Sensex slips 102 points, Nifty holds 18,100; ITC drops 3%; IRB Infra zooms 20%


Financial shares came to the rescue of the benchmark indices for the second straight day, as select index heavyweights weighed under selling pressure.

The BSE benchmark index, the Sensex, opened 120-odd points higher at 61,044, and rallied to a high of 61,420 on the back of fresh buying in early trades. Selling pressure re-emerged in second half of the trading session, with ITC, technology and metal stocks leading the fall. The BSE 30-share index slid to a low of 60,551 – down 869 points from the day’s high.

The Sensex eventually ended with a minor loss of 100 points at 60,822. The NSE Nifty from a high of 18,314, dropped to a low of 18,034, and finally settled 63 points lower at 18,115. The India VIX declined 1.8 per cent to 17.70.

Among sectors, the Bank Nifty rallied to a fresh all-time high at 40,587, and ended 0.7 per cent higher at 40,315. The Realty index surged 2.4 per cent to 509.75. On the flip side, the NSE Metal index tumbled over 3 per cent to 5,686. The Media index shed 2.3 per cent, while the ITC and Pharma indices were down 1.5 per cent each.

In the broader markets, the BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices were down over a per cent each. The overall breadth too was fairly negative, with 1,967 declining stocks versus 1,327 advancing shares on the BSE.

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Sensex ends above 58K for the first time; Nifty climbs 17,300; RIL zooms 4%


Market behemoth Reliance Industries kept the benchmark indices afloat on Friday overpowering selling pressure in HDFC Bank, HDFC, HUL, and Bharti Airtel. The Mukesh Ambani-led company’s shares hit fresh record high of Rs 2,394 apiece after they surged over 4 per cent on the BSE.

Overall, the BSE barometer of 30-shares closed above the 58,000-mark for the first time at 58,130 levels, up 277 points or 0.48 per cent. It’s 50-share counterpart, meanwhile, marched 89 points higher, or 0.52 per cent, to settle above 17,300 at 17,324. In the intra-day deals, the Sensex hit a new lifetime high of 58,195 while the Nifty50 index touched 17,340.

Besides, the BSE MidCap index closed 0.35 per cent higher after hitting a new peak of 24,454 in the intra-day deals while the BSE SmallCap index gained 0.41 per cent after touching a new high of 27,388.

Market breadth was marginally in favour of buyers with shares of over 1,700 companies advancing as against shares of 1,400 companies that fell on the bourses.

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Banks lift indices to 10-wk high; Sensex ends 976 points up, Nifty at 15,175


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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Sensex slides 330 points on Moody’s downgrade; Sun Pharma down 4%


Equity market was highly volatile in the afternoon session on Friday with the benchmark indices oscillating berween the positive and negative territories after Moody’s Investors Services downgraded India’s sovereign outlook from ‘stable’ to ‘negative’, saying concerns mount the economic slowdown will be prolonged and debt will rise.

After hitting a fresh record high of 40741.69 levels during the session, the frontline S&P BSE Sensex was trading around 100 points lower. Private Banks were trading higher, with ICICI Bank, IndusInd Bank and YES Bank up in the range of 3-7 per cent. On the downside, Sun Pharma was trading nearly 3 per cent lower.

On the NSE, the Nifty50 slipped below the crucial 12,000-mark to hover around 11,950 levels. .

Sectorally, Nifty Realty index was the top gainer, up 2.3 per cent, followed by gains in Nifty Private Bank (up 0.74 per cent), and Nifty Auto (up 0.58 per cent) indices. On the flipside, Nifty Pharma and FMCG indices, each, were trading over a per cent lower.

The broader markets, however, were trading in the green. The S&P BSE mid-cap index was up 0.06 per cent, while the S&P BSE small-cap index was up 0.12 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 recovers 300 points from day’s low to settle at 35,809


Benchmark indices ended marginally lower on Friday led by a decline in HDFC, HDFC Bank, Sun Pharma and Axis Bank.

The S&P BSE Sensex ended at 35,809, down 67 points or 0.19 per cent, while the broader Nifty50 index settled at 10,724, down 22 points or 0.20 per cent.

Among the sectorial indices, the Nifty Pharma index ended 3.1 per cent lower led a fall in Glenmark and Lupin. The Nifty Metal index settled 2.07 per cent lower weighed by JSW Steel and Welspun Corp.

In the broader market, the S&P BSE MidCap index ended 167 points, or 1.18 per cent lower at 13,941, while S&P BSE SmallCap index fell 111 points, or 0.83 per cent to settle at 13,253.

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Sensex slips 79 pts, Nifty ends at 10,585; IT stocks weigh


The benchmark indices ended slightly lower on Friday led by a fall in information technology (IT) and metal stocks.

The S&P BSE Sensex ended at 35,159, down 79 points, while the broader Nifty50 index settled at 10,585, down 13 points.

Among the sectoral indices, the Nifty IT index fell 0.8 per cent weighed by Infosys and Tata Consultancy Services (TCS). The Nifty Metal index slipped 0.9 per cent due to a decline in NMDC. On the other hand, the Nifty Pharma index settled 1.4 per cent higher led by a rise in Sun Pharma.

In stock-specific action, Bharti Airtel fell 2.9 per cent to Rs 297 on the BSE after Moody’s Investors Service placed it’s rating on review for downgrade, following low levels of profitability and expectation of weak cash flow. The stock had fallen as much as 5.21 per cent to Rs 290 on the BSE in intra-day trade.

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Sensex ends at fresh closing high, up 251 pts, Nifty settles near 10,900


Benchmark indices ended at fresh closing highs for a third straight session on Friday, led by financial stocks amid improved investor sentiment after the government decided to cut tax rates on certain products and services.

The S&P BSE Sensex ended at 35,511, up 251 points while the broader Nifty50 index settled at 10,894, up 77 points.

ICICI Prudential Life said profit in Q3 grew by 0.5 percent to Rs 452.1 crore against Rs 450 crore reported in year-ago. Net premium income jumped 19.3 percent to Rs 6,795 crore from Rs 5,697 crore YoY.

PC Jeweller today reported 52 percent increase in its net profit at Rs 162.71 crore for the quarter ended December on higher sales and profit margins. The company, which has 84 retail jewelry stores across the country, had posted a net profit of Rs 106.97 crore in the year-ago period, the company said in a regulatory filing.

Private sector lender IDFC Bank said its profit for the quarter ended December 2017 declined 23.6 percent to Rs 146.1 crore, compared to Rs 191.3 crore in year-ago. Profitability was hit by lower net interest income, other income and operating income; but was largely supported lower provisions. Net interest income, the difference between interest earned and interest expended, fell 5 percent to Rs 495 crore compared to Rs 521 crore in year-ago. Asset quality worsened during the quarter. Gross non-performing assets (NPAs) as a percentage of gross advances were sharply higher at 5.62 percent against 3.92 percent in previous quarter and net NPA was also higher at 3.52 percent in Q3 against 1.61 percent in Q2FY18.

Kirloskar Oil Engines shares gained 3 percent after profit in Q3 increased 40.5 percent to Rs 39.5 crore from Rs 28.1 crore YoY. Revenue from operations rose 6.8 percent to Rs 684.6 crore while operating profit grew by 10.7 percent to Rs 64.1 crore and margin expanded 40 basis points to 9.4 percent.

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Sensex rises 124 points, Nifty50 ends near lifetime high


In a highly volatile session, the domestic equity market ended on a positive note with BSE Sensex just 40 points shy of its record high level and Nifty50 closing near its all-time high.

Sensex closed 124 points or 0.39 per cent higher at 32,020.89 while Nifty50 closed the day at 9,915.25, up 42 points or 0.42 per cent.

The 30-share pack had opened at 32,035.88 and touched an intraday high and low of 32,062.23 and 31,808.93, respectively, as index heavyweights WiproBSE 6.47 % (up 6.54 per cent) and Reliance (up 3.75 per cent) hogged the limelight.

BSE Midcap index gained 6 points or 0.04 per cent to 15,185.53 as shares of Adani Power, Bajaj Holdings and Bajaj Finserv surged up to 7 per cent.

On the other hand, BSE Small Cap index shed 7 points or 0.05 per cent to end the day at 15,992.63 as shares of Gujarat NRE Coke (down 6.55 per cent), Nucleus (down 6.07 per cent) and Dish Tv (down 5.85 per cent) capped gains.

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