Equities gain marginally, Nifty crosses 9,200-mark intra-day

Mumbai: The Indian equity markets closed on Friday with marginal gains and the benchmark NSE Nifty hit another record intra-day high crossing the psychologically significant 9,200-mark for the first time.

The wider 51-scrip Nifty of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) on Friday touched a new record intra-day high of 9,218.40 points. This broke its earlier record of 9,158.45 points it had touched only the previous day.

Both the key indices touched new 52-week high levels, as investors' sentiments were lifted on the back of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) council's approval of draft bills on the previous day, as well as broadly positive global cues, fresh inflows of foreign funds and healthy buying witnessed in the FMCG sector.

The NSE Nifty closed slightly up by 6.35 points or 0.07 per cent at 9,160.05 points.

The barometer 30-scrip sensitive index (Sensex) of the BSE, which opened at 29,755.74 points, closed at 29,648.99 points -- up 63.14 points or 0.21 per cent from the previous close at 29,585.85 points.

The Sensex touched a new 52 week-high of 29,824.62 points and a low of 29,601.86 points during the intra-day trade.

Overall, the BSE market breadth was sluggish favouring the bears -- with 1,591 declines and 1,234 advances.

The broader markets underperformed the benchmark indices. The S&P BSE mid-cap index was down by 0.14 per cent while the small-cap index was a tad higher at 0.04 per cent.

"Markets ended with marginal gains on Friday, after surging to yet another new life high, post some profit booking at higher levels," Deepak Jasani, Head - Retail Research, HDFC Securities, told IANS.

"Major Asian markets ended on a positive note barring the Shanghai and Nikkei indices. European indices like FTSE 100 and CAC 40 too traded higher."

Anand James, Chief Market Strategist, Geojit Financial Services, said: "There was definitely pressure to liquidate given the stellar gains of the week, but the GST positivity ensured that investors remained interested. Extended decline in the VIX (Volatility Index), as well as continued FII (Foreign Institutional Investors) buying has also propped up sentiments."

In terms of investments, provisional data with exchanges showed that FIIs purchased stocks worth Rs 1,532.39 crore, whereas the domestic institutional investors (DIIs) divested scrip worth Rs 711.50 crore.

On the currency front, the Indian rupee weakened slightly by four paise to 65.46 against a US dollar from its previous close of 65.42 to a greenback.

On the sector-specific movement, Dhruv Desai, Director and Chief Operating Officer of Tradebulls, told IANS: "IT sector stocks witnessed good recovery from lower levels in the second half of the session due to buying support."

"Banking, pharma, auto, oil-gas, textile and media-entertainment stocks traded with bearish sentiments due to profit booking," Desai said.

"Aviation and FMCG sector stocks traded with firm sentiments due to buying support, whereas cement, power and telecom sector stocks traded with bearish sentiments due to selling pressure."

Sector-wise, the S&P FMCG index augmented by 216.76 points, followed by the IT index, which rose by 74.96 points, and the realty index, which was up by 12.08 points.

On the other hand, the S&P banking index plunged by 112.65 points, the automobile index slipped by 102.13 points and the capital goods index fell by 76.25 points.

Major Sensex gainers on Friday were: ITC, up 4.85 per cent at Rs 281.20; Infosys, up 1.12 per cent at Rs 1,040; Wipro, up 0.89 per cent at Rs 504; Maruti Suzuki, up 0.70 per cent at Rs 6,189; and Axis Bank, up 0.66 per cent at Rs 517.

Major Sensex losers were: Bharti Airtel, down 3.73 per cent at Rs 346.80; State Bank of India (SBI), down 1.74 per cent at Rs 274.10; Mahindra and Mahindra (M&M), down 1.37 per cent at Rs 1,303; ICICI Bank, down 1.30 per cent at Rs 280.75; and Larsen and Toubro (L&T), down 1.12 per cent at Rs 1,550.70.