Post session - Quick review

Recuperating from the previous session’s biggest intra-day fall since late February , benchmark equity indices showcased significant vigor in order to emerge triumphant on the last trading session of the week as foreign investors remained net buyers, easing worries that global risk aversion and domestic political uncertainty would spark selling.

Barometer gauges after consolidating in the first half of the session, staged substantial vigor during the latter half, however, immense uptake that came towards the end of the trade, mainly led to the big gains for the bourses. The Bombay Stock Exchange’s (BSE) Sensex after oscillating in the range of 17250-17350 level for the most part of the session, pierced through the 17400 level, only to face resistance. Similarly, the widely followed National Stock Exchange’s (NSE) Nifty- after consolidating around the 5250 level up till noon deals, managed to touch the 5300 mark, finally closing below it.

In the session, volatility was well taken care of by retail participation, which remained low on account of local holiday. The session, which started on a promising note, ended equally well, with the support of the stocks belonging to Technology, Realty and Banking space. Aided with the spurt of Infosys and Bharti Airtel, Technology gauge emerged as the star performer on the BSE sectoral space. Meanwhile, the gains of index heavyweight -Reliance Industries - heaved the bourses higher. Mukesh Ambani led RIL shot up on the reports highlighting Government approval for the company’s $1.53 billion KG-D6 satellite field plan‎. Inversely, the stocks from the Metal counters remained the lone laggards.

Boosted by the late hour recovery of regional counterparts, barometer gauges too drove higher.  Asian stocks mostly ended positive on the back of positive US report that suggested that number of Americans claiming new unemployment benefits dropped to a four-year low last week, thereby bolstering hopes a recent pick-up in job growth will prove lasting. Meanwhile, optimism of European region too aided, European stocks posted mild gains as investors moved tentatively back into equities following four consecutive days of declines.

Back home, amid low volumes, the Bombay stock Exchange -Sensex and National Stock Exchange (NSE)’s Nifty- registered its fifth weekly loss.  Though, the main 30-share BSE index rising over 1% ended above the 17,300 level, while the 50-share Nifty index added close to 50 points to end above the 5250 bastion for the day. The broader indices too concluded in fine fettle. The market breadth on the BSE ended positive; advances and declining stocks were in a ratio of 1452:1432 while 123 scrips remained unchanged. (Provisional)

The BSE Sensex gained 181.75 points or 1.06% and settled at 17,378.22. The index touched a high and a low of 17,458.35 and 17,179.33 respectively. 24 stocks advanced against 6 declining ones on the index (Provisional)

The BSE Mid-cap index gain 0.74% while Small-cap index was up 0.43%. (Provisional)

On the BSE Sectoral front, Realty up 1.90%, TECk up 1.71%, IT up 1.52%, Bankex up 1.39% and FMCG up 1.37% were the top gainers while Metal down 0.28% and Consumer Durables down 0.14% were the top losers.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Hero MotoCorp up 4.14%, Bharti Airtel up 3.38%, Sun Pharma up 3.01%, Gail India up 2.51% and BHEL up 2.13%.

On the flip side, Maruti Suzuki down 1.69%, Jindal Steel down 1.31%, Coal India down 1.20%, Hindalco Industries down 1.09% and ONGC down 1.09% were the top losers in the index. (Provisional)

Meanwhile, increasing the use of natural gas is one of the most important and immediate ways of responding to the challenges of energy security facing India. India intends to increase its production and use and the government is committed to find a solution to the pricing mechanism of the industry. India also intends to promote greater flow of trade, investment, skills and services, across the gas-value-chain within the Asian region.

Speaking at the 7th Asia Gas Partnership Summit, Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh, stated that natural gas is a clean answer to the energy requirements of India and the government is keen to step up its production. For doing so it realizes that the issues relating to its pricing being more remunerative and transparent are being considered. PM’s statements come at a time when Reliance Industries’ eastern offshore KG-D6 gas fields have seen output drop more than 40% to under 35 million standard cubic meters per day.

He further observed that emerging economies of Asia are increasingly using natural gas to meet their energy requirements with China and India leading the pack. As per the PM, the Asia Pacific region accounts for about 60% of world's total LNG imports and consumption in India has been growing at a compound annual growth rate of 14%. Its import capacity of liquefied natural gas (LNG) is also expected to rise to 20 million tonne by 2012-13.

Keeping in view the increased demand, India has stepped up its efforts to increase the domestic production of natural gas. Shale rock, which is one of the latest place that explorers are turning to for oil and gas, is extremely capital intensive and the PM intends to have a  shale gas licensing regime in place by next year. India has already attracted $14 billion in oil and gas exploration under the New Exploration Licensing Policy (NELP) and the 9th round of NELP has just been completed covering a sedimentary area of about 88,000 sq km. 

Australia and the Middle-East have already emerged as a principal source of gas supply in the Asia Pacific region and Singh has expressed his desire to move beyond the conventional buyer-seller relationships to more a comprehensive gas and energy partnership in the region. The Prime Minister has also informed that the government has launched an ambitious pipeline development programme and the target is to have a country-wide gas grid of about 30,000 km by the end of the 12th Five-Year Plan in 2017.

India VIX, a gauge for market’s short term expectation of volatility lost 5.77% at 23.34 from its previous close of 24.77 on Thursday. (Provisional)

The S&P CNX Nifty gain 57.50 points or 1.10% to settle at 5,285.95. The index touched high and low of 5,312.00 and 5,220.00 respectively. 40 stocks advanced against 10 declining ones on the index. (Provisional)

The top gainers on the Nifty were JP Associates up 4.24%, Hero MotoCorp up 3.83%, Ambuja Cement up 3.51%, Bharti Airtel up 3.23% and Sun Pharma up 3.17%.

On the other hand, Maruti Suzuki down 1.60%, Jindal Steel down 1.55%, Hindalco Industries down 1.13%, Siemens down 1.10% and Coal India down 1.05% were the top losers. (Provisional)

The European markets were trading on mix note, with France's CAC 40 down 0.38%, Germany's DAX down 0.10% and Britain’s FTSE 100 up 0.09%.

Most of the Asian equity markets reversed their early losses to finish mixed on Friday as investors sought buying opportunities in the wake of recent selling, despite downward pressure from weak manufacturing data out of China and Europe. Earlier, the regional markets witnessed a choppy trade for most part of the day’s trade as Chinese manufacturing activity shrank for a fifth straight month in March and the euro zone economy showed new signs of wilting in surveys that pointed to weakening global demand but, the impact on the market was cushioned by bargain-hunting in late trade amid firm opening in European counters.

Tokyo stocks closed 1.14 percent lower following losses on Wall Street while, fears of slower growth lifted the yen, further weighing on Japanese exporters. However, Taiwan stocks rose 0.21 percent, with banks rising after the central bank left interest rates on hold and said it hoped to sign a currency clearing agreement with China around the middle of the year.

The Indonesian equity market remained close today on the account of public holiday.