Bulls ruled on Dalal Street on Friday, the first day of the June F&O series, as a trinity of steady decline in Covid-19 cases, the announcement of unlock in the national capital, and $6 trillion fiscal stimulus in the US held up investor confidence.
The benchmark Nifty index scaled a fresh record peak of 15,469.6 on the National Stock Exchange (NSE) today, surpassing its previous record peak of 15,432 hit on February 16. The index traded higher for the sixth consecutive session as India recorded its lowest daily count of new Covid-19 cases in 44 days. The country, on Thursday, logged 186,364 fresh virus cases while death remained above 3,500-mark.
Add to it, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal announced earlier on Friday that the national capital will begin to unlock from Monday and said that construction activities and factories will be reopened from May 31.
Reading these developments as the first step towards a gradual uptick in economic activities, benchmark indices zoomed to day’s high of 51,529 on the S&P BSE Sensex and record peak on the Nifty. By the close, the Sensex index was quoting at 51,423 levels, up 308 points or 0.6 per cent while the Nifty50 was at 15,436-mark, up 98 points or 0.64 per cent.
Reliance Industries was the biggest contributor towards the indices’ rally today after the stock clocked its sharpest intra-day rally in two months and zoomed 6.4 per cent. The stock, which settled 5.8 per cent higher on the BSE, looks firm on both, fundamental and technical, grounds. Analysts at Jefferies maintained their ‘buy’ rating on the counter with a target of Rs 2,580 per share. READ MORE
That apart, Grasim, Adani Ports, M&M, Eicher Motors, Coal India, HDFC, Kotak Bank, and IndusInd Bank remained the top gainers of the day, up between 1 per cent and 3 per cent. On the downside, Sun Pharma, ICICI Bank, Bajaj Finserv, NTPC, PowerGrid, Shree Cement, and Nestle India were the top laggards, down up to 4.5 per cent.
Broader markets, however, settled the day in the red on the back of profit-booking. The BSE Midcap index fell 0.12 per cent and the BSE SmallCap index dropped 0.48 per cent.
In terms of sectoral participation, the Nifty PSU Bank index gained 0.7 per cent, followed by the Nifty Private Bank index, up 0.3 per cent. On the contrary, the Nifty Pharma index slipped 1.2 per cent on the NSE.
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Benchmark indices built on gains clocked through the day and ended nearly 2 per cent higher on Friday after India’s largest public sector bank, State Bank of India, reported a healthy quarterly show. The lender’s net profit zoomed over 80 per cent to Rs 6,451 crore in Q4FY21 as it set aside lower provisions and expected asset quality to improve going forward.
Supported by rally in other financial stocks, the BSE barometer of 30-shares ended at 50,540 levels, up 976 points or 1.9 per cent. On NSE, the Nifty50 index advanced 269 points to settle above the crucial level of 15,150-level at 15,175. Both the indices hit their respective highs of 50,591 and 15,190.
SBI was the second best gainer on the Sensex, up 4 per cent, while IndusInd Bank, HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, Axis Bank, HDFC, and Kotak Mahindra Bank were the other top gainers, up between 3 per cent and 4.5 per cent. All these stocks contributed nearly 680 points towards the Sensex’s total gains.
On the downside, Dr Reddy’s Labs and Power Grid on the Sensex, and Eicher Motors, Indian Oil Corporation, Grasim, and SBI Life on the Nifty were the only only laggards on the indices, down up to 0.3 per cent.
Financial indices — Nifty Bank, Private Bank, PSU Bank, and Financial Services — outperformed on the NSE today, and gained between 3-3.5 per cent. Meanwhile, all other sectoral indices settled up to 1 per cent higher.
In the broader markets, the S&P BSE MidCap and SmallCap indices underperformed the benchmarks today and ended 0.8 per cent and 0.65 per cent higher, respectively.
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Domestic equity markets traded within a narrow range on Friday, fluctuating between gains and losses, as a slew of downgrades in the GDP growth forecasts for FY22 along with a slowdown in the vaccination programme amid supply crunch kept investors indecisive about the market direction.
India recorded over 343,000 fresh Covid-19 infections on Friday, taking the caseload tally to a little over 24 million. According to a government official, two billion doses of Covid-19 vaccines will be made available in the country between August and December, enough to vaccinate the entire population. This comes after Delhi, Maharashtra and Karnataka decided to suspend the vaccination for people in the 18-44 age group till further orders amid an acute shortage of vaccines.
However, favourable global cues helped the indices to limit losses. In Europe, the pan-European STOXX 600 index rose 0.3 per cent, with banks and retail stocks leading the gains, following a healthy session in Asia.
Against this backdrop, the BSE barometer of 30-shares culminated the session at 48,732.5 levels, adding 42 points or 0.09 per cent. During the choppy session, the index hit a high and low of 48,899 and 48,473, respectively.
On the NSE, the broader 50-share index defended the 14,650-mark to settle at 14,678 levels, down 19 points or 0.13 per cent.
Overall, 21 of the 30 shares on the Sensex and 34 of the 50 constituents of the Nifty ended the day in the red. Coal India, Hindalco, Tata Steel, Tata Motors, Grasim, and IndusInd Bank on the Nifty and M&M, SBI, ONGC, Dr Reddy’s Labs, and NTPC on the Sensex ended the day as top laggards.
On a weekly basis, both, the Sensex and the Nifty50 indices slipped around 1 per cent each.
On the upside, Asian Paints, UPL, ITC, Nestle India, L&T, HUL, Britannia, PowerGrid, and Reliance Industries were the combined top gainers of the day.
Profit-taking in the broader markets was sharper than benchmarks. The S&P BSE MidCap and SmallCap indices lost 1.2 per cent each.
Sectorally, the Nifty Metal index nursed the steepest loss of around 4 per cent, followed the Nifty Realty index, down 3 per cent and the Nifty PSU Bank and Auto indices, down 2 per cent each. On the upside, only Nifty FMCG index ended in the green, up 2 per cent.
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Firm global cues and healthy corporate earnings back home helped domestic equity indices to settle higher for third straight day on Friday. In Europe, stocks hit a record high as strong economic data from Germany and other major economies as well as upbeat earnings underpinned hopes of a swift economic recovery from the pandemic.
The frontline indices gained little over 0.5 per cent as volatility gauge, India VIX, eased 5.5 per cent, propelled largely by metal stocks. The Nifty Metal index advanced 5 per cent on the NSE while all other sectoral indices clocked gains between 0.04 per cent and 1 per cent. The Nifty PSU Bank index was the only loser, down 0.14 per cent.
Against this backdrop, the benchmark Nifty50 shut shop at 14,823 levels, up 98 points. On the BSE, the 30-share Sensex index closed 257 points higher at 49,206 levels.
Individually, Tata Steel, Hindalco, JSW Steel, Adani Ports, SBI Life, M&M, and HDFC were the top Nifty gainers of the day while Tata Consumer Products, Bajaj Auto, Hero MotoCorp, Bajaj Finance, and Eicher Motors declined up to 3.5 per cent.
Trading in the broader markets, however, remained mixed. The S&P BSE MidCap index dipped 0.04 per cent while the SmallCap index ended 0.15 per cent higher.
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It was a freaky Friday for Dalal Street investors as bears came roaring amid weakness in Asian markets and unabated rise in Covid-19 cases along with hiccups in vaccination drive back home. Profit booking too weighed on markets following four straight sessions of gains that led to a 4 per cent rally in the benchmark indices this week.
The benchmark indices eased 2 per cent today amid massive selling in all but pharma sector. The Nifty Bank and Financial Services indices took the sharpest knock and dropped 3 per cent each while the Nifty FMCG, Auto, IT, and Realty indices slipped up to 1.5 per cent. The Nifty Pharma index bucked the trend and gained settled 1 per cent higher.
In effect, NSE’s 50-share index erased 264 points to close at 14,631 levels dragged mainly by HDFC (down 4.2 per cent), HDFC Bank (4 per cent), ICICI Bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Asian Paints, M&M, TCS, Tata Motors, and Adani Ports. The losses were, however, capped by gains in ONGC (4 per cent), Coal India, Divi’s Labs, Grasim, and Indian Oil Corporation.
On the BSE, the Sensex index nursed losses in 25 of the 30 constituents and ended at 48,782 levels today, down 983.5 points.
On a weekly basis, both the frontline indices snapped their 3-week losing streak and added around 2 per cent higher each.
SmallCap scrips, meanwhile, remained resilient in the weak market with stocks such as Uttam Sugar, Tata Metaliks,Jay Bharat Maruti, and Confidence Petroleum India rallying between 174 per cent and 16 per cent. At the index level, the S&P BSE SmallCap settled just 0.07 per cent lower.
The MidCap index, on the other hand, slipped 0.65 per cent.
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Benchmark indices oscillated between gains and losses on Friday as concerns over the second wave of Covid-19 in the country and nervousness in the global markets overpowered the risk appetite of bargain hunters.
After starting gap-down, the benchmark S&P BSE Sensex recouped all the losses and jumped nearly 200 points to hit a high of 48,265 in the intra-day deals. However, bears roared back on Street and sent the index down 600 points from the day’s high to a low of 47,669. It eventually nursed losses of 202 points, or 0.42 per cent, to end the day at 47,878.45 levels.
On the NSE, the broader Nifty50 closed at 14,341 levels, down 65 points or 0.45 per cent. The index hit a high and low of 14,461 and 14,273 in the intra-day deals.
Over 30 constituents in the Nifty ended the session in the red including Britannia (down 2.6 per cent), Dr Reddy’s Labs, M&M, Wipro, Grasim, Hindalco, and Tech Mahindra. On the Sensex, HUL, ICICI Bank, Bharti Airtel, and Infosys closed as top laggards.
On the upside, NTPC (up 4 per cent), Power Grid, HDFC Life, SBI Life, BPCL, Coal India, and HDFC outperformed the benchmark indices.
The overall market breadth remained in the favour of the bulls, courtesy rally in the broader markets. The S&P BSE MidCap index gained 0.2 per cent today while the S&P BSE SmallCap index added 0.5 per cent riding on the back of gains in Confidence Petroleum India, HFCL, MTNL, Panacea Biotech, Indian Bank, Indian Hotel, Muthoot Finance, and Varroc Engineering.
The overall advances on the BSE were 1,566 while 1,357 were the declines. About 170 counters remained unchanged.
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The benchmark indices witnessed a see-saw trade on Friday as markets failed to breach crucial resistance zones at the higher levels. As per technical charts, if the frontline S&P BSE Sensex and the Nifty surpass their psychological levels of 50,000 and 15,000 levels, respectively, then the indices may log a 4-per cent rally in the short-term.
However, with the Covid-19 situation in the country getting grimmer day by day, market participants have stayed on the sidelines. During Friday’s session, the Sensex index dropped 250 points from day’s high of 49,089 to settle 28 points, or 0.06 per cent higher at 48,832.
The NSE’s Nifty50, on the other hand, ended at 14,618 levels, up 36 points or 0.25 per cent. The index had reached an intra-day high of 14,698.
Wipro, which jumped 10 per cent in the intra-day trade and hit a record high of Rs 474 on the NSE, ended as the top gainer (up 9 per cent) on the Nifty after clocking its best performance in the March quarter in a decade. ICICI Securities said that the key highlights of the quarter were healthy deal wins, up 16.7 per cent QoQ, to $1.4 billion, healthy net addition of 7,404 employees, higher offshore up 180 bps to 54.5 per cent. READ MORE
That apart, Hindalco, Asian Paints, Cipla, BPCL, HCL Tech, and UltraTech Cement were the other best performing stocks on the Nifty, up in the range of 2 per cent to 4 per cent. On the downside, Tata Steel, L&T, ICICI Bank, SBI, Bajaj Finance, and JSW Steel slipped up to 2 per cent to end as top drags on the index.
Investor participation in the broader markets, however, remained strong with the S&P BSE MidCap and SmallCap indices settling 1.2 per cent and 1.05 per cent higher, respectively.
Sectorally, the Nifty Pharma index ended 2 per cent higher while the Nifty Auto, IT, Metal, and FMCG indices gained between 0.6 per cent and 1.2 per cent. On the downside, the Nifty Bank, PSU Bank, and Realty indices slipped up to 0.6 per cent.
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Snapping their 3-day winning streak, domestic equity markets traded range-bound in the negative territory on Friday, with a few episodes of gains. Amid mixed global cues and record Covid-19 cases back home, coupled with reports of a vaccine supply crunch, the benchmark indices dropped 0.3 per cent today.
Among headline indices, the S&P BSE Sensex ended the day at 49,591 level, down 155 points. 50 per cent of the constituents ended the day in the red with Bajaj Finance (down 3 per cent), Ultratech Cement, NTPC, ICICI Bank, Axis Bank, IndusInd Bank, and Reliance Industries leading the list of losers. On the upside, Sun Pharma, HUL, Tech Mahindra, Titan Company, Dr Reddy’s Labs, and HCL Tech were the top gainers on the index, up in the range of 1 per cent to 3.5 per cent.
On the NSE, the 50-share barometer settled at 14,835 levels, down 39 points dragged down by UPL, Tata Steel, Coal India, and Axis Bank.
Trends in the broader markets were mixed as the S&P BSE SmallCap index closed 0.7 per cent higher while the S&P BSE MidCap index dipped 0.07 per cent.
The SmallCap index hit fresh record peak of 21,667, for second day in a row on the back of gains in Srei Infra, Butterfly Gandhimathi, Kilitch Drugs, Subex, Bank of Maharashtra, Aarti Surfactants, Vimta Labs, and Sasken Technologies.
Sectorally, investors appeared to be defensive with the Nifty Pharma index ending over 3 per cent up. The Nifty IT and FMCG indices, meanwhile, settled 0.8 per cent higher each.
On the downside, the Nifty Bank, Private Bank, and Auto indices slipped up to 1 per cent.
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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.
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Breaking away from two-straight sessions of bear hammering, bulls were back in action on Dalal Street. Parked near day’s high, the benchmark indices ended Friday’s session with over one per cent gains amid healthy buying in metal, financial, and auto stocks.
The Nifty Metal index ended nearly 4 per cent higher, while the Nifty Financial Services, FMCG, and Auto indices ended with around 2 per cent gains. Realty, bank, pharma and IT indices, meanwhile, advanced up to 1.5 per cent.
Among the benchmark indices, the frontline S&P BSE Sensex closed with gains of 568 points, or 1.17 per cent, at 49,008 level. The broader Nifty, on the other hand, reclaimed the 14,500-mark on a closing basis and settled at 14,507 level, up 182.4 points or 1.27 per cent.
Bajaj Finserv, Asian Paints, HUL, Titan Company, Bajaj Auto, and HDFC were leading the list of gainers on the Sensex, up between 2.7 per cent and 4.4 per cent. Tata Steel, Tata Motors, Bharti Airtel, and Adani Ports were the additional gainers on the Nifty with up to 6 per cent returns today.
On the downside, PowerGrid, IndusInd Bank, ITC, Maruti Suzuki, UPL, and TCS declined the most on the benchmark indices, down up to 2 per cent.
Overall, the S&P BSE MidCap index ended 1.66 per cent higher, while the SmallCap counterpart closed with a per cent gain.
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