Thomas BabychanOn Friday, major indices of the Indian stock market, Sensex and Nifty bounced back from Thursday’s losses to post a growth of nearly 0.1% in the index values.
The higher-than-expected interest rate hike by the reserve bank of India, coupled with a positive forecast for the third and fourth quarters, resulted in positive sentiment among traders and investors.
The fall of oil prices yesterday below 90 US dollars per barrel also helped markets push up the stocks and close trading in green. Even though oil prices bounced back to $90+ levels, they overall still remain low.
S&P BSE Sensex
S&P BSE Sensex of Bombay stock exchange on Friday advanced by 89.13 points (0.15%) to conclude trading at the last trade price of 58,387.93 .
Similar to yesterday, IT stocks gained from today’s trading, while banking-related stocks continued their losing run.
The index which opened at 58,421.04 progressed as high as 58,649.19 points and settled 0.15% above the previous close of 58,298.80.
The top gainers on Friday were Ultra Tech Cement (+2.86%) ICICI Bank(+2.26%) Bharti Airtel (+1.39%) Power Grid (+1.20 %) Infosys (+1.06 %) and Wipro (+1.02 %).
Mahindra & Mahindra (-2.04 %) Maruti (-1.50 %) Reliance (-1.46 %) Indus Ind Bank (-1.30 %) Bajaj Finserve (-0.59 %) State Bank of India (-0.42 %) and Sun Pharma (-0.39 %) were top losers on the BSE Sensex on Friday.
Apart from HCL Tech, nearly all IT stocks including, LT, TCS, Tech Mahindra, Infosys and WIPRO posted gains during trading hours on Friday.
In the banking sector, all banks, except ICICI Bank and Axis Bank, ended their trades in red. Kotak Mahindra Bank, HDFC Bank, SBI and Indus Ind suffered losses during trading on Friday.
Out of 30 stocks traded on the index, 17 stocks advanced while the rest of the stocks declined.
When analysing the overall performance of indices, sector-wise/industrywise, S&P BSE Telecom was the top gainer on the list as the index gained 21.74 points (+1.34%).
The least performing index on Friday from industry indices was S&P BSE Utility, which lost nearly 73 points (-1.86%) to conclude trading at 3,879.33 points.
Nifty 50
The Benchmark Index of the National Stock Exchange, Nifty 50, on Friday gained 15.5 points (0.09%) to close the market at 17,397.50. Nifty 50 closed at 17,382.00 points on Thursday.
Top gainers include Shree Cements (2.60%) Ultra Tech Cements (2.44 %) ICICI Bank (2.04%) UPL (1.47%) and Bharti Airtel (1.33%).
The top losers on Nifty 50 on Friday were Britannia (-2.29%) Hindalco (-2.22%) Eicher Motor (-2.03%) Mahindra and Mahindra (-1.98%) and Reliance (-1.52%).
Out of 50 stocks listed on Nifty 50, 28 stocks advanced while 22 stocks suffered losses.
In sectoral indices on National Stock Exchange, Nifty IT was the top gainer as the index gained 190.65 points (0.64%).
With the markets closed for this week, all eyes are on the geopolitical crisis progressing in Taiwan strait and its impact on global indices.