Sensex pares opening losses, gains over 100 points; HCL Tech, L&T top gainers

Benchmark equity market indices Sensex and Nifty opened flat with a negative bias on Friday as the caution on China’s newly found virus weighed on the investors sentiment. After paring opening losses, at 10.10 AM S&P BSE Sensex was trading 135 points or 0.33 points higher at 41,521 points, while broader Nifty 50 index was ruling at 12,219 points, up 39 points or 0.32 per cent. Asian Paints, UltraTech Cements, Bajaj Auto and Hindustan Uniliver, were among the top gainers on the Sensex pack. However, Power Grid, Kotak Mahindra Bank, TCS, Infosys were the top laggards on the index.

Barring Nifty IT index, all the sectoral indices were trading in green. The Nifty Bank index gained 100 points to trade at 31,103, led by gains in Yes Bank, Federal Bank, Bank of Baroda and State Bank of India. While Nifty FMCG index was ruling 184 points up at 31,411 points driven by Dabur, Colgate Palmolive, Marico and Britannia.

The broader market continued with their good run to outperform equity benchmarks. S&P BSE Midcap index gained 59 points or 0.38 per cent to trade at 15760.93 while S&P BSE Smallcap index was ruling at 14,813, up 41 points or 0.28 per cent.

Around 46 companies including Bank of Baroda, Ultratech, JSW Steel, AVAS Financiers and Indian Bank are scheduled to release their December quarter earnings today.

On the Wall Street, the Nasdaq Composite rose 0.2 per cent to a record closing high, while the S&P 500 added 0.1% per cent and the Dow Jones Industrial Average eased 0.1 per cent. Oil prices remained under pressure on growing concern that fuel demand will weaken as the spread of a respiratory virus from China dents travel and darkens the economic outlook, according to a Reuters news report.

Source: Financial Express