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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Benchmark indices staged a smart-recovery during the second half of the trading session, led by healthy buying in metal and PSU bank stocks, to end the day around flat line on Friday. The markets, however, snapped their four-day winning run and ended lower amid weak global cues.
The BSE Sensex index opened gap-down and hit a low of 60,757 in early deals today. It staged a smart come-back and bounced 567 points intra-day to hit a high of 61,324.5. However, losses in private banks and select heavyweights such as HUL and Bharti Airtel held it from ending in the green zone. By close, the BSE 30-pack index stood at 61,223, down 12 points or 0.02 per cent.
Following a similar trajectory, the NSE Nifty hit a low of 18,120 in early deals but recouped losses to hit a high of 18,287. It, eventually, pared gains and ended 2 points down at 18,256 level.
TCS, Infosys, L&T, Tech M, and HDFC Bank were the top gainers on the Sensex today, while Tata Consumer Products, IOC, BPCL, and Adani Ports were the additional gainers on the Nifty. All these stocks gained between 1 and 4 per cent.
On the downside, Asian Paints, Axis Bank, UPL, HUL, ONGC, M&M, and Nestle India were the top laggards.
The broader market, however, outperformed the benchmarks and ended higher on Friday. The BSE MidCap index eked out 0.24 per cent gains while the BSe SmallCap advanced 0.5 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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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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