The Indian stock market started off on a firm note on Friday, but came off higher levels and slipped into the red around noon. After swinging between gains and losses for the next couple of hours, it managed to edge slighly higher and eventually ended the session with small gains.
With investors reacting positively to reports about the Goods and Services Tax Council finalizing Goods and Services Tax rates for substantial items and backing th 1 July 2017 deadline for rolling out the unified indirect tax, the market posted impressive gains early on in the session.
The BSE benchmark Sensex, which rose to a new high at 30,712.35, plunged to a low of 30,338.52 in early afternoon trades, but recovered subsequently and ended the session with a gain of 30.13 points or 0.1% at 30,464.92. The Nifty50 of the National Stock Exchange, which declined to 9390.75 after having advanced to 9505.75 earlier in the day, ended at 9427.90, netting a loss of 1.55 points or 0.02%.
In the forex market, the rupee weakened to 65.02 against the U.S. dollar around noon, but recovered well and was trading at 64.61 a dollar around late afternoon, up 23 paise from its previous close.
FMCG stocks turned in a good performance today. ITC gained 2.85%, Colgate Palmolive gained 3.5%, Tata Coffee and Jaishree Tea gained about 3.1% each, Emami added 2.5%, Heritage Foods, Hindustan Unilever and SH Kelkar ended higher by about 2%, Waterbase, Aganti, Tata Global Beverages and Godrej Consumer Products ended stronger by 1.5% - 1.75%, while Eveready Industries, Marico, KRBL, VST Industries, Dabur India and BBTC gained 1% - 1.3%.
Oil stocks were mostly weak. Hindustan Petroleum Corporation, BPCL, GAIL India, Indian Oil Corporation, Reliance Industries, Indraprastha Gas, ONGC and Oil India lost 0.3% - 2%, while Castrol India and Petronet LNG ended with modest gains.
IT stocks also traded weak. Oracle Financial Services, Tata Consultancy Services, Tech Mahindra, Wipro and KPIT Technologies declined by 1% - 2.5%. Infosys and HCL Technologies ended modestly higher, while Tata Elxsi and MindTree ended around their previous closing levels.
In the banking space, State Bank of India ended 1.75% up. State Bank of India today reported a sharp 122.72% rise in standalone bottom line figure at Rs 2814.82 crore for the quarter ended March 31, 2017 against Rs 1263.81 crore reported for the corresponding quarter a year ago. For the full year ended March 2017, SBI posted a net profit of Rs 10,484 crore, up 5.36% over financial year 2015-16 net profit of Rs 9951 crore.
Gross NPA as percentage of total advances was 6.9% as on 31 March 2017, as compared to 7.23% in the preceding quarter and 6.5% in the year-ago quarter. Net NPA ratio stood at 3.71% as on 31 March 2017, as against 4.24% in the preceding quarter and 3.81% in January - March 2016 quarter.
Yes Bank and Axis Bank gained 2% and 1.8%, respectively. Federal Bank ended 1.2% up and Bank of Baroda advanced 0.5%. HDFC Bank and ICICI Bank ended flat. Kotak Bank and IndusInd Bank ended modestly lower, while Punjab National Bank declined by about 2%.
Tata Motors, Cipla, Lupin, NTPC, Tata Steel, Bharti Airtel and Adani Ports gained 0.3% - 1.2%.
Tata Motors DVR, UltraTech Cement, Tata Power, Bharti Infratel and ACC ended higher.
Asian Paints declined 2.4%. GAIL India, Mahindra & Mahindra, HDFC, Tata Consultancy Services, Power Grid Corporation, Hero Motocorp, Dr Reddy's Laboratories, Wipro and Maruti Suzuki ended lower by 0.7% - 1.4%.
BPCL, Eicher Motors, Hindalco, Indiabulls Housing Finance, Tech Mahindra, Bosch and Aurobindo Pharma lost 1% - 1.6%.
CESC, which declined sharply in the previous session after the company announced a restructuring plan, bounced back on bargain hunting and ended more than 5.5% up today.
Igarashi Motors advanced after the company announced a bonus issue. Motherson Sumi Systems and Automotive Axles gained on strong results. Shares of Housing and Urban Development Corporation (HUDCO), making their debut, started off on a bright note and ended 2% up from its issue price.
The market breadth was weak. Out of 2911 stocks traded on BSE, 1789 stocks declined. 957 stocks advanced and 165 stocks ended flat.
