Post Session: Quick Review

Indian equity benchmarks traded in a narrow range throughout the day and ended the session mixed. The BSE Sensex soared to life-time high and the NSE Nifty scaled another record high in today’s trade as the November derivatives series took off on a strong footing. The benchmarks made a positive start and traded in fine fettle in early deals as traders took some encouragement with credit rating agency Fitch’s report that the recent recapitalization plan announced by the government for public sector banks will provide substantial funds to the lenders to address the capital shortages that has a major negative impact on their ratings. Some support also came after Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP) Secretary Ramesh Abhishek expressed hope that India’s ranking is likely to improve significantly in the World Bank’s ease of doing business report, as they have worked very hard. The government’s optimism regarding the improvement in India’s rank comes on the back of reforms taken to improve the efficiency in granting construction permits, starting a business and resolving insolvency.

Sentiments remained up-beat with Niti Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant’s statement who pitched for channeling insurance and pension funds for financing infrastructure projects as also for a complete re- examination of the Viability Gap Funding (VGF) scheme. Separately, the government think-tank Niti Aayog has recommended strategic disinvestment of 34 sick public sector units so far. The Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) had asked the think- tank to look into the viability of sick state-run companies. The government has budgeted to raise Rs 72,500 crore through stake sale in PSUs in the current fiscal.

Today’s trade was marked with lot of activity in individual stocks on account of quarterly results as investors eyed for more earnings for further cues. Crompton Greaves Consumer Electrical closed in green on back of strong Q2 (July-September) numbers. The company’s Q2 net profit was up 23.3 percent at Rs 70.8 crore versus Rs 57.4 crore, in the same quarter last fiscal. V-Guard Industries share closed in green as its Q2 performance was robust, led by strong re-stocking, primarily in UPS, stabilizers & kitchen appliances. Maruti Suzuki India closed in green on reporting 3.4 percent increase in its September quarter net profit at Rs 2,484.3 crore against R 2,401.5 crore posted during the same period last year. However, Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) closed in red on reporting a fall of 18.7 percent in its net profit for September quarter at Rs 3,696 crore against Rs 4,548 crore during the previous quarter. The revenue came in 13.7 percent lower at Rs 1.1 lakh crore against Rs 1.28 lakh crore quarter on quarter.

On the global front, Asian markets closed mostly in green. Japan’s core consumer prices marked a ninth straight month of annual gains in September but failed to accelerate from the previous month, underscoring the central bank’s huge task as it struggles to meet an ever-elusive 2% inflation target. The European markets were trading in green amid prospect of continuing stimulus in Europe. Euro zone inflation could be higher than earlier expected in five years’ time, the European Central Bank’s survey of professional forecasters showed, partly underpinning the ECB's decision to curb stimulus a day earlier.

Back home, banking stocks closed in red due to major correction in Yes Bank, Punjab National Bank, Bank of Baroda, Canara Bank and SBI. Select power stocks were buzzing in today’s trade as the Power Minister R.K. Singh has said that the government is working to make obligations under Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) statutory binding, ensuring all discoms have PPAs to cover 100 percent requirement.

The BSE Sensex ended at 33156.32, up by 9.19 points or 0.03% after trading in a range of 33109.41 and 33286.51. There were 19 stocks advancing against 12 stocks declining on the index. (Provisional)

The broader indices ended in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.38%, while Small cap index was up by 0.28%. (Provisional)

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Healthcare up by 1.64%, Industrials up by 0.83%, Auto up by 0.80%, Consumer Disc up by 0.45% and Utilities up by 0.41%, while Telecom down by 4.76%, Energy down by 1.54%, PSU down by 1.52%, Oil & Gas down by 1.21% and Bankex down by 0.87% were the top losing indices on BSE. (Provisional)

The top gainers on the Sensex were Adani Ports & Special Economic Zone up by 4.15%, ONGC up by 3.78%, Sun Pharma up by 3.65%, Tata Motors - DVR up by 3.21% and Tata Motors up by 2.24%. (Provisional)

On the flip side, Bharti Airtel down by 4.65%, SBI down by 3.17%, Wipro down by 1.84%, Reliance Industries down by 1.82% and Hindustan Unilever down by 1.06% were the top losers. (Provisional)

Meanwhile, highlighting that the culture of doing business is changing in the country with Goods and Services Tax (GST) regime, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has said that the news tax regime has increased competition among manufacturers which will help to bring down prices and added that in the long term, the consumers will be the biggest beneficiaries of it.

Prime Minister further noted that GST has also lead to the abolition of dozens of indirect and hidden taxes and it is a transparent system in which no one can hurt the interests of consumers. Besides, he said that after the implementation of GST, the queues of the trucks on the borders now no longer exist.

Listing out the benefits of various governments’ steps like new consumer protection Act and direct benefits transfer scheme, Modi further said that the government is also working to formulate schemes which help consumers save money. The poor and middle class in the country are benefited most from these schemes.

The CNX Nifty ended at 10319.20, down by 24.60 points or 0.24% after trading in a range of 10311.30 and 10366.15. There were 27 stocks advancing against 23 stocks declining on the index. (Provisional)

The top gainers on Nifty were Bajaj Finance up by 4.30%, Adani Ports & Special Economic Zone up by 4.21%, Sun Pharma up by 3.90%, ONGC up by 3.78% and Tata Motors up by 2.50%. (Provisional)

On the flip side, Bharti Infratel down by 7.97%, Yes Bank down by 7.16%, Indian Oil down by 5.38%, HPCL down by 5.29% and Bharti Airtel down by 4.66% were the top losers. (Provisional)

The European markets were trading in green; UK’s FTSE 100 increased 16.83 points or 0.22% to 7,503.33, Germany’s DAX increased 101.35 points or 0.77% to 13,234.63 and France’s CAC increased 54.55 points or 1% to 5,509.95.

Asian equity markets ended mostly higher on Friday, with a weakening yen, higher oil prices, optimism over US tax reform plans, solid industrial profits data from China and encouraging results from US tech companies boosting investors’ sentiments. Traders also took the ECB's bond-buying cutback announcement in their stride. The European Central Bank on Thursday took its first cautious steps toward normalization by announcing that it will reduce the size of its asset purchases at the start of next year while extending them for nine months. Japanese shares hit a fresh 21-year high, led by technology stocks after online retailer Amazon, chipmaker Intel and software giant Microsoft all posted quarterly earnings that surpassed Wall Street expectations. Google's parent company Alphabet also performed better than a year ago. Further, Chinese shares ended higher after official data showed China's industrial profit growth accelerated further in September. Industrial profits surged 27.7 percent year-over-year in September, faster than the 24.0 percent spike in August. Moreover, the latest rate of growth was the quickest since 2011.