Stock markets rebound on buying in HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank; Sensex climbs 442.61 pts
Mumbai, Jul 21 (PTI): Benchmark BSE Sensex surged by 442 points while Nifty closed above the 25,000 level on Monday following buying in blue-chip private banking shares HDFC Bank and ICICI Bank after their quarterly earnings.
Snapping the two-day falling streak, the 30-share BSE Sensex climbed 442.61 points or 0.54 per cent to settle at 82,200.34. During the day, it surged 516.3 points or 0.63 per cent to 82,274.03.
The 50-share NSE Nifty jumped 122.30 points or 0.49 per cent to 25,090.70. The 50-issue index had slid below the 25,000 mark to settle near a month's low on Friday.
Firm trend in Asian markets and fresh foreign fund inflows also supported the markets.
Among Sensex firms, Eternal surged the most by 5.38 per cent post its first quarter numbers.
ICICI Bank jumped 2.76 per cent after the company posted a 15.9 per cent jump in its consolidated net profit for the June quarter to Rs 13,558 crore compared to Rs 11,696 crore in the year-ago period.
HDFC Bank climbed 2.19 per cent despite the firm reporting a 1.31 per cent decline in its consolidated net profit to Rs 16,258 crore for the June 2025 quarter.
Mahindra & Mahindra, Bharat Electronics, Kotak Mahindra Bank and Tata Motors were also among the gainers.
However, India's most valuable company Reliance Industries declined 3.29 per cent even after the firm reported its highest-ever quarterly profit of Rs 26,994 crore for the April-June quarter, reflecting a growth of 78.3 per cent over the year-ago period, driven by consumer businesses and investment sales.
HCL Tech, Hindustan Unilever, Tata Consultancy Services and ITC were also among the laggards.
"Positive results from banking majors supported the market to rebound after many days of consolidation. The market remains highly reactive to earnings, indicating that investors remain focused on the earnings front to aid valuation," Vinod Nair, Head of Research, Geojit Investments Limited, said.
The initial reaction to earnings from heavyweights like Reliance, ICICI Bank, and HDFC Bank led to sharp swings, Ajit Mishra – SVP, Research, Religare Broking Ltd, said.
The market currently reflects a tug-of-war between bulls and bears, with the focus primarily on earnings for further direction, he added.
The BSE midcap gauge climbed 0.55 per cent, while smallcap index ended flat, down 0.01 per cent.
Among BSE sectoral indices, capital goods jumped 1.33 per cent, bankex (1.28 per cent), financial services (1.26 per cent), metal (0.98 per cent), commodities (0.73 per cent), auto (0.66 per cent) and consumer discretionary (0.63 per cent).
Oil & Gas declined 0.70 per cent, FMCG (0.49 per cent), IT (0.30 per cent), BSE Focused IT (0.27 per cent) and teck (0.13 per cent).
In Asian markets, South Korea's Kospi, Shanghai's SSE Composite index and Hong Kong's Hang Seng settled in positive territory. Equity markets were closed in Japan for a holiday.
European markets were trading lower. The US markets ended on a mixed note on Friday.
Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) bought equities worth Rs 374.74 crore on Friday, according to exchange data.
Global oil benchmark Brent crude declined 0.48 per cent to USD 68.93 a barrel.
On Friday, the Sensex tanked 501.51 points or 0.61 per cent to settle at 81,757.73. The Nifty dropped 143.05 points or 0.57 per cent to close at 24,968.40.
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Russian military hardware, spare parts for Indian military to be manufactured in India
New Delhi (PTI): Russia agreed to encourage joint manufacturing in India of military hardware and spare parts for maintenance of Russian-origin arms and defence equipment.
Ways to bolster overall bilateral defence cooperation figured prominently during summit talks between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday.
It has been a long-standing grievance of armed forces that the supply of critical spares and equipment from Russia takes a long time, affecting the maintenance of military systems procured from that country.
"Both sides agreed to encourage joint manufacturing in India of spare parts, components, aggregates and other products for maintenance of Russian origin arms and defence equipment under Make-in-India programme through transfer of technology," a joint statement said.
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It said both sides also agreed to set up joint ventures for meeting the needs of the Indian armed forces as well as subsequent export to mutually friendly third countries.
The joint statement said the India-Russia defence partnership is being reoriented to take up joint co-development and co-production of advanced defence technology and systems.
In their meeting on Thursday, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and his Russian counterpart Andrey Belousov resolved to expand bilateral defence cooperation.
In the meeting, the Indian side showed keen interest in procurement of additional batches of S-400 missile systems from Moscow to bolster its combat prowess.
In October 2018, India signed a USD 5 billion deal with Russia to buy five units of the S-400 air defence missile systems, notwithstanding a warning by the US that going ahead with the contract may invite US sanctions under the provisions of Countering America's Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (CAATSA).
Three squadrons have already been delivered.
The S-400 systems played a crucial role during Operation Sindoor. India may also look at procuring the S-500 missile systems from Russia.
In the Modi-Putin talks, the two sides also agreed to continue jointly developing systems of bilateral trade settlements through the use of national currencies.
Additionally, the two sides agreed to continue their consultations on enabling the interoperability of the national payment systems, financial messaging systems, as well as central bank digital currency platforms.
Modi and Putin appreciated the ongoing intensification of the joint work on a free trade agreement on goods between India and the Eurasian Economic Union, covering sectors of mutual interest, the joint statement said.
They also directed both sides to intensify efforts in negotiations on a mutually beneficial agreement on the promotion and protection of investment, it said.
India and Russia also welcomed steps to ensure long-term supply of fertilisers to India and discussed the potential establishment of joint ventures in this area.
