Post Session: Quick Review

Final hour momentum mainly got the bulls going on last trading session of the week, lifting both Sensex and Nifty above psychologically crucial 28,000 and 8,350 levels respectively, with gains of around 0.35% on Friday. Sentiment to some extent drew solace from the release of good macro-economic data. Though the impact of the data wasn’t evident right after the release, gains gradually came through, especially in the last hour of trade.  On the macro-front, easing at lowest level since October 2009, India's main inflation gauge, based on monthly WPI, stood at 1.77% for the month of October as compared to 2.38% in the previous month and 7.24% during the corresponding month of the previous year on the back of lower food and fuel inflation. Nevertheless, the sentiment was also buttressed with optimistic global set-up.

On the global front, Asian markets concluded mostly in green, led by gains in Japanese shares which continued their record run on speculation that Japan's prime minister will call a snap election next month and delay the sales tax rise. On the flip side, European shares after making mostly positive start, succumbed to selling pressure after gross domestic product numbers showed both France and Germany grew marginally in the third quarter. The European data confirmed that the outlook for much of the world economy still looks much shakier than for the United States, although France beat expectations.

Closer home, much of the sectoral indices on BSE concluded in positive territory; however stocks from defensive Healthcare and FMCG counters were the only losers of the session. On the flip side, maximum demand was garnered by stocks of Metal, Realty and Oil & Gas counters. Additionally, IT counter edged higher on weak rupee. The gains of the pivotal was led by TCS shares which gained over half a percent, following it was Infosys which managed to secured slender gains of around one tenth of a percent by the end of trade.  Besides, Rate sensitive counter, like Auto and Banking stocks too rallied amidst hopes that RBI may slash interest rates in upcoming monetary policy in December after 5 year low October WPI data. Notably, Capital Goods pivotal held strong in the face of disappointing BHEL’s September quarter earnings. The company reported a net profit of Rs 125 crore in July-September quarter, down 72 per cent, from Rs 456 crore in the corresponding quarter last fiscal. In the positive session of trade, broader indices too participated and went home with gains of over half a percent. The market breadth on the BSE remained in the favour of decliners, where advancing and declining stocks were in a ratio of 1569:1461, while 118 scrips remained unchanged. (Provisional)

The BSE Sensex ended at 28046.66, up by 106.02 points or 0.38% after trading in a range of 27912.90 and 28093.23. There were 18 stocks advancing against 11 stocks declining on the index. (Provisional)

The broader indices ended in the green; the BSE Mid cap as well as Small cap index were both up by 0.52%. (Provisional)

The gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Metal up by 2.53%, Realty up by 2.35%, PSU up by 1.61%, Oil & Gas up by 1.06% and Bankex up by 0.72% while, Healthcare down by 1.22% and FMCG down by 0.12% were the only losing indices on BSE. (Provisional)

The top gainers on the Sensex were Hindalco up by 3.69%, GAIL India up by 2.48%, SBI up by 2.42%, Tata Steel up by 2.28% and Coal India up by 2.23%. On the flip side, Sun Pharma down by 2.45%, Cipla down by 2.43%, Hindustan Unilever down by 1.15%, Dr. Reddys Lab down by 1.15% and HDFC down by 0.67% were the top losers. (Provisional)

Meanwhile, easing at lowest level since October 2009, India's main inflation gauge, based on monthly WPI, stood at 1.77% for the month of October as compared to 2.38% in the previous month and 7.24% during the corresponding month of the previous year. The reading was way below the street expectation of a 2% mark for the month under review. However, August inflation figures were revised upwards to 3.84% from 3.74% earlier. Meanwhile, build up inflation rate in the financial year so far was 2.00% compared to a build up rate of 6.23% in the corresponding period of the previous year. The reading, which was lowest in five years was mainly on the back of lower food and fuel inflation.

Fuel & Power index, which occupies 14.91% weight in the overall index, declined by 1.3% to 210.7 (provisional) from 213.4 (provisional) for the previous month due to lower price of furnace oil (4%), aviation turbine fuel (3%), petrol and bitumen (2% each) and kerosene and high speed diesel oil (1% each). However, the price of lubricants (1%) moved up.

Meanwhile, the index of Manufactured Products, which occupies the majority 64.97% weight in WPI index, declined by 0.5% to 174.2 (provisional) from 175.1 (provisional) in September. 

Additionally, Primary Articles index, which occupies 20.12% weight in the overall headline index, declined by 1.2% to 255.00 (provisional) from 258.2 (provisional) for the previous month. Out of the index, 'Food Articles’ group declined by 1.3% to 258.5 (provisional) from 261.8 in the previous month, while index for ‘Non-Food Articles’  group declined by 2.00% to 210.0 (provisional) from 214.3 for the previous month.

The latest data strengthens the case of RBI considering the case for rate cut in its upcoming monetary policy since central bank takes into consideration both Retail and WPI inflation while deciding upon its monetary policy. Earlier, in an encouraging development, India’s consumer price inflation eased at another all time low level since the launch of the new series of Consumer Price Index in 2012, at 5.52% in October as compared to 6.46% in September, helped by the lower prices of food and fuel. The numbers were way lower than street expectation of a figure above ‘5.60%’.

India VIX, a gauge for markets short term expectation of volatility rose 1.25% at 13.97 from its previous close of 13.80 on Thursday. (Provisional)

The CNX Nifty ended at 8389.90, up by 32.05 points or 0.38% after trading in a range of 8346.80 and 8400.65. There were 35 stocks advancing against 15 stocks declining on the index. (Provisional)

The top gainers on Nifty were Asian Paints up by 4.25%, Jindal Steel & Power up by 4.10%, Hindalco up by 3.55%, GAIL India up by 2.75% and Coal India up by 2.65%. On the flip side, Sun Pharma down by 2.37%, Cipla down by 2.32%, HCL Tech. down by 1.76%, Kotak Mahindra Bank down by 1.64% and Grasim Industries down by 1.20% were the top losers. (Provisional)

European Markets were trading mostly in the green; France’s CAC was up by 0.27% and Germany’s DAX was up by 0.02%, while UK’s FTSE 100 was down by 0.15%.

Asian markets ended mostly in green on Friday, with Japan’s index rising as investors await a report on economic growth amid speculation Prime Minister Shinzo Abe plans to delay a sales-tax increase and call an election. South Korea’s central bank kept its policy interest rate steady as widely expected, to assess the effects of this year’s two rate cuts as well as policy decisions in the United States and Japan. The Bank of Korea’s monetary policy committee left its base rate unchanged at 2 percent. Singapore’s housing market may face fire sales with mortgage defaults as the government’s property curbs hurt home sales and prices. Singapore’s private home prices fell 0.7 percent in the three months ended September, the fourth quarter-on-quarter drop, bringing the slide in the past year to almost 4 percent. That’s the longest losing streak since 2009, when the government started introducing measures, with some of the strictest implemented last year, including a cap on debt. Singaporean Retail Sales rose to a seasonally adjusted 5.5%, from 5.4% in the preceding month. Indonesia central bank stated that the country posted a balance of payments surplus of $6.5 billion during July to September, bigger than the $4.3 billion surplus it had in April-June. Malaysian GDP fell to a seasonally adjusted 5.6%, from 6.4% in the preceding month.