Post Session: Quick Review

Snapping four day’s losing streak, Indian frontline equity indices fervently rallied on Wednesday to regain the important psychological 8,200 (Nifty) and 26,700 (Sensex) levels, as market participants lapped up beaten down but fundamentally strong counters. Markets started off with decent gains as sentiments remained upbeat with Finance Minister Arun Jaitley’s statement after a meeting of Empowered Committee of state FMs on the long awaited indirect tax reform that every state has either supported or accepted the idea of the pan-India Goods and Services Tax (GST) except Tamil Nadu. Besides, rupee appreciation too aided sentiments. The rupee strengthened 14 paise to 67.11 against the US dollar at the time of equity markets closing on fresh selling of the American unit by exporters. Meanwhile, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has called a special meeting of food, agriculture ministers and other senior officials to discuss prices of essential commodities like pulses and tomato, and also to chalk out an immediate plan to insulate poor people from increasing prices of food items.

Hectic buying activity which took place during last leg of trade mainly drove the markets higher and key domestic benchmarks settled with a gain of over a percentage point supported by firm global cues. European counters were trading with a gain of over a percent in early deals. Asian markets ended mostly in green on Wednesday after a succession of losses but fears of Britain will leave the European Union kept traders on edge.

Back home, traders took some encouragement with NITI Aayog Vice-Chairman Arvind Panagariya’s statement that India’s economic growth will cross the 8% mark this financial year on the back of good monsoon and pick up in manufacturing. He said the growth in the last quarter of the previous financial year touched 7.9% because of uptick in manufacturing activity and improved performance of agriculture sector.

Some support also came with Cabinet clearing civil aviation policy where the government has decided to scrap a requirement that mandated airlines to have five years of domestic oeprations to be eligible to fly overseas. Stocks like SpiceJet, Jet Airways and InterGlobe Aviation flied high on the bourses. On the sectoral front, shares of public sector oil marketing companies (OMCs) edged higher, as the global crude prices fell to their three weeks low. Sugar stocks continued rallying for yet another day on hopes of improving financial health on the back of rising sugar prices. Meanwhile, shares of State Bank of India gained over a percent, while its subsidiaries State Bank of Travancore, State Bank of Bikaner and Jaipur, and State Bank of Mysore rallied as much as 13-15 per cent each after report that the Cabinet approved the merger of five associate banks with the country's biggest lender.

The NSE’s 50-share broadly followed index -- Nifty -- rose by around hundred points to end above the psychological 8,200 support level, while Bombay Stock Exchange’s Sensitive Index -- Sensex -- surged by three hundred and thirty points to finish above the psychological 26,700 mark. Broader markets too traded with traction throughout the session and ended the day with a gain of over half a percent.

The market breadth remained in the favour of advances, as there were 1,663 shares on the gaining side against 964 shares on the losing side, while 177 shares remain unchanged. (Provisional)

The BSE Sensex ended at 26726.34, up by 330.63 points or 1.25% after trading in a range of 26446.59 and 26752.59. There were 25 stocks on gainers side against 5 stocks on losers side on the index. (Provisional)

The broader indices ended in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.58%, while Small cap index ended up by 0.80%. (Provisional)

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Capital Goods up by 2.26%, Utilities up by 2.06%, Power up by 1.99%, PSU up by 1.63% and Bankex up by 1.38%, while there were no losers on the index. (Provisional)

The top gainers on the Sensex were NTPC up by 4.22%, SBI up by 3.66%, Larsen & Toubro up by 3.32%, Maruti Suzuki up by 2.67% and Bharti Airtel up by 2.59%. On the flip side, Dr. Reddys Lab down by 0.51%, Mahindra & Mahindra down by 0.25%, Sun Pharma down by 0.23%, Adani Ports &Special down by 0.17% and Axis Bank down by 0.14% were the top losers. (Provisional)

Meanwhile, India is looking for creating an alliance of liquefied natural gas consumers with Japan and South Korea, and may also include China for better terms from producing nations, as Asian demand for the fuel grows. Minister of State for Petroleum and Natural Gas, Dharmendra Pradhan has stated that for the next two to three decades, gas will be the primary fuel source of India, indicating that greener energy sources like solar and wind would take much more time before taking root in the sub-continent. Minister further stated that they want to bring together the countries and form a network which can together source reasonable, rational and affordable LNG.

Gas Authority of India, the public sector company that processes and distributes natural gas, will take the talks forward and plan the pipeline requirements that will facilitate the creation of such an alliance.

Natural gas currently accounts for about 8 percent of India's overall energy mix. In the last decade, while India's domestic natural gas production has grown by 10 percent, imports of LNG have risen by 335 percent. Minister stated that this is likely to grow further as India gradually shifts to an oil-based economy. India's gas demand stands at 120 million standard cubic meters per day (mscmd) whereas domestic supply is 80 mscmd, making imports very important.

The CNX Nifty ended at 8206.60, up by 97.75 points or 1.21% after trading in a range of 8123.15 and 8213.20. There were 43 stocks in green against 8 stocks in red on the index. (Provisional)

The top gainers on Nifty were SBI up by 4.02%, NTPC up by 3.98%, Larsen & Toubro up by 3.65%, Bharti Airtel up by 2.70% and Maruti Suzuki up by 2.56%. On the flip side, Bharti Infratel down by 4.12%, Aurobindo Pharma down by 1.27%, Adani Ports &Special down by 0.77%, Eicher Motors down by 0.62% and Dr. Reddys Lab down by 0.34% were the top losers. (Provisional)

European markets were trading in green; UK’s FTSE 100 increased 61.92 points or 1.05% to 5,985.45, France’s CAC surged 63.7 points or 1.54% to 4,194.03 and Germany’s DAX was up by 119.67 points or 1.26% to 9,638.87.

Asian equity markets ended mostly higher on Wednesday even as underlying sentiment remained cautious ahead of the Fed decision on interest rates due tonight and the Bank of Japan's policy decision slated for Thursday. The Federal Reserve is widely expected to leave interest rates unchanged, but investors will keep a close eye on the accompanying statement and Fed Chair Janet Yellen's subsequent press conference for clues on the health of the world's largest economy and the trajectory of rate hikes. On the other hand, the Bank of Japan is likely to weigh the potential impact of Brexit on the broader economy before announcing further easing on Thursday. Also, investors ignored the MSCI decision delaying the inclusion of mainland-listed Chinese A-shares in its emerging market index for another year, citing concerns about market access and capital mobility. Chinese shares led regional gains after China's securities market regulator said a global stock index without A-shares trading in Shenzhen and Shanghai is incomplete and the MSCI's decision won't impact the reform and opening process of the country's capital markets. Japanese shares rose on short-covering as the yen slightly weakened against its rivals ahead of monetary-policy decisions by the Federal Reserve and the Bank of Japan.