Sensex dips 124 points, smallcaps shine; Paytm cracks 9%, Tata Motors up 2%


It was a lacklustre session for the markets on Friday as lack of fresh triggers kept indices within a narrow range. The S&P BSE Sensex fell 123.5 points, or 0.2 per cent, to settle at 60,682.7 levels today amid profit booking in HCL Tech (down 2.7 per cent), Tata Steel, Reliance Industries, Wipro, ITC, ICICI Bank, Infosys, and HUL.

The Nifty50, meanwhile, closed at 17,857, down 37 points or 0.2 per cent. In the broader markets, the BSE SmallCap indices outshone its peers by rising 0.48 per cent. The BSE MidCap index settled flat with a positive bias.

Among individual shares, shares of Gautam Adani group companies continued to reel under pressure Adani Green Energy, Adani Transmission and Adani Total Gas hitting their respective 52-week lows on the BSE in Friday’s intra-day trade.

Besides, shares of digital financial services firm One97 Communications, which owns Paytm, slipped 9 per cent to Rs 640 on the National Stock Exchange (NSE) in Friday’s intra-day trade on the back of heavy volumes.

Sectorally, the Nifty Metal index slipped 2 per cent, while the Nifty Realty index gained 1.36 per cent.

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Sensex adds 86 points; GNFC, JK Paper surge 12% each, auto stocks slide


Benchmark indices bucked the weak Asian trend and rose on Friday as the Assembly elections’ euphoria extended into a second day. However, developments around the Ukrainian war, commodity prices, and the US inflation data kept the markets volatile through the day.

The S&P BSE Sensex hit a high of 55,834 in early deals but eased off to end at 55,550, up 86 points or 0.15 per cent. The Nifty50, on the other hand, settled at 16,630, up 35 points or 0.2 per cent.

The breadth was well-balanced as equal number of stocks advanced and declined on both the frontline indices. The gainers included Cipla, Sun Pharma, BPCL, JSW Steel, Dr Reddy’s Labs, IOC, Power Grid, Coal India, and ITC, while the losers were Nestle India, Maruti Suzuki, Tata Consumer Products, Tata Steel, Britannia, Axis Bank, Hindalco, NTPC, Eicher Motors, and TCS.

In the broader markets, the Midcap index (up 0.45 per cent) and the Smallcap index (up 0.87 per cent) on the BSE outperformed the benchmarks.

Sectorally, the Nifty Pharma index was the best performing index, rising 2.5 per cent on the NSE. The Nifty Auto index, on the other hand, slipped 0.4 per cent.

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Bulls reign on 1st day of 2021; Sensex ends 118 points up at 47,869; PSBs gain


Amid thin-trading in Asia, Indian equities clinched fresh record highs in the intra-day session on Friday on sustained bullish momentum in the markets. Frontline S&P BSE Sensex nearly kissed the 48,000-mark when it hit a fresh lifetime high of 47,980 levels. Its NSE counterpart, Nifty50, on the other hand touched a new peak of 14,050.

The indices, however, climbed-off record highs and settled the day around 0.2 per cent higher. The Sensex index ended the day at 47,869 levels, up 118 points or 0.25 per cent. ITC (up 2.3 per cent), TCS, M&M, and State Bank of India (SBI) were the top index gainers, while ICICI Bank (down 1.3 per cent), HDFC Bank, and Titan were the top drags on the index.

The broader Nifty50 closed the day at fresh closing high, above the 14,000-mark, at 14,018.5 levels, up 37 points or 0.26 per cent.

Among individual stocks, shares of Antony Waste Handling Cell debuted at the bourses at Rs 430 apiece, commanding a 36 per cent premium against the issue price of Rs 315. At close, the stock erased gains and settled 5 per cent lower than the listing price, at Rs 408 per share. It was, however, still up around 30 per cent compared to the issue price.

Besides, auto stocks remained in focus on Friday as firms reported their December sales. Maruti Suzuki ended the day 0.5 per cent higher after it reported a 20 per cent YoY rise in December sales. Meanwhile, M&M’s total sales slipped 10 per cent; Escorts total sales grew 88 per cent YoY; and Ashok Leyland’s total sales improved by 14 per cent on a yearly basis. All the stocks settled higher in the range of 2.5 per cent to 3.5 per cent.

Sectorally, largely all the NSE indices ended the day in the green barring Nifty Bank, Nifty Private Bank, and Nifty Financial Services indices. On the upside, Nifty PSB index ended over 3 per cent higher.

In the broader market, the S&P BSE MidCap and S&P BSE SmallCap index ended the day 1.24 per cent and 0.9 per cent higher, respectively.

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Sensex slips 433 points ahead of AGR hearing; Nifty Bank down over 2%


The domestic stock market ended over 1 per cent lower on Friday amid selling in financial counters ahead of the Supreme Court’s decision on adjusted gross revenue (AGR) issue. Further, weak global cues such as lacklustre Chinese economic data and confusion over US fiscal stimulus, too, weighed on investor sentiment.

The S&P BSE Sensex today shed 433 points or 1.13 per cent to settle at 37,877 levels. HDFC Bank, ITC, ICICI Bank, Axis Bank, and Reliance Industries (RIL) were the major contributors to the index’s loss. NSE’s Nifty ended at 11,178, down 122 points or 1.08 per cent.

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F&O expiry: Sensex soars 997 points on Covid-19 drug hopes; auto, IT stocks gain


Indian equity market soared on Thursday, the last day of the futures & options (F&O) contracts of April series, as encouraging early results from a Covid-19 treatment trial boosted investor sentiment. Buying was witnessed across the board with stocks such as Tata Motors, Vedanta, and Hindalco leading the charge.

The S&P BSE Sensex rallied an impressive 997 points or 3 per cent to 33,718 levels. Of 30 constituents, 26 ended in the green and rest 4 in the red. ONGC (up over 13 per cent) emerged as the biggest gainer on the index, followed by HCL Tech (up 11 per cent), Hero MotoCorp (up 9 per cent), and NTPC (up 6 per cent).

On the contrary, Sun Pharma (down nearly 3 per cent) ended as the top loser. HUL, too, ended over 1.6 per cent lower at Rs 2,195.70 ahead of its March quarter results due later in the day.

Reliance Industries (RIL) stock ended nearly 3 per cent higher at Rs 1,467.05 apiece on the BSE. The company is slated to announce March quarter results and consider rights issue later in the day. Further, it has announced that it will reduce the salaries of some of its employees in the hydrocarbon division by 10 per cent in view of the “adverse impact” of the coronavirus pandemic on fuel demand.

NSE’s headline index Nifty surged 307 points or over 3 per cent to settle at 9,860.

On a weekly basis, Sensex zoomed 7.6 per cent and Nifty jumped 7.7 per cent.

In the broader market, the S&P BSE MidCap index rallied 1.46 per cent to 12,013 levels and the S&P BSE SmallCap index gained over 1 per cent to 11,102-mark.

On the sectoral front, metal stocks advanced the most with the Nifty Metal index surging 8 per cent to 1,859.90 levels. The Nifty Auto index was second on the list – up 6.45 per cent to 5,901 levels.

Markets were closed on Friday on account of Maharashtra Day.

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