Market at record close amid NSE#39;s tech glitch; Sensex up 355 pts, Nifty above 9750

It was a spectacular start to the week on Monday ahead of June quarter earnings as equity benchmarks ended at fresh record closing highs amid technical glitch at NSE. Better-than-expected US jobs data and the value buying as well as short covering in select index heavyweights (including TCS, Infosys ahead of Q1 results in later part of the week) lifted the Sensex 408 points to hit an intraday record high of 31,768.39.

The software issue hit normal trading at the NSE and as a result, that also forced the exchange to halt trading in its futures & options segment. The exchange managed to solve technical glitch and start normal trading (cash as well as F&O) in the fourth attempt at 12:30 pm after failed initially at 9:15 am, followed by 10:45 am and 11:30 am.

Meanwhile, the BSE, the oldest stock exchange in India, continued normal trading despite technical glitch at NSE that lasted for three hours before getting resolved.

The 50-share NSE Nifty Nifty was up 105.25 points or 1.09 percent at 9,771.05 after hitting an intraday high of 9,782.15.

The 30-share BSE Sensex surged 355.01 points or 1.13 percent to 31715.64 but the broader markets underperformed.

“Such buoyancy ahead of the earnings season indicates that markets are in the strong hand and participants are anticipating much higher levels ahead,” Jayant Manglik, President, Retail Distribution, Religare Securities said.

He further said position target of 10,000 in Nifty is intact. For fresh trades, he suggests waiting for some consolidation or dip in stocks and preferring hedged positions.

Ridham Desai of Morgan Stanley expects earnings revision breadth to improve in the next few months. He expects Sensex earnings growth of 18 percent in FY18 and 24 percent YoY in FY19.

The BSE Midcap index was up 0.7 percent and Smallcap gained 0.4 percent as about 1,555 shares advanced against 1,112 declining shares on the exchange.

Most Asian markets closed in positive territory after US jobs data beat forecasts and Chinese inflation data, with the Japan’s Nikkei up 0.8 percent and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng up 0.6 percent. European markets were also trading higher, tracking gains in Asia and US. France’s CAC and Germany’s DAX were up 0.2-0.4 percent at the time of writing this article.

Back home, all sectoral indices participated in the rally, with the Nifty IT and PSU Bank rising over 2.5 percent.

Bharti Airtel was biggest gainer among Sensex stocks, up 5.4 percent. The company will invest Rs 2,000 crore in services including digital over next 3 years, it said, adding investment will be in revamping stores & updating app and postpaid services.

Technology stocks rallied ahead of June quarter earnings that will be kicked off by TCS on July 13, followed by Infosys on July 14. Overall revenue growth for the quarter is likely to be impacted by BFSI and retail segments, analysts feel. TCS shares gained 4.66 percent, Infosys 2.5 percent and Wipro 4.64 percent.

Tata Motors also participated in rally, up 2.28 percent after Jagaur Land Rover’s sales increased 3.5 percent in April-June quarter on year-on-year basis.

State Bank of India was up nearly 2 percent. After market hours, the bank said it would divest up to 8 crore shares in SBI Life through IPO.

Healthcare stocks extended gains today after positive vibes from USFDA. Lupin surged 3 percent after getting final approval from USFDA for Flucytosine capsules that are indicated for the treatment of serious infections caused by susceptible strains of Candida and/or Cryptococcus.

Divis Labs gained 8 percent as the US Food & Drug Administration will lift import alert 99-32 on the company’s unit-II at Visakhapatnam. Sun Pharma was up 2.4 percent and Dr Reddy’s Labs gained 1 percent.

Among others, L&T, Asian Paints, Axis Bank, ONGC and Coal India gained 1-3 percent whereas ITC, M&M and HUL were moderately under pressure.

AU Small Finance Bank closed at Rs 541.20 on the BSE, up 51.17 percent with volumes of 3.92 crore shares, after hitting an intraday high of Rs 545 and low of Rs 506.80 on day 1.

In the broader space, Reliance Communications, Tejas Networks, Tata Global Beverages, Bank of India, OBC, Canara Bank, Bharti Airtel, Idea Cellular, Welspun India, Bharat Financial, Marksans Pharma and Tata Coffee were up 3-6 percent.

CARE Ratings was up 7 percent on buzz that Fitch may be taking stake in the company. IDFC and Shriram City Union, Shriram Transport Finance fell 3-6 percent post merger news.