Post Session: Quick Review

Indian equity benchmarks traded jubilantly on Thursday and ended the session with a gain of over half a percent, with frontline gauges recapturing their crucial 30,100 (Sensex) and 9,350 (Nifty) levels, supported by encouraging corporate earnings and a string of government reforms, including NPA package for banks and national steel policy. Markets made a gap-up opening and traded firmly throughout the session, as sentiments remained up-beat with Asian Development Bank’s report that the Indian economy will grow 7.4 per cent this fiscal and 7.6 per cent in the next as the bankruptcy and GST laws will help create a more business-friendly environment.

Some support also came with country’s largest private sector lender ICICI Bank reporting over three fold jump in its fourth quarter standalone net profit. The Bank has reported a jump of around three-fold in its net profit at Rs 2,024.64 crore for the quarter ended March 31, 2017 as compared to Rs 701.89 crore for the same quarter in the previous year. Investors’ sentiments also got boost after the US Federal Reserve kept its policy rate unchanged in its two-day policy review. At the end of its two-day meeting, the US Federal Reserve kept its benchmark interest rate steady, however downplayed weak first-quarter economic growth and emphasized the strength of the labour market, a sign it was still on track for two more rate increases this year.

Markets added some more strength in second half of the session supported by a firm opening in European counters. CAC, DAX and FTSE all were trading with a gain of around half a percent after centrist French presidential candidate Emmanuel Macron was perceived to have gotten the better of the far-right's Marine Le Pen in a debate and a survey showed economic growth in the 19-country eurozone striking a six-year high. Asian markets ended mixed, taking their cues from a subdued session on Wall Street, after the Federal Reserve delivered a hawkish policy statement.

Back home, there was broad based buying witnessed in the markets and apart from the blue chips, the broader markets too participated strongly in the rally. On the sectoral front, banking sector stocks remained on buyers’ radar, as the Union Cabinet cleared an ordinance to empower the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to reduce bad debts of public sector banks. The framework includes the promulgation of an ordinance to amend the Banking Regulation Act to give more teeth to the Reserve Bank of India and its oversight committees to act on behalf of banks while deciding on NPAs. The domestic steel stocks too traded jubilantly, despite the global metal stocks remaining under pressure amid inventory concerns in industrial metals. The government has approved a new policy that envisages Rs 10 lakh crore investments to create more capacity in the steel sector. The policy aims at increasing supply of domestic coking coal to cut dependence on imports by half and production of 300 million tonnes of the alloy by 2030-31.

The market breadth was evenly divided, as there were 1,443 shares on the gaining side against 1,414 shares on the losing side while 148 shares remain unchanged. (Provisional)

The BSE Sensex ended at 30126.21, up by 231.41 points or 0.77% after trading in a range of 30007.40 and 30169.95. There were 15 stocks advancing against 14 stocks declining on the index, while one stock remained unchanged. (Provisional)

The broader indices ended in green; the BSE Mid cap index gained 0.48%, while Small cap index was up by 0.36%. (Provisional)

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Bankex up by 2.32%, Consumer Durables up by 1.41%, FMCG up by 1.08%, PSU up by 0.89% and Capital Goods up by 0.78%, while Realty down by 0.80%, Metal down by 0.77%, Energy down by 0.65%, Auto down by 0.55% and Oil & Gas down by 0.53% were the top losing indices on BSE. (Provisional)

The top gainers on the Sensex were ICICI Bank up by 9.17%, SBI up by 3.59%, Axis Bank up by 3.56%, Adani Ports up by 3.04% and Hindustan Unilever was up by 1.96%. On the flip side, Tata Motors down by 2.08%, Cipla down by 1.14%, ONGC down by 1.02%, Mahindra & Mahindra down by 0.73% and Reliance Industries was down by 0.60% were the top losers. (Provisional)

Meanwhile, in order to boost processing of marine and agriculture produce, the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) has approved a new Central Scheme- ‘Scheme For Agro-Marine Processing And Development Of Agro-Processing Clusters’ (SAMPADA) for the 2016-20 period, with an allocation of Rs. 6,000 crore. The scheme also aims to integrate current and new schemes in food processing sector for reducing food wastage and doubling farmers’ income.

The scheme will leverage investment of Rs. 31,400 crore and ensure handling of 334 lakh million tonnes agro-produce valuing Rs. 1,04,125 crore. It is also expected to benefit 20 lakh farmers and generate 5,30,500 direct and indirect employment in the country by the year 2019-20. During 2015-16, the food processing sector constituted as much as 9.1 and 8.6 per cent of GVA in Manufacturing and Agriculture sector respectively.

An umbrella scheme ‘SAMPADA’ is a comprehensive package to give a renewed thrust to the food processing sector in the country and will incorporate ongoing schemes of the Ministry like Mega Food Parks, Integrated Cold Chain and Value Addition Infrastructure, Food Safety and Quality Assurance Infrastructure and others. Besides, the implementation of SAMPADA will result in creation of modern infrastructure with efficient supply chain management from farm gate to retail outlet.

The CNX Nifty ended at 9359.90, up by 47.95 points or 0.51% after trading in a range of 9323.25 and 9365.65. There were 26 stocks advancing against 25 stocks declining on the index. (Provisional)

The top gainers on Nifty were ICICI Bank up by 9.18%, Grasim Industries up by 3.88%, Adani Ports up by 3.66%, Axis Bank up by 3.59% and Bank of Baroda up by 3.27%. On the flip side, Hindalco down by 2.33%, Tata Motors down by 2.26%, HCL Tech down by 2.05%, Indian Oil Corporation down by 1.41% and Indusind Bank down by 1.27% were the top losers. (Provisional)

European markets were trading in green; UK’s FTSE 100 increased 24.97 points or 0.35% to 7,259.50, France’s CAC rose 41.74 points or 0.79% to 5,342.74 and Germany’s DAX was up by 96.32 points or 0.77% to 12,624.16.

Asian equity markets made a mixed closing on Thursday as falling oil and metals prices coupled with signals from the US central bank that it may hike rates next month offset signs that centrist Emmanuel Macron may win the second round of the French presidential election. The looming monthly US jobs report and a possible House vote on the American Health Care Act also kept investors on tenterhooks. Chinese shares fell slightly after a private survey showed China's service sector activity expanded at a slower rate in April, raising concerns over growing economic risks. The Caixin services PMI slipped to 51.5 in April, the lowest since May 2016, from 52.2 in March. The Japanese markets remain closed for the rest of this week for the Golden Week holiday.