Post Session: Quick Review

Indian equity benchmarks ended the volatile day of trade with a gain of around one third of a percent with frontline gauges recapturing their crucial 7,500 (Nifty) and 24,700 (Sensex) levels. Traders got some support with IMF’s financial counselor Jose Vinals statement that India needs to address the stress emanating from leveraged corporate balance sheets and asset quality woes of state-run banks to sustain the recovery process, even as the country is best placed among emerging markets.

However, gains remained capped as investors opted to remain on sidelines ahead of Index of Industrial Production data for January to be released later in the day. Some cautiousness also crept in after Crisil, the homegrown global analytical agency said that for Indian economy there is no sign of sharp rebound in the next fiscal year, as the fiscal policy remains restrictive. It also added that it needs support from accommodative monetary policy and less restrictive fiscal policy plus structural reforms to have a turnaround.

Global front, firm opening in European counters too aided sentiments. CAC, DAX and FTSE were trading with a gain of around two percent after the European Central Bank (ECB) on Thursday slashed interest rates to lift the euro zone economy, astonishing financial markets by reducing its main refinancing rate to zero from 0.05%. Asian equity indices, paring their initial losses, rallied and ended in green terrain as investors opted to buy beaten down but fundamentally strong stocks.

Back home, foreign institutional investors were net buyers in equities worth Rs 1,063 crore on March 10, as per provisional stock exchange data. Buying in realty sector space mainly supported the markets with Rajya Sabha passing the much-awaited real estate bill. According to the bill, builders will have to deposit a minimum of 70% collections from buyers in a separate escrow account to cover cost of construction and land. State-level Real Estate Regulatory Authorities will be established to regulate transactions related to both residential and commercial projects and ensure their timely completion and handover.

The oil & gas stocks too remained on buyers’ radar with the Hydrocarbon Exploration and Licensing Policy (HELP) announced yesterday companies will require to acquire just one licence to manage all kinds of hydrocarbon reserves such as oil, gas, shale and coal bed methane. However, the banking stocks remained under pressure, as the Credit rating agency Crisil downgraded eight PSBs including Bank of India and Canara Bank, following deterioration in their asset quality and also revised the outlook on five of them to negative.

The NSE’s 50-share broadly followed index Nifty gained over twenty points to end above the psychological 7,500 support level, while Bombay Stock Exchange’s Sensitive Index -- Sensex surged by over ninety points to finish above its psychological 24,700 mark. Broader markets, however, struggled to get some traction and ended the session mixed.

The market breadth remained in the favour off decliners, as there were 1,093 shares on the gaining side against 1,476 shares on the losing side while 156 shares remain unchanged. (Provisional)

The BSE Sensex ended at 24717.99, up by 94.65 points or 0.38% after trading in a range of 24552.26 and 24817.80. There were 15 stocks advancing against 15 stocks declining on the index. (Provisional)

The broader indices ended mixed; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.08%, while Small cap index down by 0.16%. (Provisional)

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were FMCG up by 1.24%, Oil & Gas up by 0.50%, Auto up by 0.42%, Capital Goods up by 0.25% and TECK up by 0.03%, while Metal down by 0.69%, Power down by 0.46%, PSU down by 0.40%, Realty down by 0.30% and Bankex down by 0.18% were the top losing indices on BSE. (Provisional)

The top gainers on the Sensex were Lupin up by 2.01%, Hindustan Unilever up by 1.88%, Adani Ports &Special up by 1.81%, Tata Motors up by 1.61% and ITC up by 1.60%. On the flip side, GAIL India down by 1.13%, Coal India down by 0.98%, ICICI Bank down by 0.77%, BHEL down by 0.67% and Tata Steel down by 0.57% were the top losers. (Provisional)

Meanwhile, State-owned oil marketing companies (OMCs) have said that the central government’s announcement on providing liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) connections to 50 million households below the poverty line (BPL) under Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana scheme in three years mean a lot of challenge. The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs has approved the scheme - Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana. It has been allocated Rs 8,000 crore.

The scheme would provide financial support of Rs 1,600 for each LPG connection. The identification of eligible families, as proposed in the Budget for 2016-17, will be in consultation with states. Further, the investments would be required on various fronts LPG import facilities, logistics and additional bottling. OMCs will have to make additional investments to ensure that the targets are met in three years.

Out of the three OMCs, Hindustan Petroleum Corporation (HPC) has said that it would be spending around Rs 2,000 crore in setting up an LPG import facility (Rs 500 crore) and seven to 10 more bottling units for Rs 700-1,000 crore. The company is looking for the land to build a new LPG bottling plant of 60 million tonnes (mt) per annum. Bharat Petroleum Corporation (BPC) plans to build an LPG import terminal at West Bengal’s Haldia, for Rs 800 crore. The company has acquired 35 acres for the purpose and plans to complete the project in three years.  BPC has infrastructure in the western and southern regions but the problem will be in the eastern region. Indian Oil Corporation, the nation’s largest OMC, is constructing an LPG import facility of 600,000 tonnes per annum at Paradip, Odisha, for Rs 690 crore.

The CNX Nifty ended at 7510.20, up by 24.05 points or 0.32% after trading in a range of 7460.60 and 7543.95. There were 28 stocks advancing against 22 stocks declining on the index. (Provisional)

The top gainers on Nifty were Cairn India up by 4.52%, Adani Ports & Special up by 2.10%, Lupin up by 1.93%, Zee Entertainment up by 1.75% and Hindustan Unilever up by 1.68%. On the flip side, Idea Cellular down by 2.34%, Kotak Mahindra Bank down by 1.83%, Tech Mahindra down by 1.74%, Power Grid down by 1.04% and Vedanta down by 1.02% were the top losers. (Provisional)

European markets were trading in green; UK’s FTSE 100 surged 92.01 points or 1.52% to 6,128.71, France’s CAC soared 94.72 points or 2.18% to 4,445.07 and Germany’s DAX was up by 193.37 points or 2.04% to 9,691.52.

Asian markets ended higher on Friday, on track for weekly gains, shrugging off global losses logged after the European Central Bank eased aggressively but suggested it was running out of room to cut interest rates even if other stimulus options remained. Japanese stocks ended higher as oil prices rebounded from overnight losses and the yen weakened following some initial strength. China stocks ended slightly higher, reversing initial losses, as the banking sector regained some composure amid expectations that China's securities regulator would provide some market-friendly comments at a press conference to be held in Beijing on Saturday.