Equity markets turned sharply lower at the fag-end of the session as investors digested amendments to Finance Bill, 2023. Besides, selling in US index futures and European markets also weighed on the sentiment.
Back home, under the Bill approved by the Parliament, the debt mutual fund (Debt MF) investors will no longer receive the long-term capital gain tax benefit. They will be taxed like bank deposits. It will be applicable from April 1.
The Centre also hiked the securities transaction tax (STT) on the sale of future and option contracts by up to 25 per cent.
The S&P BSE Sensex closed 398 points, or 0.69 per cent, lower at 57,527 levels, while the Nifty50 shut shop at 16,945, down 132 points or 0.77 per cent.
The broad-based selling was led by metal, PSU banks, and realty indices, which were down over 2 per cent each. Individually, Bajaj Finserv (down 4 per cent), Adani Enterprises, Adani Ports, Hindalco, Bajaj Finance, ONGC, Hero MotoCorp, Tata Steel, Coal India. Titan, HDFC Life, Reliance Industries, M&M, JSW Steel, Maruti Suzuki, and L&T.
In the broader markets, the BSE MidCap and SmallCap indices declined around 1.4 per cent each.
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Bears crawled on Dalal Street on Friday as wobbly global sentiment as Covid-19 scare in China triggered slowdown fears. With this, equity markets have settled lower for a fourth consecutive day.
The S&P BSE Sensex slumped 981 points or 1.6 per cent to end at 59,845, which is its lowest level since October 28. The index hit an intra-day low of 59,766 during the day dragged by Tata Steel, Tata Motors, SBI, Bajaj Finserv, Wipro, IndusInd Bank, Reliance, L&T, which shed 2-5 per cent.
The Nifty50, meanwhile, ended at 17,807, down 321 points or 1.8 per cent. The index sank to a low of 17,779 during the day.
The pain was even more severe in the broader market space where the BSE MidCap and SmallCap indices fell 3 and 4 per cent, respectively.
The broad-based selling was led by public sector banks with the Nifty PSU Bank index tumbling nearly 6 per cent. This was followed by the Nifty Metal index (down over 4 per cent), and the Nifty Realty index (down 3 per cent).
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Equity market ended an action-packed day in the positive territory on Friday, though the benchmark indices trimmed most of their gains towards the end of the session. Shares of telecom companies – Vodafone Idea and Bharti Airtel surged amid hopes that the government would step in to help the ailing sector, a day after the two companies reported a combined loss of Rs 74,000 crore and warned their ability to operate and make profits would depend on relief from the country.
Besides, rally in PSU banks post Supreme Court ruling in Essar Steel case and reports that important trade issues between India and the US have been resolved and the countries may sign initial trade package boosted investor sentiment. That apart, US-China trade deal hopes, too, cheered market particpants.
The S&P BSE Sensex ended 70 points or 0.17 per cent higher at 40,356.69. During the day, the index hit a high and low of 40,650.06 and 40,308.09, respectively. Bharti Airtel (up around 8.50 per cent) emerged as the biggest gainer on the index while Hero MotoCorp (down nearly 2 per cent) was the top laggard.
SBI, Bharti Airtel, HDFC Bank, Reliance Industries (RIL), and Sun Pharma contributed the most to the index’s gains while ITC, TCS and Maruti were the top drags. In the broader market, the S&P BSE MidCap index ended at 14,773 levels, up 93 points or 0.63 per cent while the S&P BSE SmallCap index slipped 17 points or 0.13 per cent to end at 13,326.40.
On the NSE, the Nifty50 index added 23 points or 0.20 per cent to end at 11,895.30 levels.
Sectorally, PSU bank stocks advanced the most. Pharma counters came second on the list. Nifty PSU Bank index climbed 3.50 per cent to 2,462.75 levels. On the other hand, auto stocks bled the most with the Nifty Auto index falling 0.54 per cent to 8,146.65 levels.
Volatility guage India VIX declined over 4 per cent to 14.96 levels.
On a weekly basis, Sensex added 0.08 per cent while Nifty lost 0.10 per cent.
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After reclaiming the crucial 40,000 and 12,000 levels, respectively in the early deals, the benchmark indices S&P BSE Sensex and Nifty50 index turned volatile in the afternoon session.
The S&P BSE Sensex ended at 39,714, down 118 points while the broader Nifty50 index settled at 11,923, down 23 points.
The S&P BSE Sensex was trading 132 points or 0.33 per cent lower at 39,700 levels while the NSE’s Nifty50 index was quoting 33 points or 0.28 per cent lower at 11,913 levels. Nifty Bank saw a swing of 1,200 points during the session. Volatility index India VIX was trading over 4 per cent higher at 16.24.
Sectorally, barring IT and FMCG counters, all the indices were trading in the red with the Nifty PSU Bank index taking the hardest knock, followed by media and realty stocks. The Nifty PSU Bank index was trading nearly 2 per cent lower at 3,232.50 levels.
In the broader market, the S&P BSE MidCap index was trading flat at 15,070 levels while the S&P BSE SmallCap index was ruling at 14,876, down 88 points or 0.59 per cent.
Putting rest to all speculation, the President of India on Friday released the portfolio details of new Cabinet, a day after Narendra Modi took oath as the country’s 16th Prime Minister. There were expectations that Amit Shah, a seasoned stock broker and a key architect of NDA’s victory for the second consecutive time will be handed over reigns of the Finance Ministry. This is after Arun Jaitley expressed his desire to stay away from any role in the new government citing health reasons. However, Nirmala Sitharaman has been appointed the new Finance Minister, while Amit Shah will handle the Home Ministry. Smriti Irani, who was expected to be awarded handsomely for defeating Rahul Gandhi in Amethi, has been made the Minister of Women and Child Development and Minister of Textiles.
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Benchmark indices ended lower with the Nifty settling at 9,400 as investors turned cautious ahead of inflation data and booked profits in recent outperformers.
Consumer price inflation (CPI) is expected to have eased to a three-month low of 3.49% in April from 3.81% the previous month, according to Reuters poll. The government will also unveil the new series of Index of Industrial Production (IIP) as well as Wholesale Price Index (WPI), with 2011-12 as the base year, later in the day.
Both Sensex and Nifty hit record highs of in the previous two sessions, and were up more than 1% for the week. This is a second consecutive week of gains for the indices.
The S&P BSE Sensex ended at 30,188, down 62 points, while the broader Nifty50 settled at 9,401, down 21 points.
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The benchmark indices on Friday settled the day lower as auto makers dropped on sharp decline in monthly sales and stocks of telecom service providers – Bharti Airtel, Idea Cellular, Reliance Communications (RCom) – were hit by worries about intensifying competition with the extension of freebies offered by Reliance Jio (RJio) till March 2017.
Sentiment was also muted ahead of the release of the US monthly jobs data, a referendum in Italy over its constitution, and the Reserve Bank of India’s policy review next week.
The S&P BSE Sensex ended at 26,230, down 329 points, while the broader Nifty50 closed at 8,086, down 106 points.
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Benchmark indices ended marginally higher, amid a volatile trading session, after gains in oil & gas shares helped offset losses in Infosys and Hindustan Unilever.
Infosys slipped over 2% at Rs 1,026, after hitting 52-week low of Rs 996 in an intra-day trade on the BSE. Infosys reported a better than expected 4.9% growth in consolidated net profit at Rs 3,606 crore for the second quarter ended September 30, 2016 (Q2FY17) over the preceding quarter. Rupee revenue grew 3.1% to Rs 17,310 crore and dollar revenue was up 3.5% at USD 2,587 million on sequentially.
The benchmark S&P Sensex closed at 27,673 levels, up 30 points or 0.1%. Nifty50 index gained 10 points, or 0.1%, to close at 8,583 levels. The broader markets outperformed the benchmark indices. The S&P BSE Midcap and Smallcap rose 0.8% each.
