Benchmark equity indices were trading in the green on Friday, albeit with small gains, after a 29-point correction witnessed on Thursday. Most of the sectoral indices were up, helped by manufacturing PMI data that rose to a 13-month high for August and robust volume sales posted by car and two-wheeler makers.
The 30-scrip BSE Sensex was up 38 points at 28,461 at around 10.40 a.m. while the broader, 50-scrip NSE Nifty was trading at 8,779, up 5 points.
Top Sensex gainers included Adani Ports, Maruti Suzuki, Tata Motors, HDFC and Asian Paints. The index had shed 29 points on Thursday after a bull run in the last trading sessions last month to hit a new 52-week high on Aug. 31.
"Bulls took breather on Thursday as equity benchmarks closed rangebound session marginally lower after rallying for previous 3 consecutive days," brokerage Angel Broking said in its pre-market note on Friday.
The BSE Auto index was up 0.73 percent, Bankex was trading 0.30 percent while the BSE CPSE index was down 0.23 percent, as if reflecting the sentiments among workers of central public sector enterprises (CPSEs) who are observing a nationwide strike on Friday (Sept. 2) to protest against "anti-labour" measures of the Narendra Modi government.
Reliance Industries Ltd. (RIL) shares were down 1.85 percent to Rs. 1,010.10 apiece in response to the company's subsidiary Reliance Jio announcing its 4G services launch.
Rivals Bharti Airtel and Idea Cellular continue to bleed in the wake of challenge by Reliance Jio. Shares of the two companies were trading with losses of 6.16 percent and 2.45 percent, respectively at around 10.49 a.m. The two stocks had lost in the range of 6 to 10 percent on Thursday.
HDFC informed stock exchanges on Thursday that it raised Rs. 500 crore via rupee-denominated bonds (also called masala bonds) on a single day, with the entire amount subscribed by the Province of British Columbia. The bonds carry a coupon rate of 7.50 percent per annum, payable semi-annually and mature in January 2020.
