The oil market will need more crude from Libya and Nigeria as it re-balances at a faster rate in the second half after a slow start, Opec Secretary-General Mohammad Barkindo said on Sunday | Photo: istock
Vinod Nair, Head of Research, Geojit Financial Services: Despite weak Q1 GDP growth of 5.7% the market continued to stay on a positive terrain due to better auto sales and encouraging manufacturing data for the month of August. On the other hand, investors are expecting knee jerk reaction from government to uplift the growth and they are largely focusing on long term benefit from GST than transitory hiccups.
3:45 PM
Realty Index gained 2.6%
Source: NSE
3:38 PM
Sectoral Trend
Source: NSE
3:37 PM
Top gainers and losers on BSE Sensex
Source: BSE
3:35 PM
Broader Markets
Broader markets outperformed tjhe benchmark indices with BSE Midcap and BSE Smallcap up 0.9% and 0.8% respectively
3:33 PM
Markets at close
Benchmark indices rose on Friday and gaining for a third straight week after much weaker-than-expected economic growth data raised hopes the central bank would cut interest rates at its next policy meeting in October.
The S&P BSE Sensex ended at 31,892 up 161 points while the broader Nifty50 index settled at 9,974, up 56 points. Bothe the indices were up 1% for the week.
3:23 PM
GDP to grow?
NITI Aayog's new Vice-Chairman Rajiv Kumar pegged gross domestic product (GDP) expansion at 7-7.5% in the second quarter of the current financial year, a day after the country's economic growth in the first quarter fell to its lowest at 5.7 per cent in the three years of the Modi government.
Attributing subdued GDP growth in the first quarter to destocking in the pre-goods and services tax period, higher WPI deflator, and base effect, Kumar said a turnaround in corporate investments was already happening. He stressed that the first quarter GDP figures were not a trend.
3:16 PM
Buzzing Stock
Shares of Gravita India touched 52-week high of Rs 134.65, rising 11% intraday on the back of strong Q1 numbers.
The company’s Q1FY18 consolidated net profit increased 47.3% at Rs 10.9 crore against Rs 7.4 crore, in a year ago period.
3:09 PM
Strides Shasun gains
Drug firm Strides Shasun gains 2% after the pharma firm received an Establishment Inspection Report (EIR) from the US health regulator for its formulations facility at Bengaluru.
"The company's formulations facility (KRSG Gardens) in Bengaluru which was inspected by the USFDA in May 2017 has received the EIR, thereby confirming the closure of the inspection," Strides said in a BSE filing.
2:56 PM
Oil Check
Oil prices fell on Friday in the wake of Hurricane Harvey, which has killed more than 40 people and brought record flooding to the oil heartland of Texas, paralyzing over a quarter of the US refining industry.
Benchmark Brent crude for November was down 40 cents at $52.46 a barrel. The Brent contract for October, which expired on Thursday, closed up $1.52, or 2.99%, at $52.38.
2:46 PM
Nifty IT was the biggest sectoral laggard, down 0.7%, deagged by TCS, Tech Mahindra and Wipro.
Source: NSE
2:36 PM
HSBC on GDP data
April-June (1Q FY18) GDP growth came in at a three-year low. Manufacturing, at a five-year low, stood out most. Thursday's weak data can be attributed to some specific factors such as GST related destocking, auto-correction in growth prints as prices normalize, rupee appreciation, weaker agriculture and higher subsidy payout. While some of these could reverse over the next few quarters, others may not. Growth has been moderating since the middle of 2016 and we see downside risks to our below consensus growth forecast of 7.1% for FY18
2:32 PM
Asia Check
Asian equities followed Wall Street’s gains overnight and edged higher on Friday while the dollar’s advance slowed ahead of the US jobs report due later in the session.
MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan rose 0.3%.
Australian shares added 0.2% while South Korea’s KOSPI and Japan’s Nikkei were little changed.
Shanghai was up 0.5% and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng rose 0.3%.
2:15 PM
Auto sales
Escorts continued to post solid growth in tractors sales in August, following a 34.3% growth in July YoY.
The Faridabad-based tractor maker sold 4,587 units in month gone by, a growth of 23.2% compared with 3,722 units in same month last year.
2:03 PM
Among other gainers
Shankara Building Products rose 4.81% to Rs 1,242 on BSE after the company announced that it has started new processing facility in Secunderabad.
 "Nifty ends above 9,950, up 1% for the week; Sensex settles 161 pts higher")
