Market Movers: Sunteck & Aster DM gain; Infy rises; smallcaps lead rally

Shares of Sunteck Realty rallied 7 per cent on Thursday after announcing a tieup with State Bank of India, which yesterday said it would guarantee completion of residential projects where it advances loans to customers.

IT major Infosys snapped a three-session losing streak and added over a per cent during the day. However, Nifty IT index was the only sectoral index to end with a cut.

BSE flagship Sensex rose 634 points to end near the day’s high at 41,452, while 50-share Nifty rose 190.55 points to 12,215.

“Diplomatic handling of the Iran-US geopolitical situation by the US President calmed markets today. Back home the keen interest shown by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in resolving the slowing economy cheered the equity market, which witnessed buying in key pivotals and select midcaps," said S Ranganathan, Head of Research at LKP Securities.

Here is a lowdown of the movers and shakers of Thursday’s session on Dalal Street:

Aster DM to buy back shares
Shares of Aster DM Healthcare spiked 2.93 per cent to Rs 164.90 after the board approved a proposal to buy back shares worth up to Rs 120 crore. The company will buy back up to 1.13 per cent stake at Rs 210 a share, as per a regulatory filing.

Alembic Pharma gets USFDA boost
Shares of Alembic Pharma gained 1.03 per cent to Rs 557.70 after the US health regulator successfully completed inspection of its joint venture firm Aleor-Dermaceuticals’ Karakhadi facility in Gujarat.

Sunteck Realty gains 7%
Shares of Sunteck Realty advanced 6.76 per cent to Rs 542.40 after the country’s largest lender by assets State Bank of India (SBI) tied up with the real estate developer for its three ongoing projects in Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR).

Infy snaps losing streak
Infosys paused its three-day losing streak ahead of its December quarter earnings and rose 1.31 per cent to Rs 727 on BSE. In rupee terms, the IT major is projected to report 6-8 per cent QoQ rise in profit (4-7 per cent rise in YoY terms). The company will announce its numbers on Friday.

Volatility index plunges
The measure of volatility in the market, India VIX, ended the day with 10.16 per cent cut to 14.05, suggesting less uncertainty among investors.

Smallcaps shine
Smallcap stocks were on the forefront of Thursday’s rally as Nifty Smallcap index outshone others with a 2.1 per cent jump to 6,005. Nifty Midcap index continued its momentum with another 1.44 per cent gain to 17,319. Nifty500 rose 1.55 per cent to 9,943.

IT index sole loser
Nifty IT index was the only sectoral index that ended the day in the red, down 0.18 per cent at 15,925, thanks to a spike in the rupee. The domestic currency traded 0.44 per cent or 31 paise higher at 71.39 against the US dollar. Nifty Bank, Nifty Realty and Nifty Auto indices added more than 2 per cent each.

Investors richer by Rs 2.22 lakh cr
Equity investors got richer by Rs 2.22 lakh crore as total market capitalisation of BSE-listed firms rose to Rs 157.03 lakh crore from Rs 154.80 lakh crore on Wednesday.

83 stocks flash ‘buy’ signals
As many as 83 stocks gave ‘buy’ signals on the MACD indicator on BSE, as they crossed above their signal lines. They included Ashok Leyland, Shalby, Aditya Birla Capital, TRF, Coffee Day Enterprises, Edelweiss Financial Services, REC, Inox Wind and Engineers India, among others. MACD is a momentum indicator used by technical analysts. However, it is seldom used alone.