Sensex jumps 1,017 points on RBI’s 50-bps hike; Nifty nears 17,100; banks lead

The Reserve Bank of India’s in-line monetary policy action lifted equities on Friday. The benchmark indices snapped their seven-day losing streak as the RBI delivered a 50-basis point repo rate hike, and underscored the resilience of the Indian economy in his statement.

At the index level, the S&P BSE Sensex climbed 1,313 points intra-day before cooling off a little to end at 57,427, up 1,017 points or 1.8 per cent. The NSE Nifty50, meanwhile, inched closer to 17,200 level before ending at 17,094, up 276 points or 1.64 per cent.

26 of the 30 Sensex constituents, and 41 of the 50 Nifty constituents closed in the positive zone led by Hindalco, Bharti Airtel, IndusInd Bank, Bajaj Finance, Kotak Bank, Titan, HDFC Bank, Bajaj Finserv, Tata Steel, and ICICI Bank. These shares rallied between 2 per cent and 5.6 per cent.

The list of losers included Asian Paints, Coal India, Dr Reddy’s Labs, Britannia, Adani Enterprises, and ITC.

Among sectors, the Nifty PSU Bank, and Private Bank indices advanced around 3 per cent each, followed by the Nifty Metal, and Financial Services indices, up 2 per cent each.

Shares of Bharti Airtel hit a record high of Rs 808.85, as they rallied 6 per cent in Friday’s intra-day trade, ahead of the launch of 5G services in India on Saturday, October 1.

Shares of Adani Green Energy soared 20% on heavy volumes. In September, Spitze Trade and Investment Limited, one of the promoters of AGEL acquired 4 million equity shares representing 0.25 per cent of total equity of the company via open market.

Gujarat Flurochem hit a new high on healthy outlook as the stock zoomed 109% in 1 year. Adoption of 5G-enabled smartphones in India is expected to triple and this, in turn, will drive the fluoropolymers market and benefit the Gujarat Fluorochemicals.

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