Market Wrap, Oct 23: Sensex up 95 pts, Nifty at 11,604; RBL Bank tanks 20%

Domestic indices ended Wednesday's lacklustre trade in the green supported by buying in select index heavyweights like HDFC, Maruti Suzuki, and ICICI Bank.

The benchmark S&P BSE Sensex settled 95 points, or 0.24 per cent, higher at 39,059 level. 10 of the 30 shares listed on the index ended the day in the red. HCL Tech, up 4 per cent, settled the day as the top gainer, while Bharti Airtel, down 3.5 per cent, closed as the biggest laggard. The index touched an intra-day high and low of 39,196.67 and 38,866.08, respectively.

On NSE, the broader Nifty50 index closed at 11,604-mark, up 16 points or 0.14 per cent. 

In the broader market, the S&P BSE mid-cap index settled 12 points, or 0.08 per cent, lower at 14,395 level. The S&P BSE small-cap index, on the other hand, closed 33 points, or 0.25 per cent, higher at 13,223 level.

Sectorally, Nifty Auto and PSU Bank indices ended the day as top gainers, up between 1.3 to 1.8 per cent. On the downside, Nifty Media index slipped the most, down 1.3 per cent.

Meanwhile, S&P Global Ratings said Wednesday that the risks of contagion are rising in the Indian financial sector and any failure of a large shadow lender could lead to a “solvency shock” to banks. India’s shadow lenders get a substantial part of their funding from banks, and the weaker ones have seen a sharp rise in their borrowing costs and a big drop in their equity values, the ratings firm said in a report. That could have knock on effects on India’s banks, especially if they are perceived to have governance issues.

BUZZING STOCKS

Shares of RBL Bank tanked 20 per cent to Rs 231, its fresh life-time, low on the BSE on Wednesday after the private sector bank posted its worst quarterly show for the July-September quarter (Q2FY20) since listing on August 31, 2016.  The stock, which eventually settled 9.6 per cent lowe,r had reported a net profit at Rs 54 crore, down 74% YoY due to higher provisioning.  

Infosys slipped 4 per cent to Rs 615, but recovered later, on the BSE on Wednesday as sentiment continued to remain subdued due to window-dressing allegations by whistleblower groups.

SBI Life Insurance Company today entered the coveted Rs 1 trillion market capitalisation (market-cap) club after its share price hit a fresh all-time high on the National Stock Exchange (NSE). The stock of the life insurance company hit a new high of Rs 1,012 on Wednesday in the intra-day deal.