At the close of market hours, the Sensex was up 192.35 points or 0.53% at 36578.96, and the Nifty was up 54.90 points or 0.50% at 10961.90
It’s a good start for the bulls on Monday, with equity benchmarks closing with gains of around half percent. The Nifty ended the day above 10,960-mark. However, indices were off their high points.
The Sensex ended above 36,500-mark, while midcaps underperformed during the session. It lost nearly one percent during the day.
Traditional defensives of IT and pharmaceuticals ended the day in positive zone, while Nifty Pharma ended with gains of half percent. Banks managed to have a good close, while weakness was visible among automobiles, consumption, and metals.
The day began on a mildly higher note, following subdued global cues and a weaker rupee. However, a rally in index heavyweights such as Reliance Industries (RIL) helped the market soar further. RIL closed with gains of over 4.5 percent. The stock contributed 80 percent to Nifty’s gain.
Kotak Mahindra Bank also ended 3 percent higher after the company announced Q3 results.
At the close of market hours, the Sensex was up 192.35 points or 0.53% at 36578.96, and the Nifty was up 54.90 points or 0.50% at 10961.90. The market breadth was negative as 944 shares advanced, against a decline of 1,642 shares, while 150 shares were unchanged.
Reliance Industries and Kotak Mahindra Bank were the top gainers, while Hero MotoCorp and Yes Bank lost the most.
Stocks in the News
South Indian Bank’s shares plunged over 9 percent as investors reacted to the December quarter results.
Shares of DCB Bank fell around 1 percent as investors reacted to buzz of an appeal to cancel its banking licence.
HDFC Bank’s Q3 performance was largely in line with estimates, but asset quality slipped a bit, analysts have said. CLSA, IDBI Capital and Prabhudas Lilladher have raised their price targets on the stock. The stock gained a percent.
Analysts largely believe that Wipro posted in-line numbers for December quarter, but margins surprised positively. This has made some of them rework their margin and EPS estimates for future. The scrip ended 2.5 percent lower.
Share price of Wockhardt added more than 3 percent intraday Monday after company received approval from the United States Food & Drug Administration (USFDA) for an ANDA for 100mg and 400mg tablets of Imatinib Mesylate, which is used to treat many kinds of cancers and tumors.
Shares of PSP Projects added 1 percent as company received orders worth Rs 572 crore.
Shares of ITI surged 7 percent after company received purchase order from Gujarat Fibre Grid Network (GFGNL) under BharatNet Phase II project.
Share price of Housing & Urban Development Corporation (HUDCO) gained 6 percent after company reported strong set of numbers for the quarter ended December 2018.
AU Small Finance Bank shares fell nearly 2 percent as global brokerage house Citi assigned sell rating on the stock after Q3 earnings.
Union Bank of India has reported net profit at Rs 153.2 crore for the December quarter against loss of Rs 1,249.8 crore in same period last year, driven by sharp fall in provisions and improvement in asset quality. The scrip ended 6 percent lower.
Global Markets
European stocks traded lower after fresh data from China showed its economy grew at its slowest pace since 1990. Stoxx 600 index fell around 0.4 percent.
Asia Pacific markets started the week with gains even as China showed signs of a slowdown.
The Shanghai composite rose more than 0.5 percent to close at about 2,610.51 while the Shenzhen composite gained 0.607 percent to end its trading day at around 1,330.17. The Shenzhen component also advanced 0.592 percent to close at approximately 7,626.24.
Hong Kong's Hang Seng index saw gains of 0.39 percent to close at 27,196.54.
