Sensex ends 269 points higher, Nifty above 11,400; IT stocks outshine

The Sensex was up 269.43 points at 38024.32, while Nifty was up 83.60 points at 11,426.90. About 1172 shares have advanced, 1452 shares declined, and 162 shares are unchanged. 

Among the gainers, Kotak Mahindra Bank rose 4%, followed by Power Grid Corp, TCS, ICICI Bank and SBI, while on the other hand HUL shed 2 percent, followed by Yes Bank, RIL, Bharti Airtel and ITC on the Sensex.

On the sectoral front, IT index has outperformed the other indices with nearly 2 percent gain followed by auto, infra, metal and pharma, while selling was seen in the FMCG space.

Nifty Bank continued its upward momentum as it ended 1.6 percent higher at 29381.50. 

Bharti Airtel top loser: Share price of Bharti Airtel fell 3.3 percent after Jefferies downgraded the stock to underperform from hold rating.

The stock is the top losers on the Sensex. Jefferies also cut its price target to Rs 270 from Rs 280.

Market Update: Benchmark indices continued to trade higher on Friday with Sensex gained over 400 points and Nifty crossed 11,450 mark with the help of bank and IT stocks.

At 14:38 hrs IST, the Sensex is up 420.67 points at 38,175.56, while Nifty is up 124.40 points at 11,467.70. About 1224 shares have advanced, 1255 shares declined, and 152 shares are unchanged.  

Aarti Drugs approves buyback: The company board approved the buyback up to 2,82,100 fully paid-up equity shares of face value of Rs 10 each representing up to 1.2 percent of the total number of equity shares at a price of Rs 900 per equity share for an aggregate amount of up to Rs 25,38,90,000

Buzzing: Prestige Estates Projects shares gained more than 4 percent after Deutsche Bank initiated coverage with a buy call on the stock, citing attractive valuations.

Rupee at day's high: The Indian rupee extended the gains after a flat start on Friday morning on the back foreign fund inflows and strong domestic market. It is trading at day's high around 69.05 per US dollar 

Deutsche Bank on HUL: Foreign research house maintained buy call on the stock with a target at Rs 2,100 per share.

It feels that moderation in volume growth is visible in Q4 and expect company to report volume growth of 7.5% YoY in Q4. It forecast sales/EBITDA / PAT growth of 11/15/16 percent for Q4.

Sources told CNBC-TV18 that HCC is close to securitising receivables related to arbitration claims.

A PE player is likely to buy out HCC's arbitration exposure for Rs 1,800 crore, sources said.

HCC’s arbitration exposure stood at around Rs 3,800 crore. Its gross debt was at Rs 3,490 crore as of December 2018, which was down by Rs 235 crore in nine-month period of FY19.

While asking above PE deal, HCC told CNBC-TV18 that the company does not comment on market speculation.

Ujjivan Financial, Coal India slip: Shares of Ujjivan Financial Services and Coal India fell 1.2 percent after announcement of interim dividend. 

Buzzing: Share price of CMI rose 9 percent after company received vendor approval from prestigious companies.  

Buzzing: Shares of Tech Mahindra gained 1.4 percent after company approved to acquire 100 percent stake in Japanese company.

The investment committee of the board of directors of the company has approved the proposal to acquire 100% shareholding in K-Vision Co through its wholly owned subsidiary i.e. Mahindra Engineering Services (Europe). 

A2Z Infra Engineering said as per books and accounts, outstanding of Edelweiss as on March 2018 was Rs 177.69 crore (including interest) and the same is settled for a total settlement consideration of Rs 41 crore.

The company had availed financial assistance as term loan from ICICI Bank  and ICICI Bank has assigned all the rights, title and interests in the financial assistance granted by it to the company, in favour of Edelweiss Asset Reconstruction Company Limited (the 'Lender'), acting in its capacity as trustee of EARC Trust SC 217 vide Assignment Agreement executed in favour of EARC on June 29, 2016.

Banking and financials services have been a key driver of the current rally, which lifted benchmark indices Sensex and Nifty to fresh six-month high. Key reasons behind this spike are hope of stable government at Centre and consistent FII inflow.

Bank Nifty rallied 10 percent in March against more than 5 percent gains in Nifty50.

Index constituents Punjab National Bank, Bank Of Baroda, IndusInd Bank, IDFC First Bank, ICICI Bank, RBL Bank and SBI rallied 10-20 percent during current month. Kotak Mahindra Bank, Federal Bank, HDFC Bank, Yes Bank and Axis Bank gained 5-9 percent.

Buzzing: Shares of Glenmark Pharma rose nearly 2 percent after it recieved final approval from USFDA for Clindamycin and Benzoyl Peroxide Gel.

According to company release on BSE, Glenmark Pharmaceuticals Inc., USA has been granted final approval by the United States Food & Drug Administration (USFDA) for Clindamycin and Benzoyl Peroxide Gel, 1%|5%, a generic version of BenzaClin Gel, 1%|5%, of Valeant Bermuda. 

Market Opens: It is a strong start for the Indian indices on the last day of the week with Nifty around 11,400 level.

The Sensex is up 165.79 points at 37920.68, while Nifty is up 51.10 points at 11394.40. About 528 shares have advanced, 171 shares declined, and 33 shares are unchanged. 

Tech Mahindra, Indiabulls Housing, Gail, Eicher Motors, Dr Reddy's Lab, Kotak Mahindra, JSW Steel are the gainers on the indices, while losers led by Coal India, Bajaj Auro and UltraTEch Cement.

Among the sectors, auto, IT, energy, bank, infra and pharma indices are witnessing buying, while FMCG and metal stocks are under pressure.

Market at pre-open: Benchmark indices are flat with positive bias in the pre-opening trade.

The Sensex is up 136.69 points at 37891.58, while Nifty is up 35.90 points at 11379.20.

Jubilant Foodworks, Jet Airways and Reliance Industries are trading marginally higher in the pre-opening session.

Crude Update: Oil prices were steady on Friday, supported as production cuts led by OPEC and US sanctions against Venezuela and Iran likely created a slight deficit in global supply in the first quarter of 2019.

Wall Street ends flat: The S&P 500 slipped on Thursday, snapping a three-day streak of gains, as uncertainty over when a trade deal between the United States and China would be reached left investors on edge

SGX Nifty: Trends on SGX Nifty indicate a flat opening for the broader indices in India, a fall of 2 points or 0.02 percent. Nifty futures were trading around 11,383-level on the Singaporean Exchange.

Asian markets trade higher: Asian stocks made modest gains on Friday, tracking improved global sentiment after UK lawmakers voted to delay Brexit and as a weaker yen supported Japanese shares, but a fresh flare up in U.S.-China trade concerns is expected to cap gains.