Indian indices ended lower on Friday after a volatile session dragged mainly by banking and energy stocks, as a surge in COVID cases kept investors cautious after some states imposed new restrictions.
NSE
The Sensex ended 155 points lower at 14,591 while the Nifty fell 39 points to settle at 14,835.
Among sectors, Nifty Bank and Nifty Energy fell the most, down over 1 percent each. Meanwhile, the metal index, the best performing sector this year with a 37 percent advance, slipped 0.6 percent.
However, gains in Nifty Pharma and Nifty PSU Bank, up 3 percent and 2 percent, respectively capped some losses. Nifty IT and Nifty FMCG, also added 0.8 percent each for the day.
Here are the key stocks that moved today:
Srei Infrastructure Finance: The shares of Srei Infrastructure Finance were locked in a 20 percent upper circuit at Rs 7 per share on the BSE after the company’s subsidiary Srei Equipment Finance received an expression of interest for up to $250 million capital infusion from international PE funds. The international private equity funds are US-based Arena Investors LP and Singapore’s Makara Capital Partners.
PSU Bank stocks: Shares of public sector banks (PSBs) surged after media reports said officials from Niti Aayog, RBI and the finance ministry will meet on April 14 to discuss the potential candidates for privatisation. The Nifty PSU Bank index surged 2 percent with Maharashtra Bank, IOB, Central Bank, Bank of India rallying 9-20 percent on this news.
A2Z Infra Engineering: Shares of A2Z Infra Engineering jumped over 12 percent in intra-day deals after ace investor Shankar Sharma offloaded stake in the company. Sharma sold 12.13 lakh shares in the firm via an open market transaction on April 8 at a price of Rs 4.35 per share. However, the stock pared gains to end 1 percent higher.
Zensar Technologies: Zensar Technologies' share price was up 2 percent after the company entered into a global strategic partnership with US-based Claimatic. The company announced that they have entered into a global strategic partnership with US-based Claimatic. This partnership combines Claimatic with Zensar’s strategic consulting, enterprise delivery, and implementation services.
Khadim India: Shares of Khadim India added 2 percent after the credit rating agency ICRA revised the long-term credit rating on the company's overall borrowings of Rs 204 crore to BBB- from BBB. It upgraded the outlook to 'Stable' from 'Negative'.
(Edited by : Pranati Deva)