Sensex rallies over 900 pts, ends at 60,842

Sensex rallies over 900 pts, ends at 60,842

By Siddhant Mishra

The benchmark indices staged a second-half revival after fluctuating for the early part of the session, with some Adani Group stocks pulling off a revival to lift market sentiment.

Investors gained almost Rs 1 trillion on Friday. This gain comes on the back of Rs 13.7 trillion lost since January 24 when the Hindenburg report rattled Adani Group stocks and overall markets.

Adani Enterprises had a particularly volatile day. After its worst-ever fall of over 30%, the stock recovered remarkably to close 2.2% down, while Adani Ports closed in the green, up 5.6% on the NSE.

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However, both Adani Total Gas and Adani Green Energy were locked in their lower circuit of 5% and 10%, respectively.

Recovery in the indices followed French energy firm TotalEnergies’ statement that it has limited exposure to Adani Group entities ($3.1 billion), and has not performed any re-evaluation in its accounts of its stakes in the listed entities.

The Bank Nifty jumped 830.40 points or 2.04% to close at 41,499.70, buoyed by Bank of Baroda’s strong Q3 showing. The lender’s stock rose 6.3%, while HDFC Bank and SBI also gained 3.4% and 3.3%, respectively.

At the same time, the Nifty PSU Bank jumped 3.07% and the Nifty Private Bank closed up 1.64%.

Titan was the biggest gainer, rising 6.5%, with the Bajaj twins also gaining close to 5% each. On the other hand, Divi’s Lab slumped 12% following its results, with Cipla and Dr. Reddy’s ending marginally down.

“After initial hiccups, markets recovered after some stability in Adani group stocks. Sectorally, it was a mixed bag. Buying continued in consumer and IT. The beaten-down banking sector, especially PSBs, saw fresh buying on BOB’s healthy Q3 numbers and expectations of a strong showing by SBI. Pharma counters were under pressure after Divi’s Lab poor results. Further, investors are awaiting the key monthly US jobs data. Next week, markets will keep an eye on US Fed Chair Powell’s speech,” said Siddhartha Khemka, head (retail research), Motilal Oswal Financial Services.

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Among the Sensex pack, Titan was the biggest gainer, rising almost 7%, while the Bajaj twins gained close to 6% each. Banking stocks all closed in the green, while IT was a mixed bag. HCL Tech, Wipro, and Tech Mahindra were the only ones to close in the red, even as Infosys and TCS gained during the session.

While the BSE MidCap ended flat, down 0.04%, and the BSE SmallCap marginally down 0.47%, the LargeCap index gained 1.13%.

A total of 1,237 stocks advanced on the BSE, with 2,310 stocks declining. DIIs continued to lend support, being buyers of Rs 1,264.74 crore, while FIIs continued their selling spree, withdrawing Rs 932.44 crore.