Benchmarks continue to hold their head above water

Benchmarks continue to hold their head above water as investors turned jittery after the mixed macro data was announced yesterday.  While, industrial production recovered, growing by 1.2 percent in May compared to (-) 0.8 percent in April, the retail inflation based on Consumer Price Index (CPI) rose marginally to 5.77 percent in June as against 5.76 percent in May. Also, there was some cautiousness with the Sebi chairman suggesting that a false sense of relief is prevailing in the market post Brexit. However, market percipient got some comfort with the report that India is expected to increase the share of manufacturing in the overall economy to 25 per cent by 2025 from the current 16 per cent on account of various measures taken by the government. Meanwhile, footwear stocks edged higher after the report that the government is working on a package of both fiscal and non-fiscal measures for leather and non-leather footwear sector. Further, some upstream companies also gained strength after the report that the oil companies have received the green signal to increase kerosene price by 25 paise every month till April 2017.

On the global front, Asian markets extended gains on Wednesday, with Japanese shares gaining the most on the back of a softer yen and hopes of stimulus from Japan's central bank. Further, Chinese stocks edged up, with investors shrugging off the impact of an international tribunal's ruling that denied China's claims in the South China Sea. Meanwhile, US stocks surged to record highs with the broader S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average after encouraging second quarter earnings from global aluminium major, Alcoa.

Back home, stocks from Metal, Oil & Gas and information technology (IT) counters were supporting the markets’ uptrend, while those from Realty, Auto and Consumer Durables counters were adding to the underlying cautious undertone. In scrip specific development, Kwality surged after the company received capital commitment of upto Rs 520 crore via structured finance from private equity fund KKR India to fuel its aggressive growth plans. Moreover, Great Eastern Shipping Company (GE Shipping) rose after the company signed a contract to buy a medium-range product tanker.

The market breadth remained pessimistic as there were 817 shares on the gaining side against 1506 shares on the losing side, while 113 shares remained unchanged.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 27829.25, up by 21.11 points or 0.08% after trading in a range of 27818.02 and 27928.76. There were 15 stocks advancing against 15 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in red; the BSE Mid cap index was down by 0.26%, while Small cap index was down by 0.24%.

The gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Metal up by 1.75%, Oil & Gas up by 0.76%, IT up by 0.58%, PSU up by 0.40%, TECK up by 0.39% while, Realty down by 1.88%, Auto down by 0.42%, Consumer Durables down by 0.37%, FMCG down by 0.35%, Power down by 0.30% were the losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were ONGC up by 3.91%, GAIL India up by 2.29%, Tata Steel up by 2.18%, Wipro up by 1.39% and Reliance Industries up by 1.19%. On the flip side, Power Grid Corpn. down by 1.62%, Maruti Suzuki down by 1.14%, Axis Bank down by 0.78%, Larsen & Toubro down by 0.78% and ITC down by 0.75% were the top losers.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 8522.35, up by 1.30 points or 0.02% after trading in a range of 8512.75 and 8550.25. There were 22 stocks advancing against 28 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were BHEL up by 4.01%, ONGC up by 3.91%, GAIL India up by 2.27%, Tata Steel up by 2.19% and Hindalco up by 1.85%. On the flip side, BPCL down by 1.91%, Indusind Bank down by 1.61%, Power Grid down by 1.56%, Maruti Suzuki down by 1.24% and Yes Bank down by 0.99% were the top losers.

Asian markets were mostly in green, KOSPI Index was up by 0.48%, Shanghai Composite gained 0.49%, Jakarta Composite was higher by 0.3%, Hang Seng added 0.63% and Nikkei 225 surged by 1.03%. On the other hand, Taiwan Weighted declined by 0.01% and FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI was marginally down by 0.05%.