Benchmarks snap three-day losing streak; Sensex regains 25200 level

After witnessing drubbing in the last three sessions, Indian benchmark indices witnessed a smart recovery in the second half on Thursday and ended the day in the green, however the trade remained volatile. Sentiments got a boost after Finance Minister Arun Jaitley stated that India’s economic situation is by far the best in the world and the country has the potential to do even better. The minister enlightened that India is doing much better than other economics and has maintained 7.65% growth in FY16 Vs 7.2% in FY15 despite international headwinds. Besides, positive trend across the European peers and rise in the crude oil prices also supported the indices. However, investors also remained cautious with a private report stating that India's GDP is likely to 'auto correct', and the headline growth of the country in this fiscal is expected to remain flat at 7.4 per cent. According to the report, India's new GDP series seem to exaggerate the economy's true growth rate and this overestimation is likely to narrow over the next few quarters.

On the global front, Asian markets ended mostly lower on Thursday as investors turned jittery after a mixed set of US economic data. Sentiments also remained down-beat on report that the Nikkei Hong Kong Purchasing Managers Index fell to an eight-month low of 45.3 in April from 45.5 in March, suggesting a further deterioration in Hong Kong's private sector amid China's economic slowdown. However, European stocks edged higher in early trade, taking cues from a rally in oil prices but with a watchful eye on Friday's crucial US jobs numbers. Oil prices climbed, with Brent breaking the level of $45 a barrel, as a huge wildfire in Canada disrupted its oil sands production, while escalating fighting in Libya threatened the North African nation's output.

Back home, the local benchmark indices started the day on optimistic note on the back of value-buying by retail investors in beaten-down stocks. Sentiments got some support with report that India is considering setting up an independent panel to help state-owned banks negotiate settlements with big businesses on bad loans, in order to shield bankers from a populist backlash they say is hobbling efforts to clean up their balance sheets. Besides, recovery in Indian rupee too aided sentiments. Thereafter, the key indices remained in tight range through the first half of trade but saw a sudden spurt in buying in early afternoon trades post the sanguine European market opening. The bourses further capitalized on the momentum and spurted in mid-afternoon trades on the back of broad based bottom fishing in undervalued stocks. However, a mild profit booking in dying moments of trade ensured that the key indices shut shops off the intraday highs. Finally the NSE’s 50-share broadly followed index Nifty, got buttressed by close to half a percent to settle above the crucial 7,700 support level, while Bombay Stock Exchange’s Sensitive Index-Sensex accumulated over one hundred and sixty points and closed above the psychological 25,250 mark. However, the broader markets failed to show any kind of fervor and settled with modest cuts. On the BSE sectoral space, Capital Goods counter remained the top gainer with over one and half percent gains, followed by the FMCG and Realty indices which ended with gains of 0.83% and 0.73% respectively. On the flipside, the Consumer Durables, Oil & Gas and Teck sectors languished at the bottom of the table with losses of 0.46%, 0.16% and 0.13% respectively. The market breadth was pessimistic as there were 1228 shares on the gaining side against 1322 shares on the losing side, while 154 shares remained unchanged.

Finally, the BSE Sensex ended at 25262.21, up by 160.48 points or 0.64%, while the Nifty ended at 7,735.50, up by 28.95 points or 0.38%.

The BSE Sensex traded in a range of 24996.44 and 25180.02. There were 23 stocks in green against 7 stocks in red on the index. The overall market breadth remained positive with 1,521 shares advancing against 1,101 declining on the BSE.

The broader indices made a negative closing; the BSE Mid cap index ended down by 0.09%, while Small cap index declined 0.03%

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Capital Goods up by 1.60%, FMCG up by 0.83%, Realty up by 0.73%, Power up by 0.61% and Auto up by 0.57%, while Consumer Durables down by 0.46%, Oil & Gas down by 0.16%, TECK down by 0.13% and PSU down by 0.06% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were BHEL up by 2.88%, HDFC up by 2.58%, Tata Motors up by 2.46%, Larsen & Toubro up by 2.20% and Cipla up by 1.81%. On the flip side, Adani Ports &Special down by 4.48%, Bharti Airtel down by 1.64%, Asian Paints down by 0.61%, Bajaj Auto down by 0.34% and Reliance Industries down by 0.30% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, Telecom Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad has said that the number of Internet users in the country is likely to reach 500 million this year from around 400 million Internet users now. He added that India has now over 100 crore mobile subscribers. The total mobile subscriber base at the end of February has 98.2 crore GSM mobile users and 4.45 crore subscribers on CDMA network.

Prasad while launching Digital Desh Drive 2 said that people in India specially at grass root levels are using technology to transform their lives. The Digital Desh 2.0 has incorporated insights of small Indian businesses who are using Internet to transform their businesses.

Earlier Prasad had said that the government is setting up a centralised monitoring system (CMS) to automate process of lawful interception and monitoring of phones and internet. The aim and objective of CMS include electronic provisioning of target number by government agency without any manual intervention from telecom service providers (TSPs) on a secured network, thus enhancing the secrecy level and quick provisioning of target.

The CNX Nifty traded in a range of 7,777.55 and 7,706.85. There were 25 stocks on gainers side against 26 stocks on losers side on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were HDFC up by 2.90%, Tech Mahindra up by 2.66%, BHEL up by 2.51%, Tata Motors up by 2.45% and Larsen & Toubro up by 2.17%. On the flip side, Idea Cellular down by 5.30%, Adani Ports &Special down by 4.92%, Ultratech Cement down by 2.03%, Bharti Airtel down by 1.95% and Bharti Infratel down by 1.36% were the top losers.

European markets were trading in green; UK’s FTSE 100 increased 20.57 points or 0.34% to 6,132.59, France’s CAC gained 20.84 points or 0.48% to 4,345.07 and Germany’s DAX was up by 84.12 points or 0.86% to 9,912.37.

The Asian markets closed mostly in red on Thursday outside of Chinese stock market, which moved higher despite a report showing a slowdown in the country's services growth. The Caixin services purchasing managers' index came in at 51.8 for April, down from 52.2 in March. While a jump in oil prices on concerns about production cuts in Canada's oil sands region offered some support, gains were tempered ahead of the all-important US jobs report due on Friday that could provide further clues on the state of the economy and help influence Fed's thinking on the timing of a rate hike. Markets in Japan, South Korea and Indonesia were closed Thursday for public holidays.