Market Wrap, Feb 12: Indices gain for 2nd day, Sensex rises 350 pts

Buying in FMCG, metals, financials and auto counters along with positive global cues helped equity market to settle in the green for the second day in a row on Wednesday. The S&P BSE Sensex rallied 350 points or 0.85 per cent to end at 41,566 while NSE's Nifty50 settle at 12,201, up 93 points or 0.77 per cent.

FMCG giant Hindustan Unilever (HUL) zoomed over 5 per cent to end at Rs 2,262 apiece on the BSE. It was the top gainer on the Sensex. The stock hit a fresh 52-week high of Rs 2,271 during the day. HUL’s m-cap stood at Rs 4,89,464 crore (Rs 4.89 trillion).

ICICI Bank, Reliance Industries (RIL), HDFC Bank, Infosys, and TCS were the other major contributors to the index's gains. 

Broader market, on the other hand, underperformed frontline indices. The S&P BSE MidCap index slipped 47 points or 0.29 per cent to close at 15,789 levels while the S&P BSE SmallCap index lost 13 points or 0.09 per cent to settle at 14,737.

Among the sectoral indices on the NSE, Nifty FMCG gained the most - up nearly 2 per cent to 30,986 points, followed by Nifty Metal and Nifty Auto indices. 

Buzzing Stocks

Shares of Lakshmi Vilas Bank were locked in 5 per cent upper circuit at Rs 20.90 on the BSE on Wednesday after reports emerged saying that a US fund house is eyeing a big stake in the cash-strapped bank.

The private sector lender's stock has been frozen upper circuit for the fourth straight day. In the past week, the stock has rallied 41 per cent against 1 per cent rise in the S&P BSE Sensex.

Shares of Sun Pharma Advanced Research Company (SPARC) slipped 10 per cent to Rs 172 on the BSE on Wednesday in an otherwise strong market after the US health regulator rejected the cancer drug application.

SPARC on Tuesday said the company has received a Complete Response Letter (CRL) from the United States Food & Drug Administration (USFDA) for the new drug application (NDA) for Taclantis (Paclitaxel Injection Concentrate for Suspension). 

GLOBAL MARKETS 

Global share markets nudged higher on Wednesday amid hopes the worst of the coronavirus in China may have passed, although prevailing uncertainty about the outbreak kept investors wary. MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was up 0.9 per cent while Chinese shares reversed early losses to trade up 0.41 per cent.

Oil prices extended gains as China reported its lowest daily number of new coronavirus cases since late January, stoking investor hopes that fuel demand in the world’s second-largest oil consumer may begin to recover from the epidemic.