Post Session: Quick Review

Extending their winning streak for third consecutive session, local equity markets rose to their highest level in nearly one and half month of Monday, which lifted both Sensex and Nifty above psychologically crucial 28,250 and 8,550 levels respectively, with gains of around half a percent on sustained buying activities by funds and retail thanks to better than expected quarterly earnings. Meanwhile sustained foreign inflows in both debt and equity markets also buoyed the sentiment at Dalal Street. As per provisional stock exchange data, foreign institutional investors were net buyers in Indian equities worth Rs 1,100 crore on Friday. In the extremely optimistic session of trade, frontline equity indices for once did not once drift away from positive territory, though ended off day’s high point by close of trade. Meanwhile, broader indices also participating into the rally went home with gains in the range of 0.40-0.80%.

Gains were also in line with higher Asian stock markets, which tracked higher Wall Street shares. Chinese shares, however, recoiled on Monday after regulators took steps to rein in speculative lending. Meanwhile, European shares were little changed, paring earlier gains amidst investors’ expectation of an announcement on quantative easing from the European Central bank this week.

Closer home, most of the sectoral indices on BSE concluded into positive territory, however stocks from IT and Fast moving Consumer Goods counters capitulated to selling pressure. On the flip side, stocks from Consumer durables, Infrastructure and Capital Goods counters were the prominent gainers of the session. IT stocks, which were up in opening deals led by the strong gains in Wipro, which has surged around 6% post its better-than-expected third quarter earnings on the back of dollar revenue growth, succumbed to selling pressure by close of trade. Besides, banking stocks edged higher on the back of gains of shares of HDFC Bank that gained around 1.5%. The private sector bank now figures in a list of the top 50 global banks in terms of market capitalisation along with SBI. The overall market breadth on BSE was in the favour of advances, which thumped decliners in the ratio of 1660:1309, while 116 shares remained unchanged (Provisional).

The BSE Sensex ended at 28262.01, up by 140.12 points or 0.50% after trading in a range of 28197.36 and 28334.06. There were 22 stocks advancing against 8 stocks declining on the index. (Provisional)

The broader indices ended in the green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.45%, while Small cap index up by 0.80%. (Provisional)

The gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Consumer Durables up by 3.35%, Infrastructure up by 1.18%, Capital Goods up by 1.17%, Healthcare up by 1.17% and Power up by 1.08% while, FMCG down by 0.71% and IT down by 0.01% were the only losing indices on BSE. (Provisional)

The top gainers on the Sensex were Wipro up by 5.27%, GAIL India up by 4.02%, BHEL up by 2.86%, Axis Bank up by 2.70% and Bharti Airtel up by 2.67%. On the flip side, Hindustan Unilever down by 5.25%, Hero MotoCorp down by 1.69%, TCS down by 0.90%, HDFC down by 0.88% and SBI down by 0.70% were the top losers. (Provisional)

Meanwhile, an Industry body PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry has stated that India is economically better placed now as compared to six months ago on the back of improving economic indicators such as inflation, industrial output, core infrastructure and exports. 

Industry chamber's President Alok B Shriram has asserted that the economy has once again emerged as a major investment destination which is visible from the recent Vibrant Gujarat Summit which witnessed the signing of a whopping 21,000 Letters of Intent (LoI) worth Rs 25 lakh crore. Further, he added that the revival of industrial activity should be the utmost priority and implementation of recent reform measures to ease doing business in India are expected to recapture the growth momentum. Industry body applauded the recent policy pronouncements such as launch of Make in India, Digital India, repealing of archaic labour laws, approval to amendments in labour laws along with launching of labour portal. Indian economy expanded by 5.5% during H1FY15 as compared to 4.9% in the same period of previous fiscal. 

Meanwhile, Industry body highlighted the need to ensure easy availability of credit, which would boost investments and create a conducive business environment. While, appreciating the RBI's move to cut policy rate by 25 basis point to 7.75%, industry body noted that there is a need to lower it further atleast by 200 bps in the coming times as the cost of borrowings is significantly higher as compared with India`s competitors in the international market.

India VIX, a gauge for markets short term expectation of volatility surged 2.17% at 17.65 from its previous close of 18.03 on Friday. (Provisional)

The CNX Nifty ended at 8551.50, up by 37.70 points or 0.44% after trading in a range of 8531.50 and 8570.95. There were 35 stocks advancing against 15 stocks declining on the index. (Provisional)

The top gainers on Nifty were Wipro up by 5.30%, GAIL India up by 3.78%, BHEL up by 3.12%, Ambuja Cement up by 3.03% and Axis Bank up by 2.89%. On the flip side, Hindustan Unilever down by 5.03%, BPCL down by 1.98%, Hero MotoCorp down by 1.78%, Asian Paints down by 1.54% and HDFC down by 1.13% were the top losers. (Provisional)

European Markets were trading mostly in the green; UK's FTSE 100 was up by 0.14%, France's CAC was up by 0.04% and Germany's DAX was up by 0.29%.

The Asian equity benchmarks ended mostly in green on Monday, while Chinese shares plunged the most since 2008 as regulators cracked down on margin lending. Beijing’s efforts to put China’s economy on a more sustainable growth path are focusing on shifting from investment-intensive manufacturing jobs to the services sector, but clumsy attempts to force the transition could do more harm than good. China’s economic growth rate is likely to cool further this year, restrained by sluggish lending, a housing slump and weak global demand. The world’s second-largest economy is predicted to grow 7% in 2015, and slow further to 6.8% next year. The data is likely to show China’s economy expanded 7.2% in the final quarter of 2014, the weakest in 24 years. Japan’s industrial production fell to a seasonally adjusted -0.5%. Hong Kong Unemployment Rate remained unchanged at a seasonally adjusted 3.3%, compared to the preceding month.