Sensex spurts 608 pts; Nifty above 16,300 mark

The domestic equity benchmarks marched higher and hit fresh intraday high in afternoon trade. Positive cues from other Asian indices boosted sentiment. The Nifty traded above the 16,300 mark. Metal and oil & gas stocks lagged the broader recovery.

At 12:24 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was up 608.46 points or 1.12% to 54,860.99. The Nifty 50 index added 172.30 points or 1.07% to 16,342.45.

The broader market outperformed the benchmark indices. The S&P BSE Mid-Cap index rose 1.34% while the S&P BSE Small-Cap index gained 1.22%.

Buyers outnumbered sellers. On the BSE, 2,159 shares rose and 1,055 shares fell. A total of 121 shares were unchanged.

The most recent minutes of the Fed's meeting calmed fears of the American central bank turning more hawkish and thereby, contracting worries of aggressive rate-tightening policy by the US Fed. The minutes of Fed's May meeting released on Wednesday confirmed two more 50-basis point hikes each in June and July, but policymakers also suggested the potential for a pause later in the year.

Gainers & Losers:

Tech Mahindra (up 4.07%), Apollo Hospital (up 3.58%), HDFC Life (up 3.49%), Bajaj Finance (up 3.42%) and Indusind Bank (up 2.56%) were major Nifty gainers.

ONGC (down 4.87%), JSW Steel (down 1.78%), NTPC (down 1.72%), Tata Steel (down 1.43%) and Asian Paints (down 1.21%) were majority Nifty losers.

Earnings Impact:

Hindalco Industries rose 0.33% to Rs 409.10 after the company's consolidated net profit rose 99.74% to Rs 3,851 crore on 37.67% rise in net sales to Rs 55,764 crore in Q4 March 2022 over Q4 March 2021. On a consolidated basis, profit before exceptional items and tax rose by 56.27% year on year to Rs 5,032 crore in Q4 March 2022. The company reported net exceptional expense of Rs 251 crore in Q4 FY22.

Zee Entertainment Enterprises (ZEEL) gained 2.37% to Rs 235.20. The company reported 34% fall in consolidated net profit to Rs 181.93 crore in Q4 FY22 as against Rs 275.73 crore in Q4 FY21. Net sales jumped 18.2% to Rs 2,322.90 crore for the quarter ended 31 March 2022 from Rs 1,965.82 crore recorded in the corresponding quarter previous year. During the quarter, revenue from advertisement stood at Rs 1,119.83 crore in the fourth quarter, recording a marginal de-growth from Rs 1,122.96 crore posted in Q4 FY21.

Muthoot Finance tumbled 4.75% to Rs 1083.30 after the company reported 2.2% fall in consolidated net profit to Rs 997.03 crore on a 2.5% decline in total income to Rs 3041.14 crore in Q4 FY22 over Q4 FY21. Operating profit declined 6.8% YoY to Rs 1,387.21 crore during the quarter. Provisions and write-off dropped 82.4% to Rs 14.61 crore in Q4 FY22 from Rs 83.15 crore in Q4 FY21.

Global Markets:

European shares were mixed while Asian stocks ended higher on Friday, with fears over monetary policy tightening subsiding slightly.

Chinese authorities held an unprecedented nationwide meeting via teleconference on Wednesday in a bid to bolster an economy battered by Covid, with Premier Li Keqiang warning of difficulties even greater than the severe shock of the pandemic in 2020.

Wall Street closed sharply higher on Thursday after optimistic retail earnings outlooks and waning concerns about overly aggressive interest rate hikes by the Federal Reserve put investors in a buying mood.

On the data front, revised figures showed the world's biggest economy contracted at an annualised rate of 1.5% in the first quarter, slightly worse than the previous estimate of 1.4%.

The number of Americans filing new claims for unemployment benefits fell last week. Initial claims for state unemployment benefits decreased 8,000 to a seasonally adjusted 210,000 for the week ended May 21, the Labor Department said on Thursday.

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