Sensex halts 4-day gaining streak, slips 164 points; realty falls
Halting its four-day gaining streak, equity market ended in the negative territory on Friday amid worries over economic damage from the coronavirus outbreak and profit-booking in some of the recent outperformers.
The S&P BSE Sensex today slipped 164 points or 0.4 per cent to settle at 41,142, with NTPC (up over 3 per cent) being the top gainer and IndusInd Bank (down nearly 3 per cent) the biggest loser.
Reliance Industries (RIL), HDFC, ICICI Bank and L&T contributed the most to the index’s losses.
The NSE’s Nifty50 index ended at 12,086, down 51.55 points or 0.42 per cent.
On a weekly basis, both Sensex and Nifty gained nearly 4 per cent each.
Sectorally, realty stocks bled the most while media and pharma counters advanced the most. The Nifty Realty index fell around 2 per cent to Rs 320.55. On the other hand, Nifty Media climbed nearly 2 per cent to 1,823 points and the Nifty Pharma settled over 1 per cent higher at 8,335-mark.
In the broader market, the Nifty Midcap 100 index rose 0.57 per cent to 18,350 points while the Nifty SmallCap 100 ended flat at 6,236 levels, down 0.07 per cent.
The stock of the construction & engineering company, Welspun Corp was trading at its highest level since December 2010. In the past five trading days, the stock soared 37 per cent, as against a 4 per cent rise in the S&P BSE Sensex.
Lakshmi Vilas Bank was up 10% on reports that DBS, Capri Global were to invest even as the Bank denied the same. According to a Business Standard report, capital-starved private sector lender Lakshmi Vilas Bank may soon have a suitor willing to pump money into it. According to sources, top executives at the Chennai-based bank submitted a list of potential investors to the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Wednesday, added report.
Shares of SKF India slipped 7 per cent to Rs 2,030 on the BSE on Friday, after the company’s profit before tax (PBT) nearly halved at Rs 72.7 crore in December 2019 quarter (Q3FY20), due to lower operational income. It had reported PBT of Rs 142 crore in the same quarter a year ago. SKF India is a leading technology and solutions provider of bearings, seals, lubrication systems and services.
Shares of Aurobindo Pharma gained 5 per cent to Rs 538 on the BSE on Friday after the company’s operational revenues witnessed a strong growth of 11.9 per cent year-on-year (YoY) at Rs 5,895 crore in December quarter (Q3FY20). US revenue for Q3FY20 witnessed a growth of 22 per cent YoY to Rs 2,969 crore, accounting for 50.4 per cent of consolidated revenue.
Shares of United Spirits traded higher for the sixth straight day on Friday and rallied 5 per cent to Rs 690 on the BSE after reporting a strong set of numbers for the quarter ended December 2019 (Q3FY20). The stock of the Diageo-controlled breweries & distilleries company hit a 52-week high today. It was trading at its highest level since June 27, 2018. Thus far in the month of February, it has surged 11 per cent, against 1 per cent rise in the S&P BSE Sensex.
Shares of Trent on Friday surged over 7 per cent to hit a fresh 52-week high of Rs 638 apiece on the BSE after the company announced third quarter results of the financial year 2019-20 (FY20). The company’s consolidated revenue from operations jumped 45 per cent year-on-year (YoY) to Rs 988 crore. Total income during the quarter came in at Rs 1,028 crore, up 49 per cent YoY.
Here are some picks from the week gone by.
