The benchmark indices slipped from day's high but still ended in the positive territory on Monday on the back of positive global cues, encouraging quarterly numbers by select pharma companies and the government's push for Atmanirbhar Bharat (Self-Reliant India), where the Ministry of Defence (MoD) announced a phased, year-wise embargo on the import of 101 items of defence equipment.
The S&P BSE Sensex today ended at 38,182, up 141.5 points or 0.37 per cent, with L&T (up nearly 5 per cent) being the top gainer and Reliance Industries (RIL) the biggest loser. During the day, the index hit a high and low of 38,430.69, and 38,073.29, respectively.
NSE's Nifty ended at 11,270, up 56 points, or 0.50 per cent.
The broader market, however, outperformed the frontline indices. The S&P BSE MidCap index gained 1.42 per cent to 14,421 levels and the S&P BSE SmallCap ended at 13,869, up 1.47 per cent.
Buzzing stocks
Shares of defence equipment manufacturers and suppliers rallied in the trade after the Ministry of Defence (MoD) announced on Sunday a phased, year-wise embargo on the import of 101 items of defence equipment, invoking the Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Atmanirbhar Bharat (Self-Reliant India) initiative. Bharat Dynamics hit an all-time high of Rs 465.10 during the trade. The stock ended at Rs 437.30. Bharat Electronics gained over 9 per cent to Rs 108.30.
Pharma stocks gained big following healthy quarterly numbers by Cipla, and Divi's Lab. Shares of Divi's Laboratories hit a record high of Rs 3,228.05 on the BSE after reporting 80.61 per cent year-on-year (YoY) rise in consolidated net profit for the June quarter of 2020-21 (Q1FY21). At the close, the share price of the company stood at Rs 3,117, up nearly 12 per cent.
Cipla, too, hit a record high after the firm posted a 20 per cent growth in profit before tax (PBT) for the first quarter of the current financial year to Rs 799 crore, on a 9 per cent year-on-year (YoY) growth in revenues to Rs 4,346 crore. The stock ended at Rs 795.65, up over 9 per cent. READ MORE
Sectorally, all the sectoral indices on the NSE ended in the green. Nifty Pharma ended at 11,951.85, up around 5.5 per cent.
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