An evening walk down Dalal Street | Bulls drive Sensex almost 150 points higher, Nifty above 11,550

What a fantastic Friday it was for the bulls! A huge surge in the midcaps space along with automobiles, pharmaceuticals as well as energy names ensured that the market had a strong trading day. The Nifty managed to end well above 11,550-mark. The midcap index ended with gains of over a percent and outperformed the benchmarks.

A strengthening rupee also helped the market recover. Cooling off of oil prices and some reported dollar selling by private banks erased some losses for the currency.

Index heavyweights led the gainers’ chart as the likes of Reliance Industries, ICICI Bank and Mahindra & Mahindra pushed up benchmarks higher.

Banks were the major laggards through the day, the Nifty PSU bank index traded over a percent lower.

The started on a weak note as tepid global cues weighed on equity benchmarks in India. A recovery in the rupee in the afternoon helped the market cut its losses and trade rangebound. However, a sharp surge in stocks such as RIL, Bajaj Auto, and ICICI Bank, among others, ensured that the bulls were a happy bunch.

For the week, Sensex and Nifty shed around a percent, while the midcap index and Bank Nifty fell 1.7-2.5 percent.

At the close of market hours, the Sensex ended up 147.01 points or 0.38% at 38389.82, while the Nifty was higher by 52.20 points or 0.45% at 11589.10. The market breadth is positive as 1,537 shares advanced, against a decline of 1,151 shares, while 195 shares were unchanged.

Airtel, Hero MotoCorp, and Bajaj Auto were the top gainers, while Yes Bank, Power Grid, and Sun Pharma lost the most.

Stocks in News

Share price of Caplin Point Laboratories added 3 percent on Friday as company received no observations from USFDA.

Aurobindo Pharma share price rallied 5.4 percent as brokerage houses remained bullish on the stock after the acquisition and raised target price up to Rs 915, implying 20.5 percent potential upside from Thursday's closing levels. Aurobindo agreed to acquire Novartis’s US generics business for $1 billion.

Shares of Sun Pharmaceutical fell nearly 2 percent on buzz of observations being issued by the US drug regulator for its Halol plant. According to reports on CNBC-TV18, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued six observations for its Halol unit in Gujarat.

Share price of Motherson Sumi Systems rose more than 4 percent as company recommends bonus shares on completing twenty five (25) years of listing of its equity shares on stock exchanges.

Shares of Welspun Corp rose 2.7 percent as company entered in to an agreement for supply of at 220 KMT of pipes for Oil & Gas project in the Americas region.

Global Update

Markets in Asia were mixed as investors turned to be cautious of trade war issues between US and China. Nikkei 225 fell by 0.8 percent to close at 22,307.06.