Post Session: Quick Review

Indian equity benchmarks managed to eke out gain of around half a percent, as investors opted to buy beaten down but fundamentally strong stocks after four days of continuous drubbing. After a positive start, markets trimmed some of their gains but managed to trade range bound throughout the session. Sentiments got some support from report that government has agreed to accept demands set by the Congress party to back a landmark tax reform, raising hopes a political standoff that blocked the measure throughout last year might be resolved.

Traders remained encouraged with Finance Minister Arun Jaitley’s statement that Indian economy has emerged as one of the fastest growing economies in the world indicating that the economy is firmly on the path of economic revival. Some support also came with the report that the World Bank expects India’s growth to pick up to 7.8% in the next financial year, projecting it to be the fastest growing economy in the world for the next three years by a distance, riding on stronger domestic policy reforms.

Global cues too supported the sentiments with European markets trading higher, as Chinese stocks stabilized after authorities scrapped a market circuit-breaker. Asian equity indices ended mostly in green led by gains in Chinese markets. However, persistent worries about the health of the Chinese economy and a continued slide in commodity prices sent investors for cover.

Closer home, appreciation in Indian rupee aided sentiments. The rupee recovered from its three-week low by surging 16 paise to 66.76 against the US dollar at the time of equity markets closing at the Interbank Foreign Exchange on fresh selling of the American currency by exporters and banks. Buying in Auto stocks too provided some support as Union Minister for Road, Transport & Highways, Nitin Gadkari will meet representatives of automobile companies on January 14 to allay their concerns about the Government’s move to directly move from BS IV emission norms to BS VI emission norms by April 2020.

Besides, oil & gas stocks recovered after Crude oil prices gained more than 2 per cent tracking higher Asian share after it fell to 12-year lows on Thursday on China concerns. Energy shares too edged higher after the oil prices stabilized. Additionally, shares of media companies mainly those engaged in movies & entertainment business rallied over 10% after global video-on-demand (VOD) player Netflix has launched services in India.

The NSE’s 50-share broadly followed index -- Nifty -- rose by over thirty points to end above the psychological 7,600 support level, while Bombay Stock Exchange’s Sensitive Index -- Sensex -- surged by over eighty points to finish above the psychological 24,900 mark. Broader markets too traded with traction and ended the session with a gain of over a percent.

The market breadth remained in favor of advances, as there were 1,945 shares on the gaining side against 814 shares on the losing side while 197 shares remain unchanged. (Provisional)

The BSE Sensex ended at 24934.33, up by 82.50 points or 0.33% after trading in a range of 24887.22 and 25083.55. There were 18 stocks advancing against 12 stocks declining on the index. (Provisional)

The broader indices ended in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 1.32%, while Small cap index up by 1.24%. (Provisional)

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Realty up by 2.31%, Utilities up by 2.30%, Power up by 2.06%, Oil & Gas up by 1.39% and IT up by 1.12%, while Capital Goods down by 0.67% and Metal down by 0.06% were the only losing indices on BSE. (Provisional)

The top gainers on the Sensex were Tata Motors up by 3.15%, Tata Steel up by 1.88%, Axis Bank up by 1.75%, TCS up by 1.64% and ONGC up by 1.50%. On the flip side, Cipla down by 2.37%, Larsen & Toubro down by 2.30%, Bajaj Auto down by 2.15%, Coal India down by 1.70% and Adani Ports &Special down by 1.45% were the top losers. (Provisional)

Meanwhile, Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor Raghuram Rajan has made out a case for more powers to banks to deal with stressed debt as the country does not have an efficient bankruptcy or corporate resolution system. Rajan saw consolidation as a solution in the medium term, saying premature mergers might lead to 'a potentially bigger problem'. Gross non-performing assets of public sector banks have gone up to Rs 3.14 lakh crore at the end of September 2015.

For new bank licences, Rajan has expressed hope that the old banks will feel compelled to start offering innovative products in order to match new entrants. In order to make banking sector more competitive, RBI has granted approval to 23 entities to operate as banks, including payments banks.

RBI has taken various steps to increase foreign flows into the country. He further added that at 7.4 per cent, India's 2015 third-quarter GDP growth was the strongest among large economies as the rupee was one of the few stable emerging market currencies in 2015; and a clear financial market liberalisation path is attracting foreign investors and making India's financial markets more sophisticated.

The CNX Nifty ended at 7601.35, up by 33.05 points or 0.44% after trading in a range of 7581.05 and 7634.10. There were 32 stocks advancing against 18 stocks declining on the index. (Provisional)

The top gainers on Nifty were Tata Power up by 3.09%, Tata Motors up by 3.01%, Tech Mahindra up by 2.58%, Power Grid up by 2.53% and BPCL up by 2.45%. On the flip side, Larsen & Toubro down by 2.45%, Cipla down by 2.11%, Bajaj Auto down by 1.99%, Adani Ports &Special down by 1.39% and Hero MotoCorp down by 1.27% were the top losers. (Provisional)

European markets were trading in green; France’s CAC increased 16.12 points or 0.37% to 4,419.70, UK’s FTSE 100 gained 39.59 points or 0.66% to 5,993.67 and Germany’s DAX was up by 70.64 points or 0.71% to 10,050.49.

Asian equity markets ended mostly in green on Friday as China's efforts to calm investors showed early signs of success. China's securities regulator suspended the recently implemented circuit breakers, a regulatory tool designed to limit how far stocks can fall after the market shut down for a second time this week. Also helping to restore confidence among investors, the People's Bank of China raised its guidance rate for the yuan for the first time in nine trading days. However, Japanese shares closed lower as China’s decision to maintain the level of its currency for the first time in nine days failed to stop the Nikkei 225 Stock Average posting its worst first week of a year since 1997.