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The markets ended firm, led by gains in index heavyweights such as HDFC, TCS and ONGC. The Sensex ended at 27,957, higher by 148 points or 0.5% and the Nifty settled at 8,458, up 38 points in a volatile session.
The mid-cap and small-cap indices, however, underperformed the benchmark indices to end flat at 10,619 and 11,207 respectively.
The markets had touched their highest levels in a month, with the Sensex re-claiming the psychological 28,000 mark earlier in the trading session to touch an intra-day high of 28,071.
The IT, capital goods and pharma were the leading sectoral gainers on the BSE, while the banking space weakened post the SBI numbers
THE ROAD AHEAD
Going ahead, analysts expect volatility to continue, as we head closer to the expiry of derivative contract for the May series on Thursday.
"This week, we saw markets edging higher on rate cut hopes despite volatility brought by Q4 results of heavyweights. Such volatility is likely to continue as about 40% of Sensex constituent's results are awaited. This might impact the pace of Index moving to higher levels as the result expectation balance 40% are low. But, on the positive side, FII outflow has slowed down this week and DIIs have been active," said Vinod Nair, Head-Fundamental Research, Geojit BNP Paribas Financial Services in a post market note.
Puneet Kinra, AVP Research (Equity Technical), Bonanza Portfolio, adds: "Recovery may continuing and we may see the Nifty above 8,470 levels. On the upside, Nifty has major resistance at 8,550 levels. On downside, there is support at 8,400 levels. Nifty May future expiry due next week could see the markets remian volatile next week as well."
KEY DEVELOPMENTS
In important corporate results, State Bank of India (SBI) reported a better-than-expected 23% rise in quarterly profit on Friday and said its bad loan ratio declined sharply, sending its shares up by more than 5%. The bank's gross bad loans ratio stood at 4.25% in its fourth quarter ended March, compared with 4.9% in the December quarter. The net non-performing loan ratio fell to 2.12% in the March quarter from 2.80% a quarter earlier.
Meanwhile, the southwest monsoon has reportedly advanced further and arrived over Sri Lanka. The private weather forecaster Skymet has said that Weather conditions favour the advancement of Southwest Monsoons, indicating its timely onset over Kerala.
In economy-related news, the Finance Minister Arun Jaitley reportedly said at a news conference to mark the first year of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government in power that India should bring down its effective tax rate to global levels.
RUPEE
The rupee was trading strong by 12 paise at 63.52 against the dollar in the late-afternoon session on continued dollar selling amid a rally in the equity market. The local currency had surged 18 paise to 63.64 in Thursday's session on fresh selling of the dollar amid the latter’s weakness in overseas markets.
According to the forex dealers, sustained selling of the dollar, the dollar’s weakness against other currencies overseas and a firm domestic equity market supported the rupee at the Interbank Foreign Exchange.
BUZZING STOCKS
Among individual Sensex heavyweights, HDFC, TCS and Sun Pharma gained around 2% each, while L&T, BHEL and Tata Motors and ONGC added about 1% each. On the other hand, SBI shed 2.4% to close at Rs 282 levels. The stock had surged as much as 5% earlier to touch an intra-day high of Rs 305 immediately after the result announcement. ICICI Bank and HDFC Bank also surrendered their gains to end on a flat note.
In the IT space, TCS, Tech Mahindra and HCL Tech gained about 1% each. In the capital goods space, ABB India, BEML, L&T and BHEL rallied 1-4% each. The pharma space saw Sun Pharma, Wockhardt and Lupin adding around 1% each.
Cement shares also had a rough day, with Grasim Industries, UlraTech Cement, ACC and Shree Cement ending in the red.
The market breadth was marginally weak. Out of 2,834 stocks traded on the BSE, there were 1,194 advancing stocks as against 1,519 declines.
