Business & Finance

Markets end flat as Trump-Kim rendezvous takes centrestage

Benchmark indices succumbed to a sudden late-session sell-off to end with modest gains today as investors pared their portfolios amid mixed overseas cues. Global markets shrugged off an unprecedently fractious G-7 summit and focussed on the upcoming meeting between US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in Singapore.

The BSE Sensex, which had soared over 232 points in intra-day deals, finally closed at 35,483.47 — up by just 39.80 points. The broader NSE Nifty rose 19.30 points to 10,786.95, after breaching the 10,800-mark in morning trade.
Telecom, consumer durables and healthcare stocks led the gains. Banking stocks too saw buying interest after the government last week constituted a panel for faster resolution of bad loans.

Also read: Kim meet to take place at 9 am on June 12: White House

Meanwhile, domestic institutional investors bought shares worth a net Rs 459.44 crore, while foreign portfolio investors sold equities to the tune of Rs 222.50 crore on Friday, provisional data showed.

“Market traded positively during most part of the day supported by favourable global cues. However, a consensus estimate of higher CPI inflation for the month of May at 4.8 per cent and caution ahead of FOMC meeting during the week influenced profit booking.

“On the other hand, progressing monsoon and positive outlook on rural economy will give some respite to equity in the near term,” said Vinod Nair, Head of Research, Geojit Financial Services.
Among sectoral indices, telecom rose the most by spurting 1.56 per cent, followed by consumer durables 1.03 per cent, healthcare 0.51 per cent, teck 0.41 per cent, FMCG 0.37 per cent, IT 0.20 per cent, capital goods 0.18 per cent, infrastructure 0.15 per cent, auto 0.12 per cent and bankex 0.05 per cent.

Realty, metal, oil & gas and power indices ended in the red, falling up to 0.71 per cent.

Among the Sensex components, Bharti Airtel topped the gainers list by soaring 3.19 per cent, followed by Sun Pharma at 1.29 per cent, Dr Reddy’s 0.90 per cent, Maruti Suzuki 0.84 per cent, IndusInd Bank 0.76 per cent and Adani Ports 0.74 per cent, among others.

On the other hand, Tata Steel fell 1.79 per cent, Power Grid 1.21 per cent, Coal India 0.72 per cent, Hero MotoCorp 0.60 per cent, Yes Bank 0.56 per cent, ICICI Bank 0.54 per cent and HDFC Bank 0.24 per cent.

The broader markets ended mixed. The BSE small-cap index rose 0.51 per cent, while the mid-cap index shed 0.09 per cent.

Overseas, Asian markets ended mixed and European bourses opened higher ahead of the historic meeting between the US President and the North Korean leader.

The Federal Reserve and the European Central Bank are scheduled to announce their policy updates this week.

In the eurozone, Frankfurt and Paris markets were up in their early trade, rising up to 0.36 per cent. London’s FTSE too gained 0.71 per cent.

In the Asian region, Japan’s Nikkei rose 0.48 per cent, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng rose 0.34 per cent, while Shanghai Composite fell 0.47 per cent. Singapore rose 0.16 per cent, while Korea went up 0.76 per cent.

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