Market defies GDP data; Sensex up 162 points, Nifty inches closer to 10,000-mark

Closing Bell

Sensex advanced 161.74 points to end at 31,892.23. Nifty surged 56.50 points to close at 9,974.40.

Aditya Birla Capital shares list on bourses; slip 5%

Shares of Aditya Birla Capital (ABCL), the financial services company of Aditya Birla Group, got listed on the bourses today and later fell by 5 percent to hit its lowest trading permissible limit for the day.

At BSE, shares of the company debuted at Rs 261.20. The stock later slipped 5 percent from the listing price to Rs 248.15 - its lowest trading permissible limit - for the day. The stock listed at Rs 250 on NSE and later hit a low of Rs 237.50, a loss of 5 per cent from the opening price.

Market at day's high

Market extended gains in afternoon trade after much weaker than expected economic growth data raised hopes the central bank would cut rates at its next meeting in October. The BSE Sensex was up 173.91 points or 0.55% at 31,904.40  after moving in range of 31,907.31 and 31,707.27. Similarly, the NSE Nifty traded higher by 56.90 points or 0.57% to 9,974.80. It moved beween 9,977.90 and 9,909.85 in Intra-day trade.

Dr Reddy’s emerges as top gainer

Drug major Dr Reddy’s Laboratories emerged as top gainer on both BSE and NSE. On BSE it was up 7.97 percent at 2,181.50.

Nasdaq-listed Vivus Inc yesterday entered into a settlement agreement with Dr Reddy's Laboratories to resolve a long-pending patent litigation related to weight management capsules Qsymia. According to a statement issued by the US-based drug maker, the litigation, pending since 2015, resulted from the submission of an abbreviated new drug application (Anda) by Dr Reddy's seeking approval to market generic versions of Qsymia.

The market breadth (BSE) was positive as 1,554 shares advanced against a decline of 729 shares, while 115 shares were unchanged.

Maruti's stocks in focus

After release of August sales data, Maruti Suzuki India share was trading higher by 1.49 percent at 7,817.25. The country's largest car maker Maruti Suzuki India (MSI) today reported 23.8 percent increase in total sales at 1,63,701 units in August as against 1,32,211 units in the year-ago month. The company's domestic sales stood at 1,52,000 units, up 26.7 percent from 1,19,931 units in August last year, MSI said in a statement.

Major gainers in early trade included Dr Reddy's, Asian Paints, Bajaj Auto, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Sun Pharma, Lupin, Reliance Industries, Maruti Suzuki India, Tata Motors and ONGC, rising by up to 7.66 percent.

The 30-share index was up by 124.79 points, or 0.39 percent, to 31,855.28 with the sectoral indices led by healthcare, realty, metal and auto posting gains. It moved between 31, 862.46 and 31,707.27 in intra-day trade.

The NSE Nifty also advanced by 38 points or 0.38 percent to 9,955.90.

Opening Bell

The BSE Sensex opened at 31,769.34 against its previous close of 31730.49. The NSE Nifty commenced today's trade at 9,937.65 against its previous close of 9,917.90.

Slump in India's economic growth likely to weigh on market sentiment. India's GDP growth slipped to 13-quarter low of 5.7 percent year-on-year during the April-June quarter as compared to 6.1 percent in January-March.

The GDP growth rate for the same quarter last year was 7.9 percent.  The previous low of 4.6 percent was recorded in January-March 2014. The slowdown was led by the manufacturing sector, which expanded at 1.2 percent from a year earlier compared with a 10.7 percent growth last year.

The rupee depreciated by 4 paise to 63.94 against the USD. Yesterday, the rupee had closed at 63.90 against the American currency by gaining 11 paise on bouts of dollar unwinding from exporters and corporates.

Pre-opening trade: Sensex was up 38 points, Nifty quoted higher by 18 points

The BSE Sensex and NSE Nifty likely to move in narrow range with upward bias in line with global cues. The SGX Nifty was up 5 points.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 index advanced 0.20 percent, or 38.57 points, to 19,684.81 by the break, while the Topix index of all first-section issues ticked up 0.06 percent, or 1.01 points, to 1,618.42. US stocks closed higher as investors geared up for a batch of economic data ahead of a key report on employment.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average on Thursday gained 59.92 points, or 0.27 percent, to 21,952.35. The S&P 500 added 14.02 points, or 0.57 per cent, to 2,471.61. The Nasdaq Composite Index was up 60.35 points, or 0.95 percent, to 6,428.66.