Market Movers: Aditya Birla Fashion surges over 7%, 46 stocks hit 52-week high

Aditya Birla Fashion and Retail (ABFRL) hogged the limelight on Friday after the company said it would raise Rs 1,500 crore from Flipkart. Heavy buying in Reliance Power and YES Bank too grabbed the eyeballs.

Overall, the benchmark equity indices ended in the green led by gains in auto, banking and power counters. The 30-share Sensex settled 127 points, or 0.31 per cent, up at 40,685, while the broader NSE Nifty gained nearly 34 points or 0.28 per cent to close at 11,930.

Vinod Nair, Head of Research, Geojit Financial Services, said, “Buying in auto stocks and midcap counters based on good Q2 results aided sentiment. The market is developing a positive view on the auto sector in anticipation of revival in volumes due to pent-up demand and upside in exports.”

Here is a lowdown of what happened in the market on Friday:
Sectoral movers
With a gain of 2.76 per cent, the BSE Auto index outpaced other major sectoral indices on the exchange. The BSE Consumer Discretionary Goods and Services, Consumer Durables, Power and Utilities also gained over 1 per cent each. On the other hand, the BSE Realty, IT and Healthcare indices ended in the red.

Aditya Birla Fashion climbs
Shares of Aditya Birla Fashion and Retail climbed around 7.50 per cent after its board approved plans to raise Rs 1,500 crore by issuing 7.8 per cent stake on a preferential basis to Walmart-owned Flipkart Group. The issue price of the preferential allotment is set at Rs 205, which is 33.63 per cent higher than Thursday’s closing price of Rs 153.40.

Broader market outperforms
Broader market indices outperformed the benchmark equity indices. The BSE Smallcap index gained 0.71 per cent driven by gains in Radio City, MTNL and Reliance Power. On the other hand, the BSE Midcap index gained 0.31 per cent led by a rally in Aditya Birla Fashion and Retail, Naukri and Bharat Forge.

YES Bank hits upper circuit
Shares of YES Bank hit upper circuit of 5 per cent ahead of its financial results for the quarter ended September 30. Later, the lender posted a net profit of Rs 129.37 crore for the quarter ended September 30 with some improvement in the asset quality on a quarter-on-quarter basis. YES Bank had posted a loss of Rs 600.08 crore for the corresponding quarter last year.

Reliance Power surges
Reliance Power also hit its 20 per cent upper circuit limit after the company reported a two-fold jump in net profit for the September quarter. The stock also gained after the company said it is confident of meeting obligations by generating sufficient and timely cash-flows through time-bound monetisation of gas-based power plant equipment and other assets of certain subsidiaries. The stock froze at its 20 per cent upper circuit limit at Rs 3.28 on BSE.

Stocks that hit upper circuits
As many as 321 stocks hit the upper circuit during the day. They included Suzlon, Reliance Infra, Future Consumer and Indiabulls Integrated Services, among others.

Stocks that hit 52-week highs
As many as 46 stocks rose to their 52-week highs during the Friday’s session. They included Ceat, Bafna Pharma, Ambuja Cements, JSW Steel, Jet Airways and Indo Count Industries, among others.

Most active counters
With a total traded quantity of 36.69 crore shares, Vodafone Idea emerged as the most active stock on the NSE in terms of volume. It was followed by Reliance Power (12.78 crore), Ashok Leyland (8.85 crore) and Tata Motors (7.31 crore). On the other hand, Reliance Industries (Rs 2,290 crore), Maruti Suzuki (Rs 1,235 crore), HDFC Life (Rs 1,212 crore) and Tata Steel (Rs 1,202 crore) stood among the most active in terms of value.

Where is Nifty headed?
Shrikant Chouhan, Executive Vice President (Equity Technical Research), Kotak Securities, said that traders need to be disciplined and careful while trading in the coming week. On a weekly basis, the market has formed a “Narrow ranged inside body” formation. It is certainly going to invite major volatility in the coming week, which coincidently is the last week of the current month’s F&O contracts.