Markets rally on robust buying; post best week in five
Equities ended the week on a high today, with the Sensex surging 290 points and the Nifty reclaiming the 10,800-mark as buyers made...
Equities ended the week on a high today, with the Sensex surging 290 points and the Nifty reclaiming the 10,800-mark as buyers made an emphatic return amid encouraging global cues. The sentiment was bolstered after weaker-than-expected US inflation eased concerns about the acceleration of interest rate hikes by the Federal Reserve, lifting markets globally. The BSE Sensex stayed in the positive terrain throughout the session and hit a high of 35,596.15 before finishing at 35,535.79 -- a rise of 289.52 points, or 0.82 percent. The broader NSE Nifty scaled a high of 10,812.05 before closing 89.95 points, or 0.84 percent, higher at 10,806.50. Both the indices ended at their highest levels since February 1. On a weekly basis, the Sensex gained a hefty 620.41 points, or 1.78 percent, while the Nifty advanced 188.25 points or 1.77 percent. This was their biggest gain in five weeks. Meanwhile, domestic institutional investors (DIIs) bought shares worth a net Rs 900.69 crore, while foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) sold equities worth Rs 364.88 crore yesterday, as per provisional data. "Market rallied supported by better quarterly results and lower than expected US inflation which eased worries of faster rate hikes by Fed. "Investors will closely watch data on domestic inflation and Karnataka election results... Surging oil prices and weak INR are expected to impact inflation while easing geopolitical tension will add fuel to the market," said Vinod Nair, Head of Research, Geojit Financial Services.
Asian Paints led the gainers' list in the Sensex pack by surging 6.17 percent after the company yesterday reported a 3.39 percent increase in consolidated net profit at Rs 495.91 crore for the quarter ended March 2018. Other winners included Tata Steel (2.17 per cent), L&T (1.69 per cent), Yes Bank (1.52 per cent), HDFC Ltd (1.50 per cent), Kotak Bank (1.46 per cent), ITC Ltd (1.45 per cent), ICICI Bank (1.34 per cent), SBI (1.19 per cent), Infosys (1.15 per cent), HDFC Bank (1.07 per cent), M&M (1.01 per cent), Axis Bank (1.01 per cent), HUL (0.90 per cent), RIL (0.80 per cent) and Wipro (0.78 per cent). Telecom shares were the worst performers in today's session, a day after Reliance Jio announced a new post-paid plan. Bharti Airtel declined 6.44 percent, Idea Cellular 11.83 percent, Tata Teleservices 2.41 percent, Reliance Communications 1.79 percent and MTNL 2.78 percent. Other index losers were Sun Pharma (5.05 percent), Tata Motors (0.78 percent), Hero MotoCorp (0.74 percent), NTPC (0.36 percent), Bajaj Auto (0.35 percent) and ONGC (0.32 percent). Shares of PC Jeweller dropped 3.76 percent after its board yesterday approved buyback of shares worth Rs 424 crore.
Fortis Healthcare fell 2.66 per cent after its board yesterday recommended the binding offer of the Munjal-Burmans combine after 18 months of hectic parleys with several potential investors. Among sectoral indices, BSE metal gained the most by rising 1.56 percent, followed by bankex 1.13 percent, oil & gas 1.07 percent, capital goods 1 percent, FMCG 0.98 percent, IT 0.63 percent, PSU 0.58 percent, auto 0.28 percent and infrastructure 0.08 percent. Telecom lost the most at 4.25 percent. Consumer durables, healthcare, power, and realty indices also ended in the negative zone. Broader markets showed a mixed trend, with the BSE mid-cap index rising 0.40 per cent but small-caps losing 0.12 per cent. Coming to other Asian markets, Hong Kong's Hang Seng rose 0.95 per cent, Japan's Nikkei gained 1.16 per cent, while Shanghai Composite shed 0.34 per cent. In the Eurozone, Frankfurt's DAX rose 0.62 percent and Paris CAC gained 0.20 percent in their early deals. London's FTSE gained 0.50 percent.