Benchmark indices built on gains clocked through the day and ended nearly 2 per cent higher on Friday after India’s largest public sector bank, State Bank of India, reported a healthy quarterly show. The lender’s net profit zoomed over 80 per cent to Rs 6,451 crore in Q4FY21 as it set aside lower provisions and expected asset quality to improve going forward.
Supported by rally in other financial stocks, the BSE barometer of 30-shares ended at 50,540 levels, up 976 points or 1.9 per cent. On NSE, the Nifty50 index advanced 269 points to settle above the crucial level of 15,150-level at 15,175. Both the indices hit their respective highs of 50,591 and 15,190.
SBI was the second best gainer on the Sensex, up 4 per cent, while IndusInd Bank, HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, Axis Bank, HDFC, and Kotak Mahindra Bank were the other top gainers, up between 3 per cent and 4.5 per cent. All these stocks contributed nearly 680 points towards the Sensex’s total gains.
On the downside, Dr Reddy’s Labs and Power Grid on the Sensex, and Eicher Motors, Indian Oil Corporation, Grasim, and SBI Life on the Nifty were the only only laggards on the indices, down up to 0.3 per cent.
Financial indices — Nifty Bank, Private Bank, PSU Bank, and Financial Services — outperformed on the NSE today, and gained between 3-3.5 per cent. Meanwhile, all other sectoral indices settled up to 1 per cent higher.
In the broader markets, the S&P BSE MidCap and SmallCap indices underperformed the benchmarks today and ended 0.8 per cent and 0.65 per cent higher, respectively.
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Investors lightened their portfolios and decided to sit on cash on Friday as they await Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman’s third Union Budget presentation due on Monday, February 1. In a sea-saw trade today, stock specific moves swayed markets even as overall mood remained subdued.
At the index level, the benchmark S&P BSE Sensex swung 1,260 points in the intra-day trade and hit an intra-day high and low of 47,424 and 46,160. The index eventually settled 588 points, or 1.26 per cent, lower at 46,286 levels. Dr Reddy’s Labs (down 5.5 per cent) was the top loser on the index after the pharmaceutical major’s consolidated net profit came in at Rs 19.8 crore for the quarter ended December, sharply lower than analysts’ estimate of Rs 726.5 crore.
That apart, Maruti Suzuki, Bajaj Auto, Infosys, Bharti Airtel, and Bajaj Finserv, down between 5 per cent and 2.5 per cent, were the top drags. On the flipside, IndusInd Bank (up nearly 6 per cent), Sun Pharma, HDFC Bank, and ICICI Bank were the only gainers on the Sensex.
On the NSE, the Nifty50 index closed at 13,635 levels, down 183 points or 1.32 per cent. The index hit an intra-day low of 13,597.
Both the benchmarks have erased around 5 per cent during the week.
The broader market, however, remained relatively stable with the S&P BSE MidCap and S&P BSE SmallCap index down 0.69 per cent and 0.25 per cent, respectively at close.
On the sectoral front, financial and realty stocks held their ground with the Nifty PSU Bank and Realty indices settling 1.7 per cent and 0.7 per cent higher, respectively. On the downside, Nifty Auto index tumbled around 3 per cent, while Nifty Pharma and Metal indices declined around 2 per cent each.
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It was a historic day for the equity markets on Friday as the frontline indices rallied over 5 per cent after Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced reduction in corporation tax. The FM announced that the effective corporate tax rate will be lowered to 25.75 per cent.
Benchmark indices – S&P BSE Sensex and Nifty50 — posted their biggest single-day gain in 10 years while the Nifty Bank and Nifty MidCap index posted the biggest-ever single-day gain. The market capitalisation of BSE-listed stocks saw an increase of nearly Rs 7 lakh crore.
The benchmark S&P BSE Sensex added 1,921 points or 5.32 per cent to settle at 38,014.62, with Hero MotoCorp (up 13 per cent) being the top gainer and Power Grid Corporation (down over 2 per cent) the biggest loser.
On NSE, the Nifty50 index ended at 11,274 levels, up 569 points or 5.32 per cent, with 44 out of 50 constituents advancing and 6 ending in the red.
Volatility index India VIX dropped over 1 per cent to settle at 15.34 levels.
In the broader market, the S&P BSE MidCap index gained 835 points or over 6 per cent to end at 14,120 and the S&P BSE SmallCap Index settled at 13,204.25, up 501 points or nearly 4 per cent.
On the sectoral front, barring IT stocks, all the sectoral indices on the NSE ended in the green. The Nifty IT index settled 0.20 per cent lower at 15,491.05 levels.
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