Market Roundup: Sensex, Nifty end marginally higher after volatile session; today’s top gainers and losers

Representational image. News18

The benchmark indices ended marginally higher on Friday amid positive cues from global markets. At the end of today’s session, the BSE Sensex was hovering around 48,800 while Nifty 50 closed above 14,600.

Bombay Stock Exchange

The BSE Sensex increased by 28.35 points or 0.058 percent to close at 48,832.03. The top gainers of the day included Asian Paints, UltraTech Cement, ONGC, Mahindra and Mahindra, and Sun Pharma. While the top laggards included ICICI Bank, Bajaj Finance, Larsen & Toubro Limited, TCS, and Infosys.

Top gainers at Sensex:

Asian Paints was the top gainer of the day with a surge of 3.07 percent and closed at Rs 2,665.80.

It was followed by UltraTech Cement, ONGC, Mahindra and Mahindra, and Sun Pharma whose share prices jumped more than two percent to give a higher ending at Rs 6,696.05, Rs 107.30, Rs 822.10, and Rs 646.05 respectively.

Top losers at Sensex:

ICICI Bank was the top laggard of the day with a decline of 1.55 percent and closed at Rs 566.60.

Larsen & Toubro Limited fell by 1.09 percent to settle the day at Rs 1,359.70. These two companies were followed by Bajaj Finance, TCS, and State Bank of India with a loss of 0.94 percent, 0.80 percent, and 0.73 percent, respectively.

National Stock Exchange (NSE)

The NSE Nifty jumped 36.40 points or 0.25 percent to close higher at 14,617.85. Talking about the sectors, Nifty Pharma gained 1.90 percent followed by Nifty IT and Nifty Auto which increased by 1.21 percent each. Nifty FMCG too rose by 0.56 percent.

Top gainers on NSE Nifty:

Wipro surged 9.00 percent to end higher at Rs 469.45. It was followed by Hindalco whose shares witnessed an increase of 4.16 percent to close at Rs 368.25. Cipla, Asian Paints, and UltraTech Cement were other gainers which witnessed a hike of more than 2.5 percent each.

Top losers on NSE Nifty:

JSW Steel fell by 1.85 percent to settle lower at Rs 617.45. ICICI Bank lost 1.76 percent followed by Bajaj Finance, Larsen & Toubro Limited, and Tata Steel whose shares declined by 1.32 percent, 1.25 percent, and 1.22 percent, respectively.

“A continued surge in the second wave of COVID-19 cases in the country, which already crossed 2 lakh daily cases, has certainly posed a risk to the sustainability of the rebound of earnings momentum,” Binod Modi, head-strategy at Reliance Securities told PTI.

While the government’s strong effort to expedite vaccination progress and absence of complete lockdown in Maharashtra and Delhi offered some comfort to equities, the risk of other states taking steps of wider economic restrictions continues to persist, which may continue to weigh on investors’ sentiments in the near term, he noted.

“Unlike last year, states seem to be reluctant this time for complete lockdown due to wider ramification on economic activities. “Further, the current level of mobility restrictions imposed at different states and government’s focus to improve the supply of vaccine in the country should be helpful to contain the outbreak in coming weeks and essentially should not lead to large economic damage,” he stated.

Elsewhere in Asia, bourses in Shanghai, Hong Kong, Seoul and Tokyo ended on a positive note.

Stock exchanges in Europe were also trading with gains in mid-session deals. Meanwhile, international oil benchmark Brent crude was trading 0.40 per cent higher at $67.21 per barrel.

With inputs from PTI