Indices rally for 5th straight day, Sensex up 553 pts; RIL, financials gain


Extending their gaining streak into the fifth straight session, the benchmark indices ended over 1 per cent higher on Friday, lifted mainly by index heavyweight Reliance Industries and financials. Further, firm global cues, too, boosted investor sentiment.

The S&P BSE Sensex added 553 points, or 1.34 per cent to settle at 41,893 levels and the Nifty50 index ended above the crucial 12,250 level at 12,264, up 143 points, or 1.18 per cent.

On a weekly basis, Sensex gained 5.75 per cent while Nifty added 5.33 per cent.

Reliance Industries today ended nearly 4 per cent higher at Rs 2,029 on the BSE after the conglomerate said that Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund will invest Rs 9,555 crore for a 2.04 per cent equity stake in Reliance Retail.

In the broader market, the S&P BSE MidCap index rose 0.36 per cent while the S&P BSE SmallCap index ended 0.54 per cent higher.

On the sectoral front, Nifty Bank rallied 486 points, or 1.85 per cent to 26,799 levels while Nifty IT gained 0.5 per cent. Nifty Pharma, on the other hand, lost 0.7 per cent.

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Maruti, HDFC help Sensex settle 127 points higher; Nifty tops 11,900


A healthy buying in auto, technology, and select bank stocks helped benchmark indices settle in the green on Friday.

The S&P BSE Sensex settled 127 points, or 0.31 per cent higher at 40,686 levels while NSE’s Nifty ended at 11,930, up 34 points, or 0.28 per cent. The volatility index, India Vix, slipped over 3.5 per cent to 21.82 levels.

On a weekly basis, Sensex gained 1.75 per cent while Nifty added 1.42 per cent.

Auto major Maruti (up over 4 per cent) ended as the biggest gainer on Sensex while UltraTech Cement (down over 2 per cent) was the top loser.

The broader market continued to outperform frontline indices. The S&P BSE MidCap index gained 0.59 per cent while the S&P BSE SmallCap index rallied 0.7 per cent to 15,135 levels.

Among sectoral indices, Nifty Auto gained nearly 3 per cent to 8,095 levels.

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Indices snap 3-day losing streak, Sensex up 411 points; PSBs gain


Snapping three-day losing streak, buying sentiment was back at D-Street with benchmark indices edging a per cent higher on Friday lifted by gains in financial counters.

The S&P BSE Sensex gained 411.38 points, or 1 per cent, to close at 41,575.14 level, with Axis Bank (up 3 per cent), Power Grid (2.2 per cent), SBI (2 per cent), and Bharti Airtel (1.89 per cent) settling as the top gainers on the index. On the flipside, UltraTech Cement (0.22 per cent), and Titan (0.17 per cent) were the top drags.

On the NSE, the Nifty50 ended 124.15 points, or 1.02 per cent highet at 12,250.70-mark.

The Sensex and Nifty50 hit an intra-day high/low of 41,611.27/41,264.92 and 12,258.45/12,157.90, respectively.

On the sectoral front, all the key indices on the NSE settled the day in the positive territory. Nifty PSU Bank index was the best performing index, up 3 per cent, at close, followed by gains in Nifty Realty index (1.6 per cent), and Nifty Bank index (1.3 per cent).

The broader markets, too, followed headlines indices with the S&P BSE mid and small-cap indices gaining 0.86 per cent each.

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Sensex gains 264 points ahead of FM’s media briefing, Q1 GDP nos.


Domestic indices remained volatile on Friday, but surged in the last trading hour, ahead of the June quarter GDP numbers, that were scheduled to be released later in the day. Further, reports of a likely announcement by the Finance Ministry on merger of public sector banks (PSBs) increased buying interest at the counters. That apart, hopes of face-to-face trade talks between the United States and China helped ease market sentiment.

The benchmark S&P BSE Sensex settled 264 points, or 0.71 per cent, higher at 37,333 level, lifted by HDFC twins, ITC, ICICI Bank, and Hindustan Unilever. All the index heavyweights were up in the range of 1-3 per cent. YES Bank, Sun Pharma, IndusInd Bank, and Tata Steel ended the day as top gainers, while Power Grid, ONGC, HCL Tech, and Larsen and Toubro closed as top laggards. Meanwhile, the broader Nifty50 ended at 11,023-mark, up 75 points or 0.68 per cent.

Sectorally, all the indices ended in the green. Nifty Pharma index ended the day as top gainer, up 2.4 per cent, followed by Nifty Metal index, up 1.8 per cent.

In the broader market, the S&P BSE MidCap index closed at 13,468 level, up 134 points, or 1.01 per cent. The S&P BSE SmallCap index closed at 12,535 level, up 104 points, or 0.84 per cent.

Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman is scheduled to address media later in the day, where she is likely to announce mega plan for merging multiple set of public sector banks (PSB).

The department of financial services in the finance ministry called a meeting, on Friday, with chief executives of ten public sector banks which are seen as top contenders for merger. The banks invited for consultations on Friday are: Union Bank of India, Canara Bank, Punjab National Bank, United Bank, Oriental Bank of Commerce, United Bank, Allahabad Bank, Corporation Bank, Syndicate Bank and Andhra Bank.

Shares of PSBs were trading mixed on the National Stock Exchange (NSE) on Friday afternoon. Oriental Bank of Commerce, Central Bank of India, Syndicate Bank and Allahabad Bank were up in the range of 3 per cent to 6 per cent on the NSE. On the other hand, State Bank of India (SBI), Union Bank of India, Bank of India, Indian Bank and Bank of Baroda were down between 1 and 2 per cent.

HDFC AMC, Infosys, Bata India, Asian Paints, Berger Paints among BSE500 index stocks that hit record highs in today’s session.

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Sensex gains 213 points post Populist Budget Proposals


The benchmark indices settled over 0.5 per cent higher on Friday after Finance Minister Piyush Goyal announced a string of populist measures in his Interim Budget 2019 speech in the Parliament.

The S&P BSE Sensex ended at 36,469, up 213 points or 0.59 per cent, while the broader Nifty50 index settled at 10,894, up 63 points or 0.58 per cent.

In the broader market, the S&P BSE MidCap index ended at 14,641, up 81 points or 0.56 per cent, while the S&P BSE SmallCap settled at 13,950, up 24 points or 0.17 per cent.

Among sectors, the Nifty Auto index was the top gainer of the day, rising 2.71 per cent led by Hero MotoCorp and Maruti Suzuki. The Nifty IT index too rose 1.45 per cent led by HCL Technologies and Tech Mahindra.

In a major relief to the middle-class taxpayer, Finance Minister Piyush Goyal, in his Interim Budget 2019 speech announced that those earning up to Rs 5 lakh a year would not have to pay any tax. He also said that those with an annual income of up to Rs 6.5 lakh would not have to file income-tax returns.

Goyal also announced PM Kisan Samadhan Nidhi scheme in which, farmers owning up to 2 hectares of land will get Rs 6,000 per annum, which will be completely funded by the central government. This scheme is likely to benefit 12 crore small and marginal farmers, at an estimated cost of Rs. 75,000 crore, he said. Apart from this, he also said that the government has set aside Rs 60,000 crore for MGNREGA this year, and allocated Rs 19,000 crore for Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana.

The finance minister also said that the country’s defence budget for FY20 has been increased to Rs 3 lakh crore.

The government allocated Rs 64,587 crore for railways in FY20, Goyal said adding that the railway operating ratio was seen 96.2 per cent in FY19 vs 95 per cent in FY20.

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Sensex ends FY18 with 11% gain; investors richer by Rs 20.70 trillion


The benchmark BSE Sensex slumped 206 points in a see-saw trade on Wednesday to close below the 33,000-mark in the last trading session of 2017-18, but finished the year with a gain of 11.30 %.

The broader 50-share Nifty also ended 70 points lower at 10,113.70. The Sensex has gained 3,348.18 points, or 11.30 %, in 2017-18. The index had gained 16.88 % in the previous fiscal year.

Investors saw wealth addition of Rs 20.70 trillion during 2017-18. The market capitalisation of all firms listed on the BSE was at Rs 142.24 trillion against Rs 121.54 trillion as on March 31, 2017.

The broader Nifty closed the fiscal year with gains of 939.95 points, or 10.25 %. During the previous year, it scored gains of 1,435.55 points or 18.55 %.

For the day, the BSE Sensex snapped its two-session winning streak to end lower by 205.71 points, or 0.62 % at 32,968.68. Intra-day, it hovered between 33,104.11 and 32,917.66. The gauge had rallied 577.85 points in the past two sessions. The NSE Nifty, too, ended the day 70.45 points, or 0.69 % lower at 10,113.70 after shuttling between 10,158.35 and 10,096.90.

On a weekly basis, the Sensex rose 372.14 points, or 1.14 %, while the Nifty gained 115.65 points or 1.16 %. This was their first gain in five weeks.

Stock exchanges will remain closed on Thursday and Friday on account of Mahavir Jayanti and Good Friday, respectively.

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Closing Bell Friday: Sensex falls 287 pts, Nifty ends below 10,500; PSU Bank Index dips 2.5%


The benchmark indices ended off day’s low but remained under pressure during the day.

The 30-share BSE Sensex was down 286.71 points at 34,010.76 and the 50-share NSE Nifty was down 94.30 points at 10,451.20.

The PSU Bank index fell more than 2.5% as all stocks caught in a bear trap after PNB detected transaction fraud worth USD 1.8 billion (Rs 11,300 crore). PNB and Bank of Baroda were biggest losers, falling nearly 5 percent each. Bank of India, IDBI Bank, Union Bank, Syndicate Bank, SBI, Indian Bank, Canara Bank, Andhra Bank, OBC and Allahabad Bank were down 1-3 percent.

Fortis Healthcare slipped 20% to Rs 115 in noon deal trade, falling 24% from its intra-day high on BSE on back of heavy volumes after the Supreme Court (SC) allowed financial institutions to sell pledged shares of the company.

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As markets end flat, over 70 stocks hit fresh 52-week highs


The Indian market ended the truncated week on a sombre note, posting mild gains on both indices. Strong movements by Infosys and pharmaceutical stocks helped the Street, but selling in HDFC group stocks, FMCG stocks capped upside.

The 30-share BSE Sensex was up 28.05 points at 31,596.06 and the 50-share NSE Nifty gained 4.55 points at 9,857.05.

The market was closed on Friday on account of Ganesh Chaturthi.

The broader markets outperformed benchmark indices as the BSE Midcap index gained 0.8 percent and Smallcap was up 0.4 percent on positive breadth. About five shares advanced for every four shares falling on the BSE.

However, among these times, there were over 70 stocks which had a good day and clocked fresh 52-week high milestones. Bajaj Finserv, Bajaj Holding, Chennai Petro, Deepak Fertilisers, Avenue Supermarts, Indiabulls Housing Finance, IndusInd Bank, JSW Steel, and Tata Steel, among others, were in that list of gainers.

Meanwhile, there were 28 stocks that also hit fresh all-time highs, thereby increasing investor wealth. Bajaj Finserv, Deepak Fertilisers, Avenue Supermarts, IndusInd Bank and Heritage Foods, among others were a part of this list.

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Sensex, Nifty post biggest weekly gain in 8 months; Airtel rallies 4.8%


Benchmark indices settled the day on a higher note, extending gains for the fourth day straight, as investors remain optimistic ahead of the Union Budget next week. Better than expected corporate earnings also aided the sentiment.

Nifty, Sensex posted their biggest weekly gains since May 27, led by gains in banking and financial stocks.