Mumbai: Ahead of Union Budget 2020 presentation by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on February 1, benchmark indices on Friday (January 31) ended lower with the Sensex closing 190.33 points down or 0.47% at 40723.49. The broader Nifty also ended 73.70 points down or 0.61% at 11962.10. Among major gainers on the Nifty were Kotak Mahindra Bank, SBI, IndusInd Bank, Bharti Airtel and Bajaj Auto, while Tata Motors, ONGC, Power Grid, and UPL were top laggards.
About 970 shares advanced, and 1406 shares declined, while 160 shares remained unchanged. Except for bank, all other sectoral indices ended in the red.
During early hours on today, equity benchmark indices were in the green amid positive global cues while investors awaited key macroeconomic data to be announced in the Economic Survey. At 10:15 am, the BSE S&P Sensex was up by 89 points to 41,003 while the Nifty 50 ticked up by 8 points at 12,044.
Most sectoral indices at the National Stock Exchange were in the green except for Nifty IT and metal which slipped marginally. Among stocks, Kotak Mahindra Bank gained by 3.7 per cent at Rs 1,688.35 per share. IndusInd Bank and Yes Bank too moved up by 2.2 per cent and 1.5 per cent respectively. The other prominent gainers were Bajaj Auto, Hero MotoCorp, Mahindra & Mahindra, Bharti Infratel and Britannia.
Meanwhile, Asian share markets regained their footing as investors hoped that China could contain the coronavirus even as reports of more cases and mounting deaths poured in.MSCI`s broadest index of Asia Pacific shares outside Japan edged up by 0.3 per cent while Japan`s Nikkei bounced by 1.3 per cent.
Wall Street quickly recouped its losses and ended higher in the wake of the WHO comments. The Dow finished up 0.43%, while the S&P 500 gained 0.31% and the Nasdaq 0.26%. After the bell, NASDAQ futures pushed 1.3% higher on the Amazon results.
Still, the flow of news on the virus remained bleak with China`s Hubei province reporting deaths from the disease had risen by 42 to 204 as of the end of January 30. The drum beat of bad news kept safe-haven bonds well bid, with yields on US 10-year Treasury notes down 8 basis points for the week so far and near four-month lows.
In currencies, the star performer was sterling which jumped after the Bank of England confounded market expectations by not cutting interest rates on Thursday. The pound was last at $1.3100, a surprisingly steady performance given this is the day the UK officially leaves the European Union.
The dollar took a slight knock overnight when data showed the US economy grew at its slowest annual pace in three years in 2019 and personal consumption weakened sharply.
It was a shade firmer on the yen at 109.07, while the euro was steady at $1.1030. Against a basket of currencies, the dollar was steady at 97.858. The dollar has fared much better against emerging market currencies as investors ran from risk.
Spot gold was almost unchanged for the week at $1,571.20 per ounce, having failed to get much of a safe-haven bid as a range of other commodities, from copper to iron ore, were hammered by worries about Chinese demand.
Oil bounced on short covering, having hit its lowest in three months as the global spread of the coronavirus threatened to curb demand for fuel. US crude regained $1.08 to $53.22 a barrel, while Brent crude futures rose $1.01 to $59.30 a barrel.
(With Agency Inputs)
