Post Session: Quick Review

Extending their previous session rally, Indian equity benchmarks ended the Tuesday’s trade with a gain of around half a percent with frontline gauges recapturing their crucial 7,700 (Nifty) and 25,100 (Sensex) levels on buying by domestic investors and foreign funds ahead of Index of Industrial Production (IIP) and inflation data scheduled to be released later in the day. Sentiments remained up-beat with Global rating agency, Fitch Ratings expecting India’s GDP growth to gradually accelerate to 7.7 per cent in the current fiscal and 7.9 per cent in FY18, a shade higher than the estimated 7.5 per cent in the previous year on a back of higher real disposable income, assuming a normal monsoon after two years of below-average rainfall and a substantial wage increase for central government employees.

Some support also came with report that foreign direct investment (FDI) in the country during April-February 2015-16 has increased by 27.45 percent to $42 billion from $32.96 billion inflows in April-February 2014-15, according to the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) data. Meanwhile, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has advised states to stick to fiscal discipline, spend on infrastructure and development activities and to use Aadhaar for transferring benefits to people.

On the global front, European markets were trading mostly in red in early deals with luxury good stocks remained the worst performers after France’s LVMH posted first quarter sales below forecasts. However, Asian markets ended mostly in green terrain, led by Japanese equities as the yen retreated after a seven-day rally amid the start of the US earnings season.

Back home, sentiments remained up-beat after private weather forecaster has forecasted above normal southwest monsoon rainfall during June-September 2016. Monsoon 2016 is likely to be above the normal at 105% of the long period average (LPA) of 887 mm for the four-month period from June to September, with an error margin of plus/minus 4%.

Meanwhile, agriculture-related stocks jumped on better-than-normal monsoon forecast. Jain Irrigation Systems rose 6 per cent, while Insecticides (India) soared 17 per cent. Hopes of revival in rural demand also boosted two-wheeler maker Hero MotoCorp and consumer goods firm Hindustan Unilever. Jewellery makers, including Tribhovandas Bhimji Zaveri, edged higher after they re-opened shops following nearly six weeks of protest.

The NSE’s 50-share broadly followed index Nifty gained around forty points to end above the psychological 7,700 support level, while Bombay Stock Exchange’s Sensitive Index -- Sensex surged by over one hundred and twenty points to finish above its psychological 25,100 mark. Broader markets too traded with traction and ended the session with a gain of around a percent.

The market breadth remained in favor of advances, as there were 1,513 shares on the gaining side against 1,111 shares on the losing side while 121 shares remain unchanged. (Provisional)

The BSE Sensex ended at 25145.59, up by 123.43 points or 0.49% after trading in a range of 24996.44 and 25180.02. There were 24 stocks advancing against 6 stocks declining on the index. (Provisional)

The broader indices ended in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 1.00%, while Small cap index up by 0.90%. (Provisional)

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Auto up by 1.61%, Industrials up by 1.43%, Oil & Gas up by 1.21%, Utilities up by 1.03% and Healthcare up by 1.00%, while, Metal down by 1.38% was the lone losing index on BSE. (Provisional)

The top gainers on the Sensex were GAIL India up by 4.12%, Maruti Suzuki up by 2.41%, Tata Motors up by 2.35%, Hero MotoCorp up by 2.21% and Adani Ports &Special up by 2.18%. On the flip side, Coal India down by 2.40%, Tata Steel down by 1.93%, ITC down by 1.29%, HDFC Bank down by 0.67% and SBI down by 0.29% were the top losers. (Provisional)

Meanwhile, Indian railways plagued with a long spell of underinvestment, is firming up a National Plan for Railway Infrastructure Development with an ambitious target of pumping more than Rs 8 lakh crore over the next four years.

The massive investment plan would involve high-speed rail connectivity, station redevelopment and capacity augmentation across the country. While part of the funding will come from the capital expenditure provided for in the Rail Budget, a major chunk is expected to come from outside the budget through PPP and multilateral funding.  Railways capital expenditure has increased to Rs 97,000 crore in 2015-16 from Rs 57,000 crore in 2014-15 and in the current fiscal it has been pegged at Rs 1.21 lakh crore.

The sector posses’ huge opportunities for investment, while LIC is lending Rs 1.5 lakh crore for rail expansion, avenues for funds from other countries are also being explored. Railways have already signed a Rs 97,636 crore deal with Japan for the Mumbai-Ahmedabad high-speed rail project. Besides the Mumbai-Ahmedabad corridor, Indian Railway is planning to link all metros with high-speed trains as part of its Diamond Quadrilateral project which requires huge private funding.

The CNX Nifty ended at 7708.95, up by 37.55 points or 0.49% after trading in a range of 7663.35 and 7717.40. There were 36 stocks advancing against 15 stocks declining on the index. (Provisional)

The top gainers on Nifty were GAIL India up by 4.09%, Zee Entertainment up by 2.80%, Maruti Suzuki up by 2.73%, Hero MotoCorp up by 2.52% and Tata Motors - DVR up by 2.47%. On the flip side, Coal India down by 2.16%, Tata Steel down by 2.01%, Idea Cellular down by 1.87%, ITC down by 1.48% and Tech Mahindra down by 1.10% were the top losers. (Provisional)

European markets were trading mostly in red; UK’s FTSE 100 decreased 6.43 points or 0.1% to 6,193.69 and France’s CAC was down by 1.6 points or 0.04% to 4,311.03, while Germany’s DAX was up by 19.53 points or 0.2% to 9,702.52.

Asian equity markets ended mostly higher on Tuesday. Japanese shares rallied as the yen pulled back from the previous day's 17-month high against the dollar, lifting shares of exporters as well as recently battered banks. However, Chinese shares succumbed to profit taking after sharp gains in the previous session on the back of encouraging consumer as well as producer price inflation data. China's Shanghai Composite index also dropped on liquidity worries after the country's securities regulator approved seven initial public offerings that will raise a total 2.8 billion yuan ($433 million), too led to drop in Chinese shares.