Markets stage splendid performance; Nifty recaptures 7,850 mark

Boisterous benchmarks showcased an enthusiastic performance on November F&O series expiry session, by rallying over half a percentage point. Sentiments remained up-beat since start as key bourses made a positive opening and there appeared not even an iota of profit booking in the session as the benchmarks managed to fervently gain from strength to strength as investors continued hunt for fundamentally strong stocks. Frontline indices not only ended the session near intraday high levels but also hit their highest level in over two weeks, recapturing their crucial 7,850 (Nifty) and 25,950 (Sensex) bastions as investors took to hefty across the board buying.

Traders remained hopeful for 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. Some strength came after Moody’s said that most Indian companies under its rating scanner would benefit from strong domestic growth and accommodative monetary policy in 2016. Some support also came with the report that India's crude oil import bill is likely to dip by 35 per cent to $73 billion this fiscal as global energy prices slumped on weak demand.

Markets extended their gains as European counters, after 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. Asian markets ended mostly in green on easing tensions over Turkey’s shooting down of a Russian warplane and broadly upbeat US economic data also sparked buying on domestic markets.

Back home, there was broad based buying witnessed in the markets and apart from the blue chips, the broader markets too participated strongly in the rally. Buying in metal counters too aided sentiments as copper prices rose in global commodity markets. Stocks related to Oil & gas sector too remained on buyers’ radar 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. Gold and jewellary stocks too edged 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 NSE’s 50-share broadly followed index Nifty gained over fifty points to end above its psychological 7,850 support level, while Bombay Stock Exchange’s Sensitive Index -- Sensex surged by over one hundred and eighty points to end above its crucial 25,950 mark. The broader markets too traded with traction and ended the session with a gain of over quarter of a percent. The market breadth remained in favour of advances, as there were 1,623 shares on the gaining side against 1,049 shares on the losing side while 228 shares remain unchanged.

Finally, the BSE Sensex surged by 182.89 points or 0.71% to 25958.63, while the CNX Nifty gained 52.20 points or 0.67% to 7883.80. 

The BSE Sensex touched a high and a low 26016.04 and 25769.81, respectively. The BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.26 %, while Small cap index was up by 0.45 %.   

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Realty up by 1.80%, Auto up by 1.29%, Metal up by 1.07%, Consumer Durables up by 1.03% and Power up by 0.99%, while Healthcare down by 0.53% and Capital Goods down by 0.23% were the only losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Tata Motors up by 5.51%, Sun Pharma up by 3.96%, GAIL India up by 3.33%, Mahindra & Mahindra up by 2.06% and Reliance Industries up by 2.04%. On the flip side, Dr. Reddys Lab down by 8.21%, Lupin down by 1.24%, TCS down by 1.05%, Bajaj Auto down by 0.66% and Maruti Suzuki down by 0.63% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, in order to boost export of gems and jewellery sector, Commerce and Industry Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has urged the Finance Ministry to consider reduction in the duty on gold imports to 2 per cent from 10 per cent. She further said that the gems and jewellery sector has been very badly affected and is finding it difficult to compete in the global market because of 10 per cent duty on gold imports.

However, the minister added the Finance Ministry may look at the current account deficit (CAD) position before taking decision on the proposal as the higher import of the yellow metal has adverse bearing on India's CAD. Current account deficit happens when value of import of goods and services is more than that of exports. In the previous fiscal 2014-15, the CAD shrank to 1.3 per cent of GDP ($27.5 billion) from 1.7 per cent ($32.4 billion) in 2013-14.

The government data suggest the country’s gold imports reduced to almost half in September this year to $2 billion, as against $3.783 billion in the year-ago period. Besides, labour intensive gems and jewellery exports in October dipped by about 13 per cent to $3.48 billion. India is the largest importer of gold in the world, which mainly caters to the demand of the jewellery industry.  On the flip side, highlighting the government’s efforts on the country's overall exports, Sitharaman said the government has announced benefits such as 3 per cent interest subsidy and enhanced duty drawback rates to push exports. She further said that the Commerce Secretary is going around to all the states to talk with the state industries to discuss ways to enhance exports. The ministry is working on ways to engage more with the states to boost the outbound shipments.

The CNX Nifty touched a high and low 7897.10 and 7832.00 respectively. 

The top gainers on Nifty were Tata Motors up by 5.49%, Sun Pharma up by 4.33%, Idea Cellular up by 3.71%, GAIL India up by 3.15% and Reliance Industries up by 2.36%. On the flip side, Dr. Reddys Lab down by 8.26%, Tech Mahindra down by 1.33%, TCS down by 0.80%, Adani Ports down by 0.76% and Bajaj Auto down by 0.71% and were the top losers.

European Markets were trading in green; France’s CAC was up by 0.76%, Germany’s DAX was up by 1.20% and UK’s FTSE was up by 0.43%.   

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.