Sensex gains over 145 points; capital goods stocks up

Mumbai, May 22:

Healthy quarterly results by some of the blue chip companies coupled with a buying streak by the domestic investors led a benchmark index of Indian equities markets, the 30-scrip BSE Sensitive Index (Sensex), to gain 148 points or 0.53 percent during the trade session on Friday.

Sensex UpThe wider 50-scrip Nifty of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) also made gains during the day’s trade. It ended the day’s trade up 38 points or 0.45 percent at 8,458.95 points.

The Sensex of the S&P Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), which opened at 27,849.54 points, closed at 27,957.50 points, up 148.15 points or 0.53 percent from the previous day’s close at 27,809.35 points.

The Sensex touched a high of 28,071.16 points and a low of 27,828.61 points in the intra-day trade.

The surge in the markets was attributed to the healthy quarterly numbers give-out by some blue chip majors like the State Bank of India (SBI) and ITC.

The SBI reported that its net profit during the 2014-15 fiscal increased by over 20 percent at Rs.13,102 crore against Rs.10,891 crore during 2013-14 along with an improvement in asset quality.

India’s largest commercial bank’s net interest income during the review period rose by over 12 percent at Rs.55,015 crore compared to the earnings of Rs.49,282 crore in the 2013-14 fiscal.

Operating profit surged by over 21 percent at Rs.38,914 crore during 2014-15 against Rs.32,109 crore in the corresponding period of the previous fiscal.

The operating profit of the bank during January-March 2015 increased by nearly 17 percent at Rs.12,409 crore in comparison to Rs.10,628 crore in the corresponding period a year ago.

ITC’s net profit during the fiscal ended March 31, 2015, grew by 9.36 percent and stood at Rs.9,607.73 crore as compared to Rs.8,785.21 crore for the previous fiscal.

The company’s consolidated net profit after taxes, minority interest and share of associates increased by 8.68 percent during the fiscal under review and stood at Rs.9,663.17 crore from Rs.8,891.38 crore for 2013-14.

Diversified engineering, procurement and construction conglomerate Punj Lloyd reported a stand-alone net profit during the quarter ended March 31, 2015, at Rs.268.53 crore as compared to Rs.5 crore for the corresponding quarter during the previous fiscal.

Analysts covering the day’s trade said that the markets opened with a positive and remained in the green zone without much movement due to decline in India volatility rate, which is down at around 2.67 percent indicating stable outlook ahead of F&O (futures and options) expiry next week.

“Rupee strengthened against US Dollar, even as dollar index eased, as strong equities arrested sentiments of outflows by FIIs (foreign institutional investors),” said Anand James, co-head technical research desk with Geojit BNP Paribas.

“During the day, expectations of good results from SBI had kept banking index firm. However though SBI delivered a better-than-expected results and a decline in bad loan ratio, profit booking after the results release, towards the end of day swung both the banking index as well as the stock lower.”

During the Friday’s trade, healthy buying was observed in healthcare, capital goods, information technology (IT), oil and gas and automobile sectors.

The S&P BSE healthcare index augmented by 144.83 points, followed by capital goods index which gained by 128.22 points, IT index was higher by 99.86 points, oil and gas index increased by 56.52 points and automobile index moved-up by 50.83 points.

However, the S&P BSE consumer durables index fell by 71.11 points, metal index was lower by 17.29 points and realty index slid by 3.96 points.

The major Sensex gainers on Friday were: HDFC, up 2.51 percent at Rs.1,287.50; Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), up 2.42 percent at Rs.2,619.55; Sun Pharma, up 2.29 percent at Rs.1,003.30; ONGC, up 1.53 percent at Rs.322.45; and Larsen and Toubro, up 1.04 percent at Rs.1,651.

The losers were: State Bank of India (SBI), down 2.38 percent at Rs.282.45; Hindalco Inds, down 1.30 percent at Rs.137.15; Vedanta, down 0.67 percent at Rs.207.45; Wipro, down 0.66 percent at Rs.560.65; and Tata Power, down 0.59 percent at Rs.75.75.

Among the Asian markets, Japan’s Nikkei was marginally higher by 0.30 percent, while China’s Shanghai Composite Index moved up by 2.83 percent. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng rose by 1.70 percent.

In Europe, London’s FTSE 100 edged-up by 0.52 percent. France’s CAC 40 was lower by 0.11 percent and Germany’s DAX Index lost 0.34 percent at the closing in the Indian markets. (IANS)

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