F&O expiry: Sensex gains 258 pts, ends Feb series 8% higher; RIL surges 4%

Sectorally, the Nifty Metal, PSU Bank, and Bank indices advanced 25 per cent, 40 per cent, and 20 per cent, respectively during the February F&O series

Stock market updates: After a volatile trade on Wednesday, domestic players witnessed a lacklustre on Thurday. Equity benchmark indices remained parked near day's high for better part of the day, cooling off marginally only during the last hour of trade.

Strong gains in Reliance Industries, TCS, Axis Bank, NTPC, and IndusInd Bank helped the headline S&P BSE Sensex to settle the F&O series for the month of February at 51,039 levels, up 258 points or 0.5 per cent. With a 4.8 per cent gain, NTPC remained the top performing stock on the Sensex today, followed by up to 4.4 per cent gains in ONGC, Reliance Industries, IndusInd Bank, Axis Bank, and Power Grid.

On the downside, ICICI Bank, that dipped 2 per cent on profit booking, ended the session as the top drag. Nestle India , L&T, Titan Company, HUL, UltraTech Cement, and HDFC were some of the other top losers.

On the NSE, the Nifty50 index failed to reclaim the 15,100-mark on the closing basis and ended at 15,097 levels, up 115 points or 0.47 per cent. 

In the broader markets, the S&P BSE SmallCap index outperformed its large-cap peer today with a close at 20,305 levels, up 1.4 per cent. The index hit a record high of 20,321 points in Thursday's intra-day trade and surpassed its previous high of 20,183 touched on January 15, 2018. With the rise in markets and having tasted success, most experts believe that the interest of retail investors in the markets, especially the small-caps is here to stay – at least for now. READ MORE

The S&P BSE MidCap index, on the other hand, settled at 20,334 levels, up 1 per cent.

Among individual sectors, metal counters staged a stellar show with the Nifty Metal index closing 4 per cent higher. That apart, the Nifty Realty index closed with 1.7 per cent gains while the Nifty PSU Bank, Pharma, and Auto indices ended 1 per cent higher each.

February F&O series Wrap

The benchmark Sensex and Nifty50 index have gained 8 per cent during the February series, underperforming the broader markets where the Nifty MidCap 100 and the Nifty SmallCap 100 jumped 11 per cent each.

Sectorally, the Nifty Metal, PSU Bank, and Bank indices advanced 25 per cent, 40 per cent, and 20 per cent, respectively while the Nifty Auto index gained 4 per cent. On the downside, the Nifty IT and FMCG indices slipped around 2 per cent each.

Global markets

World stocks jumped on Thursday after U.S. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell reaffirmed interest rates would stay low for a long time. In Asia, MSCI's ex-Japan Asia-Pacific shares index rose 1.5 per cent while Japan's Nikkei gained 1.7 per cent. Hong Kong's Hang Seng jumped 1.5 per cent.

In Europe, the pan-European STOXX 600 index was up 0.4 per cent, London's FTSE 100 gained 0.4 per cent, while Spain's CAC advanced 0.45 per cent.

(With inputs from Reuters)

4:01 PM

TECH VIEW :: Ashis Biswas, Head of Technical Research, CapitalVia Global Research

The market witnessed some swift recovery from its short-term support around the Nifty50 Index level of 14650-14850. The expectation is that the level should range between 15250 and 15000 in days to come. Technical pieces of evidence are not supporting any significant momentum from a short-term perspective, and the market is likely to stay in this range. The momentum indicators like RSI, MACD to poised neutrally supporting.

4:01 PM

MARKET CLOSING COMMENT :: S Ranganathan, Head of Research at LKP Securities

The day clearly belonged to the NIFTY PSE Index which rose 4% today after the plan announced yesterday to privatise and monetise assets of PSE. The broader market also witnessed keen investor interest in Power stocks

4:00 PM

TECH VIEW :: Rohit Singre, senior technical analyst at LKP Securities

One more positive session and index managed to close at 15093 with gains of nearly one per cent & formed a gravestone Doji kind of candle pattern on the daily chart. On the immediate basis, the index has good support near the 15k mark if the index managed to sustain above the 15k mark then-current positive move can extend further towards the 15200-15250 zone which are the hurdle zone on the higher side and if fails to sustain then strong profit booking can be a witness

3:56 PM

IPO Update :: Hernaba issue subscribed 81times till 3:50 PM on day 3 of the issue

3:54 PM

Index contributors :: Banks, RIL, TCS lift Sensex

3:53 PM

Sectoral trends on NSE at Close

3:45 PM

Sensex Heatmap at Close

3:40 PM

CLOSING BELL

Strong gains in Reliance Industries, TCS, Axis Bank, NTPC, and IndusInd Bank helped the headline S&P BSE Sensex to settle the F&O series for the month of February at 51,039 levels, up 258 points or 0.5 per cent. 

 

On the NSE, the Nifty50 index failed to reclaim the 15,100-mark on the closing basis and ended at 15,097 levels, up 115 points or 0.47 per cent. 

 

3:25 PM

India's fiscal position to remain weak even as deficit improves: Moody's

Meanwhile, Icra, Moody's Indian affiliate, said it expects a considerable rebound in India's economic growth in the fiscal year ending March 31, 2022 (FY22) on the back of higher central government spending, and a pick-up, albeit uneven, in consumption.

 

Overall, Icra projects that real Gross Domestic Product (GDP) will rise 10.5 per cent in FY22 and nominal GDP by 14.5 per cent for fiscal 2022 as the pandemic recedes. READ MORE

3:16 PM

Reliance Inds gains 6% in 2 days, hits 4-month high on O2C biz spin off

RIL in a presentation on Tuesday, February 23, announced the initiation of the formal process of carving out the O2C business into a wholly-owned independent subsidiary. The management reorganised the refining and petrochemical businesses into O2C to facilitate holistic and agile decision making, pursue attractive opportunities for growth with strategic partnerships, and drive its downstream business. READ MORE

3:06 PM

Weak Q3 show, margin pressures to keep Sanofi stock under pressure

Sanofi India posted muted December quarter results with revenues missing street estimates. While reported revenues were down 13 per cent over the year ago quarter the base quarter included export sales to Zentiva which has been discontinued from May last year.

 

In addition to the reduction of Rs 115 crore of exports sales, analysts at Nirmal Bang Research believe the weak turnover was partly attributed to some therapy areas being impacted negatively due to the Covid-19 restrictions. READ MORE

2:55 PM

Analysts remain bullish on small-caps despite index hitting record high

Small-cap stocks have been on a roll since the past few months with the S&P BSE Smallcap index hitting a record high of 20,290 points in Thursday’s intra-day trade. The index surpassed its previous high of 20,183 touched on January 15, 2018 in intra-day deals. Despite the index hitting record levels, analysts see more headroom for the stocks in this segment as the economic recovery gathers steam, which they believe, should be beneficial for companies in the mid-and small-cap space. READ MORE

2:48 PM

Disconnect between markets, real economy a global phenomenon: Sebi chief

Capital markets regulator Sebi chairman Ajay Tyagi on Thursday acknowledged the systemic risk concerns raised by the RBI and Financial Stability Board over a disconnect between financial markets and the real economy, but said that this is a global phenomenon.

 

He said the heavy fall in markets, followed by quick gains on the equity benchmarks since the onset of the pandemic is the sharpest V-shaped recovery in the last 30 years. READ MORE

Ajay Tyagi, Chairman, SEBI

2:38 PM

Market breadth in favour of buyers

2:25 PM

Hemang Jani, Head of Equity Strategy, MOSL on Nureca listing

Nureca, a home healthcare and wellness product company, listed today on the exchanges with a 58.7% premium against its issue price of Rs 400/share. The company is known for its product innovation and some of its known brands are Dr Trust, Dr Physio and Trumom. It delivered robust performance over FY18-20 with revenue PAT CAGR of 123%/43%. In 1HFY21, Revenue/PAT grew 1.2x/6x compared to FY20 financials. Given the huge opportunity in Home Healthcare segment, its asset light business model, competitive and well-diversified products, Nureca is likely to sustain its growth momentum in subsequent years. It currently trades at P/E of 8.9x FY21E annualized EPS which is very attractive.