Volatility struck bourses in early trade as the key benchmark indices once again regained positive zone soon after hitting an intraday low in negative zone. At 9:25 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was up 102.50 points or 0.19% at 52,755.57. The Nifty 50 index was up 38.85 points or 0.24% at 15,817. The Nifty is trading above the 15,800 mark in early trade. Most Asian stocks are trading lower.

The S&P BSE Mid-Cap index was up 0.42%. The S&P BSE Small-Cap index was up 0.73%.

The market breadth, indicating the overall health of the market, is strong. On the BSE, 1731 shares rose and 848 shares fell. A total of 94 shares were unchanged.

Stocks in news:

Tech Mahindra jumped 8.37%. Tech Mahindra reported a 25.1% rise in consolidated profit after tax to Rs 1353 crore on 4.8% rise in revenue to Rs 10198 crore in in Q1 June 2021 over Q4 March 2021. Consolidated EBITDA stood fell 3.7% to Rs 1,876 crore.

Hindalco Industries fell 0.49%. Hindalco Industries said that ratings agency CRISIL Ratings has upgraded its long term rating on the non-convertible debentures of the company to AA+/stable from AA/positive.

Container Corporation of India (Concor) advanced 4.71%. The company reported consolidated profit at Rs 256.68 crore for Q1FY22 against Rs 54.91 crore in Q1FY21. Total income rose to Rs 1,876.79 crore from Rs 1,251.50 crore YoY.

R Systems International surged 13.36%. R Systems International said that the meeting of the board of directors of the company is scheduled to be held on August 06, 2021 to consider the proposal for buyback of equity shares of the company, quantum & mode of buyback, appointment of intermediaries and other matters incidental thereto.

Privi Speciality Chemicals spurted 10.67%. Privi Speciality Chemicals and Givaudan SA, the global leader in fragrance creation, has signed a joint venture agreement to set up a new greenfield production facility which will be built in Mahad, Maharashtra.

Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals declined 1.09%. Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals said its board has approved raising up to Rs 5,000 crore through issue through issue of Non-convertible Debentures (NCDs).

Global Markets:

Overseas, Asian stocks were trading mostly lower on Friday amid escalating coronavirus concerns.

The surge in the covid infections worldwide has been relentless, with spiking cases in the US and Japan so much so that the world's third-largest economy is set to expand the state of emergency on Friday to Tokyo's three neighboring prefectures of Osaka, Saitama, Chiba and Kanagawa.

Japan's industrial output jumped 6.2% in June, sharply rising from a 6.5% drop in May. June retail sales rose 0.1% from a year earlier.

U.S. stocks rose to record levels on Thursday as investors shrugged off economic data pointing slower-than-expected growth.

The US economy expanded 6.5% annualized in the second quarter, according to government data released Thursday. The number of Americans collecting unemployment benefits slid last week. Jobless claims dropped by 24,000 to 400,000 last week, the Labor Department reported Thursday.

Back home, the domestic equity benchmarks ended with modest gains after a volatile session on Thursday. The barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, advanced 209.36 points or 0.4% to 52,653.07. The Nifty 50 index added 69.05 points or 0.44% to 15,778.45.

Foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) sold shares worth Rs 866.26 crore, while domestic institutional investors (DIIs), were net buyers to the tune of Rs 2,046.96 crore in the Indian equity market on 29 July, provisional data showed.