Closing bell: Benchmark indices ended the day with nearly a percent gain on Friday due to softening crude prices.

The 30-share BSE index Sensex closed higher by 336.47.77 points or 0.87 per cent at 39,067.33 and the 50-share NSE index Nifty ended up 105.85 points or 0.91 per cent at 11,747.65.

The Sensex hit an intraday high of 39,103.16 and a low of 38,765.33. The market breadth was negative as 1,094 shares advanced, against a decline of 1,429 shares, while 153 shares were unchanged.

The stock market swung between gains and losses this week as corporate results trickled in, while a spike in oil prices pressured shares and the rupee.

Among the sectoral indices, except for auto and telecom, all other sectors ended in green led by metal, bank, energy, IT, pharma and FMCG.

Top five Nifty gainers were Tata Steel, BPCL, ICICI Bank, GAIL and JSW Steel, while the major losers include Tata Motors, Grasim, Bajaj Auto, Dr Reddy’s Labs and Mahindra & Mahindra.

Markets update: Benchmark indices are trading at day's high with Nifty around 11,750 mark. The Sensex is up 363.25 points at 39,094.11, while Nifty is up 116.15 points at 11,757.95.

Manpasand Beverages to expand retail presence across India

Fruit drinks maker Manpasand Beverages  is planning to augment its retail outlet presence to around three million in the next five years from the present 7.75 lakh , said Abhishek Singh, Director, Manpasand Beverages. Click here to read full story

Top 25 - Volume Gainers

Nifty 50 Gainers/ Losers @ 1.25 pm

HCL Technologies sets up cyber security centre in Texas

IT services major HCL Technologies has set up a CyberSecurity Fusion Centre (CSFC) in Frisco, Texas, and said it will conduct training and college hiring programme in the US state.

The opening of the CSFC represents the next phase in the company’s mission to support secure business growth by providing customers with a single point of contact for the enterprise security lifecycle - from detection to remediation, HCL Technologies said in a statement.  Read the full story here

Tata Starbucks posts 30 per cent sales growth in FY19

Tata Starbucks, a 50:50 joint venture between Tata Global Beverages and Starbucks Coffee of the US, has reported a 30 per cent top-line growth in fiscal 2018-19, driven by new stores openings and improved performance. Read more here

Fitch Ratings sees risks to oil marketing companies as govt seeks more returns

Financial profiles of state-owned oil marketing companies such as Indian Oil Corp (IOC) may be at risk in the near to medium term due to pressure from the government to increase shareholder returns, Fitch Ratings said Friday.

Struggling to meet budget targets, the government had in the just concluded fiscal (2018-19) asked cash-rich PSUs to pay second interim dividend as well as undertake share buyback. The share buybacks, wherein a company repurchases its shares and extinguishes them, helped the government get money while maintaining its control over them.

“The oil marketing companies (OMCs) IOC, Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd (BPCL) and upstream entity Oil India Ltd (OIL) declared high interim dividends of 67.5 per cent to 110 per cent of the face value of their shares, and undertook share buybacks in the financial year ended March 31, 2019 ,” Fitch said in a statement.

Index heatmap

Torrent Pharma gets observation from USFDA for Indrad plant

Drug firm Torrent Pharmaceuticals on Friday said the US health regulator has made ‘certain’ observations after inspection of its Indrad facility in Gujarat. The audit at Indrad plant of the company was carried out by the United States Food and Drug Administration (USFDA) in April. Read more

Aurobindo Pharma at over 4 month high; chart points to more upside

Shares of Aurobindo Pharma Ltd has gained as much as 3.68 per cent to ₹ 824.8, highest since December 5, 2018

The stock has broken above a resistance at ₹ 810.92, the 38.2 percent Fibonacci projection level of the uptrend from June 4, 2018 low to Dec 4, 2018 high (wave 1). Click here to read on Technicals

Rallis India drops over 5% on Q4 loss

Shares of agro inputs manufacturer Rallis India Limited on Friday fell as much as 5.4 per cent to ₹149.25, their biggest intra-day percent loss since January 18. It has posted a 92.3 per cent fall in March-quarter consolidated profit on Thursday.

More than 479,412 shares were traded, 2.2 times their 30-day moving average. The stock is at its lowest since March 1.

Tata Steel Europe unit fire under control, no major injuries

Tata Steel Ltd's Europe unit said on Friday a fire broke out at its Port Talbot site in South Wales but there were no major injuries and fire was now under control. The Port Talbot site, which dates back to the early 1900s, was acquired by Tata Steel as part of its acquisition of Corus in 2007. Read the full report here

Nestle India gets shareholders’ nod for royalty payment

In its 60th Annual General Meeting, Nestlé India said all resolutions including the one for continuity of royalty payments were approved with an overwhelming majority. Read more here

Cyient sees best session in 7 months as Q4 profit surges

Shares of industrial services provider Cyient Ltd climb as much as six per cent to Rs 619.25. The company posted a 45.5 per cent jump in the March-quarter’s consolidated profit on Thursday. Read more here

Axis Bank rises most in over 4 weeks after strong Q4 results

The shares of Axis Bank rose as much as 3.3 per cent to ₹ 765.15, sharpest intra-day gain in over four weeks

It has posted a net profit of ₹ 1,505 crore ($214.6 million) in the fourth quarter. Last year, bank reported its first ever quarterly loss of ₹ 2,189 crore due to surge in bad loans. Fee income grew 23 per cent in the quarter, led by retail fees, which rose 37 per cent. Read more here

Rupee rises 16 paise to 70.09 vs USD in early trade

The rupee appreciated 16 paise to 70.09 against the US dollar in opening trade on Friday, driven by positive opening in domestic equities and weakening greenback in overseas markets.

The rupee opened strong at 70.12 at the interbank forex market, then gained further ground to touch 70.09 per dollar, displaying gains of 16 paise against the greenback. Read more on the forex market here

What to watch: USFDA nod to drug may strengthen Zydus Cadila

Zydus Cadila (Cadila Healthcare) has received final approval from the USFDA to market Leflunomide tablets USP (US RLD - Arava Tablets), 10 mg and 20 mg. The drugs will be manufactured at its formulations manufacturing facility at Baddi.  Read more here

What to watch: NBCC sweetens bid for Jaypee Infratech ?

Shares of Jaypee Infratech and NBCC (India) may remain in focus, as according to a PTI report, the latter has sweetened its bid to to acquire the former.  Click here to read more

NSE hikes F&O margin by up to 300% for stocks with rising open interest

The NSE has increased margin in its futures and options (F&O) segment for stocks, mainly depending on their open interest (OI), by up to 300 per cent. This could hurt traders as they may require extra money for trading in stocks, experts say. Read more

Broker's Call: Hexaware Technologies (Buy)

Hexaware Technologies (Hexaware) recorded an in-line revenue performance in 1QCY19, which came in at $180 million (marginally above our estimate by 0.5 per cent). This implies growth of 2.2 per cent q-o-q in dollar terms, while in CC terms revenue rose by 2 per cent q-o-q.  Read more technicals here

Broker's Call: M&M Financial Services (Buy)

Net interest income (NII) came in at ₹1,270 crore versus our estimate of ₹1,250 crore. As the numbers were restated under Ind-AS, AuM growth came in at a healthy 27 per cent y-o-y versus our expectation of 20 per cent.  Click here to read technicals

Opening session: The equity indices opened on a positive note on Friday. The Sensex is up 134.97 points at 38,865.83, while Nifty is up 41.95 points at 11,683.75. About 385 shares have advanced, 204 shares declined, and 29 shares are unchanged.

All other sectoral indices are trading in the green, while Midcap index is up 0.27 percent.

Earlier, Asian shares got off to a subdued start on Friday, while the dollar held near two-year highs against the euro on speculation that data later in the day will show the US economy outperforming the rest of the developed world, it said.

The S&P 500 closed just barely lower on Thursday, as a dive in industrial stocks and concerns about slowing global growth eclipsed gains in Facebook and Microsoft, said a Reuters report.

Weak industrial earnings drag Wall Street lower

The United States (US) stocks were pulled lower on Thursday by downbeat earnings from industrial companies, including 3M, although strong results from marquee names Facebook and Microsoft kept the tech-heavy Nasdaq afloat. Click here to read more about U.S. markets

Oil dips on hope OPEC will raise output, market remains tense

Oil prices dipped on Friday on hopes that producer club - the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) will soon raise output to make up for a decline in exports from Iran following a tightening of sanctions on Tehran by the United States (US). Read more here

Day Trading Guide for April 26, 2019

Given below are supports and resistances for Nifty 50 futures and seven key stocks that can help in your intra-day trading:

₹2264 • HDFC Bank

₹731 • Infosys

₹304 • ITC

₹168 • ONGC

₹1374 • Reliance Ind.

₹306 • SBI

₹2191 • TCS

11652 • Nifty 50 Futures

S1, S2 : Support 1 & 2; R1, R2: Resistance 1 & 2.

Today's Pick - L&T Finance Holdings (₹137.2): Sell

Investors with a short-term view can sell the stock of L&T Finance Holdings at current levels. The stock has been in an intermediate-term downtrend since encountering a key resistance at ₹185 in August 2018. Following a corrective up-move in March, the stock tested a key resistance at ₹155. Subsequently, the stock changed direction and has been in a downtrend. Read more technicals here

Global markets : The dollar rose to almost a two-year high against the euro on Thursday on an upbeat United States (US) capital goods report, while world equities slid as weak economic data from South Korea and a profit warning from 3M Co renewed concerns about global growth.

New orders for US-made capital goods increased by the most in eight months in March, which combined with worries about the economic health of the euro zone knocked the single currency to its lowest against the greenback since May 2017. Read more

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