Friday Closing bell: Sensex up 250 pts, Nifty ends at record closing high; telecom, banks lead
Equity benchmarks closed sharply higher for the second consecutive session as investors cheered macro data and hopes raised for an early resolution to telecom NPAs post telecom deals.
The 30-share BSE Sensex was up 250.47 points at 32,432.69 and the 50-share NSE Nifty rose 71.10 points to 10,167.50.
The market breadth was weak as about 1,431 shares declined against 1,293 advancing shares on the BSE.
Bharti Airtel was up 6 percent, Tata Teleservices up 9 percent and Tata Communications up 2 percent after Airtel decided to buy consumer telecom business of Tata Sons. Bharti Infratel was up 3 percent.
Markets also got a boost after data showed inflation held steady, instead of accelerating as expected, raising tentative hopes the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) would be less hawkish about interest rates.
Shares of metal companies were in focus with the S&P BSE Metal index hitting six-year high on expectations of strong earnings growth in July-September quarter (Q2FY18). Tata Steel, Jindal Steel & Power (JSPL) and National Aluminium hit their respective fresh 52-week highs, while Hindalco touched a new high on the BSE in intra-day trade on Friday.
Pincon Spirit share price rallied over 2 percent as the company entered into bottling tie-up with SDF Ind in Kerala.
Bharti Infratel continued to rally for the fourth consecutive session after the deal between its parent company Bharti Airtel and Tata Sons for Tatas’ consumer telecom business. The stock rallied 13.7 percent in four consecutive sessions, hitting a fresh 52-week high of Rs 453.80.
Shares of PVR and Inox Leisure gained 5-7 percent as investors cheered cut in entertainment tax in Tamil Nadu. The state of Tamil Nadu more than halved the entertainment tax to 8 percent from its existing 19 percent.
BASF has agreed to buy significant parts of Bayer’s seed and herbicide businesses for 5.9 billion euros (USD 7 billion) in cash, the two companies said on Friday.
Idea Cellular has received an approval from its shareholders for merger with Vodafone India. Idea share price gained 7.5 percent.
