FINAL TRADE: Nifty, Sensex end near day's highs led by financial stocks

Stock market today: Domestic equity benchmarks Nifty50 and Sensex settled near the day's high on Monday, April 29 as post-results gains in ICICI Bank and SBI Life Insurance lifted heavyweight financials. The Nifty index gained 223.45 points or one per cent to end at 22,643.4 while Sensex jumped 941.12 points or 1.28 per cent higher to settle at 74,671.28.

ICICI Bank, IndusInd Bank and State Bank of India were the top gainers in the Nifty50 basket. On the other hand, HCL Tech, Apollo Hospitals and Bajaj Auto were the other major laggards.

"The Indian benchmark indexes rebounded, aided by an upbeat in US tech quarter earnings and a drop in US 10-year yield. Domestically, the Bank Nifty outperformed, driven by its strong performance in the fourth quarter," Vinod Nair, Head of Research, Geojit Financial Services said. 

Financial services, the heaviest-weighted segment in the Nifty 50, closed 2.14 per cent higher. The high-beta Nifty Bank index, whose 12 constituents include SBI, HDFC Bank and ICICI Bank, closed with a gain of 1,223 points, or 2.54 per cent, at 49,424.05. Nifty Midcap 100 and Nifty Smallcap 100 gauges gained 0.42 per cent and 0.22 per cent for the day, respectively.

"An ease in Middle East tensions, coupled with stable earnings, is expected to maintain positive market sentiment. Moving forward, FED policy and US non-farm payroll data will dictate the overall market dynamics," he added.

Private lender ICICI Bank settled 4.38 per cent higher, after reporting a March-quarter profit that beat analysts' estimates on strong loan growth.

SBI Life Insurance closed 0.53 per cent higher after the firm reported good fourth-quarter results, and brokerages such as Jefferies and CLSA raised their share price targets.

BSE slumped as much as 18.6 per cent to Rs 2,612.10 apiece on the NSE, as capital market regulator Sebi wrote a letter to the exchange in which it asked the company to pay higher regulatory fees for option contracts. 

Global Market

European shares touched a two-week high on Monday, extending last week's strong run, with eurozone economic data and a US policy decision in focus.

The pan-European STOXX 600 was up 0.3 per cent, as of 0837 GMT, after logging its first weekly gain in four on Friday. The STOXX 600 lost some steam in April after five straight months of gains amid the impact of record-high interest rates, ongoing Middle East tensions and the European Central Bank's policy outlook.

(with agency inputs)

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