Sensex soars 193pts, Nifty Midcap at new closing high; TCS up 4%
The market started off the expiry week on a strong note, with the Nifty rising over five-month closing high on Monday aided largely by TCS, Infosys and HDFC Bank. GST Council’s approval to law for compensation to states and positive global cues also supported the market that gained strength in afternoon trade after consolidation in morning.
The 30-share BSE Sensex rose 192.83 points or 0.68 percent to 28661.58, the highest closing level since September 23, 2016. The 50-share NSE Nifty was up 57.50 points or 0.65 percent at 8879.20, the highest closing level since September 5.
Jayant Manglik of Religare Securities suggests maintaining positive yet cautious approach in the key indices, considering the overbought market conditions.
And, the upcoming derivatives expiry will further add to the volatility during the rest of the week, he adds.
Anand James of Geojit Financial Services says FOMC & RBI minutes are expected to throw no surprises, but will keep markets guarded. Trading dynamics are bound to be influenced by holiday and municipal elections, especially with derivatives expiry also packed in, he feels.
The broader markets smartly outperformed benchmarks, rising over a percent on positive breadth. The Nifty Midcap ended at record closing high. About two shares advanced for every share falling on the exchange.
TCS shares rallied 4 percent after the IT major has announced buyback of upto 5.6 crore equity shares (representing 2.85 percent of total paid up equity capital) at Rs 2,850 apiece, aggregating up to Rs 16,000 crore. The rally also spilled over to other peers – Infosys was up 1.2 percent and HCL Technologies gained 0.5 percent.
Idea Cellular remained in action, up 2.5 percent after media reports indicated that the merger between Vodafone and the company may be announced by end of month. Last week, Vodafone brought in former India MD Martin Pieters to work on merger with the Aditya Birla Group company.
Other telecom stocks like Bharti Airtel gained 1.6 percent and Reliance Communications jumped 4.4 percent. Tata Teleservices climbed 6.6 percent as a media report suggested that the company is said to be in talks with Reliance Communications for merger.
HDFC Bank maintained its uptrend, up 2.18 percent (on top of 3.75 percent rally on Friday) to end at record closing high of Rs 1,407.20 despite the RBI put it back in its FIIs ban list.
Metals stocks also gained momentum, with the Nifty Metal index rising 2 percent. Jindal Steel was top midcap gainer, up 7.8 percent after Kotak upgraded the stock to buy from sell and also revised target price upward to Rs 125 from Rs 60 earlier, citing likely financial turnaround. Tata Steel, Bhushan Steel, NMDC and SAIL gained 3-5 percent.
Among other largecaps, Maruti Suzuki, Asian Paints, HUL, GAIL and Adani Ports rose 1-3 percent while ITC, Axis Bank and HDFC were down 0.6-1.7 percent.
In broader space, Marksans Pharma jumped 20 percent after UK health regulator MHRA issued no observations for Goa plant. Mangalam Drugs gained 6.7 percent as WHO issued few procedural observations after audit of its unit-2.
Lloyd Electric and Engineering tanked 16.8 percent after it sold consumer durable business to Havells for Rs 1,600 crore. Havells also declined 2.66 percent.
GMR Infrastructure climbed nearly 7 percent after sources told CNBC-TV18 that the company is likely to demerge its airports subsidiary and list it separately.
European markets were higher as investors eyed earnings, fresh economic data, and kept an eye out for any more details from US President Donald Trump regarding his economic policies. Asia ended higher, with the China’s Shanghai up 1.2 percent.
