Post Session: Quick Review

Indian equity benchmarks traded on a firm note throughout the day and ended the session with gains of more than a percent. The markets snapped their three day losing streak with Sensex surpassing 33,000 mark. Value-buying in recent losers and a better trend at other Asian markets triggered fresh spell of buying on the domestic bourses. The benchmark indices extended rally in afternoon as index heavyweights Reliance Industries and Infosys pushed the benchmarks higher. Reliance Industries rallied on drop in oil prices. Oil refiners gained as lower crude oil prices cut input costs. The benchmarks made a positive opening and traded in fine fettle in early deals as sentiments remained up-beat with Finance Minister Arun Jaitley’s statement that India is set to become an ‘extremely attractive’ country to do business, on the back of greater digitisation and formalisation of financial activities and businesses. He also said that the country is growing at a reasonable rate, integration of the formal with the informal economy as well as structural changes are taking place, while the tax base itself is expanding. Jaitley said that India’s economic slowdown has bottomed out and now it should start moving upwards after recovering from the temporary blip seen during the recent structural changes.

Investors took note of a private survey which showed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi remains by far the most popular figure in Indian politics, releasing the main findings of its latest survey conducted among 2,464 respondents in India. The report enlightened that the public’s positive assessment of Modi is buoyed by growing contentment with the Indian economy: more than eight-in-ten say economic conditions are good. Some support also came with Chief economic adviser (CEA) Arvind Subramanian’s statement that recent move by the Goods and Services Tax (GST) Council to cut tax on 178 items, though, will have marginal impact on the revenue but that will be compensated by compliance benefits. He also feels that fall in prices will also help keep inflation under control. Auto sector stocks were buzzing in today’s trade after the Indian government along with consultation of oil marketing companies (OMCs) have decided to advance the roll-out of Bharat Stage (BS-VI) auto grade fuels in Delhi by two years to April 1, 2018.

On the global front, Asian markets closed mixed. China’s banking regulator has set new rules for the country’s three policy banks to help rein in risks amid a broader tightening of controls over the financial sector. The new rules require the three banks to strengthen governance systems and to establish capital restraint mechanisms based on capital adequacy ratios. The European markets were trading in green snapping their longest losing streak since October 2016 as the cyclical sectors which had driven a market-wide sell-off made a comeback. Retail sales in the UK rose more than expected in October, bolstering optimism over the British economy.

The BSE Sensex ended at 33146.98, up by 386.54 points or 1.18% after trading in a range of 32829.82 and 33150.65. There were 25 stocks advancing against 6 stocks declining on the index. (Provisional)

The broader indices ended in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 1.19%, while Small cap index was up by 1.13%. (Provisional)

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were IT up by 2.22%, TECK up by 1.93%, Power up by 1.56%, Utilities up by 1.48% and Energy up by 1.45%, while there were no losers on BSE. (Provisional)

The top gainers on the Sensex were Infosys up by 3.79%, Reliance Industries up by 2.45%, SBI up by 2.43%, NTPC up by 2.04% and Tata Steel up by 1.63%. (Provisional)

On the flip side, Adani Ports & Special Economic Zone down by 2.49%, Coal India down by 1.25%, Hero MotoCorp down by 0.56%, Cipla down by 0.10% and Bajaj Auto down by 0.09% were the top losers. (Provisional)

Meanwhile, expressing need of effective implementation of policies in the country, PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PHDCCI) President Anil Khaitan has said that  ease of doing business scenario in India has not improved, as the country is still facing challenges like corruption at lower levels. He further noted that after the announcement of policies if they are not getting implemented, then they come in the category of dead policies and so the government should ‘walk its talk’ in implementation of policies.

PHDCCI President predicted that gross domestic product (GDP) growth will remain lower in the range of 5.7%-5.9% in the September quarter and 6%-6.55% in the entire fiscal, due to sluggish investment by the private sector and below par growth rate of exports. However, Anil Khaitan expects a robust GDP growth in January-March quarter of 2019 and improvement in the private investment cycle from January-March 2019.

While talking about the initiatives taken by the government, PHDCCI President noted though the demonetization have improved the government’s tax revenue which it never received, it will take at least another 14 months for businesses to tide over the negative impact of demonetization. He further terming the Goods and Services Tax (GST) as an ‘excellent tax’, raised need of simplification in it for businesses.

The CNX Nifty ended at 10231.45, up by 113.40 points or 1.12% after trading in a range of 10139.20 and 10232.25. There were 37 stocks advancing against 13 stocks declining on the index. (Provisional)

The top gainers on Nifty were Infosys up by 4.01%, Bajaj Finance up by 3.73%, SBI up by 2.77%, Aurobindo Pharma up by 2.54% and Reliance Industries up by 2.49%. (Provisional)

On the flip side, Adani Ports & Special Economic Zone down by 2.21%, Coal India down by 1.23%, Ultratech Cement down by 0.85%, BPCL down by 0.70% and Zee Entertainment down by 0.46% were the top losers. (Provisional)

The European markets were trading in green; UK’s FTSE 100 increased 0.31 points or 0% to 7,372.92, Germany’s DAX increased 78.56 points or 0.61% to 13,054.93 and France’s CAC increased 30.9 points or 0.58% to 5,332.15.

Asian equity markets ended mixed on Thursday as oil held steady, the yen weakened and investors looked ahead to the US House vote on a sweeping tax reform bill later today. Japanese shares ended higher, as buyers stepped back in for bargains following six straight days of losses, with SoftBank gaining after a report that it plans to invest as much as $25 billion in Saudi Arabia. Further, Hong Kong stocks firmed, helped by index heavyweight Tencent Holdings, which climbed to a record closing high after posting solid third-quarter results.