Benchmarks manage to eke out slender gains

Indian equity benchmarks, trimming most of their initial gains, ended Thursday’s trade with marginal gains and extended their winning streak to third straight session. Markets made a gap-up opening supported by positive global sentiments but markets turned choppy as investors started booking profits at higher levels. There was some disappointment after growth in eight core sectors - coal, crude oil, natural gas, refinery products, fertiliser, steel, cement and electricity, slowed to 2.6% in August compared with 5.9% in the corresponding month last year as steel production shrank and coal output flattened. Sentiment was also tempered by data that showed the country's manufacturing activity in September slowed more than expected to a seven-month low. Nikkei/Markit survey stated that India's manufacturing sector output slipped to a seven-month low of 51.2 in September, as order flow turned sluggish amid difficult economic climate.

Also, the rating agency Fitch Ratings has lowered India’s GDP growth estimate for the current fiscal to 7.5 percent from 7.8 percent on average monsoon but said the country is poised to grow at 8 percent next fiscal on reform push. Traders also remained concerned with the monsoon season ending on Wednesday with a 14% deficit, making it the weakest monsoon since 2009. In terms of average countrywide rainfall during the season (June-September), this year was the third lowest since 1979.

Global cues remained supportive with European counters making a firm start with CAC and FTSE were trading with a gain of around a percent in early deals as a rebound in mining stocks and gains in the automotive sector lifted the region's markets back up following the end of a bruising third quarter. Asian markets rallied on Thursday following the footsteps after reports showed the slowdown in Chinese manufacturing activity stabilizing. The nation’s manufacturing output climbed to 52.3 in September from 51.7.  The Japanese index climbed around 2 percent after capping its first three-month slump in six quarters, even as the Tankan gauge of large manufacturers fell to 12.

Back home, appreciation in Indian rupee too supported the sentiments. The partially convertible rupee was trading at 65.56 per dollar at the time of equity market closing against the Wednesday’s close of 65.58 on the Interbank Foreign Exchange. Some support also came with report that foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) bought shares worth a net Rs 116.08 crore yesterday, as per provisional data released by the stock exchanges. Public sector oil marketing companies (OMCs) viz. HPCL and BPCL edged higher after increasing diesel price by 50 paise per litre effective October 1, 2015. Stock related to auto space remained lime light with auto sales numbers for the month of September starting to trickle in. Hinduja Group flagship company Ashok Leyland reported a 60.81 per cent increase in total sales at 14,771 units in September as against 9,185 units for the same month last year. Maruti Suzuki India, country's largest carmaker, reported 3.7 per cent rise in total sales in September at 1,13,759 units as against 1,09,742 units sold in the same month last year.

The NSE’s 50-share broadly followed index Nifty rose marginally to hold the psychological 7,950 support level, while Bombay Stock Exchange’s Sensitive Index -- Sensex surged by over sixty points to finish above the psychological 26,200 mark. Broader markets too traded in-line with benchmarks and ended the session with marginal gains. The market breadth was evenly divided, as there were 1,377 shares on the gaining side against 1,312 shares on the losing side while 130 shares remain unchanged.

Finally, the BSE Sensex gained 66.12 points or 0.25% to 26220.95, while the CNX Nifty added 2.00 points or 0.03 % to 7950.90.

The BSE Sensex touched a high and a low 26431.80 and 26168.71, respectively. The BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.18%, while Small cap index was up by 0.20%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Healthcare up by 1.46%, Consumer Durables up by 0.89%, Capital Goods up by 0.73%, TECK up by 0.24% and FMCG up by 0.24%, while Realty down by 1.82%, Power down by 0.55%, Auto down by 0.45%, Bankex down by 0.37% and IT down by 0.24% were the losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Lupin up by 3.62%, Sun Pharma up by 2.57%, TCS up by 2.01%, Dr. Reddys Lab up by 1.80% and Larsen & Toubro up by 1.54%. On the flip side, BHEL down by 2.85%, GAIL India down by 2.60%, Maruti Suzuki down by 2.33%, Vedanta down by 1.82% and HDFC down by 1.15% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, the Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari has reportedly said that Modi government’s 'fast-decision making', online clearances, policy intervention and other measures has led to roll out of majority of the Rs 3.8 lakh crore stuck highways projects, barring 41 which were terminated and 10-12 of which are in final stages of roll out.

Gadkari stated that the time he has taken the reins of the ministry there were 283 stalled projects worth Rs 3.8 lakh crore. For two-and-a-half years, the previous Environment and Forest Minister did not sign a single file hence majority of the projects were stuck on account of forest clearances and regulatory hurdles. Currently the country is following four important initiatives led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, - innovation, entrepreneurship, e-governance and development oriented policies, which led to a positive outcome where new changes were now brought in.

He stated that in the past one year more than Rs 1.35 lakh crore projects have been awarded in the highways sector, National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) is doing immense work on Rs 3.8 lakh crore projects and Rs 1 lakh crore worth of work is being done in the North Eastern region. He further added that his ministry has undertaken an initiative under which 1 per cent of a highway project would be allocated for the greening of India's about 1 lakh km of National Highways network. 

The CNX Nifty touched a high and low 8008.25 and 7930.65 respectively.

The top gainers on Nifty were Ultratech Cement up by 3.84%, Lupin up by 3.20%, Zee Entertainment up by 2.32%, Sun Pharma up by 2.28% and Adani Ports up by 2.12%. On the flip side, HCL down by 12.54%, BHEL down by 3.28%, GAIL India down by 2.91%, Maruti Suzuki down by 2.28% and Vedanta down by 1.48% were the top losers.

European Markets were trading in the green; France’s CAC was up by 0.86%, Germany’s DAX was up by 0.03% and UK's FTSE was up by 1.28%.

The Asian equity markets ended in green on Thursday, as global equities found breathing space after their worst quarter in four years. Stock markets in China and Hong Kong were closed on account of National Day. China’s Premier Li Keqiang stated that the country will be able to achieve its main economic targets this year, despite increased downward pressure on the economy. He added that the government aims for economic growth of around 7 percent this year. The government has intervened heavily to support the stock market and the yuan currency in a bid to soothe market jitters. Conditions in China’s manufacturing sector deteriorated at the sharpest rate since March 2009, while the country’s services sector barely managed to stay afloat. The monthly Caixin PMI reading, which measures orders and output in the private sector and at small and medium enterprises declined and stood at 47.2 in September, down from 47.3 the previous month. China’s services sector is also seen as a key driver of the country’s growth, particularly with export-driven manufacturing struggling, and the Caixin PMI figure for the sector -- while remaining in positive territory at 50.5 -- represented a sharp fall from 51.5 in August, with new orders growing at their slowest pace for more than a year. South Korean Industrial Production rose to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 0.3%, from -3.2% in the preceding month whose figure was revised up from -3.3%. Indonesian Inflation fell to a seasonally adjusted 6.83%, from 7.18% in the preceding month.