IT, financial stocks drive Sensex, Nifty higher by 1 per cent

Benchmark indices held on to its early gains today with Nifty closing above 11,000 mark and the Sensex making 1 per cent gain.

Earlier, equity benchmarks Sensex and Nifty began on a positive note on Monday, driven by gains in financial and IT shares.

The BSE Sensex jumped 398.85 points or 1.08 per cent to close at 37,418.99.  Similarly, the NSE Nifty rose 120.50 points or 1.11 per cent to 11,022.20.

Banking, Financial, IT and Consumer Goods stocks primarily rallied on indices today.

On the Sensex, the prominent gainers were Bajaj Finance, HCL Tech, Tech Mahindra, Infosys, HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, Asian Paints IndusInd Bank and SBI.

Major losers were Sun Pharma, NTPC, Kotak Bank, Maruti and ITC.

The market breadth was clearly positive on the BSE. Out the 2,874 shares traded today, while the advancing scrips were higher at 1,518, the number of declining shares was 1,167. The number of scrips that remained unchanged  was 189.

Buzzing stocks

Dixon Technologies share price surged over 9 percent intraday to hit its fresh all-time high before settling at Rs 6,833.25, gaining Rs 383 or 5.95% on the BSE. Shares of the company surged after a BSE data released by the company today showed foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) raised their stake to 14,19,732 shares in the June quarter of 2020 against 12,44,620  shares held in March quarter. FPI stake in the company stood at 12.27 per cent at the end of the June quarter against 10.76 percent in the previous quarter.

Federal Bank shares gained nearly 3 percent to Rs 53.65 on the BSE after billionare investor Rakesh Jhunjhunwala bought 20 lakh additional shares in April-June quarter.

Glenmark shares tumble

Shares of Glenmark Pharmaceuticals on Monday declined 2.60 per cent after India’s drug regulator sought clarification from the company over its alleged “false claims” about the use of anti-viral FabiFlu on COVID-19 patients with comorbidities and also over the “pricing” of the drug.

The stock declined 5.10 per cent to Rs 408 on the BSE intraday, before settling at Rs 418.80, down by Rs 11.15, or 2.60%. The drug regulator has sought clarification from Glenmark Pharmaceuticals  after receiving a complaint from a member of Parliament.

PTI:

Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) had bought equities worth Rs 697.08 crore on a net basis on Friday, exchange data showed.

Meanwhile, other Asian markets, barring Shanghai, were trading mostly lower.

Experts said that global markets will remain cautious amid spurt in the number of Covid-19 cases world over.

Oil prices dipped on Monday, weighed down by rising coronavirus infections that could derail a recovery in fuel demand.

Brent crude was down 0.56 per cent, at USD 42.88 a barrel.

The total number of coronaivrus cases in the country has surpassed 11 lakh and death toll has topped 27,000.

Globally, 14,633,412 people have been diagnosed with Covid-19, and 608,542 have died, data showed.

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