Sensex ends at fresh closing peak of 48,782, up 689 pts; Nifty at 14,347

Stock market updates: Earnings optimism and positive global cues fuelled a broad-based rally in the markets with benchmark indices settling over a per cent higher on Friday. IT stocks led from the front and contributed nearly half of Sensex's 600-point gains today. Reliance Industries, Maruti Suzuki, HDFC Bank, and L&T provided the remaining fillip to the BSE barometer.

The S&P BSE Sensex notched 689 points, or 1.43 per cent, to end at fresh closing peak of 48,782.5. The index hit a new lifetime high of 48,854.34 levels earlier in the day. The Sensex index gained 2 per cent during the week and clocked the longest stretch of weekly gains since 2009. 

Maruti Suzuki jumped 6 per cent and remained the top Sensex gainer, followed by Tech Mahindra, up 5 per cent. The IT company today entered the elite Rs 1-trillion market capitalisation club, becoming the fifth IT firm to achieve the feat. At close, its m-cap was Rs 1.01 trillion.
 

That apart, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) hit a record high of Rs 3,127.55 apiece in the intra-day trade and closed 3 per cent higher ahead of the announcement of Q3FY21 results. The IT firm's revenue in constant currency (CC) terms is expected to rise in the range of 2.4-4 per cent on quarter-on-quarter (QoQ) basis while it may grow between 3-4.5 per cent in dollar revenue. 

The broader Nifty50 too, ended at fresh closing peak of 14,347, closing 210 points or 1.48 per cent higher on the NSE. 41 of the 50 constituents ended the day in the green. The index touched lifetime high of 14,367 in noon deals today. For the week, the index was up 2.3 per cent.

 In the mid-cap space, S&P BSE MidCap index, though underperformed the frontline index, settled 1 per cent higher at 19,138.7 level after hitting a record peak of 19,161 earlier in the day, and clocked a 5-per cent weekly gain. The S&P BSE SmallCap index, on the other hand, ended at 18,908.59 levels, up 0.72 per cent.
 

Global markets

European stocks rose on Friday, with Germany’s DAX hitting a record high on the back of better-than-expected economic data and encouraging earnings updates from chipmakers.

The pan-European STOXX 600 index rose 0.7% and was on track for a more than 3% weekly gain, with hopes of more US stimulus boosting economically sensitive sectors such as miners, oil & gas and banks. Germany’s DAX index jumped 0.8% after data showed both industrial output and exports rose more than expected in November.

In Asia, Japan's Nikkei added 2.36 per cent while South Korea's Kospi jumped 4 per cent.

(With inputs from Reuters)

3:54 PM

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

IT & Auto stocks pulled their weight today ahead of TCS earnings as Bulls went berserk, lifting Indices by 1.5% buoyed by positive Global Cues. An array of high quality Midcaps across sectors registered smart gains as mood remained buoyant through the day.

3:50 PM

MARKET CLOSING COMMENT :: Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services

The rally led by IT and auto stocks guided the domestic market to discover new highs which was due to improved quarterly outlook. The expectations of  TCS quarterly result which is to be released later in the day helped in cheering investors’ mood. Support from strong global indices also helped in raising domestic market sentiments. The official certification of Biden’s presidency by the US Congress and easing of the political unrest as Trump promised a smooth transition of power, have created an upbeat movement in the western market. The focus of Indian markets has shifted to third quarter earnings, forward ignoring high valuations. 

3:50 PM

Market stats :: BSE m-cap hits Rs 195.6-trillion mark

3:48 PM

Sensex contributors :: IT stocks, RIL, HDFC Bank, and Maruti lift the index

3:47 PM

SECTOR OF THE DAY :: Maruti Suzuki, MRF zoom 6% and 5% respectively

3:47 PM

SECTOR WATCH :: Nifty Bank hits 32,000-mark for the first time since Jan 14, 2020

3:45 PM

SECTOR OF THE DAY :: Nifty IT index zooms 3.6% on NSE; Tech M, LTI, Wipro top gainers

3:43 PM

Sectoral trends on NSE at Close

3:42 PM

Sensex Heatmap at Close

3:35 PM

CLOSING BELL

>> The S&P BSE Sensex notched 689 points, or 1.43 per cent, to end at fresh closing peak of 48,782.5. The index hit a new lifetime high of 48,854.34 levels.

>> The broader Nifty50, too, ended at fresh closing peak of 14,347, closing 210 points or 1.48 per cent higher on the NSE.

3:22 PM

Ahead of Results :: TCS rallies 3%

3:14 PM

Reliance Capital's total outstanding debt rises to Rs 20,380 crore

The total debt, including interest, stood at Rs 19,805.7 crore on August 31, 2020.

 

Total financial indebtedness of the listed entity, including short-term and long-term debt and accrued interest, was Rs 20,379.71 crore at the end of December 2020, Reliance Capital said in a regulatory filing on Thursday. READ MORE

3:05 PM

Heatmap: S&P BSE Sensex gainers and losers at this hour

3:01 PM

ICRA maintains stable outlook for road sector amid improved toll collection

Toll collections witnessed a marked improvement on the back of increased movement of both passenger and commercial vehicles which have picked up significantly over the last three months, thereby surpassing pre-Covid levels, according to ICRA.

 

On average, the increase in toll collections in September to November 2020 stood at about 13 per cent, implying growth in traffic of 8 to 9 per cent in terms of passenger car units. READ MORE

2:53 PM

IT shares in rally; Tech Mahindra's m-cap tops Rs 1-trillion

With market-cap of Rs 1.02 trillion at 02:15 pm, Tech Mahindra became the fifth IT company that joined Rs 1-trillion ma-cap club. Overall, the company stood at 30th position in m-cap ranking, BSE data shows. Currently, among IT companies, TCS is numero uno with Rs 11.66 trillion market-cap, followed by Infosys (Rs 5.53 trillion), HCL Technologies (Rs 2.69 trillion) and Wipro (Rs 2.44 trillion), data shows. READ MORE