Market Wrap, Oct 31: Sensex ends 77 pts up at 40,129, Nifty ends at 11,881

The headlines -

>> Market pares gains, Sensex ends 77 pts higher after scaling new peak during the day; 

>> YES Bank settles 24% higher after it gets $1.2-bn binding offer from global investor; 

>> IOC September quarter net profit slumps 83% to Rs 563.4 crore; &

>> Former RBI Guv Raghuram Rajan responds to FM's comment, says two-thirds of his tenure was under BJP

Now, the news in detail - 

After soaring over 340 points to hit a fresh lifetime high of 40,392 levels in the intra-day deals, the S&P BSE Sensex pared its gains to settle at 40,129, up 77 points or 0.19 per cent on Thursday, the last day of the October series of the futures & options (F&O) contracts.  

Markets witnessed sharp sell-off in the fag-end of the session after reports surfaced Chinese officials had doubts about whether it was possible to reach a comprehensive long-term trade deal with Washington and US President Donald Trump.

YES Bank (up around 24 per cent) emerged as the biggest gainer on the Sensex after the lender said it has received a binding offer of US $1.2 billion from a global investor. On the downside, Tech Mahindra (down over 2 per cent) bled the most. 

Broader market outperformed the benchmarks. The S&P BSE MidCap index gained over 167 points or 1 per cent to settle at 14,865 while the S&P BSE SmallCap index closed at 13,558., up 127 points or nearly a per cent.

On the NSE, the benchmark Nifty50 added 37 points or 0.31 per cent to end at 11,881. 

Sectorally, PSU banks and media counters advanced the most. The Nifty PSU Bank index gained nearly 4 per cent to end at 2,505 while the Nifty Media gained over 3 per cent to settle at 1,787. 

Voaltility index India VIX declined around 2 per cent to 16.30 levels. 

BUZZING STOCKS

Shares of Tata Motors hit a five-month high of Rs 180, up 4 per cent on the BSE, zooming 42 per cent in the past four days, after it delivered a better-than-expected September quarter (Q2FY20) earnings show, with improvement in the operational performance at Jaguar Land Rover (JLR), its Britain-based luxury vehicle arm. The stock eventually closed at Rs 178, up 3.40 per cent.

JK Tyre & Industries surged as much as 13.87 per cent to Rs 80 apiece on the BSE during the day. The company on Wednesday reported over three-fold jump in the consolidated net profit to Rs 167.70 crore in the September quarter driven by gains from deferred tax liability. At close, shares stood at Rs 75.60, up nearly 8 per cent. 

Tata Global Beverages ended nearly 9 per cent higher at Rs 317.30 after the company reported a strong set of numbers for the quarter ended September 2019 (Q2FY20). 

On the contrary, telecom majors Vodafone Idea and Bharti Airtel were under pressure, slipping up to 9 per cent during the day, after rating agencies underlined concerns emerging from the Supreme Court's ruling in the adjusted gross revenue (AGR) case. Vodafone Idea settled at Rs 3.89, up 2 per cent while Bharti Airtel ended at Rs 374, up over 1.50 per cent.

In other development, Former RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan, who faced a stinging attack from Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman for presiding over the "worst phase" of the Indian banking sector, on Thursday reminded her that two-third of his tenure as the head of the central bank was under the BJP government. Rajan said during his term a clean up of the banking sector that was "clogging" with bad loans had begun and the job remains unfinished.

In the global markets, Asian shares jumped to a three-month high and the dollar fell broadly after the Federal Reserve cut interest rates as expected and US Treasury yields declined. MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was up 0.53 per cent to the highest since July 30. Hong Kong shares rose 0.93 per cent, while Japan’s Nikkei stock index rose 0.43 per cent.

The pan-region Euro Stoxx 50 futures were up 0.08 per cent, German DAX futures added 0.1 per cent, while FTSE futures edged down 0.02 per cent. 

In commodities, oil prices edged up. Brent crude futures were up 39 cents, or 0.6 per cent, at $61 a barrel.