A fairly steady trend in global markets amid slightly easing worries about policy uncertainty in the U.S., and optimism about GST roll out from July lifted stock prices on the Indian bourses on Tuesday. The rupee's continued strength contributed as well to market's firm display.
After a bright start and a subsequent upmove, the market moved in a tight range but stayed firm till the end to sign off with notable gains.
Bank, automobile, power, healthcare and telecom stocks had a good outing. Stocks from information technology, consumr durables and metal sectors too found support. FMCG, oil and realty stocks were mostly subdued. Several stocks from midcap and smallcap sections ended with strong gains.
The BSE benchmark Sensex ended up 172.37 points or 0.59% at 29,409.52, after scaling a low of 29,301.33 and a high of 29,442.18 intraday. The Nifty50 of the National Stock Exchange ended at 9100.80, a few points off the day's high of 9100.40, gaining 55.60 points or 0.61%.
The currency market was closed today for holiday for Gudhi Padwa.
Axis Bank gained about 3.25% amid speculation about a merger of the bank with Kotak Bank. HDFC ended nearly 2% up. Tata Motors, Asian Paints, ICICI Bank, Sun Pharmaceutical Industries and State Bank of India gained 1% - 1.5%.
NTPC, Tata Consultancy Services, Mahindra & Mahindra, Power Grid Corporation, Wipro, Infosys, Bharti Airtel, Hindustan Unilever, Bajaj Auto, HDFC Bank, Adani Ports and Tata Steel ended with modest gains.
Eicher Motors, up nearly 4%, was the top gainer in the Nifty50 index. Tata Motors DVR, Zee Entertainment Enterprises, Tata Power, ACC and Aurobindo Pharma gained 1.3% - 3%.
Bharti Infratel gained 1.85% after Bharti Airtel announced that it has sold 10.3% stake in its tower unit Bharti Infratel Ltd to a consortium of funds to raise Rs 6,193.9 crore. KKR and Canada Pension Plan Investments Board are part of the consortium. Post this transaction, the stake held by KKR and CPPIB (combined) will be the single-largest public shareholder block.
Tech Mahindra declined by about 2.7%. Kotak Bank and ONGC ended lower by 1.2% and 1%, respectively. Coal India, Hero Motocorp, ITC and Reliance Industries edged down marginally.
The market breadth was almost even. Out of 3054 stocks traded on BSE, 1448 stocks advanced. 1391 stocks declined and 215 stocks ended flat.
