Benchmarks end near day’s highs; bulls wake-up in late trade

Friday’s session turned out to be a fabulous day of trade for the Indian equity markets, where frontline gauges garnered gains of around three fourth of a percent. Hectic buying activity which took place during last leg of trade mainly drove the markets higher, with frontline gauges ending at intraday high levels, recapturing their crucial 27,200 (Sensex) and 8,200 (Nifty) bastions. Earlier, domestic bourses traded choppy for most part of the day’s trade as sentiments remained dampened on reported that India’s exports contracted for the 10th straight month by 24.33 per cent in September to $21.84 billion due to steep fall in shipments of petroleum productions, iron ore, and engineering goods. Also, there was some concern with the RBI releasing a report on the financial performance of non-government non-financial companies stating that Indian corporates as a whole saw their net profits fall 9.5 per cent in the first quarter of this financial year, though it was still better than the 12.5 per cent decline seen in the previous quarter.

However, sentiments took U-turn in last hour of trade as market-participants opted to take positions in beaten down but fundamentally strong stocks. Some strength came with data from the Petroleum Planning and Analysis Cell (PPAC) of the oil ministry that India's fuel demand in September rose at the fastest pace in more than a decade, providing further evidence of a pickup in industrial activity. Traders also got some encouragement with Finance Minister Arun Jaitley's statement that economic growth could top 7.5 percent in the current fiscal and macroeconomic indicators are positive with declining inflation and twin deficits under control. He also said that even when globally the economic situation is not that good, India's industrial and manufacturing output are showing improvement.

Positive opening in European counters too supported the sentiments. CAC, DAX and FTSE were trading with a gain of over half a percent in early deals, on hopes that weak economic data from China, Europe and the US will persuade the Federal Reserve against raising interest rates this year. Asian market ended mostly in green led by the Chinese market which gained over one and half a percent, as the government unveiled further reforms of state-run industries.

Back home, buying in auto stocks too supported the sentiments on hopes of higher demand during the festive season with most of them set to launch new models. Oil marketing companies viz BPCL, HPCL, IOC edged higher on hiking 95 paise in diesel rates, but kept the petrol prices unchanged to align the domestic prices with global product prices. On the flip side, telecom stocks remained under pressure after Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) has directed telcos to credit Rs 1 to a user for every call drop, up to Rs 3 per day (three dropped calls). The user will have to be intimated of the credit within four hours. For postpaid mobile users, the details of the credit will have to be shown in the next bill. The new rules will be applicable from January 1, 2016.

The NSE’s 50-share broadly followed index Nifty ended higher by around sixty points to end above above its psychological 8,200 support level, while Bombay Stock Exchange’s Sensitive Index -- Sensex edged higher by over two hundred points to regain the psychological 27,200 mark. The broader markets somehow managed to end slightly in the green. The market breadth was evenly divided, as there were 1,350 shares on the gaining side against 1,379 shares on the losing side while 170 shares remain unchanged.

Finally, the BSE Sensex surged by 204.46 points or 0.76% to 27214.60, while the CNX Nifty soared by 58.65 points or 0.72% to 8238.15.

The BSE Sensex touched a high and a low 27239.22 and 26917.12, respectively. The BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.38%, while Small cap index was up by 0.05%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Capital Goods up by 1.83%, Bankex up by 1.30%, Oil & Gas up by 1.16%, Auto up by 0.87% and PSU up by 0.66%, while Realty down by 1.38%, Consumer Durables down by 0.43% and Metal down by 0.43% were the losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Larsen & Toubro up by 2.83%, SBI up by 2.39%, Maruti Suzuki up by 1.60%, ONGC up by 1.58% and Tata Motors up by 1.44%. On the flip side, Lupin down by 2.37%, Tata Steel down by 1.04%, Coal India down by 0.98%, Hindustan Unilever down by 0.77% and Bharti Airtel down by 0.46% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, contracting for the tenth month in a row, India's exports plunged over 24 percent in September mainly due to global slowdown and declining commodity prices worldwide. The last time Indian exports registered a positive growth was in November 2014, when shipments had expanded at a rate of 7.27 percent. However, Imports too declined by over 25 percent in September this year, thus narrowing the trade gap to $10478.70 million from $ 14474.04 million recorded in the same month of 2014. The trade deficit during April-September 2015-16 too has narrowed to $ 67994.79 million as against $ 72692.08 million in the same period last fiscal.

As per the data released by the Commerce Ministry, Exports during September, 2015 were valued at $ 21844.98 million in Dollar terms, 24.33 per cent lower than the level of $28867.71 million during September, 2014. In Rupee terms the exports stood at Rs. 144652.67 crore for the month against Rs.175703.03 crore in the same month last year, showing a decline of 17.67 per cent. Cumulative value of exports for the period April-September 2015-16 was $132939.45 million as against $ 161397.35 million over the same period last year, registering a negative growth of 17.63 per cent in Dollar terms and Rs. 853586.59 crore against Rs. 971716.43 crore in the 12.16 per cent in Rupee terms, over the period April-September 2014-15.

Imports during September, 2015 were valued at $32323.68 million in Dollar terms, 25.42 per cent lower over the level of imports valued at $ 43341.75 million in the same month last year. In rupee terms inports were valued at Rs. 214040.28 crore which was lower by 18.86 per cent from Rs. 263799.12 crore worth of imports  in September, 2014. Cumulative value of imports for the period April-September 2015-16  was $ 200934.24 million as against $ 234089.43 million, registering a negative growth of 14.16 per cent in Dollar terms and stood at Rs 1290218.42 crore in Rupee term down by 8.46 per cent of Rs1409403.56 crore in the same period last year.

Oil imports during September, 2015 were valued at $ 6626.59 million 54.53 per cent lower than oil imports valued at $ 14573.17 million in the corresponding period last year. Cumulative oil imports during April-September, 2015-16 were valued at $ 48128.96 million which was 41.58 per cent lower than the oil imports of  $ 82378.98 million in the corresponding period last year. Non-oil imports during September, 2015 were estimated at $ 25697.09 million which was 10.68 per cent lower than non-oil imports of $ 28768.58 million in September, 2014. Non-oil imports during April-September, 2015-16 were valued at $ 152805.28 million, 0.72 per cent higher than the level of such imports valued at $ 151710.45 million in April-September, 2014-15.

The CNX Nifty touched a high and low 8246.40 and 8147.65 respectively.

The top gainers on Nifty were SBI up by 3.11%, Larsen & Toubro up by 2.98%, BPCL up by 1.91%, Yes Bank up by 1.89% and Asian Paint up by 1.70%. On the flip side, Lupin down by 2.20%, Adani Ports down by 1.76%, Idea Cellular down by 1.51%, Bank of Baroda down by 1.22% and Tata Steel down by 0.92% were the top losers.

European Markets were trading in the green; France’s CAC was up by 0.73%, Germany’s DAX was up by 0.67% and UK's FTSE was up by 0.78%. 

The Asian equity markets ended mostly in green on Friday, shrugging off the weak cues overnight from Wall Street, as weak US economic data boosted expectations that the Federal Reserve will hold off on raising interest rates this year. Indonesia Finance Minister Bambang Brodjonegoro stated that the 2015 state budget deficit is still under control and expects it will not exceed 2.5 percent of projected gross domestic product despite the low tax revenue. The minister latest estimate means Indonesia will see its deficit exceed the revised budget for this year, set at Rp 222.5 trillion ($16.6 billion), equivalent to 1.9 percent of GDP. This assumption relies heavily on estimates that state revenue will increase by 14 percent and tax collections will be 30 percent higher this year. Tax collection, though, has lagged severely. As of October 5, tax collection for the year, excluding excise and export-import duties, amounted to Rp 686 trillion, or just 53 percent of the full-year target of Rp 1,294 trillion. Japan’s industrial production fell to a seasonally adjusted -1.2% compared to the preceding month. China will aim to have the capacity to make 30 million autos a year by 2020, a figure that is lower than estimates of its current annual production capacity.