Banks, IT lift Sensex 355 points higher, Nifty atop 17,100; auto, pharma dip
The Sensex and Nifty ended higher for the second straight trading session on Friday backed by renewed buying interest in IT and banking stocks. Realty shares too logged strong gains, while auto and pharma shares signed-off on a weak note.
The S&P BSE Sensex gyrated in a range of 675 points; the index from a high of 58,179 slipped into red to a low of 57,504. The BSE benchmark finally ended 355 points higher at 57,990.
The NSE Nifty 50 advanced 114 points as it reclaimed the 17,100 level.
The broader markets also finished with gains. The BSE Midcap index advanced 0.3 per cent, and the Smallcap index added 0.7 per cent.
Sectorally, the BSE Realty index soared 3.2 per cent and was the top gainer. The Metal index surged 2.4 per cent. The Bankex and IT index gained over a per cent each
Among the Sensex 30 stocks, HCL Technologies soared over 3.5 per cent. UltraTech Cement, Nestle and Kotak Bank were the other major gainers, up over 2 per cent each. Tata Steel, ICICI Bank, HDFC, HDFC Bank, Bharti Airtel, Infosys, SBI and Wipro were the other significant gainers.
TCS swung between zones and finally ended a tad in red at Rs 3,179, a day after its CEO & MD Rajesh Gopinathan resigned. Analysts caution against the near-term volatility in the stock price as the development comes amid a challenging macro-environment including fears of a potential recession in the US.
On the other hand, NTPC slipped 1.7 per cent. Maruti Suzuki, PowerGrid Corporation, ITC, Sun Pharma and Asian Paints were the other prominent losers.
Shares of Eris Life were down 4% in 2 days post acquisition of 9 derma brands from Dr Reddy’s. Eris Life said that the transaction would help augment and expand cosmetic dermatology business of the company through their product offerings.
Patanjali Foods extended the fall as the stock was down over 2% amid freeze promoter holding. The company said that the move would not impact company’s operation, and they plan to start the process of launching follow-on-public offering in April to increase public shareholding to 25 per cent.
Here are some picks from the week gone by.
