Post Session: Quick Review

Resuming their northward journey, Indian equity benchmarks staged an enthusiastic performance on Monday, by rallying around a percentage point and breaking lots of psychological levels in their northward rally. Markets, after a negative opening, gained ground and started moving northward afterward 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 their hunt for fundamentally strong stocks.

Sentiments remained up-beat on report that the government is hopeful about a substantial portion of pending legislative business being completed in the remaining three days of the Winter Session, where 18 bills are pending. Some support also came with Moody’s Investors Service describing India’s focus on foreign direct investment (FDI) as ‘credit positive’. The net FDI inflows have grown from $15.8 billion in the first half of 2014-15 to over $17 billion in April- September of the current fiscal. Traders overlooked mid-year economic analysis, which has forecasted GDP growth of 7-7.5 per cent this fiscal, against 8.1-8.5 per cent growth projected in February this year.

Buying accelerated after European counters have made a positive start with CAC, DAX and FTSE were trading with a gain of around a percent in early deals. Asian markets ended mostly in green terrain supported by rise in Chinese benchmark after China Vanke unveiled plans for a major restructuring; however Japanese shares extended Friday’s losses on a weaker yen and amid fading hopes of new central bank stimulus.

Back home, there was broad based buying witnessed in the markets and apart from the blue chips, the broader markets too equally participated in the rally. Frontline indices managed to settle near intraday high levels with frontline gauges recapturing their crucial 25,700 (Sensex) and 7,800 (Nifty) levels. Recovery in Indian rupee too supported the sentiments. The rupee firmed up against the US dollar and was trading at 66.29 at the time of equity markets closing as compared to Friday’s close of 66.40.

Buying in banking counter too aided the sentiments after Moody’s said that the Reserve Bank’s new uniform methodology for calculating base rate on marginal cost of funds is ‘credit positive’ for Indian banks as it would ease pressure on their balance sheet. Stocks related to infrastructure counter also edged higher, as SEBI has said that in the case of initial public offerings, qualified institutional buyers can invest only up to 75 per cent in Infrastructure Investment Trusts (InvITs). Aviation stocks like Spicejet and Jet Airways too remained in action on report that domestic airlines flew 73.22 lakh passengers in November this year recording a 24.65 per cent increase over the 58.74 lakh passengers carried during the same period in the previous year.

The NSE’s 50-share broadly followed index Nifty rose by over seventy points and ended above the psychological 7,800 support level, while Bombay Stock Exchange’s Sensitive Index -- Sensex rose by over two hundred and twenty points to finish above the psychological 25,700 mark. Broader markets too traded with traction and ended the session with a gain of over half a percentage point. The market breadth remained in favour of advances, as there were 1,774 shares on the gaining side against 928 shares on the losing side while 207 shares remain unchanged.

The BSE Sensex ended at 25735.90, up by 216.68 points or 0.85% after trading in a range of 25413.54 and 25757.84. There were 26 stocks advancing against 4 stocks declining on the index. (Provisional)

The broader indices ended in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.64%, while Small cap index up by 0.82%.(Provisional)

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Metal up by 1.47%, Bankex up by 1.43%, Realty up by 1.38%, PSU up by 1.34% and FMCG up by 1.26%, while Consumer Durables down by 0.64% and Healthcare down by 0.52% were the only losing indices on BSE. (Provisional)

The top gainers on the Sensex were ICICI Bank up by 3.24%, ONGC up by 3.16%, ITC up by 2.68%, Mahindra & Mahindra up by 2.64% and Hero MotoCorp up by 2.36%. On the flip side, Sun Pharma down by 4.55%, GAIL India down by 0.97%, Hindustan Unilever down by 0.81% and Asian Paints down by 0.73% were the top losers. (Provisional)

Meanwhile, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley highlighting that India is one of the fastest growing economies in the world, has said that in terms of low levels of inflation, fiscal deficit and current account deficit, Indian economy has witnessed significant improvement in the macroeconomic stability.

Jaitley further said that at current point of time, the macroeconomic outcome in India is one of the consolidation of the economic recovery evidenced in recent years, adding that the outcome is creditable considering that the global economic situation continues to be uncertain transmitting negative spill-over’s, because of which emerging markets and developing economies have in general, become more vulnerable and fragile. He also said that the current macroeconomic outcome is far superior to that in early 2013-14 when the situation was worrisome in terms of high current account and fiscal deficits with high inflation, high interest rates and low growth.

He said that the Government continues to adhere to the path of fiscal consolidation, despite the pressing need for enhanced public investment to boost the economic growth and tough commitments on account of requirements of federal structure. Signalling that India is firmly on the path of economic revival, in the fiscal year 2014-15, India clocked 7.3 per cent growth rate in Gross Domestic Product (GDP), higher than 6.9 per cent growth achieved in 2013-14 and 5.1 per cent in 2012-13, showing that India is firmly on the path of economic revival.

Regarding Goods and Service Tax (GST) bill, Jaitley said that it was been delayed for “collateral reasons” , hinting that GST Bill may not go through in the current session of Parliament. He further added that the government will push for other reform bills including amendment to the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, a legislation to set up commercial courts and bankruptcy code, in the Rajya Sabha in the remaining days of the Winter Session.

The CNX Nifty ended at 7834.45, up by 72.50 points or 0.93% after trading in a range of 7733.45 and 7840.75. There were 41 stocks advancing against 8 stocks declining on the index, while 1 stock remained unchanged. (Provisional)

The top gainers on Nifty were ICICI Bank up by 3.24% and ONGC up by 3.23% and Power Grid up by 2.99% and ITC up by 2.98% and Cairn India up by 2.96%. On the flip side, Sun Pharma down by 4.55%, GAIL India down by 0.97%, Asian Paints down by 0.68%, Hindustan Unilever down by 0.64% and Grasim Industries down by 0.37% were the top losers. (Provisional)

European counters were trading in green; France’s CAC increased 26.37 points or 0.57% to 4,651.63, UK’s FTSE 100 gained 42.49 points or 0.7% to 6,094.91 and Germany’s DAX was up by 157.49 points or 1.48% to 10,765.68.

Asian equity markets ended mostly in green on Monday as Chinese shares climbed to the highest level in almost four weeks after the government took unprecedented measures to prop up equities and speculation grew policy makers will take more steps to bolster the economy. Hong Kong stocks were also firm, bolstered by Chinese companies, as strength in the Chinese equity market helped investors shrug off the gloom in US and European stocks in the wake of last week's post-Fed rate hike rally. However, Japanese stocks edged down in thin trading after the yen gained against the dollar, putting pressure on exporters after the Bank of Japan disappointed markets with minor adjustments to its massive stimulus program.