Post Session: Quick Review

Indian markets bucking the global turmoil surged on Friday, extending their last session rally mainly on the domestic cues. Traders turned hopeful that the crucial goods and services tax (GST) bill will be passed in the winter sessions of Parliament after Prime Minister Narendra Modi invited Congress president Sonia Gandhi and former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to hold discussions on the GST bill. The gains for the day came ahead of the Reserve Bank of India’s policy review next week where the central bank is expected to hold its policy interest rate. Strong built-up of fresh positions with the beginning of the December month F&O series led the markets higher and the Sensex ended past 26100 level, while Nifty 50 ended shy of 7950 mark.

While the US markets remained closed, a selloff in Chinese stocks, its most in three months, spread across the region with most of the indices witnessing sharp cuts. Chinese market plunged as falling industrial profits and a deepening probe of the financial industry shook investor confidence in the world’s second-largest economy. China’s industrial profits declining for the fifth consecutive month slid 4.6 percent last month, compared with a 0.1 percent drop in September. The European markets too made a soft start rattled by the Chinese slump and with UK house-price growth slowing to a five-month low in November. The average price of a home rose 0.1 percent to 196,305 pounds, the slowest pace since June.

Back home, markets after steady trade in the first half showed slight dithering from their path, tailing the weakness in Chinese counterparts and the benchmark indices came off the day’s high, with selling pressure emerging in oil & gas sector in the wake of a fall in oil prices, though consumer durables suffered the maximum brunt. Traders also remained concerned about the weakness in rupee, which despite recovering from its over two-year low, remained under pressure on persistent bouts of month-end dollar demand from importers and banks. Some of the last session’s top performers too suffered profit taking, though the markets continued its pace and rally in the market was largely induced by the financials, and apart from the equity markets there was some buzz in the debt market too with Reserve Bank of India (RBI) allowing foreign investors to buy corporate bonds that are either totally or partly in default. The move is likely to reduce the level of stress in the banking sector. Also, there was report that concerned over mounting bad loans; the government is planning to set up a high-level panel to effectively deal with the issue. Some buzz was seen in the infra stocks too after the government approved an investment of Rs 3,120 crore for boosting urban infrastructure in 102 cities across five states, including enhancing water supply, sewerage network, non-motorised transportation system and availability of public spaces.

The BSE Sensex ended at 26128.20, up by 169.57 points or 0.65% after trading in a range of 25937.32 and 26184.65. There were 22 stocks in green against 7 stocks in red, while one stock remained unchanged on the index. (Provisional)

The broader indices too made a positive close; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.46%, while Small cap index ended higher by 0.32%. (Provisional)

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Bankex up by 1.86%, Capital Goods up by 1.53%, PSU up by 0.91%, IT up by 0.74%, Metal up by 0.73%, while Consumer Durables down by 1.38%, Oil & Gas down by 0.21%, Auto down by 0.13% were the losing indices on BSE. (Provisional)

The top gainers on the Sensex were Hindalco up by 3.53%, SBI up by 2.72%, Larsen & Toubro up by 2.31%, Vedanta up by 1.99% and ICICI Bank up by 1.91%. On the flip side, Tata Motors down by 1.11%, Lupin down by 0.81%, Maruti Suzuki down by 0.79%, Reliance Industries down by 0.78% and Bajaj Auto down by 0.58% were the top losers. (Provisional)

Meanwhile, seeking to improve basic infrastructure in urban areas, the Urban Development ministry gave a nod for an investment of Rs 3,120 crore for enhancing water supply, sewerage network, non-motorised transportation system and availability of public spaces in 102 cities across five states, for boosting urban infrastructure under Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT). An inter-ministerial Apex Committee chaired by Urban Development Secretary Madhusudhan Prasad approved state-level Annual Action Plans for 2015-16 for five states as proposed by respective state governments. Ministry of Urban Development will provide an assistance of Rs 540 crore.

An inter-ministerial Apex Committee approved the annual action plan for Haryana, which has 18 AMRUT cities with an investment of Rs 438 crore, Rs.573 crore for Chattisgarh (9 cities), Rs.416 crore for Telangana (12 cities), Rs.588 crore for Kerala (9 cities) and Rs.1,105 crore for West Bengal which has 54 Atal Mission cities. Furthermore, the total investment in water supply projects in 58 mission states will be Rs 2,386 crore, sewerage projects will have an investment of Rs 495 crore in 17 cities, storm water drains will be provided with an investment of Rs 106 crore in 9 cities, for Urban transport investment will be Rs 61 crore in 9 cities and Rs 72 crore for development of parks and green spaces in all the 102 cities.

Government with the approval so far cleared a total investment of Rs 11,654 crore in 272 AMRUT cities for improving infrastructure for ensuring water and sewerage connections to all households in such cities, besides, enabling water supply as per the norm of 135 litres per capita per day for urban areas. At present only about 50 per cent of urban households are provided with water connections and water supply is about 75 lpcd. Availability of sewerage connections is very low. Atal Mission seeks to bridge this deficit. 

The CNX Nifty ended at 7945.65, up by 61.85 points or 0.78% after trading in a range of 7879.45 and 7959.30. There were 36 stocks on gainers side against 14 stocks on losers side on the index. (Provisional)

The top gainers on Nifty were Bank Of Baroda up by 5.44%, Hindalco up by 3.46%, PNB up by 3.07%, SBI up by 2.89% and Bosch up by 2.46%. On the flip side, Idea Cellular down by 2.38%, Tata Motors down by 1.51%, Cairn India down by 0.98%, Reliance Industries down by 0.93% and Lupin down by 0.72% were the top losers. (Provisional)

European markets too were trading in red, UK’s FTSE 100 declined by 17.48 points or 0.27% to 6,375.65, France’s CAC lost 5.53 points or 0.11% to 4,940.49 and Germany’s DAX was tad lower by 1.2 points or 0.01% to 11,319.57.

The Asian markets closed mostly lower on Friday, led by late hour sell off in the Chinese market as brokerages tumbled after authorities launched probes for alleged violations of trading rules. Also, reports showed that profits earned by Chinese industrial companies fell 4.6 percent year on year in October, sparking fresh concerns about an economic hard landing. Japanese stocks too fell in thin trade, moving further away from the elusive 20,000 mark that has not been hit since mid-August. Data showed Japan's core consumer prices fell for the third straight month, underscoring the fragile nature of the economy. The core consumer price index (CPI), which excludes fresh foods, fell by 0.1 percent on-year last month as a result of sliding commodity prices. Poor economic data from China and regulators’ continued probes into China brokerages send Hong Kong stocks lower. Seoul shares ended lower amid lack of cues from Wall Street and rising tensions between Russia and Turkey.