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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Actress sexual assault: Court says Prosecution 'miserably' failed to prove conspiracy against Dileep
Kochi (PTI): The prosecution had "miserably" failed to prove the conspiracy charge against Dileep in the sensational 2017 actress sexual assault case, a local court has observed while citing inconsistencies and lack of sufficient evidence against the Malayalam star.
The full judgement of Ernakulam District and Principal Sessions Court Judge Honey M Varghese was released late on Friday, and has revealed the judge also pointing out at unsustainable arguments put forth by the prosecution.
"The prosecution miserably failed to prove the conspiracy between accused No.1 (Pulsar Suni) and accused No.8 (Dileep) in executing the offence against the victim," the court held.
It examined in detail, the prosecution's allegation that Dileep had hired the prime accused to sexually assault the survivor and record visuals, including close-up footage of a gold ring she was wearing, to establish her identity.
On page 1130 of the judgment, under paragraph 703, the court framed the issue as whether the prosecution's contention that NS Sunil (Pulsar Suni) recorded visuals of the gold ring worn by the victim at the time of the occurrence, so as to clearly disclose her identity, was sustainable.
The prosecution contended Dileep and Suni had planned the recording so that the actress' identity would be unmistakable, with the video of the gold ring intended to convince Dileep that the visuals were genuine.
However, the court noted that this contention was not stated in the first charge sheet and was introduced only in the second one.
As part of this claim, a gold ring was seized after the victim produced it before the police.
The court observed that multiple statements of the victim were recorded from February 18, 2017, following the incident, and that she first raised allegations against Dileep only on June 3, 2017.
Even on that day, nothing was mentioned about filming of the ring as claimed by the prosecution, the court said.
The prosecution failed to explain why the victim did not disclose this fact at the earliest available opportunities.
It further noted that although the victim had viewed the sexual assault visuals twice, she did not mention any specific recording of the gold ring on those occasions, which remained unexplained.
The court also examined the approvers' statements.
One approver told the magistrate that Dileep had instructed Pulsar Suni to record the victim's wedding ring.
The court observed that no such wedding ring was available with her at that time.
During the trial, the approver changed his version, the court said.
The Special Public Prosecutor put a leading question to the approver on whether Dileep had instructed the recording of the ring, after which he deposed that the instruction was to record it to prove the victim's identity.
The court observed that the approver changed his account to corroborate the victim's evidence.
When the same question was put to another approver, he repeated the claim during the trial but admitted he had never stated this fact before the investigating officer.
The court noted that the second approver even went to the extent of claiming Dileep had instructed the execution of the crime as the victim's engagement was over.
This showed that the evidence of the second approver regarding the shooting of the ring was untrue, as her engagement had taken place after the crime.
The court further observed that the visuals themselves clearly revealed the victim's identity and that there was no need to capture images of the ring to establish identity.
In paragraph 887, the court examined the alleged motive behind the crime and noted that in the first charge sheet, the prosecution had claimed that accused persons 1 to 6 had kidnapped the victim with the common intention of capturing nude visuals to extort money by threatening to circulate them and there was no mention about Dileep's role in it.
The court also rejected the prosecution's claim that the accused had been planning the assault on Dileep's instructions since 2013, noting that the allegation was not supported by reliable evidence.
It similarly ruled out the claim that Suni attempted to sexually assault the victim in Goa in January 2017, stating that witness statements showed no such misconduct when he served as the driver of the vehicle used by the actress there.
The court also discussed various controversies that followed Dileep's arrest and the evidence relied upon by the prosecution, ultimately finding that the case had not been proved.
Pronouning its verdict on the sensational case on December 8, the court acquitted Dileep and three others.
Later, the court sentenced six accused, including the prime accused Suni, to 20 years' rigorous imprisonment.
The assault on the multilingual actress, after the accused allegedly forced their way into her car and held it under their control for two hours on February 17, 2017, had shocked Kerala.
Pulsar Suni sexually assaulted the actress and video recorded the act with the help of the other convicted persons in the moving car.
