Sensex falls 215 points post RBI policy; Nifty at 16,238; RIL sheds 2%


Shares of Reliance Industries single-handedly knocked Sensex and Nifty lower on Friday after the Supreme Court ruled in favour of Amazon, stalling Reliance Retail’s Rs 24,000 crore deal with Future Retail. Further, while RBI’s policy decision was along expected lines, the 5:1 vote on maintaining accommodative stance and rise in CPI projection for FY22 to 5.7 per cent from 5.1 per cent earlier also concerned markets, indicating that debate on inflation is gaining centre stage.

The domestic benchmark indices snapped their 4-session winning run. The 30-pack Sensex closed the day at 54,278, down 215 points or 0.39 per cent. Meanwhile, NSE Nifty settled the day 56 points or 0.35 per cent at 16,238.

IndusInd Bank, Tech Mahindra, Bharti Airtel, Maruti were the top gainers in the 30-pack Sensex while Reliance Industries, Ultratech Cement, Tata Steel, HCL Tech were the top losers.

The broader markets outperformed, with Nifty Midcap index rising 0.06 per cent and Nifty Smallcap 0.04 per cent. Sectorally, Nifty Realty and Nifty Media were the top losers while Nifty IT was the best performer.

Overall, for the five days ended Friday, Nifty ended the historic week, up 1.97 per cent high, above 16,000 mark for the worst time and also snapped its two-week losing run.

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Indices snap 4-day losing run; Sensex up 166 points; small-caps outperform


Equity markets snapped their four-day losing run and ended near day’s high on Friday as gains in pharma and banking counters, and select heavyweights lent support to the indices. Breaking away from a lackluster trade, the frontline indices picked pace in the second half of the session as ICICI Bank, Reliance Industries, SBI, and HDFC gained between 0.7 per cent and 1.6 per cent.

The S&P BSE Sensex closed with gains of 166 points, or 0.32 per cent, at 52,485 levels while the NSE’s Nifty50 settled at 15,722 levels, up 42 points or 0.27 per cent.

However, trading action was skewed towards small-cap stocks as hefty buying in Mangalam Cement, Omaxe, OnMobile Global, Route Mobile, and Indoco Remedies, pushed the BSE SmallCap index up 1 per cent. Gains in mid-cap index remained capped amid sell-off in Adani Transmission, Adani Enterprises, Adani Green Energy, JSW Energy, SAIL, and Vodafone Idea. The BSE MidCap index ended little changed.

Sectorally, the Nifty Pharma index was the top gainer, up 0.6 per cent, followed by the Nifty Bank index, up 0.4 per cent. Conversely, the Nifty Metal index was the top sectoral loser on the NSE, down 1.5 per cent.

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Sensex ends 117 points up, logs best weekly gain in 10 months; SBI jumps 11%


Stellar December quarter results by State Bank of India (SBI) and a status-quo in policy rates by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) kept markets afloat on Friday even as mild profit-booking amid heightened volatility trimmed gains at higher levels.

In the early deals, the benchmark S&P BSE Sensex surpassed the 51,000-mark on the BSE for the first time and hit a fresh record high of 51,073. The index, however, erased gains partially and ended 117 points, or 0.23 per cent, higher at 50,732 levels.

SBI (up 11.3 per cent) was the top gainer on the index as analysts raised their targets on the stock post better-than-expected December quarter results. Global brokerage CLSA, for instance, has set a target price of Rs 560 on the lender’s stock. READ MORE

Kotak Mahindra Bank, UltraTech Cement, Dr Reddy’s Labs, ITC, HUL, and HDFC Bank, all up between 1 per cent and 4 per cent, were the other top gainers on the index. On the downside, Axis Bank (down 3 per cent), Bharti Airtel, ICICI Bank, Maruti Suzuki, TCS, and HCL Tech were the top laggards on the index.

On the other hand, Nifty50 index surpassed the psychological 15,000-mark and hit a record high of 15,015 levels. At close, the index was at 14,924 levels, up 29 points or 0.19 per cent.

The broader markets, however, came under selling pressure. The S&P BSE MidCap and SmallCap indices ended 0.93 per cent and 0.28 per cent lower, respectively.

On the sectoral front, the Nifty Auto an the IT indices ended 1 per cent lower each, while the Nifty PSU Bank index advanced 4 per cent on the NSE.

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Sensex ends at fresh closing peak of 48,782, up 689 points; Nifty at 14,347


Earnings optimism and positive global cues fuelled a broad-based rally in the markets with benchmark indices settling over a per cent higher on Friday. IT stocks led from the front and contributed nearly half of Sensex’s 600-point gains today. Reliance Industries, Maruti Suzuki, HDFC Bank, and L&T provided the remaining fillip to the BSE barometer.

The S&P BSE Sensex notched 689 points, or 1.43 per cent, to end at fresh closing peak of 48,782.5. The index hit a new lifetime high of 48,854.34 levels earlier in the day. The Sensex index gained 2 per cent during the week and clocked the longest stretch of weekly gains since 2009.

Maruti Suzuki jumped 6 per cent and remained the top Sensex gainer, followed by Tech Mahindra, up 5 per cent. The IT company today entered the elite Rs 1-trillion market capitalisation club, becoming the fifth IT firm to achieve the feat. At close, its m-cap was Rs 1.01 trillion.

That apart, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) hit a record high of Rs 3,127.55 apiece in the intra-day trade and closed 3 per cent higher ahead of the announcement of Q3FY21 results. The IT firm’s revenue in constant currency (CC) terms is expected to rise in the range of 2.4-4 per cent on quarter-on-quarter (QoQ) basis while it may grow between 3-4.5 per cent in dollar revenue.

The broader Nifty50 too, ended at fresh closing peak of 14,347, closing 210 points or 1.48 per cent higher on the NSE. 41 of the 50 constituents ended the day in the green. The index touched lifetime high of 14,367 in noon deals today. For the week, the index was up 2.3 per cent.

In the mid-cap space, S&P BSE MidCap index, though underperformed the frontline index, settled 1 per cent higher at 19,138.7 level after hitting a record peak of 19,161 earlier in the day, and clocked a 5-per cent weekly gain. The S&P BSE SmallCap index, on the other hand, ended at 18,908.59 levels, up 0.72 per cent.

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Sensex, Nifty end flat on a choppy day; IT stocks drag


Benchmark indices ended Friday’s session with marginal cuts after erasing its intraday gains in the final hour. IT stocks remained subdued throughout the day after the US-based IT services company Cognizant nearly halved its 2019 growth guidance.

The intra-day rise in the indices was spurred by a slip in oil prices with financial stocks gaining the most, before the indices retreated to trade flat in the end.

S&P BSE Sensex settled 18 points lower for the day at 38,963, with TCS, Hindustan Unilever, TATA Steel, HCL Tech and Infosys being the top drags. Twelve out of the 30 constituents of the BSE ended the day in red.

The broader Nifty50 was also down 12.5 points, or 0.11 per cent, to end at 11,712 levels. The market breadth was tilted in favour of declines. About 1,031 stocks fell and 702 shares advanced on National Stock Exchange.

Among sectoral indices, the Nifty IT index was the biggest loser, down almost 1.9 per cent while the Nifty FMCG index also slipped 1.13 per cent. On the other hand, Nifty Realty index and Nifty PSU Bank index gained 1.57 per cent and 1.09 per cent, respectively.

On a weekly basis, the S&P BSE Sensex closed 0.27 per cent lower while and the NSE Nifty50 slipped 0.36 per cent. This was the indices’ biggest weekly loss since February 11.

The volatility index, VIX, ended the day 4.35 percent higher at 23.98.

The broader market took the cue from benchmark indices to end flat. The S&P BSE MidCap index slipped 15 points, or 0.10 per cent, at 14,783, while the S&P BSE SmallCap index ended the day at 14,548, down 45 points, or 0.31 per cent.

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Sensex gains 213 points post Populist Budget Proposals


The benchmark indices settled over 0.5 per cent higher on Friday after Finance Minister Piyush Goyal announced a string of populist measures in his Interim Budget 2019 speech in the Parliament.

The S&P BSE Sensex ended at 36,469, up 213 points or 0.59 per cent, while the broader Nifty50 index settled at 10,894, up 63 points or 0.58 per cent.

In the broader market, the S&P BSE MidCap index ended at 14,641, up 81 points or 0.56 per cent, while the S&P BSE SmallCap settled at 13,950, up 24 points or 0.17 per cent.

Among sectors, the Nifty Auto index was the top gainer of the day, rising 2.71 per cent led by Hero MotoCorp and Maruti Suzuki. The Nifty IT index too rose 1.45 per cent led by HCL Technologies and Tech Mahindra.

In a major relief to the middle-class taxpayer, Finance Minister Piyush Goyal, in his Interim Budget 2019 speech announced that those earning up to Rs 5 lakh a year would not have to pay any tax. He also said that those with an annual income of up to Rs 6.5 lakh would not have to file income-tax returns.

Goyal also announced PM Kisan Samadhan Nidhi scheme in which, farmers owning up to 2 hectares of land will get Rs 6,000 per annum, which will be completely funded by the central government. This scheme is likely to benefit 12 crore small and marginal farmers, at an estimated cost of Rs. 75,000 crore, he said. Apart from this, he also said that the government has set aside Rs 60,000 crore for MGNREGA this year, and allocated Rs 19,000 crore for Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana.

The finance minister also said that the country’s defence budget for FY20 has been increased to Rs 3 lakh crore.

The government allocated Rs 64,587 crore for railways in FY20, Goyal said adding that the railway operating ratio was seen 96.2 per cent in FY19 vs 95 per cent in FY20.

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Sensex reclaims 36,000, Nifty ends at 10,860 led by financials


Firm global cues and buying in financial and pharma counters helped domestic benchmark indices settle in the positive territory for the third consecutive session on Friday.

The S&P BSE Sensex gained 269 points or 0.75 per cent to close at 36,077 while the NSE’s Nifty50 index ended at 10,860, up 80 points or 0.74 per cent. Out of 50 constituents on the index, 38 ended in the green and rest 12 in the red.

Volatility benchmark India VIX declined over 6 per cent to 15.03, indicating lower volatility in the market.

As many as 8 stocks hit 52-week high on NSE including names such as Bata India and SPL Industries. On the contrary, 48 securities hit their one-year low.

On a weekly basis, both the headline indices rose around 1 per cent.

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Sensex rises 732 pts, Nifty ends at 10,472; India VIX eases 8%


The benchmark indices ended over 2 per cent higher on Friday after the rupee rose against US dollar amid firm Asian markets.

The S&P BSE Sensex ended at 34,734, up 732 points (2.15 per cent), while the broader Nifty50 index settled at 10,472, up 238 points (2.32 per cent).

The rupee strengthened against the US dollar on Friday, rising 53 paise to 73.58 against the greenback in intra-day trade.

Among sectoral indices, the Nifty Auto index settled 4 per cent higher led by a rally in shares of Mahindra & Mahindra and Maruti Suzuki India. The Nifty Bank index, too, rose 2.5 per cent led by IndusInd Bank and ICICI Bank.

However, the Nifty IT index slipped 1 per cent lower led by a fall in Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), which fell 3 per cent to Rs 1,920 on the NSE after the company reported a lower than expected revenue growth of 3.7 per cent in constant currency (CC) terms in September quarter on the sequential basis. The Street was estimating revenue growth of 4 per cent in CC terms for the quarter.

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Nifty ends below 9,600, down almost 1% for the week; Nifty IT slips 0.8%


Benchmark indices swung between gains and losses on Friday to end the day flat amid lack of global as well as domestic cues. Nifty50 settled the week 0.8% lower, its first weekly loss in six weeks, breaking its longest gaining streak since late 2014 while Sensex ended the week 0.6% lower.

Gains were capped by a sharp correction in pharma and IT stocks on worries over their earnings outlook while ITC, Tata Motors continued to support the market.

The S&P BSE Sensex settled at 31,056, down 19 points, while the broader Nifty50 ended at 9,588, up 10 points.

In the broader market, the S&P BSE Smallcap pared gains to finish 0.1% higher after rising 0.5% to hit its record high, while the S&P BSE Midcap index was up 0.2%.

Pharma was the top losing index amid worries about their earnings outlook because of pricing pressures in the United States, down 1.8%. Lupin was the biggest laggard on the index, down over 4% followed by 4% Divi’s Lab, Cadila Healthcare, Sun Pharma and Cipla.

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Sensex snaps 7-day losing streak on bargain hunting, ends 61 points higher on Friday


The benchmark indices on Friday settled higher thanks to early rollovers to January series and bargain hunting at lower levels after market witnessed seven straight sessions of losses. The S&P BSE Sensex finished at 26,040, up 61 points, while the broader Nifty50 closed at 7,985, up 6 points. The market breadth, indicating the overall health of the market, remained negative. On the BSE, 1,309 shares fell and 1,249 shares rose. A total of 174 shares were unchanged.

BSE Capital Goods and BSE Consumer durables were the top sectoral gainers and added nearly 1%.

Cipla was the top Sensex gainer and surged 4%, bouncing back 6.5% from intra-day low, after the pharmaceutical company said its flagship product Sereflo received final approval from UK health regulator.

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