Market on January 13: Sensex, Nifty Close at High Records

Indian markets closed at record highs today, driven by profits in IT and metal stocks. The Sensex surged 258 points to a fresh closing high of 41,858. The Nifty ended at 0.6% higher at 12,333, its first end above 12,333.

Top Sensex gainers

Infosys (4.76%), 

IndusInd Bank (3.34%), 

Bharti Airtel (2.55%) and 

HUL (2.11%)

Fell the most on Sensex

TCS (1.03%), 

SBI (0.50%) and 

Bajaj Auto (0.38%)

On Nifty, top Nifty gainers

Infosys (4.07%), 

Coal India (2.07%) and 

Wipro (1.67%)

The market size was emphatic with 1,544 stocks growing against 984 falling on BSE. On Nifty, 36 stocks closed higher against 14 dealings in the red. On Friday, Sensex finished 147 points higher at 41,599 and Nifty rose 40 points to close at 12,256. Mid-cap and small-cap tokens closed 131 points higher at 15,290 and 134 points higher at 14,282.

Infosys share price ended at 4.76% higher at Rs 773.40 today after the IT major posted better than predicted profit in the third quarter of current fiscal and its review panel found no proof of financial wrongdoings or wrongdoing on part of company’s officials.

The Bengaluru-based IT services firm also raised its revenue guidance in regular currency terms for the continuing financial year to range of 10-10.5% from 9-10% conducted earlier. The results were announced after business hours on Friday.

In a related growth, Infosys’ audit commission absolved its CEO, Salil Parekh, from charges of financial blunder and administrative misconduct that were claimed by an unnamed whistleblower complaint.

Agarwal cited worsening corporate governance measures and compliance breakdown in the bank as the basis for his resignation. The lender said it was examining ‘fit and proper’ status of Agarwal for placement on the board as directed by the RBI and he resigned before the initiation of proceedings of the conference.

The stock dropped to Rs 41.22 level intraday before gaining some ground and ending at 6% lower at Rs 42.10 on BSE. Concrete macro data boosted opinion on Sensex and Nifty. After contracting for three months in a series, the Index of Industrial Production registered a growth of 1.8% in November, essentially on account of growth in the manufacturing area, as per government data published after-market hours on Friday. 

Economy:

India’s industrial production (IIP) rose 1.8% in November against a decrease of 3.8% in October, according to the data issued by the authority. Manufacturing output, which estimates for more than three-fourths of the whole index, rose 2.7% in November, against a decrease of 2.1% in October. Mining production rose 1.7% against a drop of 8% a month ago.

Signs to Watch:

The yield on 10-year benchmark national paper rose to 6.597% at 16:40 IST associated with 6.585% at the close in the past trading session. In the international exchange market, the rupee trimmed higher against the dollar. The partially interchangeable rupee was hanging at 70.8525, compared with its conclusion of 70.94 during the previous dealing session.

In the products market, Brent crude for March 2020 contract rose 3 cents to $65.01 a container. The contract dropped 39 cents or 0.59% to settle at $64.98 a barrel during the early trading session.