The Indian benchmark indices were volatile on Friday, and they gave up most of the gains they had recorded in the early trading hours of the day. However, they ended in the green for the third day in a row. The volatility in the markets is attributable to the rising number of new COVID-19 infections in the country.
The S&P BSE Sensex ended the day nearly flat with a slight bias towards the green. It closed the week below the 49,000 levels at 48,832.03 points. Over Friday, it managed to add 28.35 points or 0.058% to its tally. Over the week, it fell by 1.81% or 901 points, and it played within the range of 48,935 and 49,089.
Among the thirty stocks that form the Sensex index, eighteen advanced, nine declined while the remaining three closed the day nearly flat. Asian Paints led to the gains in the index. Its share price moved ahead by 3.07%. UltraTech Cement, ONGC, M&M, Sun Pharma followed as their share price surged by 2.43%, 2.19%, 2.10% and 2.07%, respectively, over the day.
The share price of HCL Tech, Tech Mahindra, Nestle India, NTPC, HDFC, Dr Reddy’s, and PowerGrid closed Friday over 1% higher. The other stocks to close the day in the positive terrain are IndusInd Bank, Bajaj Auto, ITC, Titan, Bajaj Finserv and Bharti Airtel. The following stocks closed the day nearly flat: Axis Bank (+0.08%), Hindustan Unilever (-0.01%) and Maruti (-0.04%).
ICICI Bank and L&T led the curtailing of the gains in the index; their share price fell by 1.55% and 1.09%, respectively. The share price of Bajaj Finance, TCS, SBI, Infosys and Reliance collapse by over 0.5% on Friday. The other stocks to close the day in the red are Kotak Bank and HDFC Bank.
The NSE Nifty 50 closed the week at the 14,617.85 levels. It surged by 0.25% or 36.40 points over the day. Among the 50 stocks that form the index, 32 of them zoomed while the remaining eighteen closed the day in the adverse terrain. Wipro and JSW Steel emerged as the top gainer and most significant loser, respectively, in the index.
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Engineer by qualification, financial writer by choice. I am always open to learning new things.
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