Post Session: Quick Review

After finishing at record high levels in previous session of trade, local equity markets witnessed consolidation on Tuesday, which led to flattish close of both Sensex and Nifty with negative bias that was below the psychologically crucial 28,200 and 8,450 levels respectively. Bourses after making a good start and scaling fresh highs in early session of trade amidst hopes of rate cut by RBI in its upcoming monetary policy on December 2, as Finance Minister Arun Jaitley pitched for rate cuts, lost all their euphoria in afternoon deals. Rupee’s weakness to a month low level in intra-day session, also weighed negatively on bourses. Nevertheless, sharp losses were prevented on account of positive global cues. Meanwhile, broader indices staging contrary trend throughout the session, concluded with gains in the range of 0.25%-0.95%.

On the global front, Asian stocks sagged on Tuesday amid profit taking in Hong Kong and Chinese markets, while Tokyo shares ended higher on expectations that Japan will opt for a snap election that may lead to fresh stimulus measures. Hong Kong and Chinese shares fell for a second straight day after the debut of the landmark Hong Kong-Shanghai trading link as investors continued to lock in profits in stocks that had risen sharply ahead of the launch. Meanwhile, European shares gained in early deals on hopes of more stimuli, which were underpinned by comments from European Central Bank (ECB) President Mario Draghi, who said the ECB was ready to provide more stimulus. However, bit of caution was witnessed ahead of the release of the minutes of the latest Federal Reserve meeting this week amidst expectation that Fed minutes would continue to show optimism about the U.S. economy that would keep the U.S. central bank on track to raise interest rates sometime next year.

Closer home, despite the subdued trend, most of the sectoral indices on BSE concluded into positive territory, however stocks from Capital Goods, Infrastructure and Power counters were the top gainers of the session. Shares of Infrastructure counter strengthened after FM said that he was in talks with the members of opposition parties to make necessary procedural changes in Land Acquisition Act, in order to avoid delay in the implementation of the infrastructure projects. Besides, Telecom stocks also rang loud after reports suggested of Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar and Telecom Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad agreeing to work in consent, coordination and synergy to resolve spectrum related issue. Moreover, sugar stocks, like Balrampur Chini , Shree Renuka ,  Bajaj Hindusthan and  Sakthi Sugars rallied in the range of 8-10% each on hopes of getting subsidy for sugar exports after reports suggested that Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) was scheduled  to meet on Wednesday to discuss subsidy for sugar exports.

On the flip side, stocks from Consumer Durables, IT and Realty counters were the top losers of the session. Losses of Healthcare stocks were led by shares of Sun Pharmaceuticals, which slipped on reports that the company has recalled 68,000 bottles of the antidepressant Effexor in the US, in the second recall of the drug this year. The market breadth on the BSE remained in the favour of advances, where advancing and declining stocks were in a ratio of 1765:1341, while 96 scrips remained unchanged. (Provisional)

The BSE Sensex ended at 28171.71, down by 6.17 points or 0.02% after trading in a range of 28119.95 and 28282.85. There were 14 stocks advancing against 16 stocks declining on the index. (Provisional)

The broader indices ended in the green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.27%, while Small cap index up by 0.95%. (Provisional)

The gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Capital Goods up by 1.80%, Infrastructure up by 1.51%, Power up by 1.26%, Metal up by 0.85% and Auto up by 0.52% while, Consumer Durables down by 0.78%, IT down by 0.70%, Realty down by 0.66%, Oil & Gas down by 0.33% and FMCG down by 0.23% were the losing indices on BSE. (Provisional)

The top gainers on the Sensex were Sesa Sterlite up by 4.04%, Larsen & Toubro up by 2.10%, BHEL up by 1.99%, Bharti Airtel up by 1.68% and HDFC Bank up by 1.62%. On the flip side, HDFC down by 1.92%, Hindalco down by 1.87%, Sun Pharma down by 1.75%, ONGC down by 1.46% and Cipla down by 1.13% were the top losers. (Provisional)

Meanwhile, the surging gold import that has led India’s trade deficit in October increasing by 26.06 percent at $13.35 billion, from $10.59 billion in the corresponding month of last year and which is putting pressure on the Current Account Deficit, has made the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to discuss the matter with the government to curb its imports.Gold has seen a sharp surge in the recent months, in October alone gold import surged almost four times to $4.17 billion from $1.09 billion same month a year ago.

RBI Deputy Governor S S Mundra was reported saying that a policy relook is warranted with the surge in gold import and further view will be taken after the discussions of the RBI and the government. Gold imports have touched 150 tonnes in October, as against 24 tonnes a year ago. Worried over the rising trend in gold imports, the government last week held a meeting to discuss ways to curb the import of the precious metal.

Last year in August the previous government had imposed severe restrictions on gold imports and raised import duty to 10 percent in order to check burgeoning current account deficit and sliding rupee, but in May this year it eased certain rules and allowed private agencies to import gold under 80:20 scheme.

India VIX, a gauge for markets short term expectation of volatility declined 2.39% at 14.06 from its previous close of 14.34 on Monday. (Provisional)

The CNX Nifty ended The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 8425.90, down by 4.85 points or 0.06% after trading in a range of 8407.25 and 8454.50. There were 25 stocks advancing against 24 stocks declining, with one unchanged on the index. (Provisional)

The top gainers on Nifty were Sesa Sterlite up by 3.78%, IDFC up by 3.08%, BHEL up by 2.03%, PNB up by 1.98% and Larsen & Toubro up by 1.78%. On the flip side, HDFC down by 2.15%, Kotak Mahindra Bank down by 2.08%, Sun Pharma down by 1.92%, Hindalco down by 1.74% and ONGC down by 1.46% were the top losers. (Provisional)

European Markets were trading in the green; France’s CAC was up by 0.49%, Germany’s DAX was up by 0.76% and UK’s FTSE 100 was up by 0.43%.

Asian markets ended mostly in green on Tuesday, with Japanese stock recovering from the biggest one-day rout this year as expectations for stimulus measures rose a day after the country reported that its economy slid into recession. Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is set to call early elections as part of a trio of measures in a gambit to secure his political future and fortify the three arrows of his economic policy after the nation sank into recession. Abe plans to postpone an unpopular sales tax increase, scheduled for October 2015, for 18 months. Indonesia’s central bank convened an extraordinary meeting, fueling speculation it will raise interest rates after the president hiked fuel prices to tackle the country’s budget and current account deficits. In his first major economic policy decision, President Joko Widodo yesterday night raised subsidized gasoline and diesel prices by more than 30% to help fund his reform agenda. The central bank has pushed for significant cuts in fuel subsidies, which have made it focus monetary policy on the big current account deficit instead of raising economic growth, which has fallen to 5.01%, its slowest pace in five years. Hong Kong Unemployment Rate remained unchanged at a seasonally adjusted 3.3% compared to the preceding month.