Sensex starts FY22 with a 521 point gain, ends above 50K; Metals, PSBs shine

A tug of war between bulls and bears was ultimately won by the bulls on Thursday, the day of the expiry of the weekly F&O contracts. That apart, buoyancy in the global markets on the back of a $2 trillion US government spending plan, and record GST collection for the month of March back home gave the requisite armour to investors.

Among the frontline indices, the benchmark S&P BSE Sensex reclaimed the 50,000-mark on a closing basis and closed at 50,030, after advancing 521 points or 1.05 per cent. Earlier in the day, the index had briefly slipped in the red to touch a low of 49,478.5. On the NSE, the Nifty50 index closed at 14,867 levels, up 177 points or 1.2 per cent.

The index breadth remained firmly in the favour of the bulls as 25 of the 30 constituents on the Sensex and 41 of the 50 constituents on the Nifty settled the session in the green. IndusInd Bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank, ICICI Bank, Bajaj Finance, Sun Pharma, Axis Bank, and UltraTech Cement outperformed the Sensex today, up between 2 per cent and 4 per cent. JSW Steel, Hindalco, Adani Ports, Tata Steel, and Hero MotoCorp were the additional gainers on the Nifty, rallying up to 8 per cent.

On the downside, HUL, Nestle India, TCS, Divis Labs, HDFC Life, TCS, and Titan ended lower between 0.32 per cent and 1.3 per cent.

Taking into consideration the BSE MidCap and SmallCap indices’ 1.66 per cent and 2 per cent gains, respectively, the overall market breadth was in the ratio of 1:3 in the favour of advances.

As regards sectoral performance, the Nifty Metal index settled over 5 per cent higher on the NSE today, followed by the Nifty PSU bank index, up 2.6 per cent. The Nifty Bank, Auto, Financial Services, Private Bank, and Pharma indices, meanwhile, gained up to 2 per cent. The Nifty IT and Realty indices closed with less than a per cent gain.

Shares of Mishra Dhatu Nigam (MIDHANI) rose 10 per cent to Rs 193.70 on the BSE in intra-day trade on Thursday after the company said it has recorded the highest ever provisional sales of Rs 810 crore for the financial year 2020-21 (FY21). The state-owned mining company had posted sales worth Rs 712.88 crore for FY 2019-20 (FY20).

Shares of the recently listed and ace investor Rakesh Jhunjhunwala-backed Nazara Technologies rallied 19 per cent to Rs 1,738 on the National Stock Exchange (NSE) in intra-day trade on Thursday, after falling 29 per cent in the past two days. The company had made a stellar debut on the bourses on Tuesday as the shares listed at Rs 1,990, an 81 per cent premium over its issue price of Rs 1,101, on the National Stock Exchange (NSE).

Shares of Piramal Enterprises gained 3.3 per cent in the intra-day deals to quote at Rs 1,810 on the BSE on Thursday after the company’s subsidiary, Piramal Pharma, acquired Hemmo Pharmaceuticals. “Piramal Pharma’s (PPL) Contract Development and Manufacturing Organization, Piramal Pharma Solutions (PPS), announced that PPL has entered into an agreement to acquire a 100 per cent stake in Hemmo Pharmaceuticals (Hemmo) for an upfront consideration of Rs 775 crore,” Piramal Enterprises said in a presentation.

Shares of JSW Steel, on Thursday, rose 5 per cent and hit a new high of Rs 490.95 on the BSE in intra-day trade after credit ratings agency Moody’s Investors Service changed the outlook on all ratings of the company’s instruments to stable from ‘negative’, led by strong recovery in operating performance. Moody’s, on Wednesday, has affirmed the JSW Steel’s Ba2 corporate family rating (CFR) and the Ba2 rating on the senior unsecured notes issued by the steel major. The rating agency also affirmed the Ba2 rating on the senior unsecured notes guaranteed by JSW and issued by its wholly owned indirect subsidiary, Periama Holdings.

Shares of NIIT surged 19 per cent to Rs 163.70 on the BSE in intra-day trade on Thursday after the company announced that its buyback offer would open on April 12, 2021. The buyback, which is proposed to be made under the tender offer route, will close on April 28, 2021. The company’s board on December 24, 2020, had approved an up to Rs 237 crore (of around 9.8 million shares) buyback proposal at Rs 240 per equity share.

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