Equity markets buckled under severe selling pressure to close at 3-month lows on Friday driven by an extended slump in Adani group stocks that soured overall market sentiment.
Banking stocks were the top laggards as claims of high debt of Adani firms made by Hindenburg in its recent report had a sentimentally negative impact on the banking space, especially PSU banks, analysts said.
The BSE Sensex cracked 874 points to close at 59,331, its lowest level since Oct 21, 2022 when it ended at 59,307. The NSE Nifty dropped to 17,604 with a massive loss of 288 points.
Adani Enterprises and Adani Ports were the leading Nifty losers, which ended 18 and 15 per cent lower, respectively. SBI, ICICI Bank, IndusInd Bank were next in line dropping up to 5 per cent.
Shares of other Adani firms–Adani Wilmar, Adani Transmission, Adani Green, Adani Total Gas, Adani Power, Ambuja Cement and ACC– closed with losses of 5-20 per cent on top of Wednesday’s decline, which came as short-seller Hindenburg Research said it held short positions in Adani Group companies through US-traded bonds and non-Indian-traded derivative instruments and accused the group of stock manipulation and accounting fraud.
Four Adani group stocks listed in the F&O (Futures & Options) segment – Adani Enterprises, Adani Ports, ACC and Ambuja Cement witnessed a build-up of Open Interest (OI) on the short-side since the beginning of this week, which is a couple of days prior to the release of Hindenburg report.
As per Reuters, SEBI has increased scrutiny of deals by the Adani Group over the past year and will also study the report issued by Hindenburg Research to add to its own ongoing preliminary investigation into the group’s foreign portfolio investors. Read more
Shares of Tata Motors, Bajaj Auto and Dr Reddy’s firmly resisted Friday’s market crash on strong Q3 earnings. Besides, auto, pharma, FMCG indices were the only outperformers in a broad-based selloff, while the Nifty PSB and oil & gas indices were the worst hit with cuts of 5 per cent each.
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Benchmark indices turned sharply lower in the last hour of trade as investors booked profits at higher levels. The S&P BSE Sensex, which had touched a high of 57,975, tanked 1,073 points to hit a low of 56,902. The index, however, closed at 57,061, down 460 points or 0.8 per cent.
On the NSE, the Nifty50 dropped 325 points from the day’s high of 17,378 to hit a low of 17,053. It ended at 17,102.5, down 142.5 points or 0.83 per cent.
Axis Bank was the biggest loser on the benchmark indices, down 6.5 per cent, as analysts do not expect valuation to catch up with peers in light of the NII undershoot, impending dilution to fund the Citi deal, and higher operating expenditure guidance.
Coal India, Adani Ports, Power Grid, Maruti Suzuki, Bajaj Auto, ONGC, Wipro, and Britannia Industries were the other laggards, down between 2.5 per cent and 4 per cent.
On the upside, HDFC Life, Tata Consumer Products, Kotak Bank, Sun Pharma, HDFC Bank, Tata Motors, Tata Steel, and Ultratech Cement were the only gainers.
In the broader markets, the MidCap and SmallCap indices slipped about 1 per cent each. Sectorally, all the indices ended the day in the red zone, dragged by Nifty Oil and Gas index, down 2.5 per cent.
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Domestic markets ended a tumultuous week on a flat note amid subdued trade in Asia and bleak UK economic data. The Office for National Statistics said on Friday that the UK’s gross domestic product shrank 9.9 per cent in 2020, its biggest decline on record.
Indices turned sharply lower in the fag-end of the session but recovered marginally to end mildly higher. The benchmark S&P BSE Sensex tumbled 543 points from the day’s high to hit an intra-day low of 51,261. At close, the index was at 51,544 levels, up 13 points or 0.02 per cent. The NSE’s Nifty50, meanwhile, ended at 15,163 level, down 10 points or 0.07 per cent.
ICICI Bank, Infosys, HDFC, and Axis Bank were the top gainers on the Sensex index while Adani Ports, ICICI Bank, Infosys, and Wipro were the top performing stocks on the Nifty. ITC, Sun Pharma, ONGC, and Bharti Airtel were the top drags on both the indices.
Broader markets, too, ended mixed today. The S&P BSE MidCap index was up 0.06 per cent at close while the S&P BSE SmallCap index settled 0.02 per cent lower.
On the sectoral front, the Nifty Metal index skid 1.7 per cent, followed by the Nifty FMCG index declined 1.5 per cent. At the other end of the spectrum, Nifty Private Bank and the Nifty Bank indices gained 1 per cent each.
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Amid thin-trading in Asia, Indian equities clinched fresh record highs in the intra-day session on Friday on sustained bullish momentum in the markets. Frontline S&P BSE Sensex nearly kissed the 48,000-mark when it hit a fresh lifetime high of 47,980 levels. Its NSE counterpart, Nifty50, on the other hand touched a new peak of 14,050.
The indices, however, climbed-off record highs and settled the day around 0.2 per cent higher. The Sensex index ended the day at 47,869 levels, up 118 points or 0.25 per cent. ITC (up 2.3 per cent), TCS, M&M, and State Bank of India (SBI) were the top index gainers, while ICICI Bank (down 1.3 per cent), HDFC Bank, and Titan were the top drags on the index.
The broader Nifty50 closed the day at fresh closing high, above the 14,000-mark, at 14,018.5 levels, up 37 points or 0.26 per cent.
Among individual stocks, shares of Antony Waste Handling Cell debuted at the bourses at Rs 430 apiece, commanding a 36 per cent premium against the issue price of Rs 315. At close, the stock erased gains and settled 5 per cent lower than the listing price, at Rs 408 per share. It was, however, still up around 30 per cent compared to the issue price.
Besides, auto stocks remained in focus on Friday as firms reported their December sales. Maruti Suzuki ended the day 0.5 per cent higher after it reported a 20 per cent YoY rise in December sales. Meanwhile, M&M’s total sales slipped 10 per cent; Escorts total sales grew 88 per cent YoY; and Ashok Leyland’s total sales improved by 14 per cent on a yearly basis. All the stocks settled higher in the range of 2.5 per cent to 3.5 per cent.
Sectorally, largely all the NSE indices ended the day in the green barring Nifty Bank, Nifty Private Bank, and Nifty Financial Services indices. On the upside, Nifty PSB index ended over 3 per cent higher.
In the broader market, the S&P BSE MidCap and S&P BSE SmallCap index ended the day 1.24 per cent and 0.9 per cent higher, respectively.
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Equity market witnessed one of the steepest falls in the recent years on Friday as the fears of coronavirus turning into a pandemic triggered all-round sell-off at the bourses. Hopes that the epidemic that started in China would be over in a few months and economic activity would return to normal have been shattered, as new infections reported around the world now surpass those in China.
As a result, the S&P BSE Sensex nosedived 1,448 points or 3.64 per cent to end the session at 38,297. All 30 constituents ended in the red. Tech Mahindra (down around 9 per cent) took the biggest knock on the index. Other major contributors to the index were Reliance Industries (RIL), Infosys, HDFC, ICICI Bank, and TCS.
On the NSE, the 50-share index Nifty plunged 432 points or 3.7 per cent to end at 11,202.
Volatility index India VIX zoomed 29 per cent to 22.87 levels.
Sector wise, all the indices on the NSE ended deep in the red. Nifty IT index dropped over 5 per cent to 15,274 levels while Nifty Metal index cracked over 7 per cent to 2,233 levels.
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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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The benchmark indices settled marginally lower on Friday weighed by IT bellwether Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) and select banking and automobile stocks.
The S&P BSE Sensex ended at 36,010, down 97 points or 0.27 per cent, while the broader Nifty50 index ended at 10,795, down 27 points or 0.25 per cent. On a weekly basis, the S&P BSE Sensex rose 0.88 per cent, while Nifty50 rose 0.63 per cent.
In the broader market, the S&P BSE MidCap index ended at 15,177, down 19 points or 0.13 per cent, while S&P BSE SmallCap index slipped 28 points or 0.19 per cent to 14,600.
Shares of Eveready Industries India (EIIL) jumped 13 per cent to settle at Rs 205 per share on the BSE on reports that promoter BM Khaitan is likely to sell the flagship company, a leader in dry cell batteries and flashlights.
IT bellwether Infosys gained 0.58 per cent to settle at Rs 684 on the BSE ahead of the board meeting today to consider the financial results for the third quarter of the financial year 2018-19 (FY19). Its peer Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) declined 2.45 per cent to Rs 1,842 even as it earned its highest-ever net profit of Rs 8,105 crore in the seasonally weak third quarter (Q3) of 2018-19 (FY19).
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Benchmark indices Sensex and Nifty ended over 1 per cent lower on Friday, dragged by fall in blue-chip companies such as Reliance Industries (RIL), Infosys and YES Bank amid muted global cues. The S&P BSE Sensex ended 464 points or 1.33 per cent down at 34,316 while NSE’s Nifty50 index settled at 10,303.55, down 150 points or 1.43 per cent.
Among individual stocks, RIL dipped as much 7% to Rs 1,073 on the BSE in the intra-day trade after a mixed bag results for the quarter ended September 2018 (Q2FY19) with its retail and digital services (telecom; Jio) businesses continuing to post strong growth, while its core refining business performance was a bit disappointing amid high expectations. The stock ended at Rs 1,102 apiece on BSE, down 4 per cent.
YES Bank also dropped as much as 8 per cent in the intra-day trade on Friday after the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Wednesday once again rejected the lender’s request for extending the term of MD & CEO Rana Kapoor, and reaffirmed the February deadline for finding his successor. Shares of the lender ended at Rs 218, down 6 per cent.
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Benchmark indices rose for a seventh straight session on Friday, their longest winning streak since November 2017, on the back of gains in index heavyweights such as Reliance Industries and ICICI Bank.
Sentiment was also upbeat after retail inflation eased to a five-month low in March, but remained above the central bank’s medium-term target, supporting views that monetary policy is likely to remain unchanged at the next review in early June.
Investors now await January-March corporate results for future direction. IT Major Infosys will kick-start the March-quarter results season later in the day.
The S&P BSE Sensex ended at 34,193, up 92 points while the broader Nifty50 index settled at 10,481, up 22 points.
KPIT Technologies rose for a third straight session, quoting at Rs 230.5, up 1.86% on the day as on the NSE. KPIT Technologies is up 79.24% in last one year as compared to a 14.96% gain in Nifty and a 33.16% gain in the Nifty IT index.
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