Sensex takes a breather, gains 1,628 points; Nifty ends at 8,745


After days of brutal sell-off, the domestic equity market witnessed a sharp rebound on Friday and ended with around 6 per cent gains as positive global cues and coordinated efforts by countries across the globe to fight coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic soothed investors’ nerves.

The S&P BSE Sensex rallied 1,628 points or 5.75 per cent to settle at 29,916. Of 30 constituents, 28 advanced and just 2 declined. Reliance Industries (RIL), HDFC and TCS contributed the most to the index’s gains. ONGC jumped over 18.5 per cent to Rs 72.45 apiece. It ended as the top gainer on the index. Other heavyweights such as RIL, Hindustan Unilever (HUL), and TCS gained in the range of 10-12 per cent.

On the downside, HDFC Bank slipped over 1 per cent to Rs 882 after global brokerage house Bernstein downgraded the stock to ‘underperform’ and sharply slashed the target price to Rs 750 from Rs 1,400 earlier.

On the NSE, headline index Nifty gained 482 points or 5.83 per cent to settle at 8,745 levels.

On a weekly basis, both Sensex and Nifty slipped over 12 per cent.

All the sectoral indices on the NSE ended in the green. Nifty FMCG advanced the most – up around 9 per cent to 26,073 levels while Nifty IT surged over 8.5 per cent to 12,306 points. Metal stocks, too, witnessed solid buying as the Nifty Metal index ended 7.7 per cent higher at 1,695 levels.

In the broader market, the Nifty Midcap 100 index jumped around 5 per cent to 12,642 levels while the Nifty SmallCap index gained over 2 per cent to 3,874 points.

Market breadth was in favour of buyers as out of 2,605 companies traded on the BSE, 1,447 advanced and 1,008 declined while 150 remained unchanged. Volatility index India VIX declined over 7 per cent to 66.92 levels.

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Sensex rises 732 pts, Nifty ends at 10,472; India VIX eases 8%


The benchmark indices ended over 2 per cent higher on Friday after the rupee rose against US dollar amid firm Asian markets.

The S&P BSE Sensex ended at 34,734, up 732 points (2.15 per cent), while the broader Nifty50 index settled at 10,472, up 238 points (2.32 per cent).

The rupee strengthened against the US dollar on Friday, rising 53 paise to 73.58 against the greenback in intra-day trade.

Among sectoral indices, the Nifty Auto index settled 4 per cent higher led by a rally in shares of Mahindra & Mahindra and Maruti Suzuki India. The Nifty Bank index, too, rose 2.5 per cent led by IndusInd Bank and ICICI Bank.

However, the Nifty IT index slipped 1 per cent lower led by a fall in Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), which fell 3 per cent to Rs 1,920 on the NSE after the company reported a lower than expected revenue growth of 3.7 per cent in constant currency (CC) terms in September quarter on the sequential basis. The Street was estimating revenue growth of 4 per cent in CC terms for the quarter.

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Sensex ends on Friday 152 points lower, Nifty below 9,600 as investors book profits


The benchmark indices settled lower on Friday as investors booked profits in financials such as State Bank of India and auto makers such as Maruti Suzuki India. The negative trend in European and Asian markets also impacted the sentiment.

The S&P BSE Sensex ended at 31,138, down 152 points, while the broader Nifty50 settled at 9,574, down 55 points.

In the broader market, the S&P BSE Midcap and the S&P BSE Smallcap indices shed over 1% each.

Market breadth depicted weakness. There were more than three losers against every gainer on BSE. 1,936 shares fell and 683 shares rose. A total of 137 shares were unchanged.

For the week, both the indices logged small weekly gains on hopes the Reserve Bank of India will cut interest rates after minutes from a monetary policy committee meeting earlier this month showed one member acknowledging that inflation had eased.

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