Sensex up 1.6% for the week

Fri, 21 Sep Closing

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With the buying activity staying fairly robust right till the end, indices in the equity market of India closed the day on a very strong note. The BSE-Sensex edged higher by around 400 points whereas gains on the NSE-Nifty came in at around 140 points (up 2.5%). BSE Mid Cap and BSE Small Cap indices also closed strong, edging higher by around 1.5% each. With the exception of couple of stocks, all the stocks on the Sensex edged higher today.

Asian indices closed strong today with Europe too trading in the positive currently. The rupee was placed at Rs 53.5 to the dollar at the time of writing.

The markets had seen weakness in the past couple of sessions in light of the uncertainty prevailing at the centre. But with an important ally confirming its support to the Government, buoyancy returned leading the Sensex to post its biggest single day gain of the present year. However, it did retreat to slightly lower levels towards the end. The fact that the Government cut withholding tax on overseas borrowings by local companies to 5% from 20% also helped matters.

With gains of some 7%, Bharat Heavy Electricals (BHEL), the domestic power generation equipment behemoth was amongst the highest gainers on the Sensex. This gain comes on the back of a losing streak that saw the stock plummet to its 52-week low about a few sessions back. However, the recovery since then has been swift, with the stock gaining nearly 20%. This quick recovery could be attributed to expectations of some reforms in the power sector after the announcement of the same in sectors like aviation and retail. What also helped BHEL's cause was the cheap valuation that the stock had fallen to. It will be interesting to see whether the momentum in the stock price continues in the near term.

Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd. (M&M), India's largest manufacturer of Utility Vehicles, recently launched the first compact versatile SUV named Quanto. Designed and developed in-house by Mahindra on the robust, proven and highly successful Ingenio platform, the Quanto is a direct outcome insights pointing to the need for a compact and affordable SUV. The vehicle will be available nationally at the company dealerships in four different variants. Also important to add that at under 4 m length, the Quanto is the smallest SUV in Mahindra's product portfolio, thus making it eligible for the excise benefits given to small cars. The stock closed higher by nearly 3% today.