Post Session: Quick Review

Indian equity benchmarks managed to end the session with a gain of around half a percent despite late hour sell-off triggered by profit bookings. Earlier, markets made a gap-up opening with Finance Minister Arun Jaitley exuding confidence in getting the GST Bill passed in the upcoming monsoon session. Jaitley has said that he has spoken to the chief ministers of all states, including those ruled by the UPA and the Congress, and they are a “strong supporter” of the idea. Moreover, exit polls which indicated BJP emerging victorious in the Assam assembly polls too boosted investors’ sentiment.

Buying got extended with traders getting some encouragement with report that the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) allowing foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) to invest in unlisted bonds of a public company and securitised debt instruments.  Investment by Indian firms in their foreign ventures fell by almost 84 per cent to $4.11 billion in April 2016. However, markets witnessed strong resistance near 7,950 (Nifty) and 25,900 (Sensex) levels and marketmen started booking profit near those levels in last leg of trade. Some cautiousness crept in with Finance Minister stating that India will have to renegotiate the tax treaty with Singapore to extend the capital gains tax provisions of the recently-concluded tax pact with Mauritius.

Global cues remained positive with European counters making firm start with CAC and FTSE were trading with a gain of around half a percent. Asian shares recovered from two-month lows after a rebound in technology giant Apple Corp and oil price gains boosted Wall Street. 

Back home, appreciation in Indian rupee aided sentiments. The rupee appreciated by 9 paise to 66.70 against the dollar at the time of equity markets closing at the Interbank Foreign Exchange on increased selling of the US currency by exporters and banks. Some support also came with Economic affairs secretary Shaktikanta Das stating that the India’s pace of economic expansion is likely to exceed the government’s initial projection this year, accelerating to about 8% if the country receives normal levels of seasonal rainfall.

Shares of public sector oil marketing companies (OMCs) edged higher after increasing prices of petrol by 83 paise per liter and diesel rates by Rs 1.26 per liter in order to align the domestic rates of the automobile fuels with global prices. Banking stocks too remained in action, as SBI chairwomen has called for the government to park surplus funds with banks instead of the RBI to make up for fund shortage.

The NSE’s 50-share broadly followed index Nifty rose by over thirty points to end near its psychological 7,900 support level, while Bombay Stock Exchange’s Sensitive Index -- Sensex surged by over one hundred and twenty points to finish above its psychological 25,700 mark. Broader too were trading with traction and ended the session in green terrain.

The market breadth remained in favor of advances, as there were 1,306 shares on the gaining side against 1,297 shares on the losing side while 183 shares remain unchanged. (Provisional)

The BSE Sensex ended at 25773.61, up by 120.38 points or 0.47% after trading in a range of 25733.76 and 25927.31. There were 19 stocks advancing against 11 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 0.19%. (Provisional)

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Oil & Gas up by 1.18%, Realty up by 0.79%, Auto up by 0.58%, PSU up by 0.57% and Capital Goods up by 0.55%, while Power down by 0.38%, FMCG down by 0.16%, Utilities down by 0.14% and Metal down by 0.01% were the few losing indices on BSE. (Provisional)

The top gainers on the Sensex were ONGC up by 3.72%, Axis Bank up by 3.32%, HDFC up by 2.44%, Asian Paints up by 1.92% and Mahindra & Mahindra up by 1.79%. On the flip side, NTPC down by 2.18%, Hindustan Unilever down by 1.38%, Adani Ports &Special down by 1.29%, Reliance Industries down by 0.84% and HDFC Bank down by 0.80% were the top losers. (Provisional)

Meanwhile, buoyant about the country’s growth, Economic affairs secretary Shaktikanta Das has said that the India’s pace of economic expansion is likely to exceed the government’s initial projection this year, accelerating to about 8% if the country receives normal levels of seasonal rainfall. He further said that a good forecast for the monsoon and host of other factors is likely to give nation’s economy a boost.

He said that with India’s weather office recently forecasting an above normal monsoon this year, the projection of a higher GDP growth for the country has improved. Das expects that the private sector investment this year to be far better than last year. He added that indicators such as automobile and cement sales showed a strong increase in the first quarter of this calendar year, indicating that economic activity is strengthening.

Furthermore, he said that India’s banks will be in a better position to lend and spur growth after meeting the central bank’s requirements to earmark funds to shield themselves against bad, or nonperforming, loans. He also said that the government has taken measures including infusing capital in the public sector banks and added that the problem of stressed assets which looked very grim last year, now looks to be getting under control.

The government had projected GDP growth to be 7.6% for the last fiscal year, the provisional data for which is due on May 31. For the current financial year, the government has projected growth will be between 7% and 7.75%.

The CNX Nifty ended at 7890.75, up by 30.00 points or 0.38% after trading in a range of 7879.70 and 7940.10. There were 27 stocks advancing against 24 stocks declining on the index. (Provisional)

The top gainers on Nifty were ONGC up by 3.78%, Axis Bank up by 3.47%, HDFC up by 2.65%, Ultratech Cement up by 2.56% and BPCL up by 2.45%. On the flip side, Eicher Motors down by 2.42%, NTPC down by 2.21%, Aurobindo Pharma down by 1.45%, Hindustan Unilever down by 1.44% and Tata Motors - DVR down by 1.40% were the top losers. (Provisional)

European markets were trading in green; France’s CAC increased 20.57 points or 0.48% to 4,332.85, Germany’s DAX gained 21.73 points or 0.22% to 9,974.63 and UK’s FTSE 100 was up by 42.04 points or 0.68% to 6,193.44.

The Asian markets ended mostly higher on Tuesday, extending their gains for the second day in a row, tailing the jump in US markets overnight after crude spiked to six months high. Japanese market was one of the major gainers, surging by over a percent and hitting a near three-week high, as oil prices climbed and the yen's retreated ahead of a G7 meeting. Traders were also encouraged by the data of Economy Ministry showing that Japan's industrial production grew more than estimated in March. Output grew 3.8 percent from February instead of 3.6 percent estimated initially. On the other hand the Chinese market ended slightly in red on speculation that Beijing will not resort to large stimulus measures to boost growth. Indonesian market was the only other market that ended tad lower in the region.