Post Session: Quick Review

Indian equity benchmarks managed to keep their head above water on Wednesday. Markets traded choppy throughout the session as investors opted for wait and watch strategy ahead of April F&O expiry session on Thursday and the US FOMC meet outcome due today. Though, the key gauges somehow managed to end up in green as some support came with the SASCOF indicating that Central, western and north western parts of India are likely to get above normal rainfall, while most of the remaining parts of the country, barring some exceptions, are set to get normal rainfall. SASCOF predicted development of weak positive Indian Ocean Dipole (IOD) conditions, which favours good monsoon rainfall, in early part of monsoon season. Traders also get some encouragement with Niti Aayog vice-chairman Arvind Panagariya’s statement that the economy is expected to grow over 8 per cent this fiscal with the forecast of above-normal monsson raising hopes of the agriculture sector's revival after two successive drought years.

However, gains remained capped as market participants remained concerned with global rating agency Moody’s warning to the government over the bad loan situation. The rating agency believes that rising credit profile of corporate India may pose a rating risk to the country. It has said that India faces the risk of sovereign debt levels climbing higher if economic growth isn’t robust enough and could ultimately put pressure on the government’s ability to fund itself. Meanwhile, the Supreme Court has asked the government to 'reform' the banking system to prevent huge write-offs of bad loans and also to ensure people are not allowed to run away after default in repaying the loans.

On the global front, European markets were trading mostly in green in early deals after German sportswear group Adidas surged 6 percent after hiking its guidance for 2016 as it reported a 35 percent jump in first-quarter operating profit. Asian stocks ended mostly lower ahead of the outcome of the US Fed meet later today. Meanwhile, the Bank of Japan (BOJ) monetary policy meet is scheduled for Thursday, 28 April 2016. Market participants are becoming more confident in their expectations of further easing from the Bank of Japan.

Back home, appreciation in Indian rupee aided sentiments. The rupee was strong against the US dollar by 9 paise at 66.43 at the time of equity markets closing as compared to its previous close of 66.52. Telecom stocks rang loud amid reports that Reliance Jio may delay its launch of 4G service while Moody's report on the Bharti-Videocon deal also boosted sentiment. Stocks related to PSU space remained on buyers’ radar, as the government will sell 11.36% stake in NHPC through an offer for sale (OFS) to raise about Rs 2,700 crore in an early start to this fiscal year’s Rs 56,500-crore disinvestment programme. Shares of oil companies i.e. Oil & Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC), Oil India and Cairn India were trading higher by up to 4% after crude oil prices hit 2016 highs.

The NSE’s 50-share broadly followed index Nifty gained around twenty points to end near its psychological 8,000 support level, while Bombay Stock Exchange’s Sensitive Index -- Sensex rose by over fifty points to finish above its psychological 26,000 mark. Broader markets too traded in-line with benchmarks and ended the session slightly in green.

The market breadth was evenly divided, as there were 1,273 shares on the gaining side against 1,287 shares on the losing side while 199 shares remain unchanged. (Provisional)

The BSE Sensex ended at 26064.12, up by 56.82 points or 0.22% after trading in a range of 25885.24 and 26092.93. There were 16 stocks advancing against 14 stocks declining on the index. (Provisional)

The broader indices ended in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.13%, while Small cap index up by 0.28%. (Provisional)

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Telecom up by 2.93% Oil & Gas up by 1.23%, FMCG up by 1.02%, Energy up by 0.80% and TECK up by 0.72%, while Bankex down by 0.87%, Power down by 0.50%, Finance down by 0.48%, Realty down by 0.36% and Capital Goods down by 0.24% were the top losing indices on BSE. (Provisional)

The top gainers on the Sensex were Adani Ports &Special up by 4.76%, Bharti Airtel up by 3.63%, ONGC up by 3.13%, GAIL India up by 2.60% and Mahindra & Mahindra up by 2.42%. On the flip side, ICICI Bank down by 3.35%, Axis Bank down by 3.25%, SBI down by 2.32%, BHEL down by 0.93% and Lupin down by 0.78% were the top losers. (Provisional)

Meanwhile, the government will kick-start its disinvestment process for the current fiscal with 11.36 percent stake sale in state-controlled hydropower producer NHPC at Rs 21.75 per share through an offer for sale (OFS) that is likely to fetch the exchequer over Rs 2,700 crore. The issue price of Rs 21.75 per share is at a discount of 5.6 per cent to NHPC's closing price of Rs 23.05 on April 26 on the BSE. The government holds 85.96 per cent in NHPC and selling of over 125 crore shares or 11.36 per cent stake would help it comply with the minimum public shareholding norm.

According to the revised OFS rules, non-retail investors could bid for NHPC shares on April 27 while retail investors will be eligible to bid on April 28. A minimum of 20 per cent of the shares on offer have been reserved for allocation to retail investors and retail investors will be allocated shares at a discount of 5 per cent to the cut-off price. Besides, a minimum of 25 per cent of the offer size has been reserved for mutual funds and insurance companies. No single bidder other than mutual funds and insurance companies shall be allocated more than 25 per cent of the offer size.

NHPC will be the first share sale of Department of Investment and Public Asset Management (DIPAM), earlier called Department of Disinvestment, this fiscal. Budget for 2016-17 has set a disinvestment target of Rs 56,500 crore. Of this, Rs 36,000 crore is estimated to come from minority stake sale in PSUs and the remaining Rs 20,500 crore is projected to come from strategic sale in both profit and loss-making companies.

The CNX Nifty ended at 7979.90, up by 17.25 points or 0.22% after trading in a range of 7940.55 and 7991.00. There were 28 stocks advancing against 23 stocks declining on the index. (Provisional)

The top gainers on Nifty were Adani Ports & Special up by 5.30%, Bharti Airtel up by 3.51%, ONGC up by 3.50%, Bharti Infratel up by 3.48% and GAIL India up by 2.81%. On the flip side, ICICI Bank down by 3.72%, Axis Bank down by 3.06%, SBI down by 2.39%, Ultratech Cement down by 2.27% and Tata Power down by 1.74% were the top losers. (Provisional)

European markets were trading mostly in green; France’s CAC increased 8.32 points or 0.18% to 4,541.50 and Germany’s DAX was up by 27.57 points or 0.27% to 10,287.16, while UK’s FTSE 100 was down by 6.14 points or 0.1% to 6,278.38.

Asian equity markets ended mostly lower on Wednesday as the yen strengthened and weak earnings results from iPhone maker Apple put pressure on technology stocks. A sharp overnight rally in oil prices and positive industrial profits data out of China failed to lift investor sentiment ahead of key central bank decisions from the US Federal Reserve and the Bank of Japan. The Federal Reserve's two-day policy meeting ends later today, with investors mainly looking for guidance on the outlook for interest rates. Rate decisions from the Reserve Bank of New Zealand and the Bank of Japan are due on Thursday. Chinese shares ended lower even as positive industrial profits data boosted hopes the economic recovery is gaining momentum. Profits of China's major industrial firms climbed an annual 11.1% in March, up from a 4.8% rise in the Jan-Feb period. Japanese shares ended lower with a strengthening yen, disappointing earnings and anxiety ahead of the BOJ verdict weighing on markets.