Sensex Ends 173 Points Higher; Metal and Automobile Stocks Witness Buying

Mon, 17 Aug Closing

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Indian share markets witnessed most of the buying interest during closing hours today and ended higher.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi's assurance on mass production of Covid-19 vaccines and more infrastructure spending by the government boosted sentiment.

At the closing bell, the BSE Sensex stood higher by 173 points. Meanwhile, the NSE Nifty stood higher by 81 points.

NTPC and Bajaj Auto were among the top gainers today.

SGX Nifty was trading at 11,286, up by 101 points, at the time of writing.

The BSE Mid Cap index ended up by 0.4%. The BSE Small Cap index ended up by 0.8%.

Sectoral indices ended on a mixed note with stocks in the metal sector and automobile sector witnessing buying interest.

Meanwhile, energy stocks witnessed selling pressure.

Asian stock markets ended on a mixed note. As of the most recent closing prices, the Hang Seng was up 0.7% and the Shanghai Composite stood higher by 2.3%. The Nikkei ended down by 0.8%.

The rupee is trading at 74.88 against the US$.

Gold prices are trading up by 0.3% at Rs 52,383 per 10 grams.

Gold and silver futures on the Multi Commodity Exchange (MCX) recouped early losses after opening lower today.

October gold futures opened at Rs 52,151 per 10 grams as compared to Friday's closing of Rs 52,227.

In the previous session, gold futures had tumbled Rs 760 or 1.5% per 10 grams, while silver had crashed 5.5% or Rs 4,000 per kg.

Last week, gold had tumbled over 4% in India. From August 7th highs of about Rs 56,200, gold is now down about Rs 4,000 per 10 grams.

In global markets, gold prices fell today after logging worst week in five months. Spot gold was down 0.2% at US$ 1,941.90 an ounce. Gold prices had slumped 4.5% last week, its biggest weekly decline since March.

The recent volatility in gold prices hit the investment demand in gold. The holdings of SPDR Gold Trust, the world's largest gold-backed exchange-traded fund or gold ETF, fell 0.30% to 1,248.29 tonnes on Friday.

Gold traders are now awaiting the minutes from Federal Reserve's most recent policy meeting for more clues into the policy stance of the US central bank. The minutes will be released later this week.

The economic calendar is pretty thin this week, with the major triggers expected to come from the Federal Reserve minutes, US fiscal package and US-China meeting.

Even with the correction in prices, gold and silver remain among the best performing commodities this year to combat the fallout from the coronavirus pandemic. Earlier this month, gold had hit a record high of Rs 56,191 in Indian markets amid a global rally.

Speaking of the precious yellow metal, how lucrative has gold been as a long-term investment in India?

The chart below shows the annual returns on gold over the last 15 years...

As you can see, barring just two years - 2013 and 2015, gold has delivered positive returns in 13 of the last 15 years.

So, is it time to book profits in gold and silver?

In this video below, India's no. 1 trader, Vijay Bhambwani tells what he thinks you should do with your bullion holdings.

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To know more about gold, just visit our Youtube Playlist on gold investing.

Moving on to stock specific news, Aarti Drugs was among the top buzzing stocks today.

Shares of the company surged over 13% today after the company announced that its board will meet on August 20 to consider bonus issue proposal.

"This is to inform you that next Board Meeting of the Board of Directors of the Company is scheduled to be held on Thursday, August 20, 2020 to consider a proposal for issue of Bonus Shares," the company said in a filing to exchanges today.

Last month on July 25, the company announced its June quarter results during which it reported a 280.6% year-on-year (YoY) jump in net profit to Rs 854.5 million as against Rs 224.5 million during the previous quarter ended June 2019.

The company's consolidated revenue for the quarter came in at Rs 5,446.7 million, up 34.3% YoY, with 85% and 15% contribution from API segment and formulation, respectively.

Aarti Drugs share price ended the day up by 9.8%.

Moving on, infrastructure stocks such as Larsen & Toubro (L&T), NCC, Ashoka Buildcon, among others witnessed buying interest today after the Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in his Independence Day speech on Saturday, unveiled plans for a push to the infrastructure sector.

Other infra stocks including Dilip Buildcon, J Kumar Infra and Rites were trading up in the range of 2-3%.

He said the goal is to make India a global manufacturing hub. While a Rs 110 trillion pipeline of national infrastructure projects is being created to boost the economy and create jobs, nearly 7,000 projects in different sectors had been identified. In a way, it will be like a new revolution in infrastructure, the prime minister said.

Speaking on the occasion of Independence Day, Prime Minister Narendra Modi made 10 major announcements on Saturday. He also announced the launch of the National Digital Health Mission scheme, which gives health cards to every Indian, with immediate effect.

The Prime Minister announced that every village in the country will be connected with optical fibres to provide Internet facility. He said that this goal will be accomplished in the coming 1,000 days.

Cable stocks such as Sterlite Technologies, Finolex Cables, Polycab India, and ITI surged up to 11% on the back of above news.

We will keep you updated on the latest developments from this space. Stay tuned.

To know what's moving the Indian stock markets today, check out the most recent share market updates here.

For information on how to pick stocks that have the potential to deliver big returns, download our special report now!

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