Sensex rises 320 points, Nifty settles above 19,600; pharma stocks rally, GMDC jumps 10%

Domestic equity markets ended September on a strong note and settled higher on Friday. However, the headline indices gave up some gains in the fag-end of the session but managed to post healthy gains for the day. Positive global cues supported the market sentiments, but pessimism in the IT sector soured sentiments slightly.

For the day, BSE's barometer Sensex rose 320.09 points, or 0.49 per cent, to settle at 65,828.41. NSE's Nifty50 jumped 114.75 points, or 0.59 per cent, to end at 19,638.30. Broader markets also settled higher as the BSE midcap index gained over a per cent, while the BSE smallcap index rose about half-a-per cent. Fear gauge India VIX crashed about 10 per cent to 11.45-level.

Positive global cues provided major impetus to local markets as Sensex marched past the psychological 66000-mark intra-day before paring some gains towards the closing stages. Buying in metals, oil & gas, and power stocks fuelled a major rally, but profit-taking in select frontlines saw indices end off their day's highs, said Amol Athawale, Vice President - Technical Research, Kotak Securities.

"Markets were subdued to negative over the past few sessions due to worries over likely rate hikes, FII selling, dollar strength, rising US bond yields, and surging crude oil prices, but India still provides some stability in an unpredictable market due to strong economic activity and hence our markets will continue to attract investors' attention over the medium to long-term basis," he said.

On a sectoral front, only the Nifty IT index disappointed. Among the gainers, the pharma and healthcare indices gained about 3 per cent, while the Nifty media, metal and PSU Bank indices added about 2 per cent each. The Nifty realty, oil & gas and private bank indices added about a per cent each.

In the Nifty50 pack, Hindalco gained about 6 per cent, while NTPC rose about 4 per cent. Dr Reddy's Laboratories, Hero MotoCorp, Tata Motors and Divis Laboratories gained about 3 per cent each. Apollo Hospital Enterprises, Sun Pharmaceuticals, ONGC and Cipla added more than 2 per cent each.

Among the laggards, Adani Enterprises tumbled more than 2 per cent, while LTIMindTree and Infosys shed about a per cent for the day. HCL Technologies, Nestle India, Tata Consultancy Services, Tech Mahindra and Power Grid were among the other laggards in the blue-chip pack.

The Indian market witnessed a rebound as positive GDP data from Britain instilled confidence among its global peers. However, the market is facing stiff resistance at higher levels due to insipid liquidity and a lack of triggers to overcome the bears, said Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services.

"The upside risk to domestic inflation may recede with the return of a good monsoon in September. This, in turn, could provide the RBI with leeway to maintain a pause in the upcoming policy meeting next week," he said.

A total of 3,781 shares were traded on BSE on Friday, of which 2,350 settled with gains. 1,278 stocks ended the session with cuts while 153 shares remained unchanged. Only seven shares hit their upper circuit and a similar number of shares tested the lower circuit levels for the day.

In the broader markets, Authum Investment & Infrastructure hit an upper circuit of 20 per cent, while GOCL Corporation gained about 15 per cent. Edelweiss Financial Services gained over 13 per cent, while Gujarat Mineral Development Corporation advanced 12 per cent. Puravankara, Omaxe and Glenmark Pharmaceuticals rose 10 per cent each.

Among the losers, delisting-bound Shreyas Shipping crashed more than 18 per cent, while Navin Fluorine International tanked about 14 per cent amid the exit of key personnels. Finolex Cables and Hindustan Foods declined 6 per cent each, while Tata Investment and Orient Green Power hit lower circuits of 5 per cent each.

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