Indices end higher as PM Modi likely to win no-trust vote
Benchmark indices gained on Friday, as the Modi government is expected to win the no-confidence vote, to be held at 6 pm today. In the 545-member (including the Speaker) Lok Sabha, the BJP-led NDA can bank on around 311 members.
The S&P BSE Sensex ended the day at 36,496, up 145 points while the broader Nifty50 index settled at 11,010, up 53 points.
IT and pharma stocks gained as the rupee hit an all-time low. The Nifty IT index was trading up by 1.5 per cent with Infosys, Tech Mahindra and HCL Tech up between 1.6 per cent to 2.6 per cent. Meanwhile, in the pharma sector, Sun Pharma and Cipla gained over 2.5 per cent each.
Among individual stocks, Bajaj Finserv hit a record high, after the Bajaj Group-owned asset & wealth management firm posted a 41 per cent surge in its first-quarter profit on Thursday.
Bajaj Auto, on the other hand, dipped 9 per cent after the company reported a lower than expected 21% year on year (YoY) growth in standalone net profit Rs 11.15 billion in June quarter (Q1FY19). Analysts on an average had expected a profit of around Rs 13 billion for the quarter