TCS, Wipro, ICICI Bank and HDFC Bank were among the top gainers on the BSE
The domestic stock markets ended near the highs of the day, amid a volatile session of trading, due to buying momentum in the last hour of trading. The BSE Sensex oscillated in a broad range of more than 800 points before ending at 48,803.68, higher by 259.62 points or 0.53 per cent and the NSE Nifty swung more than 200 points before ending at 14,581.45, up 76.65 points or 0.53 per cent. The BSE Midcap index and BSE Smallcap indices, however, under-performed their largecap peers to end virtually unchanged.
In economy-related developments, the wholesale price index (WPI)-based inflation rate zoomed to an 8-year high of 7.39 per cent in March as fuel and power prices rose to 10.25 per cent, manufactured products rates climbed to 7.34 per cent and food went up to 5.28 per cent. The last time WPI-based inflation had touched this mark was in 2013.
In corporate news, the Walmart-owned e-commerce giant Flipkart announced the acquisition of leading online travel company Cleartrip. The homegrown e-commerce marketplace will acquire 100 per cent of Cleartrip’s shareholding in order to strengthen its digital commerce offerings for customers.
On the stock-specific front, TCS, Wipro, ICICI Bank and HDFC Bank were among the top gainers on the BSE, registering returns of 2-4 per cent each. Wipro is scheduled to announce its quarterly numbers later in the day.
On the other hand, Infosys dived by 2.5 per cent to Rs 1,361.90 on the BSE post its Q4 numbers; the IT major had reported an annual increase of 17 per cent in net profit at Rs 5,076 crore. Grasim, Eicher Motors and Maruti Suzuki lost around 3 per cent each on the BSE.
The BSE market breadth was weak. Out of 3,057 stocks traded on the BSE, there were 1,251 advancing stocks as against 1,646 declines.
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