Sensex, Nifty End Higher For Second Session Despite Volatile Start

India’s equity benchmarks shrugged off a volatile start to close higher for the second consecutive session, aided by gains in oil & gas, energy, power, telecom and information technology stocks.

The S&P BSE Sensex Index added 0.75% to 59,744.88 while the NSE Nifty 50 Index advanced by similar magnitude to 17,822.30, highest closing level since September 27. Reliance Industries Ltd. contributed the most to the index gain, increasing 2.1%. Oil & Natural Gas Corp. had the largest increase, rising 10.9%. Today, 30 of 50 shares rose, while 20 fell.

The broader indices underperformed their larger peers with the S&P BSE MidCap rising 0.3% and S&P BSE SmallCap gaining over 0.5%. Fifteen of the 19 sectoral indexes compiled by BSE Ltd. advanced, with the S&P BSE Oil & Gas index rising over 3.2%. The S&P BSE Energy and Telecom indexes also added over 2%.

The market breadth was skewed in favour of bulls. About 2,081 stocks advanced, 1,202 declined and 166 remained unchanged.

“Heavyweight Reliance Industries continued to move higher and supported market rally. However, pharma and FMCG stocks were laggards. Further, buying momentum remained visible in midcap and smallcap stocks, while value stocks continued to outperform growth stocks”, Binod Modi, Head Strategy at Reliance Securities, wrote in a note, before adding that “festive demand, recovery in rural demand, COVID-19 positivity rates, vaccination ramp-up, September quarter earnings and RBI policy meeting outcome will be in focus in the near term”.

GAIL India Ltd. unloaded a LNG cargo at Dabhol on the country’s west coast over the weekend to restart the import terminal that’s been shut since May because of the monsoon, E.S. Ranganathan, director for marketing at the state-run gas utility, said in an interview.

The company will bring in another shipment at Dabhol this week GAIL has also booked regasification slots at Shell’s Hazira LNG import terminal in Gujarat state for processing 1 LNG cargo each in October and November.

Source: Bloomberg

Glenmark Pharmaceuticals Ltd. has clarified that its U.S. entity, Glenmark Pharmaceuticals Inc. USA, has voluntarily recalled products such as Fulvestrant injection, Naproxen Sodium tablets, Chlorzoxazone tablets, Zonisamide capsules and Arformoterol Tartarate inhalation solution, as a matter of abundant caution.

Glenmark Pharma’s clarification comes after the exchanges sought information on media report on the recall. Glenmark also added that it will take all necessary action to ensure quality of products and operational compliance.