Post session - Quick review

Thursday trading session turned out to be absolutely fruitless for stock markets in India as the frontline equity indices failed to sustain the gains they amassed in the early part of session. Weakness which particularly crept into Dalal Street, during the noon deals washed away bourses hard work during early deals, thereby prompting to the flattish close of Indian equity markets. Consolidation, which accompanied benchmarks yet again, this time around also led to flattish but with positive bias. However, despite all the volatility, 30 share index of Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), Sensex, managed to shut shop above the 17850 level. The benchmark lost substantial ground post striking its 23 week’s high level, which was above the 17950. Meanwhile, 5400 mark proved a strong support level for 50 share index of National Stock Exchange (NSE), Nifty, as support came immediately after breach of that level. Meanwhile, the broader indices, surrendering to the selling pressure, went home with loss of over 0.05%.

Brushing aside positive global leads, benchmark equity indices decided their own trajectory. Stock markets rose on hopes that more help for the global economy is in store, after minutes from the U.S. Federal Reserve showed policy makers favor further stimulus and poor manufacturing data out of China fueled speculation that Beijing will take more action to boost its sagging economy’s growth.  Overlooking Purchasing managers' index for the euro zone, European shares rallied. The index which came in at 46.4, little changed from July's reading of 46.5 and well below the threshold, confirmed that decline in euro-zone GDP in the second quarter is likely to be the first leg of a technical recession.

Closer home, buying the in the defensive space, made stocks from Fast Moving Consumer Goods and Health Care counters look smart. Nevertheless, Information technology also slug hard to topple the list of gainers on BSE sectoral chart. FMCG stocks made the most out of Credit Suisse report, which highlighted that FMCG sector was one of the few sectors with steady earnings growth, earnings visibility, and earnings upgrades. Prominent gainers amongst FMCG space were Hindustan Unilever, Nestle India and ITC.  Meanwhile, in the morning deals, even realty stocks, namely, Valecha Engineering, Hindustan Construction Company, Jaiprakash Associates, IVRCL, NCC, IRB Infrastructure Developers, too gained traction after Finance Ministry decided to further ease the norms for raising external commercial borrowing (ECBs) by domestic firms. On the flip side, stocks from Oil & Gas, Auto and Capital Goods, restricted the upside of the bourses. The market breadth on the BSE ended negative; advances and declining stocks were in a ratio of 1351:1457 while 148 scrips remained unchanged. (Provisional)

The BSE Sensex gained 9.78 points or 0.05% and settled at 17,856.64. The index touched a high and a low of 17,972.54 and 17,792.87 respectively. 16 stocks were seen advancing against 14 declining ones on the index (Provisional)

The BSE Mid-cap index lost 0.07% while Small-cap index was down 0.14%. (Provisional)

On the BSE Sectoral front, IT up 1.95%, TECk up 1.48%, FMCG up 0.90%, Health Care up 0.68% and Metal up 0.55% were the top gainers, while Oil & Gas down 1.08%, Auto down 0.93%, Capital Goods down 0.68%, Consumer Durables down 0.48% and Power down 0.43% were the top losers in the space.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Wipro up 2.77%, TCS up 2.40%, Infosys up 1.80%, HUL up 1.80% and Tata Steel up 1.60% while, RIL down 1.74%, M&M down 1.60%, L&T down 1.59%, ONGC down 1.40% and Bajaj Auto down 1.11% were the top losers in the index. (Provisional)

Meanwhile, India's new chief economic advisor (CEA), Raghuram Rajan opined that, despite India’s reduced trading exposure to Europe, the country is likely to get impacted by the Euro-zone crisis, hence should not treat the phenomenon lightly.

The CEA pointed out that India, which has lessened trades with Euro zone, has been concentrating more on emerging markets in the Middle-East and Asia, which has direct or indirect trade exposure with Europe. And, warned that isolation provides no protection from global economic crisis. Raghuram noted that the linkages between banks of India and Europe banks, might affect the former adversely if the crisis worsens.

He also suggested that the emerging markets like India have to concentrate much on building investors’ confidence as more money flows to the rich economy assets and to developed countries considering safe bets.

India VIX, a gauge for markets short term expectation of volatility gained 0.75% at 16.12 from its previous close of 16.00 on Wednesday. (Provisional)

The S&P CNX Nifty gained 5.95 points or 0.11% to settle at 5,418.80. The index touched high and low of 5,448.60 and 5,393.85 respectively. 26 stocks advanced against 23 declining ones while 1 stock remained unchanged on the index. (Provisional)

The top gainers on the Nifty were Cairn India up 3.36%, Ranbaxy Laboratories up 2.68%, TCS up 2.57%, Wipro up 2.50% and HUL was up 2.15%. On the other hand, Reliance Infrastructure down 2.10%, Reliance Industries down 1.73%, M&M down 1.72%, L&T down 1.60% and Power Grid down 1.51% were the top losers. (Provisional)

The European markets were trading in green, with France's CAC 40 up 0.23%, Germany's DAX up 0.28% and Britain’s FTSE 100 up 0.44%.

Most Asian markets ended with green mark as minutes from the U.S. Federal Reserve's most recent meeting indicated that many members of the central bank's policy-setting committee were ready to introduce more stimulus measures if there is no recovery in economic growth. Japan's Nikkei closed high on Thursday, reversing earlier losses as exporters came under pressure due to firmer yen. Meanwhile, the more than expected decline in Chinese manufacturing was also overlooked on domestic indices as shares in both Shanghai and Hong Kong bounced on increasing hopes for further monetary easing after Zhou Xiaochuan, People’s Bank of China governor, said all monetary policy tools were on the table.