Sensex climbs 337 points, Nifty ends at 10,941; Maruti jumps 4%


Benchmark indices were trading higher in Friday’s afternoon trade, lifted by bank and automobile stocks.

The S&P BSE Sensex was trading around 36,890 levels, up 250 points, or 0.68 per cent. Tech Mahindra, Axis Bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank, NTPC, and Reliance Industries were the top gainers in the Sensex pack. The broader Nifty50 index was hovering near 10,920 level, up 73 points, or 0.67 per cent.

Nifty sectoral indices were trading largely in the green. While Nifty Private Bank index was up 1.2 per cent, Nifty Pharma index was down 0.5 per cent..

In the broader market, the S&P BSE MidCap index climbed 50 points, or 0.37 per cent, at 13,330 levels, while the S&P BSE SmallCap index zoomed 55 points, or 0.44 per cent, higher to 12,550 levels.

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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 snaps 6-day losing streak, up 52 points; autos lead rally


Domestic indices ended Friday’s lackluster trade with marginal gains. The benchmark S&P BSE Sensex and broader Nifty50 traded range-bound for better part of the day tracking corporate earnings and weakness in global markets.

The Sensex ended 52 points, or 0.14 per cent, higher at 37,883 levels pulled up by automobile manufacturers, banking and financial stocks. YES Bank, Bajaj Finance, Hero Moto Corp, and M&M ended the day as top gainers while Vedanta, HDFC, Bharti Airtel, and Reliance were the top laggards at the close. On the other hand, Nifty50 settled at 11,284 mark, up 32 points, or 0.29 levels.

In the broader market, S&P BSE MidCap ended 73 points, or 0.53 per cent, higher at 13,856 levels while the S&P BSE SmallCap closed 29 points, or 0.22 per cent, higher at 13,060 levels.

Sectorally, all the indices ended in the green barring Nifty IT index. Nifty Auto index was the top performing index, closing with gains of over 2 per cent. Nifty Bank, including private bank and public sector bank indices, and Nifty Pharma ended with gains of a per cent each. Nifty IT index closed with a cut of 0.82 per cent.

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Sensex slumps 192 pts, Nifty below 11,800; pvt banks, metal stocks drag


Benchmark indices erased their early gains to close Friday’s session lower, dragged down by metal stocks.

The benchmark S&P BSE Sensex closed 192 points, or 0.48 per cent, lower, with YES Bank, IndusInd Bank, Tata Motors, Reliance Industries, and ONGC the top losers.

The broader Nifty50 index slipped 53 points, or 0.45 per cent, to 11,789. The market breadth remained in favour of sellers. About 919 stocks declined and 822 advanced on the NSE.

On a weekly basis, however, the indices gained with the Sensex closing 0.5 per cent higher and the Nifty climbing 0.6 per cent.

Among Nifty sectoral indices, only three closed the day in the green. Nifty Metal, down 1.1 per cent, took the deepest cuts while the Nifty Private Bank index dipped 0.6 per cent.

In the broader market, the S&P BSE MidCap index settled 45 points, or 0.3 per cent, lower at 14,808, while the S&P BSE SmallCap index lost 10 points, or 0.07 per cent, to 14,239.

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Sensex slips 118 pts, Nifty ends at 11,922 in volatile trade


After reclaiming the crucial 40,000 and 12,000 levels, respectively in the early deals, the benchmark indices S&P BSE Sensex and Nifty50 index turned volatile in the afternoon session.

The S&P BSE Sensex ended at 39,714, down 118 points while the broader Nifty50 index settled at 11,923, down 23 points.

The S&P BSE Sensex was trading 132 points or 0.33 per cent lower at 39,700 levels while the NSE’s Nifty50 index was quoting 33 points or 0.28 per cent lower at 11,913 levels. Nifty Bank saw a swing of 1,200 points during the session. Volatility index India VIX was trading over 4 per cent higher at 16.24.

Sectorally, barring IT and FMCG counters, all the indices were trading in the red with the Nifty PSU Bank index taking the hardest knock, followed by media and realty stocks. The Nifty PSU Bank index was trading nearly 2 per cent lower at 3,232.50 levels.

In the broader market, the S&P BSE MidCap index was trading flat at 15,070 levels while the S&P BSE SmallCap index was ruling at 14,876, down 88 points or 0.59 per cent.

Putting rest to all speculation, the President of India on Friday released the portfolio details of new Cabinet, a day after Narendra Modi took oath as the country’s 16th Prime Minister. There were expectations that Amit Shah, a seasoned stock broker and a key architect of NDA’s victory for the second consecutive time will be handed over reigns of the Finance Ministry. This is after Arun Jaitley expressed his desire to stay away from any role in the new government citing health reasons. However, Nirmala Sitharaman has been appointed the new Finance Minister, while Amit Shah will handle the Home Ministry. Smriti Irani, who was expected to be awarded handsomely for defeating Rahul Gandhi in Amethi, has been made the Minister of Women and Child Development and Minister of Textiles.

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Sensex snaps 8-day rally, falls 222 pts, Nifty ends at 11,457


The S&P BSE Sensex ended 222 points or 0.58 per cent lower at 38,165 while NSE’s Nifty50 index dropped 64 points or 0.56 per cent to settle at 11,457.

At 2:30 PM, the S&P BSE Sensex 236 points lower around 38,150 levels, weighed by losses in Reliance, HDFC Bank, TCS, Kotak Bank and Maruti while slipped 70 points, or 0.61 per cent, to 11,450 levels.

In the broader market, the S&P BSE Midcap index was trading 73 points lower at 15,093, while the S&P BSE SmallCap index was ruling at 14,767, down 57 points or 0.39 per cent.

Among sectoral indices, every Nifty index except Nifty Realty were trading in the red with losses ranging from 0.21 per cent to 1.28%.

Meanwhile, Fitch Ratings on Friday cut India’s economic growth forecast for the next financial year starting April 1, to 6.8 per cent from its previous estimate of 7 per cent, on weaker than expected momentum in the economy.

Shares of InterGlobe Aviation, parent of IndiGo, and SpiceJet rallied up to 14 per cent in early morning trade on Friday, surging up to 33 per cent in past two days on market share gain in the month of February.

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Senses ends 170 points lower on sell-off in Maruti, ZEEL


The frontline indices have pared their day’s gains and are trading on a flat note driven by a sharp selloff in the media stocks.

Among sectors, the Nifty Media index slipped around 10 per cent in the afternoon trade led by a sharp selloff in shares of Zee Entertainment Enterprises (ZEEL) and Dish TV.

In the broader market, S&P BSE MidCap index was trading  0.79 per cent or 118 points lower at 14,742, while S&P BSE SmallCap index was ruling at 14,113, down 112 points or 0.79 per cent.

Maruti Suzuki slipped nearly 9 per cent to Rs 6,420 in afternoon trade after the country’s largest passenger car maker reported a 17.26 per cent fall in its net profit at Rs 1,489.3 crore for the third quarter of FY19. The carmaker had reported PAT of Rs 1,800 crore in the year-ago quarter. On QoQ basis, the figures fell 33.5 per cent. Total revenue from operations stood at Rs 19,668.3 crore against Rs 19,283.2 crore in the year-ago period. Basic EPS (earnings per share) came in at Rs 49.30 against Rs 59.56 in the corresponding quarter previous fiscal.
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Markets end down in a truncated week; Sensex down 219 and Nifty down 73


On Thursday, the benchmark indices fell for the third consecutive session, settling over 0.5 per cent lower led by fall in banking and metal stocks. The S&P BSE Sensex ended at 34,981, down 219 points or 0.6 per cent, while the broader Nifty50 index settled at 10,527, down 73 points or 0.7 per cent.

The BSE and the National Stock Exchange (NSE) are closed for trade on Friday, on account of Gurunanak Jayanti. All wholesale commodity markets, including metal and bullion, are also closed. The forex and commodity futures markets, too, will not trade.

It was a negative end for the market in this truncated week with the Nifty giving up 10,550-mark.

Private banks were major contributors to the Nifty Bank’s underperformance. Telecom pack, too, saw some pressure. Consumption, energy, metals, and pharma saw the most losses after banks, while selling was visible in the midcaps space.

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Sensex tumbles 792 points on Friday; RBI holds rates; rupee hits 74.22/$


Markets ended lower on Friday after the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) sprung a surprise and kept the repo rate unchanged at 6.50 per cent. Most experts had expected the central bank to hike rates by 25 bps.

The S&P BSE Sensex lost 792 points, or 2.25 per cent, to settle at 34,377 while the broader NSE’s Nifty50 index dropped 283 points, or 2.7 per cent, to close at 10,316. Among specific stocks, shares of oil marketing companies such as HPCL, BPCL and IOCL hit 52-week lows after the government announced that it will cut excise duties on petrol and diesel prices and OMCs will absorb Re 1 per litre.

Heavy losses were also visible in banking stocks with the Nifty Bank index slipping 1.5 per cent. YES Bank, State Bank of India (SBI), Bank of Baroda (BoB), IDFC Bank and ICICI Bank lost up to 5.1 per cent.

Earlier, the monetary policy committee (MPC) of the Reserve Bank on Friday kept the repo rate unchanged at 6.50 per cent in its fourth bi-monthly monetary policy review of 2018-19. The central bank changed the policy stance to ‘Calibrated tightening’ from ‘Neutral’. Calibrated tightening means rate will be maintained or hiked in this cycle.

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Indices end lower, Nifty settles at 10,930; YES Bank falls 9%


The benchmark indices ended marginally lower on Friday, weighed down by automobile and information (IT) stocks. The S&P BSE Sensex ended at 36,227, down 97 points, while the broader Nifty50 index settled at 10,930, down 47 points.

In sectoral indices, the Nifty IT index settled 1.1 per cent lower due to a fall in the shares of Infibeam Avenues which crashed 71 per cent to end at Rs 57.90. The Nifty Auto Index, too, fell 2.3 per cent driven by fall in Hero MotoCorp, Apollo Tyres and Mahindra & Mahindra.

Among individual stocks, YES Bank stock fell 9.5 per cent to Rs 183.90 on the BSE. The stock had hit an intraday low of Rs 166.15.

In broader markets, the shares of midcap and smallcap companies continued to remain under pressure on Friday as well, with the S&P BSE Midcap (14,762) and the S&P BSE Smallcap (14,643) indices hitting their respective 52-week lows in intra-day trade on the BSE.

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