Post Session: Quick Review

After slumping to 6 weeks low level in previous trading session, local equity markets just about consolidated on Thursday, with benchmarks ending a little higher over one tenth of a percent from previous close as caution ahead of  the outcome of the national elections next week, mostly kept market-participants on tenterhooks. Nevertheless, buying in index heavyweight stocks such as L&T and ICICI Bank among others, mainly kept the momentum positive for Indian equity markets, while some amount of gains also triggered by dovish comments from US Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen that whetted global risk appetite.

In the extremely volatile session of trade, bargain buying activities got markets trading firmly in green for the first part of the session, while profit-booking reversed all the gains in the second half, nevertheless bit of recovery which was witnessed during the dying hours of trade mainly prevented a negative close for markets. Hope that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) will be able to form the next government at the centre with support from some regional parties after Lok Sabha elections, mainly underpinned select investors to go long on equities during last hour of trade. By close, both Sensex and Nifty ended above the crucial 22,300 and 6,650 levels respectively. Meanwhile, broader indices made an indecisive close, with Midcap index going home with cut of over 0.15% and Small-cap index settling higher with the same quantum.

On the global front, Asian shares got a lift on Thursday from dovish comments by the U.S. Federal Reserve chief and upbeat Chinese trade data that suggested some signs of stabilisation in the world's second-largest economy. Additionally, risk assets were also underpinned by signs of easing tensions in Ukraine after Russian President Vladimir Putin called on pro-Moscow separatists to postpone a secession vote. On the macro-front, China's exports and imports returned to slight growth in April after a surprise fall last month, supporting the case that Beijing's use of targeted policy measures to underpin growth may be starting to stabilise the economy. Meanwhile, European shares too were trading ahead of European Central Bank (ECB) interest rate decision and news conference, due later in the day. The ECB is expected to take heart from signs of life in the euro zone economy and keep interest rates unchanged, resisting pressure to act in the face of a stronger euro currency and persistently low inflation.

Closer home, majority of the sectoral indices on BSE settled in the favour of green, with prominent gainers being the stocks from Consumer Durables, Banking and Auto counters that witnessed maximum  interest. On the flip side, stocks from Realty, Fast Moving Consumer Goods and Healthcare counters were the top losers which witnessed maximum drubbing. Meanwhile, Metal rose after latest data from World's largest consumer of copper and aluminum China showed exports and imports unexpectedly rose in April. Sesa Sterlite, Hindalco Industries Hindustan Zinc, Bhushan Steel, NMDC and Hindustan Copper gained in the range of 0.25%-2.50% each. Additionally, IT stocks also bouncedback after previous few sessions’ drubbing after Nasdaq-listed software giant, Cognizant reported a 19.9% rise in its first quarter earnings for the quarter ending March to $2.42 billion.

The market breadth on the BSE ended negative; advances and declining stocks were in a ratio of 1328: 1404, while 136 scrips remained unchanged. (Provisional)

The BSE Sensex gained 20.14 points or 0.09% to settle at 22344.04. The index touched a high and a low of 22443.13 and 22277.04 respectively. Among the 30-share Sensex, 17 stocks gained, while 13 stocks declined. (Provisional)

The broader indices were ended on mixed; the BSE Mid cap index was down by 0.16% and Small cap index up by 0.17%.(Provisional)

On the BSE Sectoral front, Consumer Durables up by 1.30%, Bankex up by 0.74%, Auto up by 0.58% , Capital Goods up by 0.39%  and IT up by 0.24% were the gainers while, Realty down by 0.92%, FMCG down by 0.80%, Health Care down by 0.32%, Oil & Gas  down by 0.21% and PSU down by 0.14% were the top losers in the space. (Provisional)

The top gainers on the Sensex were BHEL up by 3.75%, Tata Motors up by 1.56%, Cipla up by 1.40%, ICICI Bank up by 1.27% and Wipro up by 1.06% while, Hero MotoCorp down by 1.36%, ITC down by 1.33%, Sun Pharma down by 1.09, Bharti Airtel down by 0.82% and Tata Power down by 0.65% were the top losers in the index (Provisional).

Meanwhile, In order to boost the construction of low cost airports to meet the demand of air travel, Finance Ministry is preparing an agreement which will allow infrastructure debt funds (IDFs) to lend to firms developing airports on the basis of public-private-partnership (PPP) model.

According to new agreement, IDFs can reach out to the project promoters in case there is a problem with the developers. Project promoters are government organizations such as Airports Authority of India which awards projects to infrastructure companies (public or private contractors) on a PPP basis.

The government is planning to build nearly 200 low-cost airports in the next 20 years to expand connectivity to Tier-II and Tier-III cities. The non-metro airports presently account for only about 30% of the total air traffic, which is expected to increase to 45% in the next few years.

With an aim to boost the infrastructure development in the country, the government has set up IDF mechanism to allow refinancing of bank loans to infrastructure projects for longer toner at lower cost. Presently, infrastructure companies which implement infrastructure projects on PPP basis depend primarily on bank lending, which is not available for long term.  

India VIX, a gauge for markets short term expectation gained 2.04% at 34.30 from its previous close of 33.61 on Wednesday. (Provisional)

The CNX Nifty gained 7.30 points or 0.11% to settle at 6,659.85. The index touched high and low of 6,688.40 and 6,638.55 respectively. Out of 50 stocks in Nifty, 24 stocks ended in the green and 26 in red.

The major gainers of the Nifty were BHEL up 3.76%, HCL Tech up by 1.83%, Tata Motors up by 1.72%, Power Grid up by 1.66% and Hindalco up by 1.41%.  The key losers were BPCL down by 1.85%, Hero Moto Co down by 1.36%, ITC down by 1.34%, Lupin down by 1.18% and Bharti Airtel down by 0.96%. (Provisional)

European markets were trading in green; France’s CAC 40 was up by 0.64%, UK’s FTSE 100 was up by 0.53% and Germany’s DAX was up by 0.65%.

The Asian markets concluded Thursday’s trade mostly in green, on upbeat Chinese trade data that suggested some signs of stabilization in the world's second-largest economy. China’s exports and imports rose marginally in April rebounding from sharp declines the month before amid a growth slowdown in the world’s second-largest economy. Exports crept up 0.9% year-on-year to $188.54 billion while imports increased 0.8% to $170.09 billion, resulting in a surplus of $18.45 billion. Indonesia’s current account deficit widened slightly in the first quarter of the year and will increase further in the second and third quarters because of seasonal factors. The central bank stated that the widest measure of the flow of goods, services and money in and out of the country posted a deficit of 2.06% of gross domestic product in the first quarter. That was marginally higher than the 1.98% deficit the previous quarter. Also, the central bank kept its key reference rate unchanged at 7.50%, as widely expected, with pressures over inflation and a widening current-account deficit easing.