INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
NEW DELHI: Opening with healthy gains, headline indices Sensex and Nifty started the first day of May FO series on a positive note.
A strong
surge in market-wide rollovers suggests traders are largely pricing in a favourable election outcome and paying little heed to the weakening
macro-economic indicators
The market-wide rollovers stood at 83 per cent
Nifty futures rollover stood at 81 per cent, which were way above 63 per cent rollovers seen in the last three series
Besides, FPI inflow also influenced the mood
Foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) bought Rs 3,785.73 crore worth of domestic stocks on Thursday, data available with NSE suggested
DIIs were net sellers to the tune of Rs 4,069.98 crore, data suggested
Indian rupee gained some strength against the US dollar following a slight fall in crude oil prices
The domestic unit inched up by 16 paise against the dollar in early trade
However, it turned almost flat soon after some buying of the greenback by banks and exporters
Oil prices dipped on Friday on expectations that producer club Opec will soon raise output to make up for a decline in exports from Iran
following a tightening of sanctions by the United States against Tehran, Reuters reported.
Subdued Asian peers weighed on the sentiment,
capping gains for the equity benchmarks
Around 9:30 am, the BSE Sensex was 82 points, or 0.21 per cent, up at 38,812 while Nifty was 25 points, or 0.22 per cent, up at
11,667.
Midcaps and smallcaps rose in line with benchmark Sensex as the BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices were 0.22 and 0.26 per cent up,
respectively, around that time
Tata Steel rose over 5 per cent and was the best performing Sensex stock after the company on Thursday, post market hours, reported a
profit of Rs 2,430.92 crore (attributable to the shareholders) for the quarter ended March 31
Analysts in an ET NOW poll had projected a profit of Rs 2,330 crore.
It was followed by Axis Bank which gained nearly 3 per cent
The private-sector lender too had posted its March quarter numbers on Thursday
The bank moved back in the black as asset quality of the lender improved for the fourth straight quarter in Q4FY19 coupled with double-digit
HCL Tech, NTPC and Power Gride were among other top gainers.
However, Tata Motors, Maruti Suzuki, Hero MotoCorp, Kotak Mahindra Bank and
HDFC were among the top losers.
Barring auto, industrials and consumer discretionary goods services, all sectoral indices were in the green
Metal, oil gas and utilities sectors were trading with decent gains
BSE Metal index climbed nearly 2 per cent on gains in shares of Tata Steel, Jindal Steel, SAIL, JSW Steel and Coal India
Meanwhile, HDFC Life Insurance Company, Hero MotoCorp and YES Bank are among the companies that will come out with their March quarter