Post Session: Quick Review

Indian equity benchmarks traded on a firm note throughout the day and ended the session in green at record closing highs. Nifty ends higher but failed to hold above 10,750 mark. The equity benchmarks made a gap-up opening and traded jubilantly at their all time high levels in early deals. Sentiments remained upbeat on report that India’s Industrial production growth, gave a positive surprise, accelerating to 25-month high of 8.4% in November 2017, as compared to 5.1% in November 2016, on the back of robust performance of manufacturing and capital goods sectors. The previous high was recorded at 9.8% in October, 2015. Some support also came with a foreign brokerage report enlightening that Indian economy is expected to witness an average GDP growth of 7.3% over 2020-22. According to the global financial services major, the structural growth story in India remains strong from a medium term perspective. The report highlighted that the uptick in the private capex cycle, which it anticipates will begin in 2018, will ensure that the economy enters into a sustained and productive growth cycle.

Meanwhile, in a pleasant surprise, India’s inflation on wholesale level eased in the month of December, supported by lower food articles and minerals prices. This decline in the December WPI is in contrast to a sharp acceleration of the Consumer Price Index (CPI) for the month. According to the latest data released by the government, the wholesale price inflation (WPI) stood at 3.58 per cent (provisional) in December as against 3.93 per cent (provisional) for the previous month and 2.10 per cent during the corresponding month of the previous year. Investors took note that the World Economic Forum (WEF) has ranked India at 30th position on a global manufacturing index -- below China’s 5th place but above other BRICS peers, Brazil, Russia and South Africa.

On the global front, Asian markets closed mostly in green, with investors upbeat on US returns so far this year, even as they take a breather with markets in the States shut for the martin Luther King holiday. Bank of Japan Governor Haruhiko Kuroda reiterated the central bank’s resolve to maintain quantitative easing, but his positive comments on inflation and the economy sent the yen to a four-month high versus the dollar. A private poll showed that China’s economic growth is expected to have slowed slightly in the fourth quarter from the previous quarter, as the government extended a crackdown on debt risks and factory pollution. The European markets were trading in red following two weeks of gains.

Back home, select Non-Banking Finance companies (NBFC) stocks were buzzing in today's trade on private report that NBFC are expected to report as much as 35% growth in earnings as retail loans by small and medium enterprises continued at a brisk pace even as state-run lenders continued to hold on to their purse strings due to bad loans. Housing finance companies will maintain momentum with the growth coming from the affordable segment.

The BSE Sensex ended at 34833.74, up by 241.35 points or 0.70% after trading in a range of 34687.21 and 34963.69. There were 11 stocks advancing against 20 stocks declining on the index. (Provisional)

The broader indices ended mixed; the BSE Mid cap index was down by 0.19%, while Small cap index was up by 0.20%. (Provisional)

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Bankex up by 1.22%, Consumer Durables up by 1.14%, Basic Materials up by 0.82% and Power up by 0.19%, while Telecom down by 0.92%, Auto down by 0.91%, Oil & Gas down by 0.74%, IT down by 0.55% and TECK down by 0.50% were the top losing indices on BSE. (Provisional)

The top gainers on the Sensex were HDFC up by 6.06%, ICICI Bank up by 3.67%, Kotak Mahindra Bank up by 1.93%, HDFC Bank up by 1.63% and Tata Steel up by 1.42%. (Provisional)

On the flip side, Tata Motors - DVR down by 2.50%, ONGC down by 1.95%, Hero MotoCorp down by 1.78%, Yes Bank down by 1.42% and IndusInd Bank down by 1.26% were the top losers. (Provisional)

Meanwhile, in a pleasant surprise, India's inflation on wholesale level eased in the month of December, supported by lower food articles and minerals prices. This decline in the December WPI is in contrast to a sharp acceleration of the Consumer Price Index (CPI) for the month. According to the latest data released by the government, the wholesale price inflation (WPI) stood at 3.58 per cent (provisional) in December as against 3.93 per cent (provisional) for the previous month and 2.10 per cent during the corresponding month of the previous year. Build up inflation rate in the financial year so far was 2.21 per cent compared to a build up rate of 3.71 per cent in the corresponding period of the previous year. Meanwhile, for the month of October 2017, the final WPI index was revised upward to 3.68 percent from 3.59 percent (provisional).

Component wise, primary articles index, having weight of 22.62%, soared 2.9 percent to 131.7 (provisional) from 135.6 (provisional) for the previous month. Among the primary articles, the index for ‘Food Articles’ group declined by 4.3 percent to 144.1 (provisional) from 150.6 (provisional) for the previous month and the index for ‘Minerals’ group decreased by 5.4 percent to 122.3 (provisional) from 129.3 (provisional) for the previous month. On the flip side, the index for ‘Non-Food Articles’ group rose by 1.8 percent to 119.0 (provisional) from 116.9 (provisional) for the previous month and the index for ‘Crude Petroleum & Natural Gas’ group surged by 4.8 percent to 78.1 (provisional) from 74.5 (provisional) for the previous month.

Fuel & Power index having weight of 13.15%, moved up by 1.6 percent to 96.5 (provisional) from 95.0 (provisional) for the previous month, on the back of rise in Coal and Mineral Oils prices.

Manufactured Products constituting the major portion of the index with weight of 64.23% increased by 0.1 percent to 114.0 (provisional) from 113.9 (provisional) for the previous month. The index for ‘Manufacture of Beverages’ group grew 0.2 percent to 119.7 (provisional) from 119.5 (provisional) for the previous month, the index for ‘Manufacture of Wearing Apparel’ group bounced by 1.0 percent to 138.9 (provisional) from 137.5 (provisional) for the previous month, the index for ‘Manufacture of Leather and Related Products’ group rose by 0.7 percent to 120.3 (provisional) from 119.5 (provisional) for the previous month, the index for ‘Manufacture of Paper and Paper Products’ group  was up by 0.3 percent to 118.4 (provisional) from 118.1 (provisional) for the previous month, The index for ‘Printing and Reproduction of Recorded Media’ group surgedby 0.8 percent to 143.7 (provisional) from 142.5 (provisional) for the previous month

Besides, the index for ‘Manufacture of Chemicals and Chemical Products’ group was up by 0.5 percent to 112.8 (provisional) from 112.2 (provisional) for the previous month, the index for ‘Manufacture of Pharmaceuticals, Medicinal Chemical and Botanical Products’ group rallied 1.2 percent to 123.1 (provisional) from 121.6 (provisional) for the previous month, the index for ‘Manufacture of other Non-Metallic Mineral Products’ group rose by 0.2 percent to 111.6 (provisional) from 111.4 (provisional) for the previous month, the index for ‘Manufacture of Basic Metals’ group increased by 1.0 percent to 102.0 (provisional) from 101.0 (provisional) for the previous month, the index for ‘Manufacture of Computer, Electronic and Optical Products’ group  was up by 0.4 percent to 110.7 (provisional) from 110.3 (provisional) for the previous month and the index for ‘Other Manufacturing’ group jumped by 2.8 percent to 111.7 (provisional) from 108.7 (provisional) for the previous month

On the flip side, the index for ‘Manufacture of Food Products’ group fell 0.4 percent to 127.4 (provisional) from 127.9 (provisional) for the previous month, the index for ‘Manufacture of Tobacco Products’ group declined by 2.1 percent to 152.1 (provisional) from 155.3 (provisional) for the previous month, the index for ‘Manufacture of Textiles’ group decreased by 0.4 percent to 113.0 (provisional) from 113.5 (provisional) for the previous month, the index for ‘Manufacture of Wood and of Products of Wood and Cork’ group was down by 1.0 percent to 130.3 (provisional) from 131.6 (provisional) for the previous month and the index for ‘Manufacture of Rubber and Plastics Products’ group declined by 0.1 percent to 107.5 (provisional) from 107.6 (provisional) for the previous month.

Further, the index for ‘Manufacture of Fabricated Metal Products, Except Machinery and Equipment’ group decreased by 0.2 percent to 110.9 (provisional) from 111.1 (provisional) for the previous month, the index for ‘Manufacture of Machinery and Equipment’ group was down by 0.2 percent to 109.2 (provisional) from 109.4 (provisional) for the previous month, the index for ‘Manufacture of Motor Vehicles, Trailers and Semi-Trailers’ group declined by 0.1 percent to 110.3 (provisional) from 110.4 (provisional) for the previous month, the index for ‘Manufacture of Other Transport Equipment’ group fell  0.2 percent to 110.6 (provisional) from 110.8 (provisional) for the previous month and the index for ‘Manufacture of Furniture’ group declined by 2.0 percent to 120.1 (provisional) from 122.5 (provisional) for the previous month.

The CNX Nifty ended at 10733.00, up by 51.75 points or 0.48% after trading in a range of 10713.80 and 10782.65. There were 20 stocks advancing against 30 stocks declining on the index. (Provisional)

The top gainers on Nifty were HDFC up by 5.80%, ICICI Bank up by 3.70%, Ambuja Cement up by 2.84%, Zee Entertainment up by 2.79% and Ultratech Cement up by 2.62%. (Provisional)

On the flip side, Eicher Motors down by 2.57%, GAIL India down by 2.10%, ONGC down by 2.04%, Bajaj Finance down by 1.87% and Hero MotoCorp down by 1.83% were the top losers. (Provisional)

The European markets were trading in red; UK’s FTSE 100 decreased 5.36 points or 0.07% to 7,773.28, Germany’s DAX decreased 44.75 points or 0.34% to 13,200.28 and France’s CAC decreased 14.76 points or 0.27% to 5,502.30.

Asian equity markets ended mostly in green on Monday, with new record closing highs on Wall Street Friday, higher commodity prices and optimism over corporate earnings helping underpin investors’ sentiments. Japanese shares ended higher even as the dollar weakened against most major currencies, including the yen. Though, Chinese shares fell on profit taking, ending an 11-sesssion winning streak after central bank data showed China's bank lending declined in December on measures taken by the government to curb credit growth. Hong Kong shares ended lower, snapping a 14-day winning streak, dragged down by a retreat in property shares and index heavyweight Tencent Holdings.