Post Session: Quick Review

The Indian markets despite volatility maintained a range for the day amid lots of economic data announcements. The start was good and the benchmarks kept their head high in green ahead of the Reserve Bank of India's (RBI) fifth Bi-monthly Monetary Policy review, though on expected lines the RBI maintained a status quo but in a knee-jerk reaction markets slipped into red for some time, only to be back in green. RBI kept the key policy rate unchanged but affirmed the central bank's commitment to ease it as and when room is available, saying inflation is likely to perform better than expected. Governor Rajan said that, RBI is set to achieve its target of getting inflation down at 6 per cent by January and is aiming to reduce the number further to 5 per cent by March 2017, will monitor developments on the commodity prices, including food and oil and external developments in its future policy formulations. Traders took some encouragement with global rating agency Moody's Investors Service stating that the Reserve Bank of India's efforts in bringing down inflation is credit positive for the country and hoped that the central bank will continue to remain vigilant in sticking to the target level.

On the global front, after a lackluster trade in US markets, the Asian markets showed an enthusiastic performance with all the major indices in the region ending in green, rebounding from a two-week low after currencies advanced for the first time in five days against the US dollar. The European markets made a cautious start after the Swiss GDP unexpectedly stagnated in third quarter; output was unchanged in the three months through September, after increasing of 0.2 percent in the prior period.

Back home, the market traded in a narrow range on RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan's comment that the central bank was still accommodative. Sentiment was also boosted with data released late on Monday showing the economy grew at a faster clip of 7.4 per cent in July-September, mainly on the back of pick up in manufacturing activities. However, the gains were capped with manufacturing sector growing at its slowest pace in 25 months in November on sluggish pace of new business orders. Manufacturing PMI fell to a 25-month low of 50.3 in November, from 50.7 in October. Also, the growth in eight core sectors, slowed to 3.2% in October 2015 compared to 9% in the corresponding month last year on the back of sharp decline in crude oil and steel production. However, the markets tailing the regional peers managed a green close, initially the gains were led by blue chips but later the broader markets took the lead. The auto sector was in action on announcing the monthly sales numbers, Eicher Motors’ motorcycle division reported a 48% jump in total sales in November, Ashok Leyland, reported an increase of 16% in sales, Maruti Suzuki India, registered a rise of 9.7% in its total car sales, while M&M reported 21% growth in November sales. The PSU oil marketing companies too remained buzzing, after the petrol and diesel prices were reduced in the fortnightly review. ATF price was cut by a marginal 1.2 per cent, the third straight monthly reduction since October. Simultaneously, oil firms have also raised the prices of non-subsidised LPG, by Rs 61.50 per 14.2-kg bottle. BPCL and IOC gained around 3 percent, while HPCL was up by around a percent.

The BSE Sensex ended at 26152.33, up by 6.66 points or 0.03% after trading in a range of 26121.52 and 26246.02. There were 16 stocks in green against 14 stocks in red on the index. (Provisional)

The broader indices performed better than the benchmarks; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.76%, while Small cap index gained 0.43%. (Provisional)

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Metal up by 3.37%, FMCG up by 1.02%, PSU up by 0.97%, Oil & Gas up by 0.83%, Power up by 0.28%, while Auto down by 0.62%, Consumer Durables down by 0.45%, TECK down by 0.37%, Bankex down by 0.35%, IT down by 0.24% were the losing indices on BSE. (Provisional)

The top gainers on the Sensex were Vedanta up by 4.83%, Coal India up by 3.69%, Tata Steel up by 3.59%, Dr. Reddys Lab up by 3.28% and Hindalco up by 3.24%. On the flip side, Bharti Airtel down by 3.44%, GAIL India down by 1.75%, Infosys down by 1.51%, Axis Bank down by 1.47% and Tata Motors down by 1.37% were the top losers. (Provisional)

Meanwhile, the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth picking-up from 7.0 per cent in Q1 of 2015-16 grew by 7.4 percent in the second quarter (July-September) of 2015-16, majorly contributed by gross fixed capital formation, which added up to 29.9% of the total growth, rising by 6.8% from a year ago. The bulk of the increase in GDP was contributed by private consumption, which not only increased by 6.8% but accounted for 55.1% of the rise in GDP from a year ago. Also, government’s final consumption expenditure was up 5.2%, contributing as much as 10% to GDP growth.

As per the data released by the Central Statistics Office (CSO), Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation, Gross Domestic Product (GDP) for the second quarter (July-September) Q2 of 2015-16, GDP at constant (2011-12) prices in Q2 of 2015-16 was estimated at Rs 27.57 lakh crore, as against Rs 25.66 lakh crore in Q2 of 2014-15, showing a growth rate of 7.4 percent.  Quarterly GVA at Basic Price at constant (2011-12) prices for Q2 of 2015-16 was estimated at Rs 25.80 lakh crore, as against Rs 24.02 lakh crore in Q2 of 2014-15, showing a growth rate of 7.4 per cent over the corresponding quarter of previous year.

At current prices, GDP derived by adding taxes on products net of subsidies on products to GVA at basic prices, was estimated at Rs 32.66 lakh crore in Q2 of 2015-16, as against Rs 30.80 lakh crore in Q2 of 2014-15, showing a growth rate of 6.0 percent. GVA at basic price at current prices in Q2 of 2015-16, was estimated at Rs 30.26 lakh crore, as against Rs 28.76 lakh crore in Q2, 2014-15, showing an increase of 5.2 per cent.

The economic activities which registered growth of over 7.0 percent in Q2 of 2015-16 over Q2 of 2014-15 on are ‘trade, hotels and transport & communication and services related to broadcasting’, 'financial, insurance, real estate and professional services' and ‘manufacturing’. The growth in the ‘agriculture, forestry and fishing’, ‘mining and quarrying’, ‘electricity, gas, water supply & other utility services, ‘construction’  and 'public administration, defence and other services’  is estimated to be 2.2 per cent, 3.2 percent, 6.7 per cent,  2.6 per cent and 4.7 per cent, respectively, during this period.

The government expects the economy to grow in the vicinity of 7.5% during the current Financial Year 2015-16. Finance Ministry observed that the growth is being mainly driven by pick-up in the manufacturing sector, which has grown by 9.3 per cent in the Second Quarter. Similarly, the Fixed Investment is showing a sign of revival as it has grown by 6.8 per cent in the Second Quarter of current Financial Year 2015-16. Further, the Service Sector growth is still robust at 8.8 per cent in Q2 of 2015-16.

The CNX Nifty ended at 7955.15, up by 19.90 points or 0.25% after trading in a range of 7934.15 and 7972.15. There were 29 stocks on gainers side against 21 stocks on losers side on the index. (Provisional)

The top gainers on Nifty were Vedanta up by 5.23%, Tata Steel up by 3.79%, Coal India up by 3.52%, BPCL up by 3.46% and Hindalco up by 3.44%. On the flip side, Bharti Airtel down by 3.25%, Adani Ports &Special down by 1.61%, Axis Bank down by 1.55%, GAIL India down by 1.41% and Maruti Suzuki down by 1.34% were the top losers. (Provisional)

The European markets were showing mixed trend, UK’s FTSE 100 was up by 27.37 points or 0.43% to 6,383.46, while Germany’s DAX was lower by 19.38 points or 0.17% to 11,362.85 and France’s CAC declined by 14.02 points or 0.28% to 4,943.58.

Asian markets closed in positive territory on Tuesday as investors were unfazed by a lower finish on Wall Street overnight, with the Nikkei breaking the 20,000 benchmark for the first time in three months, Encouraging economic data from Japan boosted investors' appetite for risk. The uptrend was despite China reporting a weak Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) for November. Reports showed that China's manufacturing PMI, a measure of activities in the factory sector, declined marginally, from 49.8 in October to 49.6 in November. China's manufacturing PMI, according to Caixin/Markit, indicated that factory activity for November declined at a slower rate than in the previous month. The services sector PMI had a reading of 53.6 in November, 0.5 point higher than the previous month, reflecting the country's gradual shift to a more services-led economy. Japanese shares rose for the first time in three days as a weak yen bolstered exporter shares. Economic reports were mostly positive, with a gauge of manufacturing activity expanding at its fastest pace in 20 months in November, while an 11.2 percent increase in capital expenditure in the July-September period pointed to upward revision to third-quarter GDP data. South Korea's KOSPI closed higher after government report showed South Korea's consumer inflation inched up to a one-year high in November on recovery in consumption, spurring hopes about recovery in Asia's fourth-largest economy. However, gains were capped by official data from the ministry of trade, industries and energy showing that the country's exports declined for the 11th consecutive month in November.