Banking, healthcare stocks, strong rupee lift equity indices

Mumbai, June 22: Healthy buying in banking, healthcare and auto stocks during the late-afternoon session lifted the key equity indices after a largely choppy trade on Friday. The domestic indices, however, had opened on a negative note tracking weak Asian markets and the ongoing global trade war concerns. Broadly positive European markets along with an appreciation in the Indian rupee and value buying by investors also supported the Indian indices late in the day, analysts said. Index-wise, the wider Nifty50 of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) closed at 10,821.85 points, up 80.75 points or 0.75 per cent from the previous close of 10,741.10 points. Similarly, the barometer 30-scrip Sensitive Index (Sensex) of the BSE, which had opened at 35,428.42 points, closed at 35,689.60 points — up 257.21 points or 0.73 per cent — from its previous session’s close of 35,432.39 points. The Sensex touched an intra-day high of 35,741.26 and a low of 35,344.49 points. In the broader markets, the S&P BSE mid-cap closed 0.46 per cent higher while the the small-cap rose marginally by 0.07 per cent. The BSE market breadth, however, was bearish with 1,436 declines and 1,134 advances.

“Markets rallied smartly on Friday after a shaky opening. The Nifty50 found support at the 10,710 levels in the morning session and rallied through the day,” said Deepak Jasani, Head of Retail Research at HDFC Securities. Although, major Asian markets closed on a mixed note, European indices like FTSE100, CAC 40 and DAX traded in the green, Jasani told IANS.

According to BNP Paribas Mutual Fund’s Senior Fund Manager for Equities, Abhijeet Dey, domestic stock markets ended the week on a buoyant note, despite edging lower in early trade as markets recouped losses by afternoon on bargain buying at lower levels. “While trade tensions between the US and China continued to influence investor sentiment, expectations that an ongoing meeting of OPEC and major oil producers could result in an expansion of crude production, had a positive impact on domestic investors,” he added.

On the currency front, the Indian rupee appreciated by 15 paise against the US dollar to 67.84, from its previous close of 67.99 per greenback.

Investment-wise, provisional data with exchanges showed that foreign institutional investors sold scrip worth Rs 1,343.44 crore while the domestic institutional investors bought stocks worth Rs 1,105.76 crore.

Sector-wise, the S&P BSE banking index gained the most, by 300.24 points, followed by the healthcare index which rose by 184.90 points and the auto index ended 119.70 points higher from its previous close. On the other hand, S&P BSE oil and gas fell by 59.23 points, the energy was down 53.26 points and the IT index fell marginally, by 8.05 points. Stock-wise, the major gainers on the Sensex were Sun Pharma, up 3.91 per cent at Rs 576.30; Mahindra and Mahindra (M&M), up 2.87 per cent at Rs 909; HDFC, up 2.54 per cent at Rs 1,902.40; Axis Bank, up 2.22 per cent at Rs 524.65; and State Bank of India, up 1.69 per cent at Rs 273.25 per share. The top losers were Reliance Industries, down 1.94 per cent at Rs 1,012.30; Coal India, down 0.99 per cent at Rs 265.10; Tata Consultancy Services, down 0.44 per cent at Rs 1,811.80, Wipro, down 0.41 per cent at Rs 257.95; and Adani Ports, down 0.23 per cent at Rs 366 per share. (IANS)