MARKET WRAP: Sensex gains 93 pts, Nifty ends at 11,472; ONGC surges 3%

All that happened in markets today.

Domestic equities ended Wednesday's lacklustre trading session in the positive territory. Buying in counters such as financials, energy and IT in the last twenty minutes of the trade lifted benchmark indices.  

The S&P BSE Sensex added 93 points or 0.24 per cent to settle at 38,598.99, with Bajaj Finance (up over 3.50 per cent) being the top gainer and Hero MotoCorp (down nearly 3 per cent) the biggest loser. 

HDFC, Bajaj Finance,Reliance Industries (RIL) and ICICI Bank contributed the most to the index's gains while ITC, Asian Paints, and Larsen & Toubro (L&T) emerged as the top drags.  

In the broader market, the S&P BSE SmallCap index settled at 12,799.92 levels, up 26 points or 0.21 per cent. The S&P BSE MidCap index, on the other hand, lost 20 points or 0.14 per cent to end at 13,920.41 levels.

On the NSE, the broader Nifty50 index ended at 11,471.55 levels, up 43 points or 0.38 per cent.

Sectorally, IT stocks gained the most, followed by media and realty stocks. The Nifty IT index ended at 15,361.30 levels, up over 1 per cent. On the flip side, PSU bank stocks slipped the most. The Nifty PSU Bank index ended at 2,150.10 levels, down nearly a per cent. 

Volatility index India VIX slipped 3.44 per cent to 16.27 levels. 

Among individual stocks, Bajaj Consumer Care surged 20 per cent to Rs 235, erasing its entire previous day’s fall of 15 per cent, on the BSE on Wednesday after Mutual Funds-led institutional investors bought more than 20 per cent stake from the promoters of the personal products company. READ MORE

Polycab India hit its highest level since listing in the intra-day deals today. The stock hit a high of Rs 737.45 apiece during the session. At close, the scrip stood at Rs 718.05 apiece on the BSE, up nearly 2 per cent.  

Shares of Bharat Petroleum Corporation (BPCL) climbed as much as 5.54 per cent to Rs 517.45 apiece on the BSE in the intra-day deals on Wednesday. The stock spurted after news reports suggested energy giant Saudi Aramco is likely to express its interest in the strategic sale of BPCL. The stock ended at Rs 511.95 apiece on the BSE, up nearly 4.50 per cent. 

GLOBAL MARKETS

Shares markets lost some steam in Asian trading on Wednesday while sterling came off five-month highs as investors remained uncertain whether crunch talks in Brussels would lead to a deal to avoid a disorderly British exit from the European Union. MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan rose 0.4 per cent while Japan's jumped 1.5 per cent, hitting 10-month highs. South Korea's KOSPI index climbed 0.6%, encouraged by South Korea's central bank cutting its policy interest rate for the second time in three months. 

In the US, S&P500 futures fell 0.3 per cent also on rising caution over US-China trade deal after China lambasted new legislation taking a hard line on China.

In commodities, oil slipped further below $59 a barrel on weaker economic outlook. Brent crude, the global benchmark, slipped 16 cents to $58.58 a barrel while US crude gained 2 cents to $52.83.

(With inputs from Reuters)

3:46 PM

Weekly Strategy :: Sahaj Agarwal, head of derivatives, Kotak Securities

Nifty staged a strong bounce and tested 11450-11500 levels. The trend support for the index is seen at 11,050. Short-term momentum indicators are overbought; hence, some consolidation is playing out. We suggest buying on dips with a support of 11,050. On the higher side we expect the index to conquer 11,700 in the near-term followed by 12,100 over the next few weeks. Private banking and IT sectors are expected to outperform, while selective buying is likely in midcaps

3:44 PM

Nifty snapshot

3:42 PM

Contribution to Sensex

RIL, TCS, ICICI Bank among top contributors

3:42 PM

Sensex heat map

Bajaj Finance, ONGC, HDFC among key Sensex gainers

3:39 PM

CLOSING BELL

The S&P BSE Sensex climbed 93 points or 0.24 per cent to end at 38,598.99 and NSE's Nifty50 index ended at 11,471.55 levels, up 43 points or 0.38 per cent. 

3:23 PM

MARKET CHECK

3:04 PM

Sector watch | Nifty PSU banks decline

-- Indian Bank, Allahabad Bank, J&K Bank hit 52-week low

2:58 PM

GIC Re, New India Assurance soar 20% in range-bound market

Shares of general insurance companies were on a roll on Wednesday. Both General Insurance Corporation of India or GIC RE (Rs 258) and the New India Assurance Company (Rs 114) hit their upper circuit of 20 per cent on the BSE after a news report suggested that insurance sector posted a substantial growth rate in premiums. READ MORE 

2:54 PM

Market check

2:47 PM

$5-trillion economy to double individual wealth to Rs 800 trillion: Karvy

Wealth manager Karvy Private Wealth in its tenth annual India Wealth report said that individual wealth is likely to grow at a rate of 13.2 per cent to Rs 799 trillion once India becomes a $5-trillion economy. The report estimates this will happen around the financial year 2023-24 (FY24). Individual wealth grew at 9.6 per cent to reach Rs 430 trillion helped by a growth in financial assets. Financial assets grew 10.96 per cent and physical assets such as land grew at 7.59 per cent. READ MORE 

2:47 PM

Will govt meet its fiscal deficit target? Bond traders are too skeptical

Sovereign debt sold off in the past two months on fears Prime Minister Narendra Modi will expand the record Rs 7.1 trillion ($100 billion) in borrowings to support a slowing economy. The rout diminished the impact of Asia’s most aggressive monetary-policy easing and a banking system that’s flushed with liquidity. READ MORE

2:38 PM

BUZZING STOCK | New India Assurance Company hits 20% upper circuit

2:28 PM

NEWS ALERT | Vodafone Idea demerges with Vodafone Towers for transfer of fiber infrastructure: BSE filing

 -- Says, fiber infra undertaking of the co stands demerged

2:23 PM

ACC delivers a decent performance amid demand and liquidity challenges

The slowdown in real estate and construction activities is adding to ACC woes and a liquidity crunch too is looked as a dampener. In this backdrop, a small two per cent year-on-year dip in volumes to 6.44 Million Tonne (MT) remains a fairly decent performance. READ MORE 

2:13 PM

ICRA on solar energy sector

Overall the industry has been affected by a mix of factors such as -

 

>> continuing delays in payments from utilities in few states like Andhra Pradesh, Telangana & Tamil Nadu; 

>> regulatory uncertainty on tariff matters for IPPs in state of Andhra Pradesh and delays in tariff adoption by SERC in Andhra Pradesh; 

>> execution delays witnessed for land acquisition and transmission connectivity approvals and; 

>> tight financing environment over the last 8-10 month period. 

 

As a result, the ability to achieve the financial closure for the projects in a timely manner remains a challenge for many of the IPPs. As opposed to this, the industry segment had a decent capacity addition in FY2018, supported by relatively sizeable capacity addition in open access segment due to favorable state solar policies in Karnataka.