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Sensex Surges Nearly 450 Points, Ends At Record High; Nifty Reclaims 9,500

Sensex Surges Nearly 450 Points, Ends At Record High; Nifty Reclaims 9,500

The Sensex rallied nearly 450 points to close at record high and Nifty reclaimed its important psychological level of 9,500 led by a surge in banking, IT, capital goods and auto shares. Traders say that the rally in today's session came on the back of short-covering amid expiry of futures and options contracts for the month of May. The markets were in phase of consolidation since last six trading sessions wherein the mid-cap index plunged over 8 per cent and the small-cap index tanked over 7 per cent.

The Sensex rallied 448 points to 30,750 and Nifty surged 149 points to 9,510.

AK Prabhakar, head of research at IDBI Capital Markets and Research, says that the rally in today's session is on the back of short-covering after a brief phase of consolidation. Mr Prabhakar added that the sentiment also turned positive after US Federal Reserve signaled caution in raising interest rates and foreign institutional investors and domestic mutual funds turning net buyers in the previous session.

Buying interest in today's session was visible across the sectors barring pharma shares. Banking, capital goods, realty, auto, IT, metal and oil & gas indices rallied between 1.3-3.5 per cent each.

From the Nifty basket of shares, 42 ended higher while 9 closed lower. Larsen & Toubro was the top Nifty gainer, up 5 per cent to end at Rs 1,768. ICICI Bank, IndusInd Bank, Bank of Baroda, HDFC Bank, Infosys, yes Bank, GAIL India, TCS, State Bank of India, Wipro, Kotak Mahindra Bank and Tech Mahindra were among the gainers, up 2-3.5 per cent each.

On the other hand, Lupin among was the notable losers, down 7 per cent at Rs 1,140. Dr Reddy's Labs, Sun Pharma and Cipla were also among the losers.

The broader markets also ended higher. The BSE mid-cap index rose 1.34 per cent and small-cap index jumped 2.16 per cent.

The overall market breadth was extremely bullish as 1,879 shares ended higher while 804 closed lower on the BSE.

Here are the key highlights of today's session:

3:23 pm: Ashok Leyland posted a net profit in the fourth quarter against a net loss in the same period last year, as the truck maker sold more medium and heavy commercial vehicles. Net profit stood at Rs 476 crore in the quarter ended March 31, compared with a loss of Rs 141 crore, the company said on Thursday.

3:19 pm: AK Prabhakar, head of research at IDBI Capital Markets and Research, says that the rally in today's session is on the back of short-covering after a brief phase of consolidation. Mr Prabhakar added that the sentiment also turned positive after US Federal Reserve signaled caution in raising interest rates and foreign institutional investors and domestic mutual funds turning net buyers in the previous session.

3:10 pm: Buying visible across the sectors. Banking, real estate, capital goods, IT and auto shares were driving the rally in today's session.

2:27 pm: Market breadth was extremely bullish as 1,722 shares were advancing while 842 were declining on the BSE.

2:13 pm: The stock markets were witnessing broad-based buying interest after brief phase of consolidation. The Sensex rose 302 points to 30,604 and Nifty was at 9,460, up 100 points.

1:58 pm: The broader markets continue to trade on a strong note. The BSE mid-cap index was up 0.8 per cent and the small-cap index rose 1.35 per cent.

1:43 pm: Ambuja Cements, AIA Engineering, Sintex Industries, Advanced Enzymes Technologies, Ion Exchange, PC Jewellers and PVR were among some of the shares witnessing heavy trading volumes.

1:32 pm: Shares of Bosch Ltd jumped 3 per cent to Rs 23,500 after the company reported net profit of Rs 440 crore on sales of Rs 2,734 crore.

1:22 pm: Banking shares were witnessing good buying interest. The Bank Nifty index was up 1.5 per cent; ICICI Bank was the top gainer from this space, up 3.3 per cent at Rs 316. Yes Bank, IndusInd Bank, Federal Bank, State Bank of India, Bank of Baroda and HDFC Bank were also among the gainers.

1:13 pm: The stock markets extended gains in noon deals. The Sensex rose 205 points to 30,507 and Nifty was at 9,429, up 68 points.

1:05 pm: Select FMCG share face selling pressure. The BSE FMCG index was trading marginally lower; ITC, Dabur, Nestle India, Colgate Palmolive and Britannia Industries were among the losers.

12:47 pm: Capital goods shares were witnessing good buying interest;. The BSE Capital Goods index was up 2.55 per cent; Larsen & Toubro, Welspun Corp, NBCC, Bharat Electronics, Greaves Cotton, Sadbhav Engineering, BEML, Havells India and Suzlon were also among the gainers.

12:27 pm: The overall market breadth was extremely bullish as 1,585 shares were advancing while 846 were declining on the BSE.

12:18 pm: SP Apparels was the top gainer from the small-cap space, up 16 per cent at Rs 407. Sakthi Sugars, TGB Hotels, Advanced Enzyme Technologies, Jain Irrigation, MEP Infra, Chambal Fertilisers and Bharat Financial Inclusion were also among the gainers.

12:06 pm: PSU Banks gain after falling for three days in a row. The PSU bank index on the NSE jumps 0.5 per cent; Oriental Bank of Commerce, Union Bank of India, Bank of Baroda, State Bank of India, Bank of India and Syndicate Bank were also among the losers.

11:56 am: From the Nifty basket of shares, 37 were advancing while 14 were declining. Larsen & Toubro was the top Nifty gainer, up 3 per cent at Rs 1,734. Tata Motors, GAIL India, TCS, Infosys, Tech Mahindra, ICICI Bank and Indiabulls Housing Finance were also among the gainers.

11:48 am: Shares of Sintex Industries rallied a whopping 85 per cent to hit high of Rs 34.50 on the back of heavy volumes. The stock has started trading ex-scheme of arrangement. The company's board, in September 2016, had approved a composite scheme of arrangement for the demerger of the 'custom moulding business' and the 'prefab business' from Sintex Industries to Sintex-BAPL and Sintex Infra Projects, respectively, each a wholly owned subsidiary of Sintex Plastics Technology (SPTL).

11:38 am: Lupin shares fell as much as 8 per cent on Thursday eroding its market value by Rs 4,736 crore after the country's third-largest drugmaker warned revenue growth would remain muted due to growing pricing pressure and competition in the world's largest healthcare market-US-which accounts for nearly 46 per cent of its revenue.

11:26 am: Dish TV shares plunge 12 per cent to Rs 80.80 after the company reported loss of Rs 28.33 crore in March quarter compare with profit of Rs 27 crore during the previous quarter.

11:12 am: The overall market breadth was positive as 1,537 stocks were advancing while 710 were declining on the BSE.

10:43 am: Real estate shares were witnessing good buying interest. The BSE Realty index was up 1.57 per cent; Sobha Ltd was the top gainer from this space, up 3.77 per cent at Rs 389. HDIL Prestige Estates, Godrej Properties, Oberoi Realty, DLF and Indiabulls Real Estate were also among the gainers.

10:34 am: Shares of sugar companies like Ponni Sugars Erode, Sakthi Sugars, Shree Renuka Sugars, KM Sugar Mills, Bajaj Hindusthan, Dalmia Bharat Sugar and Dwarikesh Sugar were up between 1.5 and 5.6 per cent each after the government on Wednesday hiked the fair price for sugarcane by Rs 25 per quintal to benefit five crore farmers across cane producing states.

The fair and remunerative price (FRP), which is the minimum price sugar mills have to pay to farmers, has been increased from Rs 230 per quintal to Rs 255 for 2017-18 seasons that kicks-in from October.

10:17 am: The broader markets were trading in-line with the benchmark indices. The BSE mid-cap index was up 0.5 per cent and the small-cap index was up 0.8 per cent; MRPL was the top gainer from the mid-cap space, up 3.6 per cent at Rs 128. GMR Infra, JSW Energy, Indiabulls Housing Finance, Biocon, Oberoi Realty and Adani Enterprises were also among the gainers.

9:42 am: Pharma shares were witnessing selling pressure for seventh day in a row. BSE healthcare index was down 1.5 per cent; Lupin was the top loser from this space, down 6 per cent. Sun Pharma, Dr Reddy's Labs, Piramal Enterprises, Cadila Healthcare, Cipla and Glenmark Pharma were also among the losers.

9:20 am: From the Nifty basket of shares, 32 were advancing while 19 were declining. Bosch Ltd was the top Nifty gainer, up over 1 per cent at Rs 23,080 ahead of its March quarter earnings. GAIL India, Larsen & Toubro, IndusInd Bank, Infosys, HDFC, ITC and Asian Paints were also among the gainers. On the other hand, Lupin was the top loser down 7.7 per cent at Rs 1,133 after the company reported weak set of earnings yesterday.

8:56 am: Analysts expect Britannia Industries to report net profit of Rs 192 crore on sales of Rs 2,260 crore.

Ashok Leyland is likely to report net profit of Rs 424 crore on sales of Rs 6,515 crore. EBITDA is seen coming at Rs 720 crore.

Indian Oil is expected to report net profit of Rs 3,714 crore on sales of Rs 98,958 crore. Its operating profit is likely to go up to Rs 7,244 crore from Rs 4,749 crore during the same period last year. Analysts would watch out for an update on Paradip refinery, capex plans and forex/inventory changes.

Analysts expect Cipla to report net profit of Rs 333 crore on sales of Rs 3,769 crore. Its operating profit (EBITDA) is expected to come in at Rs 687 crore.

Cipla, Indian Oil, Ashok Leyland, NMDC, Britannia Industries and Bosch will be in focus today as theses companies will declare their March quarter earnings later in the day.

Foreign institutional investors bought shares worth Rs 82 crore on Wednesday and domestic institutional investors bought shares worth Rs 197 crore.