The market firmed up further and hit fresh intraday high in early afternoon trade. At 12:20 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was up 317.61 points or 0.85% at 37,711.09. The Nifty 50 index was up 93.10 points or 0.83% at 11,350.20. The Nifty was trading above 11,300 mark.
The market opened higher and held firm at higher levels in morning trade. Shares hovered in a range in mid-morning trade. Indices marched ahead in early afternoon trade.
Among secondary barometers, the BSE Mid-Cap index was up 0.44%. The BSE Small-Cap index was up 0.42%. Both these indices underperformed the Sensex.
The market breadth, indicating the overall health of the market, was positive. On BSE, 1145 shares rose and 986 shares fell. A total of 143 shares were unchanged.
Pharmaceuticals shares declined. Cadila Healthcare (down 3.16%), Lupin (down 2.76%), Sun Pharmaceutical Industries (down 1.62%), Dr Reddy's Laboratories (down 1.5%), Cipla (down 1.18%), Wockhardt (down 0.58%), Glenmark Pharmaceuticals (down 0.49%), GlaxoSmithKline Pharmaceuticals (down 0.32%), Alkem Laboratories (down 0.09%) and Divi's Laboratories (down 0.03%), edged lower. Strides Shasun (up 0.17%), IPCA Laboratories (up 1.02%) and Piramal Enterprises (up 2.16%), edged higher.
Aurobindo Pharma was down 7.01%. The company said it has received letters from the US Food and Drug Administration (USFDA) classifying the inspections concluded at the company's API facilities of Unit I and XI and intermediates facility of unit IX in February 2019 as Official Action Indicated (OAI). The company has already submitted its initial response to USFDA. The company is sending further updates on the committed corrective actions. The company is confident that these OAI classifications will not have an impact on disruption of supplies or the revenue from operations of these facilities. The announcement was made before trading hours today, 17 May 2019.
Bajaj Finserv rose 4.45% after consolidated net profit rose 31.66% to Rs 838.74 crore on 43.5% rise in total income to Rs 12995.47 crore in Q4 March 2019 over Q4 March 2018. The result was announced after market hours yesterday, 16 May 2019.
During the year, the three key companies - Bajaj Finance (BFL), Bajaj Allianz General Insurance Company (BAGIC) and Bajaj Allianz Life Insurance Company (BALIC) have operated well. As before, BFL performed brilliantly. Though BAGIC's profit was adversely affected due to floods in Kerala, it recorded industry beating growth. BALIC recorded all round improvement with industry beating growth in individual premiums supported by improvements in persistency and new business value.
Blue Dart Express lost 6.21% after net profit dropped 62.32% to Rs 12.86 crore on 8.58% rise in total income to Rs 783.98 crore in Q4 March 2019 over Q4 March 2018. The result was announced after market hours yesterday, 16 May 2019.
During the year ended 31 March 2019, Blue Dart handled over 233.27 million domestic shipments, 0.92 million international shipments and over 754,981 tonnes of documents and parcels across the nation and 220 countries worldwide.
Balfour Manuel, managing director, Blue Dart said the company continues to be a forerunner in the express logistics industry in India, with a strategic focus on all sectors. The business environment was challenging.
Overseas, Asian shares reversed early gains on Friday amid signs of an escalation in Sino-US trade tensions. Market sentiment has been hurt by US government's move to block China's Huawei Technologies from buying vital American technology, drawing a sharp rebuke from Beijing.
US stocks rose on Thursday after strong earnings from Walmart and Cisco Systems and positive economic data helped quell some of the fears surrounding the ongoing US-China trade war.
On the data front, the Commerce Department said housing starts rose by 5.7% in April to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.235 million. Weekly jobless claims, meanwhile, fell to 212,000 last week. Further, the Philadelphia Fed manufacturing index in May rose to a four-month high of 16.6 after registering 8.5 in April. Any reading above zero indicates improving conditions.
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