MARKET WRAP: RIL, HDFC Bank help Sensex settle 466 pts higher; pharma slips

Indian stock market ended with around 1.5 per cent gains on Monday amid across-the-board buying. Strong global cues and encouraging business update by certain companies for Q1FY21 boosted investor sentiment. For instance, HDFC Bank ended around 3 per cent higher after it reported strong loan growth of 21 per cent year-on-year (YoY) at Rs 1.04 trillion for the first quarter of the financial year 2020-21 (Q1FY21). 

The S&P BSE Sensex gained 466 points or 1.29 per cent to settle at 36,487 levels. Reliance Industries (RIL), HDFC Bank, TCS, Bajaj Finance, and M&M were the major contributors to the index's gains. NSE's Nifty ended at 10,764, up 156 points or 1.47 per cent. India VIX continued to decline and ended 2.7 per cent lower at 25.06 levels. 

RIL hit a fresh record high of Rs 1,858 during the day before settling at Rs 1,851.40, up over 3.5 per cent on the BSE. READ MORE

Broader market, too, participated in the rally. The S&P BSE MidCap index gained 1.27 per cent to 13,458 levels while the S&P BSE SmallCap rallied 1.3 per cent to 12,767 points. 

On the sectoral front, barring Nifty Pharma, all the other indices on the NSE ended in the green. Nifty Auto climbed 2.88 per cent and the Nifty Bank rose 1.59 per cent. Nifty Realty ended over 3 per cent higher. 

BUZZING STOCKS

Real estate developer Sobha ended nearly 5 per cent higher after the company said it managed to clock 70 per cent of sales volume during Q1 2021 as compared to Q4 2020. 

National Fertilizers (NFL) hit a 20 per cent upper circuit of Rs 36.95 after it said it achieved highest-ever fertilizer sale of 12.85 lakh metric tonnes (LMT) in Q1 June 2020. This is about 21.5 per cent higher than the sales of 10.57 LMT reported in Q1 June 2019.

Shares of Prism Johnson were frozen at 10 per cent upper circuit band of Rs 48.50 on the BSE on Monday after the company informed that its board has approved divestment of its entire holding of 51 per cent in Raheja QBE General Insurance Company (RQBE).

On the flip side, Marico ended around 2 per cent lower after the company said it has seen a 13-15 per cent decline in revenues for the quarter ended June 2020 (Q1FY20-21). The Q1 contributes 31 per cent to revenues. 

Global markets

Global stock markets rallied to four-week highs on Monday as investors counted on a revival in Chinese activity to boost global growth, even as surging coronavirus cases delayed business re-openings across the United States.

MSCI’s All-Country World Index, which tracks shares across 49 countries, rose 0.7% to its highest since June 6 after the start of European trading.

In Asia, MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan climbed 1.6 per cent to its highest since February, with the bullish sentiment spilling into other markets.

E-Mini futures for the S&P 500 firmed 1.2 per cent.

In commodities, oil prices rose, supported by tighter supplies and a string of data expected to show economic recovery across the globe. 

Brent crude was up 73 cents, or 1.7 per cent, to $43.53 per barrel while US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude was up 28 cents, or 0.7 per cent, at $40.93, at the time of writing of this report. 

(With inputs from Reuters)