Stellar December quarter results by State Bank of India (SBI) and a status-quo in policy rates by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) kept markets afloat on Friday even as mild profit-booking amid heightened volatility trimmed gains at higher levels.
In the early deals, the benchmark S&P BSE Sensex surpassed the 51,000-mark on the BSE for the first time and hit a fresh record high of 51,073. The index, however, erased gains partially and ended 117 points, or 0.23 per cent, higher at 50,732 levels.
SBI (up 11.3 per cent) was the top gainer on the index as analysts raised their targets on the stock post better-than-expected December quarter results. Global brokerage CLSA, for instance, has set a target price of Rs 560 on the lender’s stock. READ MORE
Kotak Mahindra Bank, UltraTech Cement, Dr Reddy’s Labs, ITC, HUL, and HDFC Bank, all up between 1 per cent and 4 per cent, were the other top gainers on the index. On the downside, Axis Bank (down 3 per cent), Bharti Airtel, ICICI Bank, Maruti Suzuki, TCS, and HCL Tech were the top laggards on the index.
On the other hand, Nifty50 index surpassed the psychological 15,000-mark and hit a record high of 15,015 levels. At close, the index was at 14,924 levels, up 29 points or 0.19 per cent.
The broader markets, however, came under selling pressure. The S&P BSE MidCap and SmallCap indices ended 0.93 per cent and 0.28 per cent lower, respectively.
On the sectoral front, the Nifty Auto an the IT indices ended 1 per cent lower each, while the Nifty PSU Bank index advanced 4 per cent on the NSE.
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The Indian markets ended over half a per cent higher on Friday, lifted by financial stocks, while volatility index, India VIX, dipped 4 per cent to below 20 levels.
The S&P BSE Sensex gained 214 points, or 0.56 per cent, to 38,435 levels, and the Nifty50 index ended above the 11,350-mark at 11,372, up 59 points or 0.53 per cent. NTPC (up over 4.5 per cent), Asian Paints (up over 4 per cent) and Power Grid (up over 4 per cent) were the top Sensex gainers. Asian Paints hit a record high of Rs 1,971 during the day. The stock settled at Rs 1,958.35 on the BSE.
On a weekly basis, Sensex gained 1.47 per cent while Nifty added 1.72 per cent.
On the flip side, ONGC (down over 1 per cent), Bharti Airtel (down 1 per cent), and Tata Steel (down nearly 1 per cent) were the biggest losers on the index.
Among other individual stocks, GMM Pfaudler surged over 8 per cent in early deals after it said it has acquired a 54 per cent stake in its parent firm Pfaudler Group for a consideration of around $27.4 million.
The trend among Nifty sectoral indices was positive, led by Nifty PSU Bank index, up 1.8 per cent.
Meanwhile, the broader markets kept up their outperformance. The S&P BSE MidCap index ended at 14,954, up 0.57 per cent while the S&P BSE SmallCap index ended at 14,625.19, up nearly 1.5 per cent.
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It was a week of stock specific moves. The market ended positive for the fifth consecutive week thanks to a smart rally in stocks like TCS, HDFC Bank, Axis Bank and Reliance Industries in an otherwise a holiday-truncated expiry week. Globally, low probability of US Federal Reserve hiking interest rates in US in its March policy meeting also contributed to the buoyant sentiment.
During the week ended February 10, the S&P BSE Sensex added 1.5% or 424 points to settle at 28893, while Nifty50 gained 1.3% or 118 points to close at 8939.
Midcap and Smallcap stocks also mirrored the gains in the frontline indices to rise nearly 1% each.
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