Indian benchmarks snap three days losing streak; Nifty ends above 8000 mark

A session after displaying a depressing performance, Indian benchmark indices pulled through a scintillating performance by vivaciously rallying over half a percent on Tuesday, thanks to the hefty short covering in the recently beaten down frontline counters ahead of monthly expiry of derivative contract on Thursday. The frontline indices took the quantum leap and halted the three successive session southbound journey. Except for some mild profit taking in early afternoon trades, Tuesday’s session remained a day of recovery as key indices enthusiastically rallied through the day since investors largely focused on firm cues from global markets after crude prices shot up in overnight trade as the dollar weakened a bit and reports suggested that Russia was keen on cutting output. The weakness of dollar in the international market capped the rupee fall against the dollar. Local sentiments also got buttressed by Moody’s latest report, on non-financial corporate, stating that Indian businesses will see strongest profit growth over the next 12 to 18 months on the back of sustained economic expansion and project completions. Meanwhile, the Congress Party on Tuesday held the stubborn approach of the BJP-led NDA regime responsible for repeated disruptions in both Houses and said that the opposition was ready for debate in Parliament. Investors remained cautious over concern of India’s demonetisation move estimated to pulling down gross domestic product growth this financial year from last year’s 7.6%. The domestic rating agency, ICRA has forecasted a 40 bps dip in growth rate to 7.2% in the second quarter of the current fiscal, citing debilitating impact of the demonetisation drive on the economy. Meanwhile, aviation stocks edged higher with report that domestic airlines carried 86.72 lakh passengers during October this year, registering a growth of 23.18% over the 70.39 lakh passengers flown during the same period in the previous year.

On the global front, Asian equity markets ended higher on Tuesday, helped by solid overnight gains on Wall Street, though investors were wary of chasing prices higher until President-elect Donald Trump picks his economic team. Miners and oil producers pulled indices higher, as Brent crude rose 0.94% to $49.36 a barrel after closing at a three-week high on Monday on optimism that OPEC members meeting in Vienna next week will curb production. Meanwhile, Chinese shares ended higher after the nation’s central bank fixed the yuan reference level higher on Tuesday, ending 12 straight sessions of devaluation. Japanese shares too ended higher after dipping briefly following a powerful 6.9-magnitude earthquake in northern Japan that set off a small tsunami but caused minor damage and injuries. Meanwhile, European counterparts too are trading in the positive with UK’s FTSE 100 being the top gainer in the space. 

Back home, the local benchmarks got off to a positive start as the indices rebounded after the recent sell-offs following the strong overnight bounce back on Wall Street as oil prices pushed higher amid hopes of an upcoming production-cut deal from the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries. However the indices failed to capitalize on the initial momentum in the non session as the frontline indices could not sustain the high levels and succumbed to profit booking. Second half of the session saw the key gauges capitalize on the momentum further and spurt to session’s highest levels in dying hour. Eventually the NSE’s 50-share broadly followed index Nifty, convalesced by close to a percent to settle above the crucial 8,000 support level while Bombay Stock Exchange’s Sensitive Index, Sensex accumulated close to two hundred points and closed above the psychological 25,900 mark. Moreover, the broader markets too participated in the rally and closed with gains of over a percent. On the BSE sectoral space, Metal counter remained the top gainer in the space with over two and half a percent gains followed by the high beta- Realty index which ended with similar gains. On the other hand, the Capital Goods index slipped by half a percent followed by Power index, which settled with diminutive losses.

The market breadth remained optimistic as there were 1457 shares on the gaining side against 1099 shares on the losing side, while 190 shares remained unchanged.

Finally, the BSE Sensex gained 195.64 points or 0.76% to 25960.78, while the CNX Nifty rose 73.20 points or 0.92% to 8,002.30.

The BSE Sensex touched a high and a low of 26039.70 and 25765.51, respectively and there were 22 stocks on gainers side against 8 stocks on the losers side on the index. The broader indices made a positive closing; the BSE Mid cap index ended higher 1.39%, while Small cap index was up by 1.16%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Metal up by 2.74%, Realty up by 2.53%, Auto up by 1.89%, Consumer Durables up by 1.27% and FMCG up by 1.13%, while Capital Goods down by 0.69% and Power down by 0.36% were the only losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Maruti Suzuki up by 2.97%, Bajaj Auto up by 2.89%, Hindustan Unilever up by 2.52%, Hero MotoCorp up by 2.35% and Adani Ports & SEZ up by 2.10%. On the flip side, Larsen & Toubro down by 1.41%, GAIL India down by 1.25%, Power Grid down by 0.51%, NTPC down by 0.45% and Dr. Reddys Lab down by 0.45% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, amid the cash chaos in the country, there is good news for domestic aviation sector, who continued flying more and more passengers, with latest figures showing a growth of 23.18% in air traffic till October, this year, compared with the same period, last year. As per the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) data, domestic airlines during January-October 2016 carried 813.70 lakh passengers as against 660.60 lakh during the corresponding period of previous year. During October this year they carried 86.72 lakh passengers, compared to 70.39 lakh passengers flown during the same period in the previous year.

Company wise, while SpiceJet continued to report highest load factors in the industry of 91.9% followed by IndiGo at 84.9%, which also maintained its lead in the domestic market by carrying 42.6% of the total passengers during the month followed by Jet Airways group that carried 17.1% of the total number. The DGCA however noted that the passenger load factor in October has “almost remained constant”, compared with the previous month, primarily due to the end of the tourist season. In terms of on-time performance -- SpiceJet led the industry with 86.1 per cent punctuality rate at four major airports of Bengaluru, Delhi, Hyderabad and Mumbai, followed by Vistara 83.6 per cent and IndiGo 81.2 per cent.

IndiGo achieved the highest market share in the month under review at 42.6 per cent followed by Jet Airways 14.7 per cent, Air India 13 per cent, SpiceJet 12.9 per cent, GoAir 7.9 per cent and Vistara and AirAsia India both at 2.7 per cent each. LCC JetLite reported a market share of 2.4 per cent, followed by Air Costa 0.6 per cent, Trujet 0.4 per cent and Air Carnival 0.1 per cent.

During the month, the domestic airlines paid over Rs 1.86 crore as compensation to over 69,000 passengers affected by cancellations and flight delays, among others. The law stipulates that airlines should pay compensation starting from Rs 2,000 going up to Rs 4,000 for delayed or cancelled flights, while Rs 2,000 is to be paid for delays in flights having a block time of one hour, Rs 4,000 is for flights with a block time of two hours or more.

The CNX Nifty traded in a range of 8,019.05 and 7,938.15. There were 43 stocks in green against 8 stocks in red on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Hindalco up by 6.23%, Zee Entertainment up by 3.46%, Bajaj Auto up by 3.43%, Maruti Suzuki up by 3.35% and Ultratech Cement up by 3%. On the flip side, BHEL down by 3.37%, Larsen & Toubro down by 1.51%, GAIL India down by 1.49%, NTPC down by 0.55% and Dr. Reddy's Laboratories down by 0.30% were the top losers.

The European markets were trading in green; UK’s FTSE 100 increased 66.3 points or 0.98% to 6,844.26, Germany’s DAX increased 55.9 points or 0.52% to 10,741.03 and France’s CAC increased 36.39 points or 0.8% to 4,565.97.

Asian equity markets ended in green on Tuesday after Wall Street stocks closed at fresh record highs overnight, and as oil prices rallied on expectations that key oil-producing countries will agree to a deal to slash production. Chinese shares ended higher in line with the region’s strength. The move came after the nation’s central bank fixed the yuan reference level higher Tuesday, ending 12 straight sessions of devaluation. Japanese shares too ended higher after dipping briefly following a powerful 6.9-magnitude earthquake in northern Japan that set off a small tsunami but caused minor damage and injuries.