Closing Bell: Indices gain for seventh day; TCS drops nearly 2% ahead of Q4 nos

Closing Bell, April 11, 2023: Extending their winning streak into the seventh straight session, the headline indices settled with half-a per cent gains on April 11. The S&P BSE Sensex rallied 311.21 points or 0.52 per cent to settle at 60,157.72 while the Nifty50 index rose 94 points or 0.53 per cent to shut shop at 17,718.25. 

Volatility index India Vix slipped 2.42 per cent to 11.98 levels. 

Commenting on today's trade, Nagaraj Shetti, Technical Research Analyst, HDFC Securities, said, "The underlying trend of Nifty continues to be positive. Though Nifty is advancing gradually on the upside, its consistent up move above the hurdles signals more upside ahead. A decisive movement above 17,800 levels is expected to open the next upside target of 18200 levels in the near term. Immediate support is at 17,650 levels."

On Sensex, Kotak Mahindra Bank (up over 4.6 per cent) remained the top gainer while the IT bellwether TCS emerged as the biggest laggard with a nearly 2 per cent loss. TCS is slated to release its fourth-quarter earnings tomorrow (April 12).

Bajaj Auto, Cyient, and Dalmia Bharat were some of the stocks that hit a 52-week high in today's trade whereas United Breweries (UBL) and Teamlease Services were among the stocks that hit a 52-week low.

Among buzzing stocks, ITC hit an all-time high of Rs 398.20. The stock of the cigarette maker —  whose popular brands include Classic, Gold Flake, Insignia, American Club, India Kings and Wills Navy Cut — finished higher for the fourth session in a row. At close, the stock stood at Rs 396.10, up 1.90 per cent.

The stock of the privatisation-bound Shipping Corporation was locked at the five per cent upper circuit at Rs 85.17 after Zee Business reported that the Core Group of Secretaries on Disinvestment (CGD) will meet on April 14 to discuss the disinvestment of the state-run company. Shipping Corporation of India is a sea and coastal freight water transport company that owns and operates bulk carriers as well as crude oil tankers.

Shilpa Medicare rallied 15 per cent to Rs 267.85 on the BSE after the company said it has received the US Food and Drug Administration's (US FDA) final approval for its ANDA, Apremilast Tablets, 10 mg, 20 mg, and 30 mg for the treatment of adult patients with active psoriatic arthritis. 

“Strong Asian and European market cues bolstered the ongoing bullish sentiment and lifted the Sensex above the crucial 60000-mark. Although the rally seems to be stretched, the feel-good factors like the interest rate status quo by the RBI, robust GST collections and mixed economic growth numbers are giving investors the ammo to bet on domestic stocks," said Shrikant Chouhan, Head of Equity Research (Retail) at Kotak Securities.

Sector Watch

On the sectoral front, metal stocks jumped the most with the S&P BSE METAL index rising nearly 2 per cent to 19,698.62 levels. All the constituents in the index ended in the green, with JSW Steel (up 3.62 per cent) being the top gainer. Next on the list were banking & financial stocks. The S&P BSE BANKEX ended 1.64 per cent higher at 47,005.17 levels.

Oil & Gas and Power stocks, too, witnessed a decent buying in the trade. On the other hand, technology stocks took a beating. The S&P BSE Information Technology index slipped by 0.92 per cent to 28,531.79 levels.

Global markets

Asian stocks put in a strong showing on their return to full trading globally after the Easter break, with Australian investors coming back to a 1.3% rally in their equity benchmark. In Japan, where it had been trading as usual over the holiday period, the Nikkei jumped 1.4% after new Bank of Japan Governor Kazuo Ueda signalled overnight he would stick to ultra-easy stimulus for now, knocking down the yen. The market got an additional boost after Warren Buffett said he plans to add to Japanese investments, Reuters reported.