Market wrap: Sensex ends 460 pts up, Nifty tops 17,600 on dovish RBI policy

Top headlines
 
·        Sensex ends 460 pts up, Nifty tops 17,600 on dovish RBI policy
·        Nykaa slips 7.5% on 59% drop in Q3 net profit
·        Mahindra Lifespaces rallies 20% on plan to buy land parcel from M&M
·        Solara Active Pharma tanks 20% on weak Q3 results
·        Govt likely weighing 5% stake sale in LIC mega IPO
 
Markets cheered the Reserve Bank of India's first monetary policy this calendar year where it kept key policy rates unchanged and continued with its accommodative stance to support growth. This was a tenth straight policy when the repo rate was left unchanged at 4% and the reverse repo rate at 3.35%.
 
The central bank's dovish stance, against what was expected, resulted in bond and stock prices surging. The 10-year government bond yields were down 0.99% at 6.7%, cooling off from the 6.9% level seen earlier this week.
 
In the equity market, the BSE benchmark Sensex surged 594 points to touch its intra-day high before ending 460 points higher than its previous at 58,926. On the NSE, the Nifty50 climbed 142 points, to settle at 17,606.
 
Tata Steel, Infosys, HDFC Bank, HDFC, Kotak Bank, M&M, Power Grid, and NTPC were the top Sensex gainers today, all up between 1% and 2%.
 
On the downside, Maruti Suzuki, Ultratech Cement, Nestle India, RIL, and Titan Company ended in the negative zone, all down by up to 1.7%.
 
The broader indices, however, underperformed the frontline indices where the BSE MidCap and SmallCap indices closed 0.3% and 0.04% higher, respectively. Among midcaps, Page Industries, Varun Beverages, Bharat Forge, Crompton Greaves, Gujarat Gas and Gland Pharma were top losers, all closing between 2% and 4% lower.
 
Sectorally, the Nifty Bank, Financial Services, IT, Metal, and Private Bank indices rose more than 1% each. The Nifty PSB and Auto indices were the only 2 indices that ended in the red, both down 0.05% each.
 
Among stocks, Solara Active Pharma Sciences was locked in the 20% lower circuit, hitting its 52-week low on the BSE after the company reported a consolidated net loss of Rs 140 crore in the December quarter due to lower revenue, against a profit of Rs 66 crore in the year-ago period.
 
Similarly, recently-listed Nykaa parent FSN-E commerce slipped 7.5% after reporting a 59% net profit fall to Rs 28 crore in the December quarter. Its operating profit margins also declined by 697 basis points to 6.3% from last year on the back of high marketing spends.
 
On the flip side, Mahindra Lifespace Developers surged 20% after the company announced its plan to buy a land parcel in Mumbai from promoter Mahindra & Mahindra. The land purchase is for an aggregate consideration of Rs 365 crore to be paid in tranches over three years, with 7% annual interest payable on reducing unpaid principal balance.
 
Lastly, reports suggested on Thursday that the government was considering selling about 5% of its stake in state insurer LIC as it prepared to file draft papers for the country’s biggest IPO this week. The government reportedly plans to offer 316 million of its 6.32 billion shares in LIC. There will be no fresh issue of shares.