Sensex spurts 264 points on banking, FMCG boost; posts weekly gain

The equity markets on Friday snapped their two-day losing streak, and ended with robust gains. Markets gained largely due to the positive global cues. Markets participants say that measures taken by the government in the last one week are positive for long term, but some measures are also required to kick-start the economy.

The Sensex ended the day at 37,332.79, up by 263.86 or 0.71%. It ended the week with gain of over 1.72%. The Nifty ended the day at 11,023.25, gaining by 74.95 points or 0.68%. The NSE benchmark has gained by around 1.8% during the week. Market participants say easing of tariff dispute by the US and China helped several Asian markets on Friday.

Andrew Holland, CEO at Avendus Capital Public Markets Alternate Strategies LLP, said: “Measures taken by the government in the last one week have stabilised the markets and there was some speculations regarding merger of PSU banks before closing of markets. All the measures announced are good for the long term, but we are waiting for a few more announcements on the economy front.”

Provisional number from the BSE showed that foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) bought stocks worth $162.87 million on Friday. Of the 30 stocks listed on the BSE Sensex, 22 stocks closed in the green, with financials being one of the top gainers. Yes Bank and Indusind bank have gained 3.75% and 3.20%, respectively.

Among the 19 sectoral indices complied by BSE, the BSE Metal index rallied the most with a gain of 1.77%, followed by FMCG at 1.74% and realty by 1.25%. However, power, capital goods and oil and gas indices slipped up to 0.60%.

Top gainers in the Sensex pack included Yes Bank, Sun Pharma, IndusInd Bank, Tata Steel, HUL, Vedanta, Tata Motors, ICICI Bank, ITC, HDFC and Bajaj Auto, that rose up to 3.75%.

On the other hand, PowerGrid, ONGC, HCL Tech, Kotak Bank, L&T, NTPC, SBI and Asian Paints fell up to 2.12%.

“Markets demonstrated resilience today, in what could be called a reversal day, with indices being down most of the day and ending up strongly at the close. With the government, finance ministry and RBI working in tandem, sentiment will recover in time as will growth… Metals, PSUs and FMCG led the rally on the hope of further measures to be announced by the finance minister… Buoyant global markets supported the gains. India has under-performed emerging market peers as well as the developed markets over the past few months,” said Sunil Sharma, chief investment officer, Sanctum Wealth Management.

The broader BSE midcap and smallcap indices followed the benchmarks, ending up to 1.01% higher.