Markets pause after 3-day bull run

The benchmark indices are trading flat with a negative bias as investors book profits at higher and attractive levels. 

After rallying for 3 consecutive sessions, markets took a breather and ended tad higher after profit booking capped upside gains.

The S&P BSE Sensex ended up by 39 points at 24,646 and Nifty50 was up 10 points at 7,485.

In the broader market, the BSE Midcap index ended up by 1.1% and the Smallcap index finished up 0.8%. Market breadth was strong with 1,509 gainers and 1,092 losers on the BSE.

Foreign institutional investors were net buyers to the tune of Rs 912 crore on Thursday as per provisional stock exchange data.

In the commodity space, oil futures increased on Friday, buoyed by renewed optimism prices may have bottomed out after official US data showed oil production fell to its lowest level since November 2014.

Brent futures edged up 3 cents to $37.10 a barrel after settling 14 cents higher in the previous session.

The crude benchmark is set to end the week with a gain of more than 5%.

On the currency front, the rupee was trading strong by 8 paise at 67.26 against the dollar in the afternoon session on persistent selling of the greenback in view of increased foreign fund inflows.

KEY STOCKS

State-run Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd (Bhel) announced the commissioning of its first 700 Mw supercritical thermal unit at Bellary Thermal Power Project in Karnataka.

The stock ended over 3%.

PSU banks are ended higher ahead of the second edition of Gyan Sangam, a retreat of heads of public sector financial institutions, in the background of the government's strategy to consolidate public sector banks.

Indian Bank (up 8% at Rs 100), Syndicate Bank (7% at Rs 62), Oriental Bank of Commerce (7% at Rs 92), Allahabad Bank (6% at Rs 51) and Punjab National Bank (5.1% at Rs 83) hrallied more than 5% each on the National Stock Exchange.

State Bank of India (SBI), IDBI Bank, Allahabad Bank, Bank of India, Indian Overseas Bank, Union Bank of India and Canara Bank were up 2%-5%.

Metal pack extended the gains from yesterday helped by improvement in global commodities. Vedanta, JSWSteel, Coal India, and NMDC ended up between 1%-4% each.

Reliance Industries is set to miss its deadline for re-opening all 1,400 retail fuel outlets by March-end. The stock ended 0.5% lower.

HDFC will raise Rs 1,000 crore by issuing non-convertible debentures, to cater to its housing finance business needs. The stock gained 0.3%.

Tata Motors continued with its rally on the back of good JLR sales numbers. The stock finished over 2%.

Dr Reddy's Lab advanced 1.7% after the pharma major received the US Food and Drug Administration approval to launch Aloxi generics.

The Maharashtra State Consumer Protection Minister Girish Bapat said that Petrol, diesel, LPG and kerosene will now be available at cheaper rates in Maharashtra as oil marketing companies have agreed to do away with the additional surcharge on products.

Oil Marketing Companies (OMCs) traded mixed. BPCL and HPCL gained 2%-3% while IOC dropped 1%.

SMART MOVERS

Yes Bank has acquired 5% stake in corporate governance and proxy advisory firm Institutional Investor Advisory Services (IiAS). YES Bank ended down 1%.

Mahindra and Mahindra Financial Services (MMFSL) plans to raise up to Rs 2,000 crore through a mix of retail bonds and commercial paper (CP) for business expansion. However, the stock lost over 1%.

Shares of AGC Networks were locked in 20% uppper circuit at Rs 79.40 on the Bombay Stock Exchange after the company said its cyber security division CYBER-i announced a strategic Managed Services Provider partnership with Intel Security to offer outcome based managed security services across the globe.

Shares of HMT rose sharply by 20% today as the government is eyeing revival of HMT Machine Tools.

The stock advanced by 18.61% to Rs 49.70 on BSE.

GLOBAL MARKETS

Asian shares ended higher after a string of positive U.S. economic data and a bounce in oil and commodity prices. Nikkei, Shanghai, and Hang Seng ended up between 0.2%- 1.2% each.

At 3:30pm Indian Standard Time (IST) European shares were trading firm tracking Asian cues with FTSE, DAX, CAC trading between 0.2%-0.3%.