The Indian benchmark indices ended the final session of the June series of futures & options (F&O) over half a per cent higher, with major contribution from information technology (IT) stocks even as heavyweight Reliance Industries tumbled 2.35 per cent after the firm's 44th annual general meeting (AGM).
Among noticeable proposals, Chairman Mukesh Ambani said that Yasir Al-Rumayyan, Chairman of Saudi Aramco and Governor of PIF, will join the Board of Reliance Industries as Independent Director.
He also announced a Rs 75,000 crore corpus to set up 'Giga' factories to make solar photovoltaic cells, green hydrogen, batteries and fuel cells over the next three years, under the ambit of the company's New Energy business division.
As regards RIL's telecom business, Ambani announced plans to launch JioPhone Next, a fully featured smartphone, that is developed in partnership with Google, on September 10, 2021.
As most of these announcements were on expected lines, investors booked profit on the counter, pushing the stock lower for the third straight day. As a result, the stock has fallen around 4 per cent during the period and has wiped off nearly Rs 53,000 crore in market capitalisation.
Overall, the S&P BSE Sensex rose 393 points, or 0.75 per cent, to close at 52,699, while the broader Nifty50 index ended the session at 15,790, up 103 points, or 0.66 per cent.
Infosys was the best performing stock on the Sensex and Nifty as it jumped nearly 4 per cent on the exchanges. Earlier today, the counter hit a record high of Rs 1,568 after the IT major announced that its Rs 9,200 crore buyback via open route will commence on Friday, June 25, 2021.
In the past one month, Infosys has outperformed the market by surging 18 per cent, as compared to a 4.5 per cent rise in the S&P BSE Sensex. A sharp run-up in stock price has seen Infosys' market capitalisation cross Rs 6.5 trillion-mark.
Coupled with gains in Coforge, TCS, Mphasis, Mindtree and Tech M, the Nifty IT index advanced 2.8 per cent on the NSE, trailed by the Nifty Bank index (up 0.7 per cent). On the downside, the Nifty PSU Bank index declined 1.4 per cent.
That said, despite the stellar gains in the benchmark indices, weakness persisted in the broader markets which titled the market breadth towards bears. The S&P BSE MidCap and SmallCap indices slipped 0.51 per cent and 0.22 per cent, respectively dragged by Adani Group stocks, PNB Housing Finance, Central Bank of India, PNB Gilts, and Munjal Showa.
In the primary market, Shyam Metalics and Energy (SMEL) made a strong debut on the bourses, with the stock listing at Rs 380, a 24 per cent premium over its issue price, on the National Stock Exchange (NSE). The stock ended the session at Rs 375.50.
Meanwhile, Sona BLW Precision Forgings (Sona Comstar) made a quiet debut on the bourses, with the stock getting listed at Rs 302.40 -- a 4 per cent premium over its issue price of Rs 291 per share on the BSE. The stock, however, extended gains in intra-day deals to end at Rs 362.85 apiece.
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