Sensex ends 54 points down, Nifty at 11,035; Wipro falls 4%
Benchmark indices ended marginally lower on Friday led by a fall in ICICI Bank, State Bank of India (SBI), HDFC, RIL and Axis Bank.
The S&P BSE Sensex ended at 36,671, down 54 points while the broader Nifty50 index settled at 11,035, down 23 points.
Among sectoral indices, Nifty Metal index ended 1.5 per cent lower with Jindal Steel & Power and MOIL among the top losers. The Nifty IT index, too, settled 1.1 per cent lower, dragged by Wipro and Infibeam Avenues
In the broader market, the S&P BSE MidCap index ended 12 points, or 0.08 per cent lower at 14,804, while the S&P BSE SmallCap index settled at 14,529, down 11 points, or 0.08 per cent.
Shares of Wipro fell 5 per cent to Rs 256 in intra-day trade on the BSE in after huge block deals were executed on the counter. Till 11:22 am, a combined 57.86 million equity shares, representing 1.3 per cent equity, of Wipro had changed hands on the National Stock Exchange (NSE) and BSE. The stock ended at Rs 256.50, down 4.6 per cent.
Shares of Allahabad Bank hit a 52-week high of Rs 58.20, up 6.5 per cent on the BSE in the intra-day trade, extending its past three weeks’ rally after the government announced capital infusion of Rs 6,896 crore in the bank.The stock settled 4.39 per cent higher at Rs 57.05.
Shares of Ipca Laboratories hit an all-time high of Rs 914, up 5 per cent on the BSE in an otherwise weak market on expectation of strong earnings and margin improvement by going forward. The stock surpassed its previous high of Rs 907 touched on February 28, 2014 in intra-day trade.
Shares of Granules India rallied 10 per cent to Rs 114 in intra-day trade on the BSE on Friday after the company said its promoters sold partial stake as well as monetised personal assets to reduce their leverage. The pharmaceutical company’s stock was trading close to its 52-week high of Rs 123 which it touched on September 10, 2018 on the BSE in an intra-day deal.
eClerx Services surged 8 per cent to Rs 1,118 apiece on the BSE in intra-day trade so far on Friday after the company announced to consider share buyback proposal in its board meeting on Thursday, March 14, 2019. The primary objective of a share buyback programme is to arrest the fall in the value of a stock by reducing the supply of the stock, which essentially pushes up the share price through a better P/E multiple.
Shares of Arvind Fashions locked in upper circuit of 5 per cent at Rs 621 apiece on the BSE on Friday. The stock of Lalbhai Group’s company opened at Rs 592 on first day of its listing. The stock listed and admitted to dealings on the Exchange in the list of ‘T’ group securities.
The shares of VST Industries hit a 52-week high of Rs 3,500, up 4 per cent in intra-day trade on the BSE in otherwise subdued market. The stock surpassed its previous high of Rs 3,430 recorded on September 7, 2018 in intra-day trade. At 09:46 am, the benchmark S&P BSE Sensex was quoting 0.18 per cent lower at 36,660 points. The cigarettes and tobacco products firm has rallied 7 per cent in past two trading days, after industry giant ITC increased the price of three cigarette brands – Bristol, Flake Excel and Capstan.
Here are some picks from the week gone by.
