Post Session: Quick Review

Indian markets returning to the jubilant mood on Thursday, recovered most of what they lost in last three session of decline amid across the board buying and supported by the surge in other global markets. Traders drew some encouragement with the government approving one-time fund infusion to revive and complete languishing national highway projects. Though, only those NH projects where 50% construction has been completed till November 2014, will be eligible for this one-time financial assistance. Meanwhile, the National Highways Authority of India has identified 15 languishing road projects, to which it will provide a one-time financial assistance for completion. Some upbeat earnings too supported the upmove of the markets, Lakshmi Vilas Bank and LIC Housing Finance came up with good set of numbers. However, there was some cautiousness too in the final moments ahead of the trade deficit data scheduled for release later in the day. India's exports contracting for the ninth month in a row had plunged by 20.66 per cent in August to $21.26 billion, widening the trade deficit.

Although, the US markets made a soft closing on weak retail sales data, the Asian markets surged, as weak data out of US reinforced expectations that the Federal Reserve will hold off on raising interest rates. The European markets too followed the trend and made a green start, snapping their three days losing streak on hopes that poor economic data will persuade the Federal Reserve to hold off raising rates until next year.

Back home, the local markets showing a steady trade strengthened gradually to end near the highs of the day, some sign of profit taking appeared in the dying moment that dragged the markets down from the intraday high, but overall it was a good day for the markets and not only the high beta blue-chip stocks but the broader markets too equally participated in the rally with buying picking up momentum in commodity-related gauges such as oil & gas and metal stocks. The markets looked firm from the very beginning taking support from the government’s initiative to tackle the inflation, after an inter-ministerial group headed by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley reviewed the spiking price situation of pulses, as rates peaked to Rs 187-190 a kilogram in retail markets across the country. Jaitley said the government has decided to invoke the Rs 500-crore Price Stabilisation Fund that will be used to pay for transportation, handling, milling and processing - aimed at reducing the cost of imported pulses. He added that this would help in increasing supplies and making pulses available in the retail markets at lower rates. Back on street, there was across the board buying and the broader markets too witnessed good demand, however the auto stocks took the lead on the sectoral front, closely followed by oil & gas and metal, while the information technology witnessed another down day and was the lone losing sectoral index on the BSE.

The BSE Sensex ended at 26998.66, up by 219.00 points or 0.82% after trading in a range of 26836.77 and 27037.95. There were 23 stocks on gainers side against 7 stocks on the losers’ side on the index. (Provisional)

The broader indices too traded neck-in-neck to the benchmarks; the BSE Mid cap index ended up by 0.87%, while Small cap index gained 0.51%. (Provisional)

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Auto up by 2.32%, PSU up by 1.64%, Oil & Gas up by 1.63%, Metal up by 1.62%, Capital Goods up by 1.36%, while IT down by 0.21% was the lone losing index on the BSE. (Provisional)

The top gainers on the Sensex were Tata Motors up by 7.92%, BHEL up by 3.16%, Maruti Suzuki up by 3.06%, Tata Steel up by 3.02% and Coal India up by 2.41%. On the flip side, Cipla down by 1.00%, Mahindra & Mahindra down by 0.99%, Hindustan Unilever down by 0.93%, NTPC down by 0.64% and TCS down by 0.50% were the top losers. (Provisional)

Back home, in a relief measure for the financially strained fertiliser industry, the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA), chaired by the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi, has approved a Special Banking Arrangement (SBA) for Rs 7,000 crore loan from consortium public sector banks led by State Bank of India and Punjab National Bank in order to settle the outstanding urea subsidy bill during 2014-15.

In a bid to overcome the liquidity problems of the fertilizer companies, the SBA has already been implemented. Under SBA, a total of Rs 6,806.66 crore for settlement of subsidy bills with the two consortiums of public sector banks was raised by government. The above loan amount along with interest liability on the part of government thereon amounting to Rs 64.03 crore was paid to the banks. The loan together with government interest thereon has been repaid from budget estimate for 2015-16 within the sanctioned budget under the vote on account.

Government is making available fertilizers namely urea and 22 grades of P&K fertilisers, to farmers at subsidised prices through fertiliser manufacturers/importers. Government provides urea to farmers at a fixed maximum retail price (MRP) of Rs 5,360 per tonne where the difference between the cost of production and MRP is provided as subsidy to manufacturers. India produces about 22 million tonnes of urea and imports about 8-9 million tonnes to meet the domestic shortfall.

The CNX Nifty ended at 8178.75, up by 70.85 points or 0.87% after trading in a range of 8129.80 and 8190.55. There were 37 stocks in green against 13 stocks in red on the index. (Provisional)

The top gainers on Nifty were Zee Entertainment up by 7.95%, Tata Motors up by 7.86%, BPCL up by 3.96%, Bank Of Baroda up by 3.75% and BHEL up by 3.31%. On the flip side, Cipla down by 1.15%, Mahindra & Mahindra down by 1.08%, Wipro down by 1.00%, Hindustan Unilever down by 0.61% and TCS down by 0.57% were the top losers. (Provisional)

The Asian equity markets ended in green on Thursday, as weak US economic data could delay Fed rate hike. China’s economic planner stated that consumer prices will continue to growth at a mild pace in coming months, amid investors’ concerns about deflationary pressures in the economy. The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) data showed that the consumer price index (CPI) rose 1.6% in September from a year earlier, lower than expectations of 1.8% and down from August’s 2%. China’s non-financial outbound direct investment (ODI) increased to 16.5% year-on- year to $87.3 billion in the first three quarters of 2015 as Chinese companies invested more under the Silk Road initiative. Foreign-contracted projects rose to $137.6 billion during the January-September period, up 26.5% from last year. The accomplished turnover climbed 9.2% to $100.8 billion.  Japan’s industrial production fell to a seasonally adjusted -1.2%, from -0.5% in the preceding month.

South Korea’s central bank has cut its economic growth forecast for the fourth time this year and left interest rates at a record low, as a lengthening export slump overshadowed a pick-up in domestic activity. The BOK shaved its economic growth forecast for this year to 2.7%, from the 2.8% it had predicted back in July. It is the fourth reduction since the start of the year, when it had estimated 3.9% growth. The bank also left its key interest rate unchanged at 1.5% -- a decision that had been widely expected following a cut of 25 basis points in June.