Sensex, Nifty close up nearly 1%, rupee settles at record low
MUMBAI: Benchmark Sensex and Nifty rose by nearly 1% on Friday, extending gains for a second straight day on the back of buying in auto, banking, and energy stocks in line with firm global trends.
The 30-share BSE Sensex advanced further by 462.26 points or 0.88% to settle at 52,727.98 as 23 of its constituents ended in the green. During the day, it rallied 644.15 points or 1.23% to 52,909.87.
The Nifty rose by 142.60 points or 0.92% to settle at 15,699.25 with 39 of its scrips posting gains. The Sensex and the Nifty had recovered nearly 1% Thursday.
“Mirroring a firm trend in the global market and in response to declining commodity prices, the domestic market
maintained its positive trend. The up-move was supported by broad-based buying except in IT,” said Vinod Nair, head of research at Geojit Financial Services.
From the Sensex pack, M&M was the biggest gainer spurting 4.28%. IndusInd Bank rose by 2.59%, Bajaj Finance by 2.58%,
Hindustan Unilever by 2.3%, ICICI Bank by 2%, and Bharti Airtel by 1.72%.
Index heavyweight Reliance Industries rebounded 1.47% and Tata Steel by 1.42%. Nestle, HDFC Bank, HDFC, Ultratech Cement, Maruti, Kotak Bank, Axis Bank, and SBI also advanced.
On the other hand, Tech Mahindra, Infosys, HCL Technologies, TCS, Wipro and Sun Pharma were the laggards.
“Markets edged higher for the second consecutive session, driven by firm global cues. Healthy rebound financials, metals and PSU banks aided sentiments,” Ajit Mishra, vice president-research, Religare Broking Ltd, said.
The broader markets outperformed and ended higher in the range of 1.4% to 1.6%. Barring IT, all the other sectoral indices ended in the green.
The BSE smallcap gauge jumped 1.60% and the midcap index gained 1.53%.
Among the BSE sectoral indices, telecom jumped 2.53%, auto (1.98%) power (1.73%), consumer discretionary goods & services (1.68%), consumer durables (1.47%) and finance (1.40%). Information Technology and teck were the only laggards.
As many as 2,401 stocks advanced, while 906 declined and 141 remained unchanged.
On weekly basis, Sensex jumped 2.66% or 1,367 points after two straight weeks of losses. The broader Nifty spurted by 2.64% or 405.75 points, ending two weeks of losses.
“Markets are witnessing consolidation after the sharp decline and awaiting some fresh triggers. Since we don’t have any major domestic events, global updates viz. market performance, crude movement and easing of the geopolitical situation will remain on the participants’ radar,” Mishra said.
The rupee on Friday slipped 1 paisa to close at its all-time low of 78.33 (provisional) against the US dollar.
At the interbank foreign exchange market, the local currency opened at 78.20 and finally settled at its all-time low of 78.33, down 1 paisa from its previous close.
During the day, the local unit witnessed an intra-day high of 78.19 and a low of 78.35 against the American currency.
On Thursday, the rupee had settled at 78.32 against the US dollar.
The dollar index, which gauges the greenback’s strength against a basket of six currencies, fell 0.25% to 104.17.
Brent crude futures, the global oil benchmark, advanced 1.13% to $111.29 per barrel.
Foreign institutional investors remained net sellers in the capital market on Thursday as they offloaded shares worth ₹2,319.06 crore, as per stock exchange data.