Key benchmark indices ended the record-breaking year 2021 on a high note. The Sensex and the Nifty displayed a firm trend throughout the day on the back of steady gains auto, financials, FMCG and index heavyweight Reliance Industries.
The Sensex touched a high of 58,409, and ended with a gain of 460 points at 58,254. In the process, the BSE benchmark was up 1,130 points for the week.
The 30-share index finished the calendar year with a solid gain of 22 per cent (10,503 points), after having touched a new life-time high of 62,245 on October 19, 2021.
The NSE Nifty settled 150 points higher at 17,354, and was up a whopping 24.1 per cent for 2021.
Among sectoral indices, BSE Metal and Consumer Durables indices were up over 2 per cent each. The Auto and Telecom indices gained 1.7 per cent each. The Bankex, FMCG, Oil & Gas and Realty indices also finished with gains in excess of a per cent each.
The overall breadth too was extremely positive, with 2,438 stocks advancing versus 944 declining stocks on the BSE on Friday.
Titan was the top gainer among the Sensex 30 stocks, it ended 3.5 per cent higher at Rs 2,522. UltraTech Cement and Kotak Bank were up around 2.5 per cent each. Maruti, Axis Bank, SBI, Bajaj Finserv, Hindustan Unilever, Bajaj Finance, HDFC Bank, Nestle and Sun Pharma were the other major gainers.
On the flip side, IT stocks kind-off under-performed in trades on Friday owing to selective profit-taking. Among others, NTPC slipped 2 per cent.
The broader markets outperformed the benchmark indices. The BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices were up 1.4 per cent and 1.2 per cent, respectively.
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Stocks across the board, barring the IT sector, witnessed significant selling pressure in trades on Friday as unwinding of global stimulus packages dented sentiment. That apart, unforseen threat from the Omicron virus and high inflation kept bulls at bay all through the day.
The BSE Sensex tanked to a low of 56,951, and evenutally settled with a heavy loss of 889 points at 57,012. In the process, the BSE benchmar ended the week with a significant loss of 3 per cent (1,775 points).
The NSE Nifty slumped to a low of 16,966, and finally ended with a loss of 263 points at 16,985.
Index heavyweight Reliance Industries plunged 2.6 per cent to Rs 2,341, and alone accounted for a loss of 176 points on the BSE benchmark. That apart, the HDFC twins were the other major dragggers (223 points loss).
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The Indian benchmark indices erased early gains partially but were still trading positively in the afternoon. The S&P BSE Sensex held the 60,000-mark, up 220 points at 60,106 while the Nifty was below the 17,900-level at 17,865.
The top gaining sectors were Nifty Realty and Nifty IT, up 1 per cent each, while the laggards were the metals, public sector banks, FMCG and media stocks. The broader indices were trading mixed. The Nifty Midcap 50 fell over a per cent, while the Smallcap 50 rose 0.2 per cent.
Shares of information technology (IT) companies were on roll with most of the frontline stocks trading at fresh all-time highs on the bourses on strong revenue guidance by global IT firm Accenture for the financial year 2021-22 (FY22). Accenture forecasted 12-15 per cent revenue growth for FY22, on top of the $50.5 billion revenue it achieved in the current fiscal.
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Domestic equity markets traded within a narrow range on Friday, fluctuating between gains and losses, as a slew of downgrades in the GDP growth forecasts for FY22 along with a slowdown in the vaccination programme amid supply crunch kept investors indecisive about the market direction.
India recorded over 343,000 fresh Covid-19 infections on Friday, taking the caseload tally to a little over 24 million. According to a government official, two billion doses of Covid-19 vaccines will be made available in the country between August and December, enough to vaccinate the entire population. This comes after Delhi, Maharashtra and Karnataka decided to suspend the vaccination for people in the 18-44 age group till further orders amid an acute shortage of vaccines.
However, favourable global cues helped the indices to limit losses. In Europe, the pan-European STOXX 600 index rose 0.3 per cent, with banks and retail stocks leading the gains, following a healthy session in Asia.
Against this backdrop, the BSE barometer of 30-shares culminated the session at 48,732.5 levels, adding 42 points or 0.09 per cent. During the choppy session, the index hit a high and low of 48,899 and 48,473, respectively.
On the NSE, the broader 50-share index defended the 14,650-mark to settle at 14,678 levels, down 19 points or 0.13 per cent.
Overall, 21 of the 30 shares on the Sensex and 34 of the 50 constituents of the Nifty ended the day in the red. Coal India, Hindalco, Tata Steel, Tata Motors, Grasim, and IndusInd Bank on the Nifty and M&M, SBI, ONGC, Dr Reddy’s Labs, and NTPC on the Sensex ended the day as top laggards.
On a weekly basis, both, the Sensex and the Nifty50 indices slipped around 1 per cent each.
On the upside, Asian Paints, UPL, ITC, Nestle India, L&T, HUL, Britannia, PowerGrid, and Reliance Industries were the combined top gainers of the day.
Profit-taking in the broader markets was sharper than benchmarks. The S&P BSE MidCap and SmallCap indices lost 1.2 per cent each.
Sectorally, the Nifty Metal index nursed the steepest loss of around 4 per cent, followed the Nifty Realty index, down 3 per cent and the Nifty PSU Bank and Auto indices, down 2 per cent each. On the upside, only Nifty FMCG index ended in the green, up 2 per cent.
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Erasing all their morning gains, the benchmark indices ended in the negative territory on Friday due to selling in the financial counters.
The S&P BSE Sensex ended 134 points, or 0.34 per cent lower at 38,846 with HDFC Bank (down over 2 per cent) being the biggest loser and Bharti Airtel (up around 4 per cent) the top gainer. HDFC Bank, HDFC, Infosys, and Hindustan Unilever (HUL) were among the major contributors to the index’s loss.
NSE’s Nifty settled at 11,505, up 11 points, or 0.10 per cent. India VIX fell nearly a per cent to 19.93 levels.
Meanwhile, pharma stocks gained big in the trade. The Nifty Pharma index jumped 5 per cent to 12,321 levels with all the 10 constituents advancing. Dr Reddy’s hit a record high of Rs 5,496.95 during the trade after the company said it has settled its patent litigation with Celgene for the latter’s cancer drug capsules. The stock settled at Rs 5,306, up 10 per cent on the NSE.
Nifty Bank index fell 2%; RBL, Bandhan, HDFC Bank down over 3%. Bandhan Bank, RBL Bank, HDFC Bank, and IDFC First Bank were down 3 per cent, while Federal Bank, State Bank of India (SBI), Punjab National Bank, and IndusInd Bank from the index were down in the range of 1 per cent to 2 per cent on the National Stock Exchange (NSE).
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