Sensex & Nifty Close At All-Time Highs; M&M Tops The Gainers

Share markets in India finished on a strong footing on positive global cues, strengthening of rupee, healthy corporate earnings and FII inflows into the market. At the closing bell, the BSE Sensex closed higher by 190 points, whereas the NSE Nifty finished higher by 45 points. The S&P BSE Midcap and the S&P BSE Small Cap Index ended down by 0.1% and 0.6% respectively.

Among the BSE sectoral indices, realty sector and information technology sector witnessed the selling pressure. Gains were largely seen in stocks from FMCG sector, automobile sector and banking sector.

Asian equity markets finished broadly higher today following the rise in US indexes overnight on the back of strong earnings announcements. The Nikkei 225 soared 1.10% while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng gained 0.50% and China’s Shanghai Composite finished up by 0.20%. European markets are mixed. The CAC 40 is higher by 0.04%, while the FTSE 100 is leading the DAX lower. They are down 0.08% and 0.07% respectively.

The rupee was trading at Rs 64 against the US$ in the afternoon session. Oil prices were trading at US$ 49.54 at the time of writing.

The banking space saw some good buying today following remarks by the central bank governor Urjit Patel about ways to resolve the problem of stressed assets of banks.

Reportedly, Urjit Patel has voiced his opinion on the merger of public sector banks and said that fewer banks would be good for the banking sector and also help in dealing with the problem of non-performing assets (NPAs).

According to him, the consolidation would help banks become more efficient in return for government assistance to deal with the NPA issue. He further said that market share of weaker banks was declining and that of stronger banks was increasing, especially the private sector banks, which in a way was a good thing.

One must note that, five associate banks of the State Bank of India (SBI) and the Bharatiya Mahila Bank became part of SBI on 1 April in a merger seen as the likely first step in the consolidation of India’s banking system, weighed down by Rs 7 trillion of stressed assets. Thus, Bank consolidation could entail the sale of real estate where branches become redundant as well as offering voluntary retirement schemes to manage headcount.