| The key equity barometers ended the special one-hour Muhurat trading session with moderate gains on Friday, snapping a 2-day losing streak. The Nifty settled above the 24,300 level. All the sectoral indices on the NSE ended in the green, with auto, realty and consumer durables gaining the most.
The barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex advanced 335.06 points or 0.42% to 79,724.12. The Nifty 50 index added 99 points or 0.41% to 24,304.35.
In the broader market, the S&P BSE Mid-Cap index rose 0.69% and the S&P BSE Small-Cap index jumped 1.16%.
The market breadth was strong. On the BSE, 3,038 shares rose and 539 shares fell. A total of 71 shares were unchanged.
Gainers & Losers:
Mahindra & Mahindra (up 3.59%), Oil & Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) (up 2.95%), Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone (up 3.07%), Bharat Electronics (BEL) (up 1.30%) and Tata Motors (up 1.09%) were major Nifty gainers.
Dr. Reddy's Laboratories (down 0.96%), HCL Technologies (down 0.51%), Britannia Industries (down 0.49%), Tech Mahindra (down 0.33%) and Adani Enterprises (down 0.21%) were major Nifty losers.
Tata Motors rose 1.09%. The car major said that it had registered total sales of 82,682 units in October 2024, which is lower by 0.33% as compared with 82,954 units sold in October 2023.
Stocks in Spotlight:
Maruti Suzuki India gained 0.29%. The car manufacturer has reported 3.6% rise in total sales to 206,434 units in October 2024 from 199,217 units in October 2023.
NMDC rose 0.47%. The state-owned miner's iron ore production increased by 3.83% to 4.07 million tonnes (MT) in October 2024 as against 3.92 MT produced in October 2023.
Brigade Enterprises surged 6.12% after the company's subsidiary, Brigade Hotel Ventures, filed initial papers for a public issue of up to Rs 900 crore.
The New India Assurance Company advanced 1.79% after the company reported consolidated net profit of Rs 73.56 crore in Q2 FY25 as compared with net loss of Rs 195.32 crore in Q2 FY24. However, total income increased 2.51% year on year (YoY) to Rs 10,134.53 crore in second quarter of FY25.
Escorts Kubota added 1.32%. The tractor manufacturer announced that its agri machinery business division sales grew by 19.8% to 18,110 units in October 2024 as against 15,113 units sold in October 2023.
Global Market:
The Dow Jones index futures were up 285 points, indicating a positive opening in the US stocks today.
European stock markets traded higher on Friday, with investors remaining cautious ahead of crucial US economic data and the upcoming presidential election.
In Asia, most stock markets declined, led by a 2.8% drop in Japan's Nikkei. The Bank of Japan maintained its benchmark interest rate at 0.25%, as expected. The Japanese yen weakened against the US dollar.
U.S. stocks closed lower on Thursday, with the Dow and S&P 500 cementing their first monthly loss since April as tech stocks sold off sharply and bond yields remained elevated. The S&P 500 climbed roughly 1.89%, while the Dow rose more than 0.9%, with both indexes trading at record highs. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite led the gains, up roughly 2.76%.
Microsoft and Meta Platforms highlighted growing artificial intelligence costs that could hit their earnings, curbing enthusiasm for megacaps that have fueled the market rally this year. Shares of Facebook-owner Meta Platforms slipped 4.1% and Microsoft fell 6%, despite both companies beating earnings estimates in results reported after the bell on Wednesday.
Investors are watching Friday for the closely followed employment data due in the morning.
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