Market Wrap, Jan 10: Sensex gains 147 pts, Nifty hits record high of 12,311

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. 

IT bellwether Infosys, today, reported 11% qoq jump in net profit at Rs 4,457 crore for the December quarter of FY20. It revised its revenue guidance upwards to 10 to 10.5% 

Besides, in the whistle-blower case, the management said the investigations found no evidence of any financial mispropriety, and that there was no merit in charges levelled against CEO Salil Parekh.

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. 

BUZZING STOCKS

>> YES Bank declined 7 per cent to Rs 44 in the intra-day after it's  independent director and chairman of the audit committee Uttam Prakash Agarwal resigned on Friday alleging that Ravneet Gill, managing director and CEO of the bank, misled the bank board, shareholders, and exchanges about a binding offer to raise capital in the bank. The stock settled 5.3% lower at Rs 44.8

>> Shares of Tata Motors hit an eight-month high of Rs 199, up 3 per cent on the BSE today 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. At close, the stock ended 2.3 per cent higher at Rs 196.

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.