Post session - Quick review

Indian equity markets resumed the trade post local holiday on an awe-inspiring note, investor’s giving thumbs up to the global rally, grabbed cyclical on Friday. Barometer gauges snapping three day’s losing streak performed miraculously well to conclude with gargantuan triple digit gains. Although the benchmark equity indices faced tough resistance at 17500 (Sensex) and 5300 (Nifty) level respectively, but still the bourses did a lot to spruce the losses for the market, which for the week ended with a cut of a around half a percent.

Improved risk appetite was apparent from start of the trade at Dalal Street, which imitating the pattern of world equities, kicked off the session on a peppy note after 85.8% of Greece's private creditors accepted its bond swap offer, paving the way for a second bailout for Athens.  The debt swap plan's success means Greece will be able to avoid a devastating default that many had feared could send ripples around the globe.

However, Asian pacific markets also rose after data earlier on Friday showed that China's consumer price index rose 3.2% in February, slower than the 4.5% on-year rise in January. The report was a welcome relief for markets looking to policymakers in Beijing to keep Asia's biggest economy humming with more stimulus measures.

Additionally, part of gains at Dalal Street could also be attributed to the positive opening of the European stock market. European shares climbed for a third consecutive session, moving further from one-month lows on optimism that US jobs data for February, due later in the day, will show a third consecutive month of solid job gains, although traders warned a strong figure could further dampen expectations of additional monetary stimulus from the US Federal Reserve.

Back home, investor’s renewed vigor ahead of next week’s key triggers like RBI’s mid-quarterly policy review, Union Budget 2012-13, could also be sensed across the board, as all the sectoral indices on BSE finished in green, barring the defensive Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) space, which ended in red with a cut of over 0.10%. However, prominent gains of Metal, Capital Goods and Bankex space, glorified the rally as the respective index pivotal concluded with gains of over 3% each. However, besides the frontline indices, broader indices too made their significant contributions as both midcap and smallcap index went home with profit of over 1.50% each. Both BSE‘s Sensex and NSE’s Nifty finished above the psychological level of 17500 and 5300 respectively. The market breadth on the BSE ended positive; advances and declining stocks were in a ratio of 1847:989 while 108 scrips remained unchanged. (Provisional)

The BSE Sensex gained 348.70 points or 2.03% and settled at 17,494.22. The index touched a high and a low of 17,531.62 and 17,325.82 respectively. 23 stocks advanced against 7 declining ones on the index (Provisional)

The BSE Mid-cap index gain 2.16% while Small-cap index was up by 1.30%. (Provisional)

On the BSE Sectoral front, Metal up 4.72%, Bankex up 3.75%, Capital Goods up 3.59%, Consumer Durables up 2.86% and Realty up 2.67% were the top gainers while FMCG down 0.15% and IT down 0.15% were the only losers.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Jindal Steel up 7.79%, Tata Steel up 6.48%, ICICI Bank up 6.26%, L&T up 4.94% and Sterlite Industries up 4.48%.

On the flip side, Wipro down 1.89%, ITC down 0.76%, Infosys down 0.68%, HUL down 0.62% and Gail India down 0.56% were the top losers in the index. (Provisional) 

Meanwhile, advocating greater collaboration between India and the US, Indian ambassador Nirupama Rao has called for co-operation between the countries in areas of infrastructure, research, education and health. Pointing out India’s need to develop its infrastructure, Rao stated that clean energy and fuel are two areas where mutually beneficial deals can be worked out. Also education and health are areas which present tremendous opportunities.

India in the next five years will mobilize up to $100 million in public and private sector funds to facilitate research and development in breakthrough technologies. Several proposals have been received by the Centre, and the first awards are likely to be announced within this month. The two governments thus can engage intensively to increase collaboration and unleash the full potential of US-India innovation.

As per Rao, the two nations are uniquely positioned to pool their talent to address President Obama's innovation strategy and for this it is necessary that skilled manpower be allowed to travel between the nations. She pointed out that India's supply base offers leverages in product design and development for not just the Indian market but for the world market.

Describing India and the US as natural allies, Rao said the relationship between the two countries is in a state of constant evolution in a rapidly changing world scenario. Hence there is a need to promote a dynamic network of partnerships and strengthen them through bilateral investments and technology cooperation. 

India VIX, a gauge for market’s short term expectation of volatility lost 3.26% at 25.47 from its previous close of 26.33 on Wednesday. (Provisional)

The S&P CNX Nifty gain 109.65 points or 2.10% to settle at 5,330.10. The index touched high and low of 5,342.30 and 5,291.60 respectively. 41 stocks advanced against 9 declining ones on the index. (Provisional)

The top gainers on the Nifty were Jindal Steel up 8.08%, Tata Steel up 7.09%, ICICI Bank up 6.38%, IDFC up 5.59% and Cairn India up 5.03%.On the other hand, Wipro down 2.10%, Reliance Power down 1.81%, Infosys down 1.17%, HUL down 0.90% and ITC down 0.83% were the top losers. (Provisional)

The European markets were trading on a mix note, with France's CAC 40 down 0.13%, Germany's DAX up 0.31% and Britain’s FTSE 100 up 0.04%.Most of the Asian equities were ended the session in the positive terrain on last trading day of the week after Greece announced that it had managed to convince a high proportion of its private creditors -- 85.8 percent -- to accept steep losses on their Greek bonds, staving off an imminent default. The ministry also said it intended to force the remaining holdouts to participate. Moreover, ease in Chinese inflation too supported the sentiments.

Meanwhile, Chinese benchmark Shanghai Composite ended up 0.8 percent on Friday, buoyed by the country’s lower-than-expected consumer price index data for February. The country’s consumer price index rose 3.2 percent on year in February, slower than the 4.5 percent on-year rise in January. While, Hong Kong shares ended higher in thin Friday trade, bolstered by financials and growth-sensitive sectors after a slew of weaker-than-expected China data that is expected to give Beijing more room to ease policy to boost growth. In addition, the Nikkei closed up 1.70 percent at 9,929.74 after trading as high as 10,007.62, as some investors pocketed gains ahead of the US February jobs data.