MARKET WRAP: Sensex up 147 pts, Nifty holds 12,250; Infy gains nearly 1.5%

All that happened in the markets today

Indian equities logged gains for second straight day as positive global cues supported investment sentiment. No further rhetoric between the United States and Iran, and British Parliament's vote to finalise Brexit divorce deal by January 31 gave boost to investment sentiment. 

Indices further charged ahead and scaled intra-day high after news agency Reuters reported that US President Donald Trump could sign the Phase-1 of trade deal next week. The S&P BSE Sensex hit a high of 41,775.11 (up 322.76 points) in the intra-day deals, while NIfty50 touched 12,311.20 -- also its fresh lifetime high. 

At close, the Sensex was at 41,599.72 level, up 147.37 points or 0.36 per cent with ICICI Bank, IndusInd Bank, Axis Bank, and Titan being top laggards. On the other hand, Infosys, Sun Pharma and Ultra Tech Cement settled as the top gainers. 

The broader Nifty50 index, on the other hand, was 40.60 points, or 0.33 per cent, higher at 12,256.50-mark at close. 

Sectorally, Nifty Private Bank and Nifty Bank indices were the only indices that closed in the red, down 0.22 and 0.02 per cent, respectively. Nifty Realty and Metal indices, however, added 1.80 and 1.10 per cent, respectively by close. 

In the broader market, the S&P BSE mid-cap index gained 0.4 per cent to close at 15,157.77, while the S&P BSE small-cap index advanced 0.45 per cent to end at 14,153.18. 

GLOBAL CUES

World shares hit a record high on Friday as relief over the de-escalation of US-Iranian tensions prompted investors to bet on faster global growth, especially in the technology sector.

MSCI’s broadest gauge of the world’s stocks in 49 countries rose modestly to hit an all-time high and its index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan gained 0.44 per cent to its best levels since June 2018.

Japan’s Nikkei rose 0.44 per cent while Chinese shares slid a little but stood not far from their eight-month peaks.

In Europe, shares were little changed on Friday ahead of a key payrolls data from the United States, while airline stocks benefited from weak oil prices as tensions in the Middle East faded. The pan-European STOXX 600 Index was 0.03% higher by 2:37 pm.

(With inputs from Reuters)

4:00 PM

Market Closing Comment :: Sanjeev Zarbade, VP PCG Research, Kotak Securities

The major development during the week was the spike in geopolitical tensions between the US and Iran, prompting the markets to nosedive in the first half of the week. However, as the tension between the two warring nations subsided over the next few days, the Sensex rebounded sharply thereafter from initial slump. Further, crude prices too cooled off after rising to as high as USD 70 per barrel. ONGC, Hero Motocorp and Bajaj Finance were among the top losers in the BSE-30 Index, while Ultratech Cement, TCS and HCL Technologies bucked the trend and emerged top gainers. On the economy front, the NSO expects FY2020 real GDP growth to decelerate to 5% from 6.8% in FY2019. FPIs bought equities worth US$105 million over the past five trading sessions while DIIs sold US$26 million worth of shares in the same period.

3:43 PM

Nifty snapshot at close

3:43 PM

Sensex heatmap at close

3:36 PM

MARKET AT CLOSE

The S&P BSE Sensex ended 152 points or 0.37 per cent higher at 41,604.66 while NSE's Nifty ended at 12,256.50, up 41 points or 0.33 per cent. 

3:29 PM

Tata Motors hits 8-month high post JLR December retail sales numbers

Shares of Tata Motors hit an eight-month high of Rs 199, up 3 per cent on the BSE on Friday after its UK arm Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) reported retail sales of 52,814 vehicles for December 2019, up 1.3 per cent from the previous year. The stock of Tata Group commercial vehicles major was trading at its highest level since May 7, 2019. READ MORE

3:19 PM

NEWS ALERT | ED Mumbai summoned Rashesh Shah yesterday, he couldn't turn up: ED sources to CNBC TV18

>> ED has summoed Shah in Rs 2,000 cr forex case

>> ED will give fresh date to Shah

3:17 PM

MARKET CHECK

3:07 PM

NEWS ALERT | Reports of ED summons to Rashesh Shah are completely 'false & baseless': Edel Fin sources to CNBC TV18

3:00 PM

Dec Auto Sales | JLR global retail sales for the month, up 1.3% at 52,814 units YoY: Tata Motors

2:51 PM

NEWS ALERT | Edelweiss Financial slides 10% on reports of summons by the Enforcement Directorate

2:44 PM

NEWS ALERT | Zuari Agro Chemicals’ ammonia & urea plants in Goa resume production

2:43 PM

NEWS ALERT | 0.9% equity of Pidilite Industries changes hands

2:36 PM

Passenger vehicle sales dip 1.24% YoY in December; car sales down 8.4%

Domestic passenger vehicle sales declined 1.24 per cent to 2,35,786 units in December from 2,38,753 units in the year-ago period. Domestic car sales were down 8.4 per cent to 1,42,126 units as against 1,55,159 units in December 2018, according to data released by the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM). READ MORE

2:19 PM

Global Markets check

World shares hit a record high on Friday as relief over the de-escalation of US-Iranian tensions prompted investors to bet on faster global growth, especially in the technology sector.

MSCI’s broadest gauge of the world’s stocks in 49 countries rose modestly to hit an all-time high and its index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan gained 0.44 per cent to its best levels since June 2018.

 

Japan’s Nikkei rose 0.44 per cent while Chinese shares slid a little but stood not far from their eight-month peaks.

 

European shares look set to gain, with pan-European Euro Stoxx 50 futures trading up 0.29 per cent, German DAX futures up 0.26 per cent and FTSE futures up 0.42 per cent.

 

That followed record-setting in the pan-regional STOXX 600 index in Europe and the three major stock indexes on Wall Street on Thursday.

2:10 PM

NEWS ALERT | 1.8 million vehicles produced in Dec, down 5.22% YoY: SIAM

>> A total of 1,816,112 vehicles, including Passenger, Commercial, Three-wheelers, Two-wheelers & Quadricycle were produced in December'19 as against 1,916,213 in December'18

>> Total exports of Commercial Vehicles dipped by 26.81% YoY

>> Total exports of Passenger Vehicles, Three-wheelers and Two-wheelers grew by 9.90%, 5.34% and 9.91% YoY respectively, in December'19