Sensex, Nifty rebound over 1 pc after six sessions of losses
Mumbai (PTI): Equity benchmark indices Sensex and Nifty on Friday reversed their six-session losing streak and rebounded more than 1 per cent on value-buying in auto, IT, financial and energy stocks.
Better-than-expected quarterly financial results of corporates also boosted investor sentiments even as uncertainties persisted over the escalating tensions in the Middle East, according to analysts.
In a largely range-bound trade, the 30-share BSE Sensex rose 634.65 points or 1.01 per cent to settle at 63,782.80 points. During the session, it swung between a high of 63,913.13 points and a low of 63,393.37 points.
Likewise, the wider gauge Nifty surged 202.45 points or 1.07 per cent to 19,059.70 points.
"Domestic equities ended higher following positive global cues. The US Q3 GDP data came in at a two-year high of 4.9 per cent, which was better than the expectation of 4.2 per cent and shows strong US economy resilience.
"Even on the domestic front, heavyweights like Maruti, Cipla and Dr Reddy came out with robust results during the session, which boosted investor sentiments," Siddhartha Khemka, Head - Retail Research, Motilal Oswal Financial Services Ltd, said.
Axis Bank was the biggest gainer in the Sensex pack, rising 3.07 per cent, followed by HCL Tech, SBI, NTPC, Tata Motors, Nestle India, and Infosys.
Shares of index heavyweight Reliance Industries witnessed heavy buying as it surged 1.75 per cent to close at Rs 2,265.25 apiece. The company will announce its quarterly financial numbers after market hours.
Maruti Suzuki India on Friday reported a whopping 80.3 per cent increase in net profit at Rs 3,716.5 crore in the July-September quarter driven by better sales, softening commodity prices, cost reduction efforts and higher non-operating income.
On the other hand, Asian Paints, Ultratech Cement and ITC were the laggards.
"The domestic market recovered well compared to yesterday's sharp corrections, due to restrained FII selling, along with moderation in currency and global bond yield volatility.
"To date, the Q2 results outcome is decent, which is in line with the buoyant estimate. Yet, the market is not enthusiastic as we are at the cusp of earnings downgrade in anticipation of a further slowdown in the world economy due to elevated interest rates and geopolitical risk," Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services, said.
In the broader market, the BSE midcap gauge gained 1.70 per cent, and the smallcap index rose 1.89 per cent.
All the sectoral indices ended in the green, utility gained 2.22 per cent, power jumped 2.04 per cent, services (1.79 per cent), industrial (1.63 per cent), realty (1.63 per cent) and IT (1.36 per cent).
In six trading sessions till October 26, Sensex had declined 3,279.94 points.
"Asian markets mostly rose after data showed the US economy was growing robustly and as robust forecasts from Amazon.com and Intel, along with a pullback in Treasury yields lifted megacaps.
"European stocks were mixed on Friday as weak corporate earnings offset robust US economic data released overnight. Energy stocks outperformed as oil prices surged on concerns over a widening of the Israel-Hamas conflict," Deepak Jasani, Head of Retail Research, HDFC Securities, said.
In Asian markets, Seoul, Shanghai, Tokyo and Hong Kong ended with significant gains on Friday.
European markets were trading on a mixed note. The US equity indices ended in negative territory on Thursday.
Global oil benchmark Brent crude rose 2.50 per cent to USD 90.13 a barrel.
Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) offloaded equities worth Rs 1,500.13 crore on Friday, according to exchange data.
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Two injuries, one DNF, a DQ as India end messy World Relays campaign
Gaborone (Botswana) (PTI): Amoj Jacob and Ragul Kumar got injured during the men's 4x400m and 4x100 races respectively as India ended their World Athletics Relays campaign in disappointment on the second day of competitions here on Sunday.
The Indian camp had high hopes of making the 2027 World Championships in the men's 4x400m relay but the team did not finish (DNF) the race as Jacob suffered cramps and pulled out of the race after taking the baton from the first leg runner Dharamveer Choudhary. Rajesh Ramesh and Vishal TK were to run in the third and fourth legs.
Those teams which could not qualify for the 2027 Beijing World Championships by reaching the final round of each of the six relay events on Saturday were given another chance in the second qualification round on Sunday.
The top two teams in each of the two heats (in all six relay events) booked the Beijing ticket on Sunday.
India will now have to try and qualify for the World Championships through the Top Lists of the World Athletics, which is a long and tedious process.
In the men's 4x100m race, third leg runner Ragul Kumar fell down the track after failing to hand over the baton inside the exchange zone to fourth leg runner Gurindervir Singh, which clearly showed the lack of coordination among the runners.
Harsh Santosh Raut and Animesh Kujur ran the first two legs.
The Indian quartet was disqualified and Kumar was seen being taken away from the Field of Play with the help of the volunteers.
It was a comedy of errors in the case of the women's 4x100m race, which saw the baton being dropped during an exchange between first leg runner Tamanna and second runner Nithya Gandhe, though the Indians finished the race in 53.09 seconds.
Gandhe started running quite a distance, but after realising that the baton was not in her hand, she turned and ran back to pick it up.
The only silver-lining for the Indian contingent was the national record time in the mixed 4x100m relay race, though the quartet of Ragul Kumar, Nithya Gandhe, Animesh Kujur and Sneha SS finished sixth in heat number two with a time of 41.35 seconds, bettering the previous national mark of 42.30 seconds set in March in Chandigarh.
The mixed 4x400m relay quartet of Theerthesh P Shetty, Kumari Saloni, Nihal William and Rashdeep Kaur ended at fifth in heat number one with a time of 3 minutes and 19.40 seconds.
On Saturday, all the five Indian relay teams had failed to make it to the respective final rounds and thus missed out on the 2027 World Championships berths.
