ITC Q1 earnings lift Sensex, Nifty to fresh highs: 10 points

The strong Q1 earnings of ITC had lifted the benchmark bourses Sensex, Nifty to fresh lifetime highs on Friday. In early trade today, the BSE Sensex rallied over 300 points, and Nifty breached the 11,200 mark for the first time. Better-then-expected quarterly earnings by select index heavyweights, positive Asian cues and firm foreign capital inflows boosted investor sentiment here. Keeping up its record setting spree for the fifth straight session the 30-share Sensex added 308.77 points, or 0.83 per cent, to hit a new peak of 37,293.41.

The index had gained 633.41 points in the previous five straight sessions.

Below we have listed out 10 points related to sparks at D-street today: 

1. At 10:30 AM, Sensex was trading at 37,273.25 points, an increase of 281.46 or 0.76 per cent while Nifty was at 11,234.85 points, up by 68.05 or 0.61 per cent. 

2. All BSE sectoral indices, led by FMCG, metal, consumer durables, banking, power and auto, rose up to 1.27 per cent.

3. ITC was the top gainer in the Sensex pack, surging 6.48 per cent to Rs 305.75, after it posted 10 per cent increase in standalone net profit at Rs 2,818.68 crore for the first quarter ended on June 30, 2018, aided by lower expenses, good growth in agri-business and other FMCG business despite decline in cigarettes sales.

4. Among the other gainers were Tata Steel, ICICI Bank, Hero MotoCorp, Bajaj Auto, Asian Paints, Kotak Bank, Bharti Airtel, Tata Motors, HDFC Bank, Vedanta, HDFC and Wipro, surging up to 3 per cent.

5. All eyes will be set upon the Reliance Industries as RIL rose 0.45 per cent to Rs 1,115.45, ahead of its quarterly earnings scheduled today.

6. Brokers said investors were busy creating new positions following the beginning of the August futures and options (F&O) series leading to the rally.

7. Foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) bought shares worth a net of Rs 2,453.57 crore, while domestic institutional investors (DIIs) sold shares worth a net of Rs 2,716.04 crore yesterday, provisional data showed.

8. However, Asian stocks struggled to gain traction on Friday, following a mixed Wall Street finish and as the worsening Sino-US trade dispute kept investors in the region cautious, despite signs of rapprochement between the United States and Europe.

9. MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan dipped 0.1 per cent. The CSI300 of Chinese shares fell 0.5 per cent.

10. US industrial shares also made gains, rising 0.8 per cent though the S&P 500 Index dipped 0.30 per cent on Thursday, due to a 19 per cent dive in Facebook on its earnings showing slowing usage.