Following the global sell-off, Indian equity markets, too, settled lower on Friday after US military killed Iran Revolutionary Guards’ commander Qasem Soleimani in a surprise air-strike. The middle-east tensions sent Brent Crude Futures soaring, while market sentiment turned sour at D-Street.
Brent crude futures jumped nearly $3 on Friday after a US air strike in Baghdad killed top Iranian and Iraqi military commanders, sparking concerns of disruption to Middle East oil supplies. At 3:10 pm, Brent Crude Futures were at $68.62 per barrel-mark, up 3.5 per cent.
The S&P BSE Sensex, which hit an intra-day low of 41,348.68, recovered slightly in the fag-end of the session and settled 162.03 points, or 0.39 per cent, lower at 41,464.61 level. 20 of the 30 constituents ending the day in the red. Oil-linked stocks, such as paints, aviation, oil-marketing companies (OMCs), and financial counters remained under pressure.
In the intra-day trade, Hindustan Petroleum (HPCL) and Bharat Petroleum (BPCL), for instance, declined 2.9 per cent each on the BSE. Reliance Industries, Indraprastha Gas Ltd (IGL), and Indian Oil Corporation (IOC), too, slumped up to 0.7 per cent.
On the NSE, the Nifty50 lost 55.50 points, or 0.45 per cent, to settle at 12,226.65-mark. Sectorally, Nifty PSU Bank index slipped the most, down 2 per cent at close. Besides, Nifty Bank, Auto, Private Bank indices slipped over 1 per cent. On the upside, Nifty IT index advanced 1.3 per cent on the back of a weaker rupee.
In the broader market, small-caps traded in the green territory, while mid-caps followed benchmarks. The S&P BSE mid-cap index was down 0.44 per cent, while the S&P BSE small-cap index was up 0.01 per cent at close.
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Equity market ended an action-packed day in the positive territory on Friday, though the benchmark indices trimmed most of their gains towards the end of the session. Shares of telecom companies – Vodafone Idea and Bharti Airtel surged amid hopes that the government would step in to help the ailing sector, a day after the two companies reported a combined loss of Rs 74,000 crore and warned their ability to operate and make profits would depend on relief from the country.
Besides, rally in PSU banks post Supreme Court ruling in Essar Steel case and reports that important trade issues between India and the US have been resolved and the countries may sign initial trade package boosted investor sentiment. That apart, US-China trade deal hopes, too, cheered market particpants.
The S&P BSE Sensex ended 70 points or 0.17 per cent higher at 40,356.69. During the day, the index hit a high and low of 40,650.06 and 40,308.09, respectively. Bharti Airtel (up around 8.50 per cent) emerged as the biggest gainer on the index while Hero MotoCorp (down nearly 2 per cent) was the top laggard.
SBI, Bharti Airtel, HDFC Bank, Reliance Industries (RIL), and Sun Pharma contributed the most to the index’s gains while ITC, TCS and Maruti were the top drags. In the broader market, the S&P BSE MidCap index ended at 14,773 levels, up 93 points or 0.63 per cent while the S&P BSE SmallCap index slipped 17 points or 0.13 per cent to end at 13,326.40.
On the NSE, the Nifty50 index added 23 points or 0.20 per cent to end at 11,895.30 levels.
Sectorally, PSU bank stocks advanced the most. Pharma counters came second on the list. Nifty PSU Bank index climbed 3.50 per cent to 2,462.75 levels. On the other hand, auto stocks bled the most with the Nifty Auto index falling 0.54 per cent to 8,146.65 levels.
Volatility guage India VIX declined over 4 per cent to 14.96 levels.
On a weekly basis, Sensex added 0.08 per cent while Nifty lost 0.10 per cent.
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Continuing with their lacklustre performance for the third straight day, the equity benchmark indices settled on a flat note on Friday. While the day witnessed solid buying in bluechips such as Reliance Industries (RIL), HCL Tech, HDFC Bank and TCS, the gains in the index were capped by drubbing in counters including Sun Pharma, Bharti Airtel and L&T.
The S&P BSE Sensex ended just 13 points higher at 36,387, while NSE’s Nifty50 index held the crucial 10,900 level to close at 10,907, up 2 points. On a weekly basis, both the indices ended 1 per cent higher.
Sectorally, barring IT, all other indices ended in the red with the pharma stocks bleeding the most. The Nifty Pharma pack lost nearly 3 per cent to end the day at 8,690.
Shares of pharma bellwether Sun Pharma crashed to their six year- low of Rs 375.40 apiece in the early trade on Friday after news reports suggested fresh whistleblower documents were sent to Sebi. The stock plunged as much as 12 per cent on BSE. The company, however, in a BSE filing clarified that it was not privy to the news reported by MoneyLife. The stock, eventually, ended nearly 9 per cent lower at Rs 390.75.
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The Sensex settled at 31,524, down 270 points, while the broader Nifty50 quoted 9,837, down 66 points at close. The BSE Midcap index settled 0.1% lower, while BSE Smallcap index shed 0.5%.
The benchmark indices snapped a three-session long winning streak, as Infosys cracked after Vishal Sikka’s resignation as MD & CEO, although rivals such as Tata Consultancy Services gained.
According to a BSE filing, Sikka will be Executive Vice-Chairman while UB Pravin Rao is the Interim-MD and CEO.
Infosys saw its sharpest decline since April 12, 2013, down 9.6% to Rs 923. In intraday trade, the stock fell as much as 13% to Rs 884.
But the domestic markets still logged their sixth weekly gain in seven, though they remained below the record highs hit on August 2.
The market breadth, indicating the overall health of the market, was strong. On the BSE, 1,534 shares declined and 1,002 shares rose. A total of 122 shares remained unchanged.
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Markets continued their bull run to settle at fresh closing highs on Friday with the S&P BSE Sensex scaling past the 31,000-mark and the broader Nifty50index hitting 9600-mark for the first time ever as higher derivatives rollover led to strong follow-up buying in index heavyweights on the first day of June series.
Settling at fresh closing high, the 30-share Sensex ended at 31,028, up 278 points. The index was up 1.8% for the week. On the other hand, Nifty50 also ended at new peak of 9,595, up 85 points with a weekly gain of 1.7%.
Both frontline indices peaked fresh highs at intra-day level also. The S&P BSE Sensex rallied as much as 324 points to hit its new high of 31,074 surpassing its previous peak of 30,793 reached yesterday, while the broader Nifty50 gained 95 points to touch its fresh high of 9,592, overriding the previous milestone of 9,432, hit on May 17.
Broader market outperformed benchmark indices with the S&P BSE Midcap and the S&P BSE Smallcap indices gaining 2% and 1.6% respectively.
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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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Benchmark indices continued the cheer as investors traded in the final trading session of 2016. Markets rose over 1% in today’s trade to post a yearly gain as they recover from the recent losses tracking various local and global cues.
Nifty gained around 300 points in the last 4 sessions to end the year over 8,200 in 2016 led by gains in Aurobindo Pharma, GAIL, Sun Pharma and ITC . On the other hand, Sensex rose as much as 308 points today to settle the year 544 points higher.
The S&P BSE Sensex ended at 26,626, up 260 points while Nifty50 gained 82 points at closing, to quote at 8,186. Among broader markets, BSE Midcap gained 1.15% while BSE Smallcap was up 0.97%. About 1691 shares have advanced, 570 shares declined, and 145 shares are unchanged.
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Benchmark indices ended marginally higher, amid a volatile trading session, after gains in oil & gas shares helped offset losses in Infosys and Hindustan Unilever.
Infosys slipped over 2% at Rs 1,026, after hitting 52-week low of Rs 996 in an intra-day trade on the BSE. Infosys reported a better than expected 4.9% growth in consolidated net profit at Rs 3,606 crore for the second quarter ended September 30, 2016 (Q2FY17) over the preceding quarter. Rupee revenue grew 3.1% to Rs 17,310 crore and dollar revenue was up 3.5% at USD 2,587 million on sequentially.
The benchmark S&P Sensex closed at 27,673 levels, up 30 points or 0.1%. Nifty50 index gained 10 points, or 0.1%, to close at 8,583 levels. The broader markets outperformed the benchmark indices. The S&P BSE Midcap and Smallcap rose 0.8% each.
Benchmark indices lost ground in late trades to end lower as investors booked profits after gains in the previous session post the US Federal Reserve’s decision to keep interest rates unchanged.
The S&P BSE Sensex slipped 105 points to close at 28,668 and the Nifty50 settled 36 points lower at 8,832. Among broader markets, BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices ended up 0.1%-0.3% each. Market breadth ended weak with 1496 losers and 1166 gainers on the BSE.
Foreign institutional investors were net buyers in equities worth Rs 337 crore on Thursday, as per provisional stock exchange data.
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