Indian benchmarks display spirited performance; Sensex ends above 27450 mark

Indian benchmark equity indices halting four consecutive session’s losing streak emerged triumphant on Monday. The relentless across the board value picking ensured that the frontline indices settle closer to the psychological 8,500 (Nifty) and 27,450 (Sensex) levels amid positive developments on US election front as the FBI said Hillary Clinton would not face charges over her use of a private e-mail server. The news lifted a cloud over Clinton's presidential campaign two days before the U.S. election. On the domestic front, sentiments also got some support from reports that foreign direct investment (FDI) into the country grew by over 30 percent to $21.62 billion during the first half of 2016-17. During April-September of 2015-16, India received FDI worth $16.63 billion. Furthermore, National Council of Applied Economic Research (NCAER) has pegged India's GDP growth at 7.6 percent for the current fiscal on back of pick-up in rural demand and positive signals on the manufacturing front. Adding the optimum among the investors London's Deputy Mayor for business Rajesh Agarawal today said no country can overlook India which is emerging as a strong country with a galloping economic growth rate. He also said that India and UK have business and cultural ties for centuries and due to this Indians enjoy good influence in various sectors in UK. However, gains remained capped on the report that Reserve Bank of India (RBI) is expected to maintain a status quo in the upcoming December meet and will go for a 25 bps rate cut each in its February and April policy review meeting. According to the report, the accommodative policy stance of the central bank would be largely driven by weak global growth and the fact that inflation is expected to be on track to its March-2017 target of 5 per cent.

On the global front, Asian markets settled on a positive note on Monday, as markets participants remained optimistic after the FBI director told lawmakers that the bureau had found no evidence to warrant criminal charges against presidential candidate Hillary Clinton in a trove of newly discovered emails. Japanese shares climbed on a weaker yen against dollar, after FBI’s report on Clinton’s case and the latest US jobs report kept prospects of a near-term Fed rate hike alive. Chinese shares edged higher with commodity-related stocks outperforming after Chinese Premier Li Keqiang said on Saturday, that the government would maintain steady growth and speed up economic transformation. Meanwhile, European markets also open strong, with France’s CAC 40 index and Germany’s Dax 30 index both up over a percent.

Back home, the benchmark got off to an optimistic opening, in tandem with largely positive sentiments prevailing in Asian markets. The indices saw a fairly steady day as they gyrated in a tight range for most part of the day as most traders remained uncomfortable to open fresh positions ahead of the U.S. election. However, some profit booking in dying hour of trade ensured that the key indices shut shops off the intraday highs. Finally the NSE’s 50-share broadly followed index Nifty, climbed by over half a percent and settled below the crucial 8,500 support level, while Bombay Stock Exchange’s Sensitive Index Sensex amassed one hundred and eighty points and closed over the psychological 27,450 mark. On the BSE sectoral space, buying was evident across the board and investors piled up hefty positions in the high beta Metal counter which rocketed by around two percent while the Banking, Realty and PSU  pockets climbed by about one and half percent each. However, only Capital Goods index closed on a flat note with a negative bias as heavyweights like Larsen & Toubro and Lakshmi Machine Works plunged by over a percent each.

The market breadth remained pessimistic as there were 1061 shares on the gaining side against 1604 shares on the losing side, while 261 shares remained unchanged.

Finally, the BSE Sensex gained 184.84 points or 0.68% to 27458.99, while the CNX Nifty rose 63.30 points or 0.75% to 8,497.05.

The BSE Sensex touched a high and a low of 27591.15 and 27398.72, respectively and there were 20 stocks on gainers side against 10 stocks on the losers side on the index. The broader indices made a positive closing; the BSE Mid cap index ended higher by 0.59%, while Small cap index was up by 1.19%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Metal up by 1.94%, Bankex up by 1.70%, Realty up by 1.50%, PSU up by 1.47% and Power up by 1.20%, while Capital Goods down by 0.09% was the sole losing index on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Lupin up by 6.93%, SBI up by 4.06%, ICICI Bank up by 3.36%, ITC up by 3.05% and Tata Steel up by 2.10%. On the flip side, TCS down by 2.18%, Larsen & Toubro down by 1.34%, Hindustan Unilever down by 1.09%, Tata Motors down by 0.94% and ONGC down by 0.85% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, Oil marketing companies (OMCs) have hiked prices of petrol and diesel by 89 paise a litre and 86 paise per litre respectively.  The price changes effective from midnight of November 5 and November 7 were due to surge in global oil prices. This is the sixth increase in Petrol rates since September and in the case of diesel this is the third price increase in a month.

After including local VAT, Petrol will cost Rs 67.62 a litre in National capital as against Rs 66.45 per litre currently. Similarly, diesel will cost Rs 56.41 per litre in the national capital as against Rs 55.38 per litre currently. Petrol price was last hiked by Rs. 1.73 a litre on October 16 and diesel by Rs. 2.77 a litre following an increase in commission paid to dealers.

According to IOC the country's largest fuel retailer, the hike in prices is due to the movement of prices in the international oil market and INR-USD exchange rate shall continue to be monitored closely and developing trends of the market will be reflected in future price changes. It further added that the current level of international product prices of petrol and diesel and INR-USD exchange rate warrant increase in selling price of petrol and diesel, the impact of which is being passed on to the consumers with this price revision.

The CNX Nifty traded in a range of 8,535.85 and 8,481.45. There were 35 stocks in green against 16 stocks in red on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Lupin up by 6.97%, Aurobindo Pharma up by 5.36%, Hindalco up by 5.19%, SBI up by 3.83% and Bank of Baroda up by 3.79%. On the flip side, TCS down by 2.77%, Tata Motors - DVR down by 2.65%, Bharti Infratel down by 2.18%, Larsen & Toubro down by 1.32% and Hindustan Unilever down by 1.30% were the top losers.

European markets were trading in green; France’s CAC surged 83.61 points or 1.91% to 4,461.07, UK’s FTSE 100 increased 99.98 points or 1.49% to 6,793.24 and Germany’s DAX was up by 186.83 points or 1.82% to 10,445.96.

Asian equity markets ended in green on Monday, as investors remained cheerful after the Federal Bureau of Investigation cleared US presidential candidate Hillary Clinton of potential criminal charges in its private email server probe. The FBI's latest announcement lifted a cloud over her presidential campaign two days before the presidential election. Japanese shares climbed on a weaker yen against dollar, after FBI’s report on Clinton’s case and the latest US jobs report kept prospects of a near-term Fed rate hike alive. Chinese shares ended higher with commodity-related stocks outperforming after Chinese Premier Li Keqiang said on Saturday, that the government would maintain steady growth and speed up economic transformation. Further, Hong Kong shares traded higher even as realty stocks fell sharply after a hike in stamp duty on property transactions.