Post Session: Quick Review

Unlike the usual volatility of the F&O series expiry session, the Indian markets showed a jubilant trade on Thursday, snapping the November series on an upbeat note. The key benchmark indices hit their highest level in over two weeks on short covering and value buying. Market remained firm, gradually gaining ground through the session, tailing the higher Asian markets and hopes of a breakthrough on GST bill in Parliament, after appealing to the Opposition for cooperation on the eve of the winter session of Parliament, Prime Minister Narendra Modi made a strong pitch for early passage of the GST, saying it will be in the interest of the nation. Finance Minister Arun Jaitley too said that he has spoken to Congress leaders on the GST bill to break a deadlock in Parliament and is optimistic that the key reform measure will be passed in the winter session.

On the global front, after a flat closing of the US markets the Asian markets ended mostly in green ahead of the Thanksgiving holiday in the US. Traders across the region seem to have become more comfortable with the idea of higher US borrowing costs, hence upbeat economic data from US were unable to make much impact. Though, the Chinese market after fluctuating much for the day ended modestly in red. The European markets after making a mixed start turned positive led by commodity producers and carmakers, also there are speculations that the European Central Bank will add to stimulus measures.

Back home, the markets kept on strengthening with bluechips witnessing continuous buying and sentiments remaining positive. The Nifty50 reclaimed its crucial psychological level of 7,850 in the very beginning and managed to retain it, building further gains, without faltering even at once during the session. The strength in rupee too supported the sentiments, which recovering from a two-month low surged, tailing the strength in the other Asian currencies. There were lots of sector specific actions, banking gauge despite ending higher remained cautious after global ratings agency Standard & Poor’s (S&P) called for a multi-pronged strategy to help banks tide over asset quality issues, saying stronger economic growth and improvement in fiscal situation alone cannot resolve the crisis. Oil & gas sector stocks too kept buzzing after the Power Minister Piyush Goyal said that the Government will approach global markets for long term gas supply pacts in view of low prices of the fuel. The minister also informed that the gas pooling mechanism is uptil 2017 and the system can continue the supplies even after that. Gail was up by over 3%, RIL and OIL too gained over 2%. The gold and jewellary stocks too moved higher after the Commerce and Industry Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said that Finance Ministry should consider reduction of duty on gold imports, as it would help boosting exports of gems and jewellery sector. She said the sector is finding it difficult to compete in the global market because of 10 percent duty on gold imports.

The BSE Sensex ended at 25966.08, up by 190.34 points or 0.74% after trading in a range of 25769.81 and 25999.92. There were 19 stocks in green against 11 stocks in red on the index. (Provisional)

The broader indices despite underperforming the benchmarks made a green close; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.23%, while Small cap index ended up by 0.42%. (Provisional)

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Realty up by 2.08%, Auto up by 1.50%, Consumer Durables up by 1.06%, Power up by 0.94%, FMCG up by 0.92%, while Capital Goods down by 0.21%, IT down by 0.08% were the losing indices on BSE. (Provisional)

The top gainers on the Sensex were Tata Motors up by 5.91%, Sun Pharma Inds. up by 3.91%, GAIL India up by 3.61%, Mahindra & Mahindra up by 2.64% and ITC up by 2.56%. On the flip side, Dr. Reddys Lab down by 8.02%, TCS down by 1.23%, Lupin down by 1.21%, Larsen & Toubro down by 0.62% and Bajaj Auto down by 0.55% were the top losers. (Provisional)

Meanwhile, showing a pick up in the economic momentum, the SBI Composite Index has inched higher November 2015, stating that country's manufacturing sector growth improved both in terms of month-on-month as well as yearly basis. The yearly SBI Composite Index, an indicator for manufacturing activity in the country, hit six month high in November, increasing to 54.5 from 53.5 in the previous month, while the monthly Index improved to 51.6 in November from50.9 in October.

The SBI research report though pointed that mining and electricity are still acting as a drag on the economic activity and the upturn has majorly been driven by manufacturing. The pickup in economic momentum was supported by positive trends in capital goods sector. SBI Index also highlighted that the index numbers indicate acceleration in industrial production in coming months.

The research has stated that looking ahead; the credit growth is expected to improve in infrastructure sectors like power and roads. A smart growth is also expected in personal loan segment particularly in housing. The Seventh Pay Commission report is likely to have a positive impact on steel and cement industries. Additionally, healthy order book if coupled with faster execution will show positive results for the capital goods and infrastructure sector. There is an immediate need to increase import duty on long steel products.

The SBI Composite Index captures two components of the manufacturing cycle namely month-on-month and year-on-year growth on a scale of 0 to 100. An index value of 42 to 46 means (moderate decline), 46 to 50 (low decline), 50 to 52 (low growth), while 52 to 55 means (moderate growth) and above 55 high growth.

The CNX Nifty ended at 7892.55, up by 60.95 points or 0.78% after trading in a range of 7832.00 and 7897.10. There were 34 stocks on gainers side against 15 stocks on losers side, while one stock remained unchanged on the index. (Provisional)

The top gainers on Nifty were Tata Motors up by 5.20%, Sun Pharma Inds. up by 4.40%, Idea Cellular up by 3.39%, GAIL India up by 2.84% and ITC up by 2.41%. On the flip side, Dr. Reddys Lab down by 8.20%, Bajaj Auto down by 1.49%, Tech Mahindra down by 1.27%, TCS down by 0.93% and Adani Ports &Special down by 0.76% were the top losers. (Provisional)

European markets were trading higher, UK’s FTSE 100 was up by 26.56 points or 0.42% to 6,364.20, France’s CAC gained 35.29 points or 0.72% to 4,928.28 and Germany’s DAX increased by 141.89 points or 1.27% to 11,311.43.

The Asian markets made mostly a positive close on Thursday, ahead of the Thanksgiving holiday in the US. Chinese stocks fell on worries a spate of IPO’s next week may drain funds from the secondary market, while the Hang Seng markets giving up the gains ended flat. Although some of the indices in the region made a lower close but  the Japanese market despite coming off the day’s high, closed just shy of the 20000 mark, extending a two-month rally spurred by a weakening Japanese yen. The expectations the US Federal Reserve will raise interest rates in December has pushed the yen weaker. Seoul shares too rose sharply amid foreign fund buying in undervalued blue-chips, while Taiwan Weighted rallied 1.2 percent.