Banks, IT lift Sensex 355 points higher, Nifty atop 17,100; auto, pharma dip


The Sensex and Nifty ended higher for the second straight trading session on Friday backed by renewed buying interest in IT and banking stocks. Realty shares too logged strong gains, while auto and pharma shares signed-off on a weak note.

The S&P BSE Sensex gyrated in a range of 675 points; the index from a high of 58,179 slipped into red to a low of 57,504. The BSE benchmark finally ended 355 points higher at 57,990.

The NSE Nifty 50 advanced 114 points as it reclaimed the 17,100 level.

The broader markets also finished with gains. The BSE Midcap index advanced 0.3 per cent, and the Smallcap index added 0.7 per cent.

Sectorally, the BSE Realty index soared 3.2 per cent and was the top gainer. The Metal index surged 2.4 per cent. The Bankex and IT index gained over a per cent each

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Rout in Adani group shares, banks drag Sensex 874 points, Nifty ends at 17,600


Equity markets buckled under severe selling pressure to close at 3-month lows on Friday driven by an extended slump in Adani group stocks that soured overall market sentiment.

Banking stocks were the top laggards as claims of high debt of Adani firms made by Hindenburg in its recent report had a sentimentally negative impact on the banking space, especially PSU banks, analysts said.

The BSE Sensex cracked 874 points to close at 59,331, its lowest level since Oct 21, 2022 when it ended at 59,307. The NSE Nifty dropped to 17,604 with a massive loss of 288 points.

Adani Enterprises and Adani Ports were the leading Nifty losers, which ended 18 and 15 per cent lower, respectively. SBI, ICICI Bank, IndusInd Bank were next in line dropping up to 5 per cent.

Shares of other Adani firms–Adani Wilmar, Adani Transmission, Adani Green, Adani Total Gas, Adani Power, Ambuja Cement and ACC– closed with losses of 5-20 per cent on top of Wednesday’s decline, which came as short-seller Hindenburg Research said it held short positions in Adani Group companies through US-traded bonds and non-Indian-traded derivative instruments and accused the group of stock manipulation and accounting fraud.

Four Adani group stocks listed in the F&O (Futures & Options) segment – Adani Enterprises, Adani Ports, ACC and Ambuja Cement witnessed a build-up of Open Interest (OI) on the short-side since the beginning of this week, which is a couple of days prior to the release of Hindenburg report.

As per Reuters, SEBI has increased scrutiny of deals by the Adani Group over the past year and will also study the report issued by Hindenburg Research to add to its own ongoing preliminary investigation into the group’s foreign portfolio investors. Read more

Shares of Tata Motors, Bajaj Auto and Dr Reddy’s firmly resisted Friday’s market crash on strong Q3 earnings. Besides, auto, pharma, FMCG indices were the only outperformers in a broad-based selloff, while the Nifty PSB and oil & gas indices were the worst hit with cuts of 5 per cent each.

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Sensex leaps 1,181 points, Nifty holds 18350 amid global rally; HDFC duo up 6%


Indian equities rose in tandem with global peers after the release of US inflation data in October raised investor hopes that inflation has peaked. Barring minor downtick in the Nifty Auto, FMCG, and PSU Bank indices, all other sectoral indices advanced on the bourses. The Nifty IT index led from the front with around 4 per cent surge.

Meanwhile, HDFC twins, information technology (IT), and other heavyweighs including Reliance Industries, Tata Steel, L&T, and Bajaj twins propelled the S&P BSE Sensex to a fresh 52-week high of 61,841, while the Nifty50 touched 18,362.

The indices, eventually, ended at 61,795, and 18,350 levels, up 1,181 points and 322 points, respectively.

In the broader markets, the BSE MidCap, and the BSE SmallCap indices added 0.15 per cent, and 0.33 per cent, respectively, as against the frontline indices’ 2-per cent gain.

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Sensex snaps 3-day losing run on RBI policy, rises 412 points; yields up 2%


Benchmark indices snapped their three-day losing run and settled 0.8 per cent higher on Friday. Investors heaved a sigh of relief as the Reserve Bank of India decided to keep the interest rates unchanged and maintained ‘accommodative’ stance despite liquidity unwinding by global central banks. The RBI also announced revised inflation and GDP growth forecasts in-line with market expectations. Yields on 10-year bonds, however, hit multi-year high of 7.075, inching up 2.3 per cent.

Against this backdrop, the S&P BSE Sensex climbed 571 points from the day’s low to end at 59,447, up 412 points against Thursday’s close. The NSE Nifty, too, advanced 145 points to settle at 17,784 in a broad-based rally. Both the indices had hit intra-day highs of 59,654 and 17,843, respectively.

The broader BSE MidCap and SmallCap indices rose in tandem with the frontline indices and closed 0.9 per cent higher each.

Among individual stocks, ITC ended as the top gainer as it advanced 4.7 per cent on the Sensex index. The stock of the cigarettes to fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) major has rallied 24 per cent in the past six week.

That apart, Dr Reddy’s Labs, M&M, Tata Steel, Titan, Reliance Industries, Asian Paints, Nestle India, and IndusInd Bank were the other gainers, rising upwards of 1.5 per cent each.

On the downside, only Tech M, NTPC, Maruti Suzuki, Sun Pharma, and HCL Tech were the laggards, down up to 1.2 per cent.

Sectorally, the Nifty Metal index was the biggest gainer, rising 2 per cent. Meanwhile, the Nifty IT index ended wee bit in the red.

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Sensex falls 884 points from day’s high, ends 77 points down; Nifty holds 17,100


Benchmark indices ended a week of extreme volatility marginally in the red note on Friday, following the US Federal Reserve’s monetary policy meeting.

The S&P BSE Sensex index had started gap-up and had extended its rally to hit a high of 58,084-mark, up 807 points intra-day. However, a sharp sell-off in the last hour of trade dragged the index in the negative zone, settling 77 points, or 0.13 per cent, lower at 57,200.

The Nifty50 shut shop at 17,102, down 8 points or 0.05 per cent. It was 271 points lower from its intra-day high of 17,373.

The indices’ breadth was slightly skewed towards buyers as 14 of the 30 constituents on the Sensex and 19 of the 50 constituents on the Nifty ended in the red. The losses were led by Maruti Suzuki, Tech M, Power Grid, Hero MotoCorp, ICICI Bank, Axis Bank, SBI, and Bajaj Finserv. All these stocks were down in the range of 1 to 3 per cent.

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Indices snap 4-day losing run; Sensex up 166 points; small-caps outperform


Equity markets snapped their four-day losing run and ended near day’s high on Friday as gains in pharma and banking counters, and select heavyweights lent support to the indices. Breaking away from a lackluster trade, the frontline indices picked pace in the second half of the session as ICICI Bank, Reliance Industries, SBI, and HDFC gained between 0.7 per cent and 1.6 per cent.

The S&P BSE Sensex closed with gains of 166 points, or 0.32 per cent, at 52,485 levels while the NSE’s Nifty50 settled at 15,722 levels, up 42 points or 0.27 per cent.

However, trading action was skewed towards small-cap stocks as hefty buying in Mangalam Cement, Omaxe, OnMobile Global, Route Mobile, and Indoco Remedies, pushed the BSE SmallCap index up 1 per cent. Gains in mid-cap index remained capped amid sell-off in Adani Transmission, Adani Enterprises, Adani Green Energy, JSW Energy, SAIL, and Vodafone Idea. The BSE MidCap index ended little changed.

Sectorally, the Nifty Pharma index was the top gainer, up 0.6 per cent, followed by the Nifty Bank index, up 0.4 per cent. Conversely, the Nifty Metal index was the top sectoral loser on the NSE, down 1.5 per cent.

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Banks lift indices to 10-wk high; Sensex ends 976 points up, Nifty at 15,175


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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Sensex ends at fresh closing peak of 48,782, up 689 points; Nifty at 14,347


Earnings optimism and positive global cues fuelled a broad-based rally in the markets with benchmark indices settling over a per cent higher on Friday. IT stocks led from the front and contributed nearly half of Sensex’s 600-point gains today. Reliance Industries, Maruti Suzuki, HDFC Bank, and L&T provided the remaining fillip to the BSE barometer.

The S&P BSE Sensex notched 689 points, or 1.43 per cent, to end at fresh closing peak of 48,782.5. The index hit a new lifetime high of 48,854.34 levels earlier in the day. The Sensex index gained 2 per cent during the week and clocked the longest stretch of weekly gains since 2009.

Maruti Suzuki jumped 6 per cent and remained the top Sensex gainer, followed by Tech Mahindra, up 5 per cent. The IT company today entered the elite Rs 1-trillion market capitalisation club, becoming the fifth IT firm to achieve the feat. At close, its m-cap was Rs 1.01 trillion.

That apart, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) hit a record high of Rs 3,127.55 apiece in the intra-day trade and closed 3 per cent higher ahead of the announcement of Q3FY21 results. The IT firm’s revenue in constant currency (CC) terms is expected to rise in the range of 2.4-4 per cent on quarter-on-quarter (QoQ) basis while it may grow between 3-4.5 per cent in dollar revenue.

The broader Nifty50 too, ended at fresh closing peak of 14,347, closing 210 points or 1.48 per cent higher on the NSE. 41 of the 50 constituents ended the day in the green. The index touched lifetime high of 14,367 in noon deals today. For the week, the index was up 2.3 per cent.

In the mid-cap space, S&P BSE MidCap index, though underperformed the frontline index, settled 1 per cent higher at 19,138.7 level after hitting a record peak of 19,161 earlier in the day, and clocked a 5-per cent weekly gain. The S&P BSE SmallCap index, on the other hand, ended at 18,908.59 levels, up 0.72 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 ends choppy trade 70 points higher, Nifty tops 13,750; IT stocks shine


Subdued global sentiment weighed on domestic equity markets on Friday as investors booked profits across the board, barring information technology (IT) sector. However, last hour buying in select pharma and bank stocks helped indices to settle the day in the green.

The benchmark S&P BSE Sensex settled the day at 46,961 levels, up 70 points or 0.15 per cent. The index hit a record high of 47,026 in the opening deals but erased gains on sell-off in large private banks, metals and realty stocks.

At close, Bajaj Finance, Infosys, State Bank of India (SBI), and Titan (up between 1.4 per cent and 2.4 per cent) were the top gainers while IndusInd Bank, HDFC Bank, ONGC, and Maruti Suzuki ended the day as top laggards.

The Nifty50 index, on the other hand, ended at 13,760.5 levels, up 20 points or 0.14 per cent.

The broader markets ended in the red for the second straight day. The S&P BSE MidCap index closed at 63 points, or 0.35 per cent, lower at 17,801 level. The S&P BSE SmallCap index, too, dipped 42 points, or 0.2 per cent, at 17,769 levels.

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