Despite opening on a bright note on the back of exit polls results that predicted victory for the Bharatiya Janata Party in key Uttar Pradesh assembly results, the Indian stock market failed to hold gains and ended just marginally up on Friday, as concerns about likely outflow of funds from the market in the event of an interest rate hike in the U.S.The mood was quite cautious after the first hour, with investors looking ahead to election results, due tomorrow. The market was also looking forward to U.S. monthly jobs data.The Sensex ended 17.10 points or 0.06% up at 28,946.23, after having moved up nearly 150 points in early trades. The Nifty50 of the National Stock Exchange ended at 8934.55, gaining 7.55 points or 0.08%.In the forex market, the rupee was trading at 66.59 against the U.S. dollar, up 12 paise from its previous close of 66.71.Bharti Airtel, Hero Motocorp, ONGC, Hindustan Unilever, Dr Reddy’s Laboratories and HDFC Bank gained 0.4% – 1.2%.ICICI Bank, Power Grid Corporation, NTPC, Bajaj Auto, ITC, Coal India, State Bank of India and Reliance Industries declined by 0.4% – 1%. Tata Steel, Cipla and Sun Pharmaceutical Industries also ended weak.Capital goods stocks Larsen & Toubro and Bharat Electronics posted notable gains. BHEL, Havells India, Thermax and ABB ended slightly weak.Tata Motors announced the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding for a long-term partnership with Volkswagen Group and Skoda, to explore strategic alliance opportunity for joint development of products. The stock ended little changed from its previous closing price.Among IT majors, Tata Consultancy Services, Infosys and Wipro gained 0.6% – 1%. HCL Technologies ended marginally up, while Tech Mahindra and Oracle Financial Services ended notably lower.Bosch, up 3.3%, was the top gainer in the Nifty50 index. Bharti Infratel, Yes Bank, IndusInd Bank, Ambuja Cements and Kotak Bank gained 0.4% – 1.3%.BPCL, Grasim Industries, Aurobindo Pharma, Lupin, Hindalco and Tata Power declined.Alembic Pharma, Bajaj Electricals, India Home Loans, Borosil Glass and Godrej Industries saw some strong buying and posted impressive gains. The market breadth was weak. Out of 2974 stocks traded on BSE, 1641 stocks declined. 1153 stocks advanced and 180 stocks ended flat.
July 26, 2024
