Easing of trade tensions, lower oil prices lift indices; Sensex gains over 570 points

Key Indian stock indices surged on Friday as easing of global trade tensions along with lower crude oil prices and a strong rupee uplifted investors sentiments.

The key indices took cues from their Asian peers which rose as signs emerged of easing of trade tensions between the US and China.

The across the board rise in global stock markets came after US President Donald Trump on Thursday described his conversation with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping as “long and very good”.

Healthy buying was witnessed in auto, metal, banking and finance stocks on the BSE. However export-oriented stocks like IT and healthcare traded lower as the rupee strengthened.

In terms of currency, the rupee closed flat at Rs 72.44 to a US dollar from its previous close of 73.45.

Besides the rupee, the indices’ trajectory gained upward traction as the benchmark brent crude price eased below $72.50 a barrel.

Consequently, the S&P BSE Sensex settled above 579.68 points at 35,011.65. It had opened at 34,743.95 from its previous close of 34,431.97 and touched an intra-day high of 35,190.20 points and a low of 34,649.80 points.

Similarly, the NSE Nifty closed 172.55 points up at 10,553 points.

Apart from the main indices, the broader markets like the S&P BSE MidCap index gained 0.78 per cent, while the S&P BSE SmallCap index was also up 0.78 per cent. The market breadth was positive with 1,611 advances and 1,054 declines.

“After a flat start to November, stock markets today traded with a strong positive momentum and registered sharp gains,” said Abhijeet Dey, Senior Fund Manager-Equities, BNP Paribas Mutual Fund.

“Trading sentiment got a boost amid a fall in global crude prices and rising rupee. Positive global cues also triggered buying.”

According to HDFC Securities’ Retail Research Head Deepak Jasani: “Technically, with the Nifty surging higher, the bulls remain in control. Further upsides are likely early next week once the immediate resistance of 10,606 is taken out.”

“Crucial supports to watch for any weakness are at 10,460.”

Investment wise, the provisional data with the exchanges showed that foreign institutional investors sold stocks worth Rs 196.90 crore on Friday while the domestic institutional investors bought scrip worth Rs 852.99 crore.

The top gainers on the BSE were led by Maruti Suzuki, up 6.37 per cent at Rs 7,136.80; Tata Motors, up 6.29 per cent at Rs 190; Vedanta, up 6.04 per cent at Rs 225.75; Tata Motors (DVR), up 5.33 per cent at Rs 102.70; and IndusInd Bank, up 5.29 per cent at Rs 1,542.45 a share.

The only five laggards were Wipro down 3.29 per cent at Rs 319.10; Tata Consultancy Services, down 1.28 per cent at Rs 1,909.80; Infosys, down 0.65 per cent at Rs 662.05; State Bank of India, down 0.09 per cent at Rs 285.45 and Sun Pharma down 0.03 per cent at Rs 571.40 per share.