Sensex rises over 150 points, Nifty hits 10,729; Tata Motors, Axis Bank, Vedanta top gainers

The Sensex and Nifty shrugged off losses in the Asian and US markets to open higher in trade today. While the Sensex rose 117 points to 35630, Nifty gained 50 points to 10,721.  Of 30 Sensex stocks, 27 were trading in the green.

Tata Motors (2.44%), Axis Bank (1.11%), Vedanta Ltd (1.06%) were the top Sensex gainers. Top Sensex losers were ICICI Bank (3.41%), HCL Technologies (0.39%)  and TCS (0.07%).

Sensex rises over 150 points, Nifty hits 10,729; Tata Motors, Axis Bank, Vedanta top gainers

On Thursday, the Sensex closed at 35513.71, down by 377.81 points, or by 1.05 per cent, and the NSE Nifty ended at 10672.25, down by 120.25 points, or by 1.11 per cent.

IT services giant Tata Consultancy Services Ltd will kick off the corporate earnings season with results for the December-quarter scheduled for January 10.

Meanwhile, the mid cap and small cap indices were trading 58 points and 27 points higher in early trade.

Market breadth was negative with 914 stocks trading higher compared to 1381 falling on the BSE.

Auto stocks led the gains with the BSE auto index rising 134 points to 19,945.

Capital goods stocks also rose with the BSE index  gaining  62 points to 18,457.

The rupee opened higher at 69.96 per dollar compared to the previous close of 70.19 per dollar.

On a net basis, foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) sold shares worth Rs 972.81 crore on Thursday, while domestic institutional investors (DIIs) were net buyers to the tune of Rs 34.52 crore, provisional data available with BSE showed.

Global markets

Stocks tumbled Thursday on Wall Street, with technology companies suffering their worst loss in seven years, after Apple reported that iPhone sales are slipping in China.

The rare warning of disappointing results from Apple stoked investors’ fears that the world’s second-biggest economy is losing steam and that trade tensions between Washington and Beijing are making things worse. The sell-off also came after a surprisingly weak report on US manufacturing.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average plunged 660 points, or 2.8 percent, and the broader S&P 500 index fell 2.5 percent.

Apple stock plummeted 10 percent, wiping out more than $74 billion of the company’s market value. That’s almost as much as Starbucks is worth and more than Lockheed Martin, Lowe’s, Caterpillar, General Electric or Morgan Stanley.

The S&P 500 lost 62.14 points Thursday, closing at 2,447.89. The Dow fell to 22,868.22. The Nasdaq, which has a high concentration of tech stocks, retreated 202.43 points, or 3 percent, to 6,463.50.

source: businesstoday