Indices decline for 3rd straight week; Sensex slips 202 points, ends below 48K
Benchmark indices oscillated between gains and losses on Friday as concerns over the second wave of Covid-19 in the country and nervousness in the global markets overpowered the risk appetite of bargain hunters.
After starting gap-down, the benchmark S&P BSE Sensex recouped all the losses and jumped nearly 200 points to hit a high of 48,265 in the intra-day deals. However, bears roared back on Street and sent the index down 600 points from the day’s high to a low of 47,669. It eventually nursed losses of 202 points, or 0.42 per cent, to end the day at 47,878.45 levels.
On the NSE, the broader Nifty50 closed at 14,341 levels, down 65 points or 0.45 per cent. The index hit a high and low of 14,461 and 14,273 in the intra-day deals.
Over 30 constituents in the Nifty ended the session in the red including Britannia (down 2.6 per cent), Dr Reddy’s Labs, M&M, Wipro, Grasim, Hindalco, and Tech Mahindra. On the Sensex, HUL, ICICI Bank, Bharti Airtel, and Infosys closed as top laggards.
On the upside, NTPC (up 4 per cent), Power Grid, HDFC Life, SBI Life, BPCL, Coal India, and HDFC outperformed the benchmark indices.
The overall market breadth remained in the favour of the bulls, courtesy rally in the broader markets. The S&P BSE MidCap index gained 0.2 per cent today while the S&P BSE SmallCap index added 0.5 per cent riding on the back of gains in Confidence Petroleum India, HFCL, MTNL, Panacea Biotech, Indian Bank, Indian Hotel, Muthoot Finance, and Varroc Engineering.
The overall advances on the BSE were 1,566 while 1,357 were the declines. About 170 counters remained unchanged.
Shares of Shree Cement were trading lower for the fourth straight day, down 2 per cent at Rs 27,926 on the National Stock Exchange (NSE) in intra-day trade on Friday. The stock has slipped 5 per cent in two days alone, amid reports that the company’s listed holding company – NBI Industrial Finance Company – sold shares of several unlisted companies in its books around five years ago to promoter entities for only Rs 89 crore, though their fair value was Rs 3,077 crore, InGovern has alleged.
Shares of Poly Medicure hit a new high of Rs 1,083.90 after rallying 9 per cent on the BSE in intra-day trade on Friday. The stock of the medical equipment company, which has zoomed 22 per cent in two trading days, surpassed its previous high of Rs 1,044 touched on Thursday. In the past three months, it has soared 113 per cent as compared to a 1.7 per cent decline in the S&P BSE Sensex.
Shares of Alkyl Amines Chemicals jumped 8 per cent to Rs 6,386 on the BSE in intra-day trade on Friday, up 11 per cent in the two trading days, after the company fixed May 12 as the record date for the subdivision of face value of equity shares from Rs 5 to Rs 2. The stock will turn ex-date for the stock split on May 11.
Shares of Tata Elxsi surged 9 per cent to hit a new high of Rs 3,310 on the BSE in intra-day trade on Friday after the company reported a healthy set of March quarter (Q4FY21) numbers. The Tata Group-owned information technology (IT) company also announced a final dividend of Rs 24 per share for the year 2020-21 along with a one-time special dividend of Rs 24 per share, subject to tax.
Here are some picks from the week gone by.
