Markets march higher for third day; post weekly gains

Mumbai, May 29

Equity benchmarks finished in the green for the third session on the trot on Friday as investors scooped up FMCG, finance and banking stocks despite negative overseas cues and rising COVID-19 cases.

Investors wagered on India further relaxing lockdown norms next week, though they were also cautious ahead of release of Q4 GDP data, analysts said.

After a gap-down opening, the 30-share BSE Sensex picked up pace in late-afternoon trading to finish at 32,424.10, up 223.51 points or 0.69 per cent.

On similar lines, the NSE Nifty advanced 90.20 points or 0.95 per cent to close at 9,580.30. 

During the holiday-shortened week, the Sensex rallied 1,751.51 points or 5.71 per cent, while the Nifty spurted 541.05 points or 5.98 per cent.

ONGC was the top gainer in the Sensex pack on Friday, jumping 5.52 per cent, followed by Bajaj Auto, ITC, Sun Pharma, Nestle India, L&T, Hero MotoCorp and Maruti.

On the other hand, Infosys, Axis Bank, Bharti Airtel, TCS and Titan were among the laggards, shedding up to 2.25 per cent.

Besides stock-specific action, heavy foreign fund inflows lent buying confidence to domestic investors, analysts said.

On a net basis, foreign portfolio investors bought equities worth Rs 2,354.14 crore on Thursday, provisional exchange data showed.

The rupee appreciated 14 paise to provisionally close at 75.62 against the US dollar on Friday. 

“Indian markets once again performed contrary to the other global markets which were weak. In the process it played catch up with them after under-performing over the last few weeks. 

“Oil & gas, materials and engineering stocks did well. Large volume trade happened in stocks that saw little movement suggesting shifting of holdings between two institutions,” said Deepak Jasani, Head - Retail Research, HDFC Securities.

BSE realty, oil and gas, FMCG, capital goods, healthcare, industrials and metal indices jumped up to 4.50 per cent. 

However, IT, teck, telecom and consumer durables lost up to 0.97 per cent.

Broader BSE mid-cap and small-cap indices rallied up to 1.90 per cent.

Global shares were held back by rising US-China tensions, with President Donald Trump set to respond to Beijing’s security legislation for Hong Kong.

Bourses in Hong Kong and Tokyo closed on a negative note, while Shanghai and Seoul finished with gains.

Stock exchanges in Europe were trading in the red in early deals.

International oil benchmark Brent crude futures slipped 2.33 per cent to USD 35.19 per barrel.

Meanwhile, India registered its biggest single-day spike of 7,466 coronavirus cases.

The number of COVID-19 cases in India crossed 1.65 lakh and the death toll climbed to 4,706, as per health ministry data.

Globally, the number of cases linked to the disease has crossed 58.10 lakh, with the death toll at around 3.60 lakh. PTI 

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