Bulls take charge ahead of exit polls: Sensex up 537 pts; Nifty over 11,400
Sensex and Nifty surged on the final day of a volatile week on Friday with both the benchmark indices gaining over a per cent each ahead of exit polls outcome on Monday.
Kotak Mahindra, ICICI Bank, HDFC twins, and ITC were the biggest contributors in Sensex’s march to the north.
The benchmark Sensex zoomed almost 1.5 per cent, up 537 points, to close at 37,931, with Bajaj Finance, Hero MotoCorp, Maruti Suzuki India, Kotak Bank, and Bajaj Auto registering the biggest gains. Market breadth remained in favour of buyers with the advance-decline ratio at 3:2.
The broader Nifty50 also surged 1.33 per cent, or 150 points, to end the day at 11,407. About 1,029 stocks advanced and 723 shares declined on National Stock Exchange.
Among sectoral indices, only three indices remained in the red, with Nifty Media gaining the highest 3.53 per cent. Nifty Bank, Nifty Auto, Nifty Finance Service, Nifty FMCG and Nifty Private Bank all rose more than 2 per cent.
In the broader market, the S&P BSE MidCap gained 153 points, or 1.08 per cent, at 14,308.36, while the S&P BSE SmallCap also rose 70 points, or 0.51 per cent, at 13,887.
Delta Corp shares hit 22-month low of Rs 156, plunging 17 per cent, in intra-day trade on the BSE on Friday on the back of heavy volumes in an otherwise strong market. The stock was trading at its lowest level since July 7, 2017. In comparison, the benchmark S&P BSE Sensex was up 389 points or 1 per cent at 37,783. The trading volumes on the counter more than doubled with a combined 5.85 million shares, representing 2.2 per cent of total equity of Delta Corp, changing hands on the NSE and BSE.
Procter & Gamble Health (formerly Merck) shares were trading higher for the sixth straight day, up 4 per cent in early morning trade at Rs 4,389, also its new high on the BSE, after the company reported strong net profit growth in March quarter (Q1CY19). The pharmaceutical company’s profit after tax rose 79 per cent at Rs 40.7 crore in Q1CY19 driven by high interest income and operational efficiencies. Total revenue grew 22.2 per cent at Rs 249 crore against Rs 204 crore in previous year quarter.
Bajaj Finance shares hit a fresh all-time high of Rs 3,262, up 5 per cent, in early morning trade on the BSE on Friday after the company reported a better-than-expected profit and net interest income (NII) in March quarter. The firm recorded a strong 57 per cent year-on-year (Y-o-Y) growth in net profit at Rs 1,176 crore in March quarter. while NII grew 50 per cent at Rs 3,394 crore on YoY basis. Analysts, on an average, had expected profit of Rs 1,062 crore and NII of Rs 3,271 crore for the quarter.
Aurobindo Pharma shares fell 6% to Rs 682 in early morning trade on the BSE on Friday after the drug firm announced that the American drug regulator classified the inspection of the company’s API intermediates facilities of Unit I, IX and XI as Official Action Indicated (OAI).
Praj Industries was up over 2% on healthy Q4 nos. The consolidated net profit was up 24.5% at Rs 33 crore versus Rs 26.8 crore, revenue was up 34.1% at Rs 368.2 crore versus Rs 274.5 crore, YoY
After close to two months of intense corporate battle, engineering and construction major L&T on Thursday crossed the critical stake holding mark of 26 per cent in Mindtree, making it the single-largest shareholder in the Bengaluru-headquartered IT services firm. Post reaching this threshold, L&T will not only be able to induct its nominee on Mindtree board, it will also be able to block future resolutions relating to capital structure, dividend and acquisition passed by latter’s board. It will also have a say in appointment of whole-time directors on board apart from induction of managing director.
Here are some picks from the week gone by.
