Muhurat Trading: Sensex up 436pts, Nifty 17,900; ITC, SBI lead

Closing Bell

The markets started Samvat 2078 on an upbeat note in the backdrop of a sharp cut in excise duty on fuel prices and a scale down in its bond-buying program by the US Federal stimulus as per expected.

At the end of its two-day meeting, the US Fed said monthly $120 billion purchases of Treasuries and mortgage-backed securities would be trimmed by $15 billion a month.

The BSE Sensex opened at the day’s high of 60,208, and ended 296 points higher at 60,068. The NSE Nifty gained 88 points at 17,917.

The broader markets also ended on a firm note. The BSE Midcap index was up 0.7 per cent at 25,992, and the Smallcap index added 1.4 per cent to 28,901.

Market Dashboard: Snapshot of key movers and shakers in trade today

Among the Sensex 30 stocks, Mahindra & Mahindra jumped over 3 per cent to 875, and ITC advanced 2 per cent to Rs 227. Bajaj Auto, Larsen & Toubro, Kotak Bank, Sun Pharma, IndusInd Bank and Nestle India were the other prominent gainers.

ICICI Bank, however, slipped 0.7 per cent and was the only notable loser among the Sensex stocks.

Among sectors, the BSE Auto index rallied 1.5 per cent, and the Capital Goods index was up a per cent. All sectoral indices ended on a positive note.

Oil marketing retailers also logged smart gains. HPCL surged 2.5 per cent to Rs 322. Indian Oil jumped 1.5 per cent, and BPCL added a per cent.

Excise cut, nothing short of stimulus

The government’s decision to cut excise duty on petrol and diesel provides relief to consumers from spiralling fuel prices. But as with any tax cut, this will hit the government’s treasury. But by how much? A Business Standard analysis shows that the Centre will lose close to Rs 35,000 crore from the decision. Sounds like a big loss to the exchequer, but this amount will remain in the consumers’ pockets for consumption in the remaining part of the financial year. READ MORE

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Markets at 07:00 PM

LIVE market updates: The benchmark indices were slightly off the day’s high, but still held decent gains, with 28 off the 30 Sensex stocks in green.

The BSE Sensex was up 333 points at 60,105, and the NSE Nifty was up 98 points to 17,927.

The broader markets also held steady ground, with the BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices up 0.7 per cent and 1.3 per cent, respectively.

In the broader markets, Indian Hotels, IIFL, Hathway Cable, Godawari Power and Supereme Petrotech have rallied 5 per cent each. Eicher Motors has gained 4 per cent at Rs 2,626 after the company reported 9 per cent rise in Q2 consolidated net.

On the other hand, Uflex has shed 6 per cent. Gujarat Alkalies, GSPL, Wabco India and DB Corp were the notable losers.

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Markets at 06:45 PM

LIVE market updates: The benchmark indices were seen holding steady gains on the back of smart gains in select index heavyweights like Larsen & Toubro, ITC, Kotak Bank and HDFC Bank.

The BSE Sensex was up 353 points at 60,125, and the NSE Nifty added 105 points to 17,934.

Among sectors, the auto and consumer durable indices were up over a per cent each. Eciher Motors, Mahindra & Mahindra, Escorts and Bajaj Auto were the the prominent gainers in the auto space, while Vaibhav Global, Bajaj Electricals, Whirlpool and Amber Enterprises were the top gainers in the consumer durables space.

Samvat 2078 Special: Demand to fuel supply crunch-driven rally in metals, crude oil

Auto manufacturing getting a big push from EVs, and global air traffic normalising are also likely to be major contributors on the demand side for metals and crude oil. READ MORE

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Markets at 06:30 PM

LIVE market updates: The benchmark indices were seen holding steady gains on the back of smart gains in select index heavyweights like Larsen & Toubro, ITC, Kotak Bank and SBI.

The BSE Sensex was up 350 points at 60,120, and the NSE Nifty had added 105 points to 17,934.

In the broader markets, the BSE Midcap index was up 0.8 per cent and the Smallcap index had gained 1.2 per cent.

In the broader markets, IFCI was up over 2 per cent at Rs 12.18 after the company reported that it revoked future group promoter Kishore Biyani’s shares in Future Retail and Future Consumer after the companies failed to repay their loans to the lender. IFCI requested the Future group to expedite repayment of loans, though it was part of the consortium of banks, which had agreed to a one-time restructuring (OTR) early this year. READ MORE

Meanwhile, Future Retail was up a per cent at Rs 50.20, and Future Consumer was up 0.6 per cent

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Opening Trades

LIVE market updates: The BSE benchmark index opened 436 points higher at 60,208 in today’s special Muhurat trading session to mark the beginning of Samvat 2078.

The Sensex was up 368 points at 60,140, and the NSE Nifty had added 107 points to 17,936.

Bajaj Finserv, Mahindra & Mahindra, NTPC, Tech Mahindra, Titan, ITC and SBI were the prominent gainers, up over a per cent each.

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Pre-open session:

The BSE Sensex has rallied past the 60,000 mark, up around 500 points in the pre-open Muhurat trading session. It’s counter-part, NSE Nifty index was up 117 points at 17,946.

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(Updated at 05:55 PM)

LIVE market updates: The major markets in Asia logged smart gains in trade on Thursday. The Nikkei was up 0.9 per cent. The Hang Seng and Shanghai Composite gained 0.8 per cent each.

IPO rush: Samvat 2078 set to break new records with mega issues

A total of 49 companies raised Rs 81,615 crore in Samvat 2077, more than the preceding four years and almost double the amount raised in the previous year. Samvat 2078 appears even more promising with mega issues of Paytm and Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) of India.

Next week, Paytm will break over the decade-old record of Coal India for India’s largest-ever initial public offering (IPO) by launching its Rs 18,300-crore offering. However, Paytm’s record could be short-lived as state-owned LIC is planning to launch a Rs 1-trillion IPO by March 2022.

Bankers said the retail participation this year has been an encouraging sign, particularly in loss-making unicorns. READ MORE

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(Updated at 05:45 PM)

LIVE market updates: The markets will being trading for Smavat 2078, in today’s special one-hour Muhurat trading session from 06:15 PM onwards. The pre-open seesion will be held at 06:00 PM.

The benchmark indices, the Sensex and the Nifty are likely to open a positive note given the positive overseas cues and easing of inflation fears as the government cut excise duty on petrol and diesel by Rs 5 and Rs 10, respectively.

The SGX Nifty was up 75 points at 17,922 at 05:30 PM.

Recap Samvat 2077

Samvat 2077 for best for the Indian equity markets in the last 12 years, with the S&P BSE Sensex gaining around 36 per cent and 38 per cent, respectively. The gains were broad-based, with mid-and small-cap stocks out-performing the key benchmark indices with a wide margin. READ MORE

Technically, benchmark indices can log fresh record highs in Samvat 2078 with the possibility of the NSE Nifty hitting 19,500-level. Click here to check out what the charts indicate

Global cues

Wall Street ended at record highs on Thursday, with the benchmark S&P 500 advancing 0.7 per cent, the Dow Jones rose 0.3 per cent and the Nasdaq added a per cent after the US Federal Reserve, as expected, approved plans to begin scaling back its bond-buying stimulus program this month and end it by June 2022.

At the end of its two-day meeting, the Fed said monthly $120 billion purchases of Treasuries and mortgage-backed securities would be trimmed by $15 billion a month.

The benchmark 10-year yield settled at 1.5893 per cent, up 4.2 basis points. Brent crude dropped 3.2 per cent to $81.99 a barrel, while the US WTI crude shed 3.6 per cent to $80.86 a barrel.