Markets rally on robust buying; post best week in five

Both the indices ended at their highest levels since February 1.

Equities ended the week on a high on Friday, with the Sensex surging 290 points and the Nifty reclaiming the 10,800-mark as buyers made an emphatic return amid encouraging global cues.

Sentiment was bolstered after weaker-than-expected US inflation eased concerns about acceleration of interest rate hikes by the Federal Reserve, lifting markets globally.

The BSE Sensex stayed in the positive terrain throughout the session and hit a high of 35,596.15 before finishing at 35,535.79 -- a rise of 289.52 points, or 0.82 per cent.

The broader NSE Nifty scaled a high of 10,812.05 before closing 89.95 points, or 0.84 per cent, higher at 10,806.50.

Both the indices ended at their highest levels since February 1.

On a weekly basis, the Sensex gained a hefty 620.41 points, or 1.78 per cent, while the Nifty advanced 188.25 points, or 1.77 per cent. This was their biggest gain in five weeks.

Meanwhile, domestic institutional investors (DIIs) bought shares worth a net Rs 900.69 crore, while foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) sold equities worth Rs 364.88 crore on Thursday, as per provisional data.

"Market rallied supported by better quarterly results and lower than expected US inflation which eased worries of faster rate hikes by Fed.

"Investors will closely watch data on domestic inflation and Karnataka election results... Surging oil prices and weak INR are expected to impact inflation while easing geopolitical tension will add fuel to the market," said Vinod Nair, head of research, Geojit Financial Services.

Asian Paints led the gainers' list in the Sensex pack by surging 6.17 per cent after the company yesterday reported a 3.39 per cent increase in consolidated net profit at Rs 495.91 crore for the quarter ended March 2018.

Other winners included Tata Steel (2.17 per cent), L&T (1.69 per cent), Yes Bank (1.52 per cent), HDFC Ltd (1.50 per cent), Kotak Bank (1.46 per cent), ITC Ltd (1.45 per cent), ICICI Bank (1.34 per cent), SBI (1.19 per cent), Infosys (1.15 per cent), HDFC Bank (1.07 per cent), M&M (1.01 per cent), Axis Bank (1.01 per cent), HUL (0.90 per cent), RIL (0.80 per cent) and Wipro (0.78 per cent).

Telecom shares were the worst performers in today's session, a day after Reliance Jio announced a new post-paid plan.

Bharti Airtel declined 6.44 per cent, Idea Cellular 11.83 per cent, Tata Teleservices 2.41 per cent, Reliance Communications 1.79 per cent and MTNL 2.78 per cent.

Other index losers were Sun Pharma (5.05 per cent), Tata Motors (0.78 per cent), Hero MotoCorp (0.74 per cent), NTPC (0.36 per cent), Bajaj Auto (0.35 per cent) and ONGC (0.32 per cent).

Shares of PC Jeweller dropped 3.76 per cent after its board yesterday approved buyback of shares worth Rs 424 crore.

Fortis Healthcare fell 2.66 per cent after its board yesterday recommended the binding offer of the Munjal-Burmans combine after 18 months of hectic parleys with several potential investors.

Among sectoral indices, BSE metal gained the most by rising 1.56 per cent, followed by bankex 1.13 per cent, oil & gas 1.07 per cent, capital goods 1 per cent, FMCG 0.98 per cent, IT 0.63 per cent, PSU 0.58 per cent, auto 0.28 per cent and infrastructure 0.08 per cent.

Telecom lost the most at 4.25 per cent. Consumer durables, healthcare, power and realty indices also ended in the negative zone.

Broader markets showed a mixed trend, with the BSE mid-cap index rising 0.40 per cent but small-caps losing 0.12 per cent.

Coming to other Asian markets, Hong Kong's Hang Seng rose 0.95 per cent, Japan's Nikkei gained 1.16 per cent, while Shanghai Composite shed 0.34 per cent.

In the Eurozone, Frankfurt's DAX rose 0.62 per cent and Paris CAC gained 0.20 per cent in their early deals. London's FTSE gained 0.50 per cent.

Photograph: Punit Paranjpe/Reuters