The Indian equity markets ended the day on a firm note, albeit after witnessing some profit booking towards the end of the day. Barring stocks from the banking and oil & gas spaces, stocks across the board ended on a firm note with those from the metal, FMCG and pharmaceuticals spaces leading the pack of gainers. While the BSE Sensex closed higher by about 160 points, the NSE-Nifty closed higher by 45 points. BSE Mid Cap and the BSE Small Cap closed on a firm note (up 1.5% each) as well.
As regards global markets, Asian indices closed on a firm note. European indices have opened on a weak note. The rupee was trading at Rs 61.105 to the dollar at the time of writing.
Barring Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), most of the large technology stocks ended the day on a firm note with HCL Technologies and Tech Mahindra leading the gains. Tech Mahindra has declared its
Banking stocks ended the day on a weak note with State Bank of India (SBI), HDFC Bank and Axis Bank ending on a weak note. The stock of SBI was the top loser amongst the BSE-Sensex stocks and also hit its 52-week low price today. Weakness in the stock was on the back of the bank announcing a poor set of results. The bank's net interest income grew by a mere 3.5% YoY in 1QFY14 on the back of lower interest income and higher costs. SBI's net interest margins (NIMs) came under pressure falling down to 3.1% from 3.6% earlier. Further, net profits declined by 14% YoY on the back of higher provisioning and higher operating expenses. What has been a key concern amongst investors have been the rising non-performing assets. The same increased to 2.8% in 1QFY14 as against 2.2% in 1QFY13.
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