown from strength to strength over the last few decades and this is a significant step towards strengthening the defence manufacturing ecosystem in India.

Hindustan Aeronautics share price ended the day down by 0.5% on the BSE.

Speaking of the defence sector, have a look at the chart below which shows the top 5 military spending countries in the world as of 2019:

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According to a SIPRI (Stockholm International Peace Research Institute) report, India was the third largest military spending country in the world in 2019.

Here's what we wrote about it in one of the editions of Profit Hunter:

• If you look at the chart closely, you will realise it is likely to remain among the top spenders in the coming years.
  
  It's because of the second largest spender shown in the chart, China.
  
  With rising tensions between the two countries, the incentive is strong for India to keep up with China.
  
  It all makes sense for the government to focus on this sector in a big way in the near future.
  
  The government's 'Atmanirbhar' push will get a massive boost through local defence manufacturing. This will create profitable opportunities in defence stocks for astute investors.

Co-head of Research at Equitymaster, Tanushree Banerjee keeps a close watch on stocks in the defence space. As per Tanushree, defence will be a big wealth-creating opportunity.

Back in June 2020, she recorded a video about India's best defence stocks.

You can watch the video here: The Upside in India's Best Bulletproof Defence Stocks.

To know what's moving the Indian stock markets today, check out the most recent share market updates here.