Stock markets snap 3-day decline on buying in banking shares; Sensex jumps 410 pts
Mumbai, May 21 (PTI): Benchmark stock indices Sensex and Nifty rebounded on Wednesday, snapping their three-day falling streak on the back of buying in blue-chips HDFC Bank and ICICI Bank and a firm trend in Asian peers.
The 30-share BSE Sensex jumped 410.19 points or 0.51 per cent to settle at 81,596.63 with 24 of its constituents ending higher and six ending lower. During the day, it surged 835.2 points or 1.02 per cent to a high of 82,021.64.
The NSE Nifty climbed 129.55 points or 0.52 per cent to 24,813.45.
Among Sensex firms, Bajaj Finserv rose the most by 2.02 per cent. Tata Steel, Sun Pharma, Tech Mahindra, Bajaj Finance, NTPC, Nestle, Tata Motors, Hindustan Unilever and Mahindra & Mahindra also advanced.
IndusInd Bank fell the most by 1.39 per cent. Kotak Mahindra Bank, Power Grid and ITC were among the laggards.
Moody's Ratings said on Wednesday said India is well-positioned to deal with the negative effects of US tariffs and global trade disruptions as domestic growth drivers and low dependence on exports anchor the economy.
In a note on India, the agency said government initiatives to boost private consumption, expand manufacturing capacity and increase infrastructure spending will help offset the weakening outlook for global demand.
The BSE midcap gauge advanced 0.90 per cent and smallcap index by 0.51 per cent.
Among sectoral indices, capital goods (1.65 per cent), realty (1.58 per cent), industrials (1.35 per cent), healthcare (0.93 per cent) and teck (0.81 per cent) were the gainers.
Consumer durables emerged as the only laggard.
As many as 2,292 stocks advanced while 1,685 declined and 138 remained unchanged on the BSE.
Among Asian markets, South Korea's Kospi, Shanghai's SSE Composite index and Hong Kong's Hang Seng in settled in the positive territory while Japan's Nikkei 225 index ended lower.
Markets in Europe were trading in the negative territory. US markets ended lower on Tuesday.
"Markets exhibited a broadly positive undertone today; however, overall sentiment remained confined within a narrow range, indicating risk of 'sell on rallies' strategy in the near future amid escalating uncertainty around India - US trade negotiations," Vinod Nair, Head of Research, Geojit Investments Limited, said.
Global oil benchmark Brent crude jumped 1.19 per cent to USD 66.16 a barrel.
Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) offloaded equities worth Rs 10,016.10 crore on Tuesday, according to exchange data.
Sensex tanked 872.98 points or 1.06 per cent to settle at 81,186.44 while Nifty tumbled 261.55 points or 1.05 per cent to 24,683.90.
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Ex-minister Ramanath Rai hits out at BJP leader Ashoka for ‘irresponsible’ comments on KC Venugopal
Mangaluru: Congress leader and former minister B Ramanath Rai slammed BJP leader R Ashoka for calling AICC General Secretary KC Venugopal an agent of the party high command, and asked if the general secretary and other office-bearers in the BJP were commission agents too.
Rai, who addressed a press meet at the Congress office in the city on Friday, expressed fury over the recent comments of the BJP leader that Chief Minister Siddaramaiah was presenting himself in a shameless manner in public life. Ashoka, who is also Leader of the Opposition (LoP) in the Karnataka Legislative Assembly, had said that the Congress government had ‘broken every previous record on corruption-related controversies’.
“Ashoka has spoken with sheer ignorance and displays his lack of maturity, as he often does while facing the media. KC Venugopal has been working at organization of the party and it is unbecoming of Ashoka to criticize Venugopal as he did,” Rai told reporters.
“Being in a responsible position, how acceptable is it for Ashoka to pass disrespectful, random comments about another leader who also holds a responsible position? If KC Venugopal is indeed an agent of the party high command, what should we consider BJP leaders to be? Are they brokers?” he asked
Commenting on Ashoka’s allegations of corruption in the Congress government in Karnataka, Rai pointed out, “The KSRTC land was sold to private parties when he (Ashoka) was transport minister. We can find several such cases across the state, which need to be probed.”
The former minister, however, refused to comment on the incident that occurred at Mangaluru airport during CM Siddaramaiah’s visit to the city recently.
Former mayors Ashraf and Shashidhar Hegde, Congress activists Vishwas Kumar Das, Subhodaya Alva, Shabeer, Baby Kundar, Padmanabha, Nazeer Bajal and Prem were present.
