Post Session: Quick Review

Indian markets continuing their upmove for the fourth straight session surged on Wednesday, on sustained buying by investors in blue-chip stocks amid a firming trend in Asian markets ahead of US Fed policy announcement. The slow but positive start gained momentum in last leg of trade taking benchmarks above 26800 (Sensex) and 8100 (Nifty) crucial psychological levels. Traders though remained concerned about the US Federal Reserve's highly anticipated monetary policy announcement later in the day amid concerns from domestic front of deficient monsoon. The first 10 days of the southwest monsoon had a strong showing in the eastern and northeastern parts. According to India Meteorological Department (IMD), the country received 36.4 mm of rain on June 1-10, though rain for the central and northwestern parts remained a cause of concern.

On the global front, while the US markets ended higher, the Asian markets too recovered from their sluggish start and ended mostly in the green. However, the European markets made a soft-to-cautious start, amid continued debate over Greece’s fate, and speculation the Federal Reserve will signal a slow pace of monetary tightening. Greece has snubbed European pleas to submit a new proposal to avert insolvency, saying it was up to creditors to make the next move.

Back home, some last moment profit taking dragged the markets from the highs of the day otherwise it would have been a day of big gains, when the benchmarks could have broken the resistance of 27000 (Sensex) and 8150 (Nifty), still the major averages managed respectable gains in mostly an across the board buying. Traders seems to have got a boost with report that Finance Minister Arun Jaitley who embarked on a roadshow to hardsell the India growth story to investors in a bid to attract investment will hold meetings with Foreign Institutional Investors (FII) and top CEOs of American financial companies during his nine-day visit to the United States. Jaitley will address the select gathering of portfolio managers from FIIs as well as the executives of US companies operational in India, comprising banks, insurance and pension funds, infrastructure and manufacturing companies, defence firms and pharmaceutical corporations. Back on street, apart from bluechips, decent buying was seen in the broader markets at lower valuation, while sectorally consumer durables with gains of over two percent was the top gainer closely followed by healthcare, FMCG and capital goods. On the other hand some profit taking appeared in banking and power. There was jubilation in the domestic steel sector stocks on report the government has hiked import duty on flat steel products to 10 per cent from 7.5 per cent. The duty on long steel products was also hiked to 7.5 per cent, from 5 per cent. Import duty hike translates into hike of Rs 600 per tonne on imported steel which will ease price pressure on domestic steelmakers. Tata Steel was up by 3.62%, Uttam Galva gained 4.51%, SAIL was higher by 1.83% and Monnet Ispat surged by 8.10%.

The BSE Sensex ended at 26832.66, up by 146.15 points or 0.55% after trading in a range of 26728.89 and 26983.48. 18 stocks advanced against 12 declines on the index. (Provisional)

The broader indices outperformed the benchmarks; the BSE Mid cap index surged by 1.44%, while Small cap index gained 1.33%.(Provisional)

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Consumer Durables up by 2.26%, FMCG up by 1.46%, Capital Goods up by 1.11%, Auto up by 0.81%, Metal up by 0.78%, while Power down by 0.45%, Bankex down by 0.15%, PSU down by 0.02% were the losing indices on BSE.(Provisional)

The top gainers on the Sensex were Cipla up by 4.03%, Hindustan Unilever up by 3.41%, Reliance Industries up by 2.95%, Hindalco up by 2.95% and Tata Steel up by 2.90%. On the flip side, Vedanta down by 3.42%, BHEL down by 2.01%, Tata Power down by 1.69%, Bajaj Auto down by 1.10% and HDFC Bank down by 0.76% were the top losers.(Provisional)

Meanwhile, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley who embarked on a roadshow to hardsell the India growth story to investors in a bid to attract investment, will hold meetings with Foreign Institutional Investors (FII) and top CEOs of American financial companies during his nine-day visit to the United States. Jaitley will address the select gathering of portfolio managers from FIIs as well as the executives of US companies operational in India, comprising banks, insurance and pension funds, infrastructure and manufacturing companies, defence firms and pharmaceutical corporations.

Arun Jaitley in its meeting with executives of top US companies, organised by FICCI will give details regarding broad policy agenda for reviving India’s growth while balancing inflation and what India expects from long term investors and strategists to support its growth agenda and how the Government is focused on making India an easier destination to do business. He will also give details regarding the role the foreign investors and companies can play in building-out India infrastructure in sectors like power, roads, highways and ports, among others.

The Finance Minister in his extremely busy schedule will also hold meeting with about 150 members of Council for Foreign Relations (CFR) and would highlight about likely prospects of Indian economy, investment opportunities in India and development of infrastructure among others. He will later hold meetings with USIBC AND FICCI executives and would discuss about reform measures put in place by the Government of India to make India a top investment destination.

During his stay in Washington DC, he will also meet top CEOs/senior officials of US companies, apart from addressing a press conference. He is accompanied by a small team of officers, including finance secretary Rajiv Mehrishi. A delegation from the Indian industry will also join him to highlight India’s improved investment climate and positive economic outlook on the back of recent policy initiatives of the government.

The CNX Nifty ended at 8089.75, up by 42.45 points or 0.53% after trading in a range of 8048.95 and 8136.85. There were 29 stocks on gainers side against 20 stocks on the decliners side on the index.(Provisional)

The top gainers on Nifty were Cipla up by 4.11%, Hindustan Unilever up by 3.36%, Hindalco up by 3.13%, Reliance Industries up by 3.04% and Tata Steel up by 2.85%. On the flip side, Vedanta down by 3.47%, Power Grid Corpn down by 2.15%, Tata Power down by 1.96%, BHEL down by 1.81% and Cairn India down by 1.57% were the top losers.(Provisional)

European Markets continued their bearish trend with a soft start, France’s CAC declined by 20.94 points or 0.43% to 4,818.92, UK’s FTSE 100 was down by 20.32 points or 0.3% to 6,689.78 and Germany’s DAX decreased by 12.43 points or 0.11% to 11,031.58.

Asian markets closed mostly in green on Wednesday, boosted by a rally on Wall Street, while dealers await the conclusion of a US Federal Reserve policy meeting later in the day. China’s central bank will allow private equity funds into the interbank bond market for the first time as it aims to open the channels wider for companies to access capital. Indonesia’s central bank expects the economy to grow 5 percent this year, slightly slower than its previous 5.1 percent estimate. Bank Indonesia Governor Agus Martowardojo stated that banking in Southeast Asia’s largest economy remained healthy, but credit growth was slowing. Separately, the central bank expects the nation’s current account deficit at around 2.5 percent of gross domestic product in the second quarter, up from 1.8 percent in the previous quarter. South Korea’s central bank governor waved away fears of Asia’s fourth-largest economy slipping into deflation, saying annual inflation will pick up to over 1 percent towards the end of this year.