After opening the day on a positive note, Indian share markets continued to move up throughout the day and ended 0.2% higher.
Benchmark indices witnessed a sharp upside move after RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das's announcement to keep the repo rate unchanged at 6.5%, as the market was expecting a 0.25% rate hike.
At the closing bell, the BSE Sensex stood higher by 143 points (up 0.2%).
Meanwhile, the NSE Nifty closed up by 42 points (up 0.2%).
HDFC Bank and Reliance were among the top gainers today.
Adani Enterprises and Tata Motors on the other hand, were among the top losers today.
The SGX Nifty was trading at 17,644 up by 20 points, at the time of writing.
Broader markets ended on a positive note with the BSE Midcap index and the BSE Smallcap index ending 0.7% higher.
Sectoral indices ended on a mixed note with stocks in the auto sector, and power sector witnessing most of the buying.
On the other hand, stocks from the metal sector, and IT sector witnessed selling pressure.
Shares of Abbott India hit their 52-week highs today.
Asian stock markets ended on a mixed note. The Nikkei fell 1.1%, while the Hang Seng and Shanghai Composite ended flat.
The rupee is trading at 81.9 against the US$.
Gold prices for the latest contract on MCX are trading lower by 0.1% at Rs 60,797 per 10 grams.
Meanwhile, silver prices for the latest contract on MCX are trading higher by 0.2% at Rs 74,555 per kg.
Now track the biggest movers of the stock market using stocks to watch today section. This should help you keep updated with the latest developments...
Speaking of stock markets, over the past decade, the demand for lithium has grown in massive proportions.
China controls almost 60% of the world's capacity for processing raw lithium products into battery-grade chemicals.
Some Western countries are concerned that if lithium supplies fall short, Chinese companies will meet the needs of their own rapidly growing electric vehicle (EV) market first.
However, Chinese firms continue to invest in lithium mining and processing and lithium-ion battery production around the world. The race for countries to establish a secure, independent supply of lithium is on.
To know how far India has come in the race, tune into the video below.
In news from the FMCG sector, the share price of Dabur fell over 3% on Thursday after the company said it will report mid-single-digit revenue growth in March 2023 quarter, indicating no significant improvement from the previous few quarters.
Note that the metric stood at 45.5% in the December 2022 quarter.
The FMCG major has also increased spending on its brands, leading to pressure on the operating margin, which is expected to be lower by 2-2.5% compared to the March 2022 quarter margin of 18%.
The demand trajectory across urban and rural markets in India has shown a slight improvement sequentially, although it falls short of a full recovery.
While urban markets have returned to positive volume growth, rural markets remain muted.
Dabur derives about 47% of its revenue from rural India, which has been under stress due to inflationary pressures.
The company's net profit has fallen yearly over the past four quarters.
The quarter also marks the consolidation of Badshah Masala.
Dabur India, with its continuous expansion, is among the top 5 FMCG companies in India.
Moving on to news from the real estate sector, Macrotech Developers, the real estate major, recorded pre-sales of Rs 30.3 bn for the March 2023 quarter, pushing its annual pre-sales to the best performance of Rs 120.6 bn for the financial year 2022-23.
With a 34% YoY rise in annual pre-sales, the listed company has surpassed its full-year guidance of Rs 115 bn.
The collections of money from customers stood at Rs 106.1 bn for the financial year 2023, up 23% YoY.
Net debt has further reduced to Rs 70.7 bn, showing a decline of Rs 22.3 bn for the year.
With the high visibility of the interest rate hike cycle pausing now and a probable cycling down in the second half of 2023-24, the industry is poised to continue seeing demand acceleration for quality tier-1 branded homes.
The company added 12 projects in 2022-2023. This has a sales potential of around 14 m square feet of about Rs 198 bn.
Macrotech has delivered more than 89 m square feet of real estate and is currently developing around 100 m square feet under its ongoing and planned portfolio.
With the realty sector reeling under pressure on the back of higher interest rates, the Indian real estate sector is staring at a slump.
Among them, Macrotech Developers stands as the biggest loser, down 30% in 2023.
Macrotech Developers tanked over 10% to hit a new 52-week low recently. To know why check out why Macrotech Developers share price is falling.
Moving on to news from the engineering sector, KEC International, on Thursday, secured orders worth Rs 12.1 bn across various businesses.
The Transmission & Distribution (T&D) business of KEC International got orders for projects in India, SAARC, the Middle East, and East Asia Pacific.
Its civil business secured an order in the urban infra segment in India, while the cables business bagged orders within the country and overseas markets.
With these orders, the order inflow for the EPC company stands at an all-time high of Rs 223 bn for the financial year 2023, growing 30 percent from last year.
KEC International has its presence in the verticals of power transmission and distribution, railways, civil, urban infrastructure, solar, smart infrastructure, oil and gas pipelines, and cables.
To know what's moving the Indian stock markets today, check out the most recent share market updates here.
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