Markets ride high as earnings season kicks off

NEW DELHI:The stock markets set aside trade war fears for a while on Tuesday, with increased positive activity as the earnings season kicks off boosting BSE Sensex by nearly 305 points past the 36,000 mark. According to brokers, a good set of positive corporate results and continued buying by domestic institutional investors trumped concerns over the worsening global trade situation.

“Markets rallied to a five month high as fading trade war woes and a shift in attention to corporate earnings supported investor sentiment. Any revival in earnings growth will give scope for re-rating in valuation for many mid-cap stocks which were the real victims of the recent correction,” noted Vinod Nair, Head of Research, Geojit Financial Services.

Market data showed that barring BSE Healthcare, all other sectoral indices closed with gains, led by energy (2.01 per cent), realty (1.79 per cent) and telecom (1.75 per cent) indices.During the day, the 30-share Sensex opened strong and hit a high of 36,274.33 before finally ending at 36,239.62, up 304.90 points or 0.85 per cent. The benchmark index all-time closing high of 36,283.25 was hit on January 29 this year. Similarly, the 50-share NSE Nifty climbed 94.35 points, or 0.87 per cent, to end at 10,947.25.

HDFC Group became the second only after the Tata conglomerate to see the market capitalisation of its listed group firms crossing Rs 10 lakh crore. Strong domestic auto sales growth also boosted auto stocks. Market heavyweight Reliance Industries topped the Sensex gainers, surging 3.02 per cent, after a Reliance-BP joint venture bid for licence to retail gas in 15 cities, making its maiden foray in city gas distribution.