Sensex ends 93 pts up on earnings lift, fund inflows

Extending its consolidation phase, the BSE Sensex recovered marginally by 93 points on Friday on selective buying by retail investors and sustained foreign inflows even as Asia ended weak, tracking a pullback in US markets from record highs. The market opened positive on overnight earning numbers of FMCG major ITC, while subdued Asian cues weighed on trading momentum after Bank of Japan (BOJ) chief Haruhiko Kuroda's
comments dashed hopes for so-called 'helicopter money'.

The indices moved between gains and losses till late afternoon, but saw emergence of buying on string of positive earning results and reports that Rajya Sabha will take up the GST Bill for discussion next week. Besides, encouraging first quarter earning numbers by some bluechips buoyed trading sentiment. However for the week, markets turned lower with Sensex and Nifty down 33.26 points and 0.20 points, respectively.

On the day, Biocon climbed 15.28% to Rs 808.70 after the firm posted 17% rise in net profit for the first quarter, while Cairn India ended 8.72% up at Rs 192 after hitting a fresh 52-week high of Rs 198.40. "Neither weak Asian markets nor Europe through the day failed to drag Indian stocks lower as a week long consolidation had already brought several stocks to lower levels, attracting value-buying and short covering," said Anand James Chief Market Strategist Geojit BNP Paribas FS.

The Sensex opened a shade higher at 27,721.72 and advanced to hit a high of 27,832.45, before settling at 27,803.24, a gain of 92.72 points or 0.33%. The 50-share NSE Nifty after hovering between 8,548.95 and 8,489.80, settled higher at 8,541.20, recording a gain of 31.10 points or 0.37%. Mortgage lender HDFC rose 1.78% to Rs 1,355.65 on plans to raise Rs 2,000 crore via non-convertible debentures on a private placement basis. 

Elsewhere, Japan's Nikkei ended 1.09% down while Hong Kong's Hang Seng shed 0.16%. Shanghai composite index lower by 0.86%. Besides, Europe was trading higher with London's FTSE rising 0.26%, Paris up 0.41% and Frankfurt 0.14% in the green. The US stocks snapped a nine-day string of gains, as a hot equity market cooled ahead of key central bank meets. 

In the domestic market, 18 scrips out of the 30-share Sensex pack ended higher. Major gainers were Tata Motors (3.21%), Power Grid (2.52%), HDFC (1.78%), L&T (1.14%), NTPC (1.10%), GAIL (1.02%), Cipla (0.83%), Tata Steel (0.83%) and Lupin (0.80%). However, Bajaj Auto eased 1.60% followed by SBI 0.95%, Coal India 0.83%, HUL 0.80% and Wipro 0.78%.

Mid-cap and small-cap too firmed up 0.98% and 0.81%, respectively, on increased buying by retail investors. Among the BSE sectoral indices, power rose by 1.41% followed by utilities 1.37%, metal 1.34%, industrials 1.29%, capital goods 1.01%, telecom 0.91%, realty 0.81% and auto 0.78%, while IT fell 0.26%. The market breadth turned positive as 1,486 stocks ended higher, 1,179 declined, while 205 ruled unchanged.

Total turnover dropped to Rs 3,319.14 crore from Rs 3,388.14 crore on Thursday.