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Indian share markets witnessed positive trading activity through the trading session on Friday and ended on a strong note.

Benchmark indices advanced as pharma major Cipla's rally to record high aided sentiment among leading drugmaker stocks, while metal stocks gained on hopes that China would soon roll out measures to boost its economic recovery.

New age tech stocks were in focus today. Paytm shares gained 4% after posting a strong operational update for July while Zomato shares surged 14% to an 18-month high after reporting a quarterly net profit for the first time ever.

At the closing bell, the BSE Sensex stood higher by 481 points (up 0.7%).

Meanwhile, the NSE Nifty closed higher by 135 points (up 0.7%).

IndusInd Bank, Tech Mahindra, and Wipro were among the top gainers today.

Maruti, NTPC, and SBI, on the other hand, were among the top losers today.

The GIFT Nifty was trading at 19,521, down by 38 points, at the time of writing.

Both, the BSE MidCap index and the BSE SmallCap index gained 0.7%.

Sectoral indices ended on a mixed note with stocks in the IT sector, telecom sector, and finance sector witnessing most of the buying.

While auto stocks and power stocks witnessed selling.

Shares of MRF, Info Edge, and Astral hit their respective 52-week highs today.

Now track the biggest movers of the stock market using stocks to watch today section. This should help you keep updated with the latest developments...

Asian share markets ended higher. The Hang Seng gained 0.6% while the Nikkei ended flat. The Shanghai Composite advanced 0.2%.

The rupee is trading at 82.82 against the US$.

Gold prices for the latest contract on MCX are trading down by 0.3% at Rs 59,490 per 10 grams.
 

Update on India's primary markets...

In news from the initial public offering (IPO) space, the IPO market in India has gained momentum in 2023 so far tracking a rally in equity markets with stellar debuts on the chart.

Most of the issues have given double-digit returns.

So far in 2023, 14 major IPOs have been listed out of which Utkarsh Small Finance Bank has been the lead gainer as its stock has surged 106% since 21 July 2023, the day of its listing.

Another new company that has gained focus is Cyient DLM, with returns of 95% since it was listed.

And how can we forget India's leading drone-maker ideaForge's Rs 11.4 bn-IPO which had a bumper debut as the stock listed at Rs 1,300, up 93%.

With the markets remaining mostly on the positive side, expect the upcoming IPOs to garner good responses from retail investors.
 

SBI's Q1 results

Moving on to news from the banking sector, India's largest lender State Bank of India (SBI) on Friday beat expectations by reporting a 178.2% year-on-year (YoY) jump in its net profit at Rs 168.8 bn.

This was the highest-ever net profit for the fourth quarter in succession for SBI.

SBI's net interest income (NII) in the quarter under review rose 24.7% YoY to Rs 389.1 bn while domestic net interest margin increased 24 bps YoY to 3.47%.

SBI's gross NPAs reduced to 2.76% vs 2.78% quarter-on-quarter (QoQ) and 3.9% YoY.

On the balance sheet side, credit growth was recorded at 13.9% YoY with domestic advances growing at 15.1% YoY.

Auto loans crossed the Rs 1 trillion mark while agri and corporate loans registered YoY growth of 14.8% and 12.4%, respectively.

Despite a challenging quarter, SBI said its gross advances level displayed resilience and the 15 bps YoY reduction in gross NPA underlined continued improvement in the quality of assets.

SBI shares fell 3% in intraday trade after reporting results.
 

A new feat for IndiGo

Moving on to airlines space, India's largest domestic airline in India, Indigo crossed a significant milestone in its history by reaching 1,900 flights per day on its 17th anniversary.

The airline has come a long way from launching its inaugural flight in 2006 to etching its name in history on 19 June 2023 this year by bagging the largest order in aviation history of 500 A320 aircraft.

The order solidified the company's position as the airline with the biggest order in the industry. IndiGo had unveiled its first A321, a longer version of A320 aircrafts on 27 December 2018.

IndiGo is amongst the fastest-growing low-cost carriers in the world.

With its fleet of over 300 aircraft, the airline is operating around 1,900 daily flights and connecting 79 domestic destinations and will soon further grow its footprint to 32 international destinations.

With analysts gung-ho on the budget airline, IndiGo shares could continue their good run at least for the next couple of months.

IndiGo's pricing power and healthy air passenger traffic could keep the company in blue skies for a long time it seems.

A word of caution sounds about right at this point in time. If you're considering investing in airline stocks, make sure you do your due diligence. It's a risky sector.

If you get either the stock or your timing wrong, you could face serious losses. But if you buy the right stock at the right time, you could find yourself with a multibagger stock.

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