As per the provisional closing data, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex advanced 88.91 points or 0.12% to 74,005.94. The Nifty 50 index added 40.65 points or 0.18% to 22,506.75.

The National Stock Exchange and Bombay Stock Exchange held a special live trading session today, 18 May 2024, in the equity and equity derivative segments with an intra-day switchover from the Primary site to the Disaster Recovery site. The special session was divided into two parts – the first session began at 9:15 am and concluded at 10 am, followed by another session started at 11:30 am and ended at 12:30 pm.

The broader market outperformed the frontline indices. The S&P BSE Mid-Cap index rose 0.48% while the S&P BSE Small-Cap index gained 0.77%.

The market breadth was strong. On the BSE, 2,465 shares rose and 1,021 shares fell. A total of 137 shares were unchanged.

Buzzing Index:

The Nifty Media index advanced 1.31% to 1,835.60. The index jumped 3.56% in the past two trading session.

Zee Entertainment Enterprises (up 4.04%), Dish TV India (up 1.22%), Nazara Technologies (up 0.53%), Hathway Cable & Datacom (up 0.47%) and Network 18 Media & Investments (up 0.31%), TV18 Broadcast (up 0.23%), Sun TV Network (up 0.15%) and PVR Inox (up 0.04%) advanced.

Stocks in spotlight:

Zydus Lifesciences hit an upper circuit of 5% after the pharma major reported consolidated net profit of Rs 1,182.3 crore in Q4 FY24 steeply higher than Rs 296.6 crore recorded in Q4 FY23. Revenue from operations jumped 10.44% to Rs 5,533.8 crore during the quarter as compared with Rs 5,010.6 crore posted in corresponding quarter last year.

Rail Vikas Nigam (RVNL) rallied 3.22% after the company reported 33.16% increase in consolidated net profit to Rs 478.40 crore in Q4 FY24 as compared with Rs 359.25 crore in Q4 FY23. Revenue from operations jumped 17.38% year on year (YoY) to Rs 6,714.01 crore in the fourth quarter of FY24.

Bandhan Bank rose 0.94%. The bank's net profit tumbled 93.24% to Rs 54.62 crore in Q4 FY24 as compared to Rs 808.29 crore recorded in Q4 FY23. However total income grew by 20.13% to Rs 5,883.46 crore in the fourth quarter of FY24 from Rs 4,897.39 crore posted in Q4 FY23.

Go Fashion (India) rose 1.28% after the company said that it has entered into a new five-year franchise agreement with Apparel Group, a leader in global fashion and lifestyle retail.

Global market:

US equities on Friday gained, with the Dow Jones closing above the historic 40,000-level for the first time ever. The Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 0.34% to settle at an impressive 40,003.59. While the broader S&P 500 managed a modest gain of 0.1%, the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite ended the day flat with a slight downward tilt. These positive market movements likely stem from a combination of strong corporate earnings reports and economic data that has fueled investor optimism about potential Federal Reserve interest rate reductions later this year.