Post session - Quick review

Expiry session of October series futures and options (F&O) contract turned out to be an exceptional one, as not much of volatility was witnessed, trait which is peculiar to the expiry. Staging a quiet session of trade, markets managed to end in positive terrain, with gains of over quarter percentage. However, after witnessing massive gains of over 6% for the September Series, Nifty and Sensex, managed to settle with gains of only a percent for this series.

Cushioned by Positive global set- up on the result heavy day, 30 share barometer index, Sensex, captured gains of close to 50 points, to shut shop above the 18750 mark. Similarly, the widely followed index, Nifty, too added over quarter points to conclude above the crucial 5700 level. However, profit-booking enveloped BSE Smallcap index, which went home with loss of over 0.15%. On the global front, Asian pacific markets staged a positive close as signs of recovery in China and the United States eclipsed fears of deteriorating global growth. Additionally, European shares too halting three-day’s slide eked out gains, as encouraging Chinese data fuelled a rebound in oil and mining stocks, while strong earnings boosted tech shares.

Back on home turf, stocks from Auto, Capital Goods and Bankex counters staging a sharp uptick, provided a fillip to the equity markets. On the other side, stocks from realty, Health Care and Technology stocks suffered the brunt of profit-booking.  Rate Sensitive Banking counters managed to gain amidst hopes that the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) could take a rate cut call at its policy review on October 30, 2012, in a effort to reciprocate to government on-going reform drive.

Earnings of major corporate emerged as delight for investors at Dalal Street. Stocks of country’s biggest utility vehicle manufacturer, M&M galloped gains of over three percent after the company reported a better than expected 22 percent rise in second-quarter net profit, as continued strong sales of its SUVs more than compensated for a slide in tractor sales. The company’s net profit for the quarter ended September 30, 2012 stood at Rs 901.80 crore as compared to Rs 737.78 crore for the same quarter in the previous year Further, stocks of state-owned lender Oriental Bank of Commerce spurted over 2% after the company reported a whopping 80% year-on-year jump in its net profit at Rs 302 crore for the second quarter ended September 30, 2012-13, bolstered by a combination of factors: higher interest and other incomes as well as lower provisions against bad loans. Additionally, Kotak Mahindra Bank too puffed up over 3/4 percentage after private sector lender second quarter standalone (only banking operations) net profit moderated nearly 8% year-on-year to Rs 280 crore on the back of higher provisions, which stood at Rs 71 crore as against an excess provision Rs 2 crore  in Q2, 2011-12. Moreover, two-wheeler major Hero Motocorp bounced back with 2 percent gains by the close of trade after reporting second quarter numbers, which were in-line with expectations. The company reported a fall of 27.01% in its net profit at Rs 440.58 crore for the quarter as compared to Rs 603.62 crore for the same quarter in the previous year. Lastly and importantly, stocks of Sterlite Industries rallied over 2% on reporting stellar Q2 numbers. Aided by Forex gains and Vedanta Aluminium’s lower losses, Sterlite Industries posted 75% jump in net profit of Rs 1,743 crore, in the second quarter ended September 30, 2012 from Rs 998 crore in the same period last year.

On the F&O front, Nifty and Sensex, for October series, registered gains of 1% each, as against the massive 6% profit in September series. Moreover, the broader markets CNX Mid Cap index garnered gains of over 1.3% while BSE Smallcap index, outperforming lager peers by a fat margin, ended with gains of over 3%.

From the expiry perspective, market wide rollover of 59.45% was observed, which was lower than the three month average of 63.06% while Nifty rollovers were at 52.15%, lower than three month average of 53.28%. Sectorally, capital goods, power and telecom space witnessed high rollover of positions while infrastructure, oil & gas and media stocks observed relatively low rolls into the November series. Among individual stocks, Ranbaxy (44%), Lupin (45%) and Ambuja Cement (45%) witnessed low rolls while stocks like Maruti (71%), BHEL (67%) and Cipla (67%) observed better rollover into November series.

The market breadth on the BSE ended negative; advances and declining stocks were in a ratio of 1303:1541 while 137 scrips remained unchanged. (Provisional)

The BSE Sensex gained 71.61 points or 0.38% and settled at 18,781.63. The index touched a high and a low of 18,789.92 and 18,699.07 respectively. 16 stocks were seen advancing while 14 stocks were declining on the index (Provisional)

The BSE Mid-cap index was up by 0.25% while Small-cap index was down by 0.05%. (Provisional)

On the BSE Sectoral front, Auto up by 0.79%, Capital goods up 0.60%, FMCG up 0.57%, Bankex up 0.50% and Power up by 0.19% were the top gainers, while Realty down by 1.05%, TECk down by 0.32%, Health Care down by 0.28%, IT down by 0.23% and Metal down by 0.19% were the top losers in the space.

The top gainers on the Sensex were M&M up 4.18%, Sterlite Industries up 1.98%, HDFC up by 1.92%, Gail India up by 1.70% and Hero MotoCorp up 1.62%, while, Dr. Reddy’s Lab down by 2.32%, SBI down by 1.46%, Tata Steel down by 1.16%, Tata Motors down by 1.13% and HUL down by 1.12% were the top losers in the index. (Provisional)

Meanwhile, with a hope to get rid of a threatening ratings downgrade and boost fiscal credibility, finance ministry is expected to pencil in fiscal deficit at 5.3 per cent for this year, which is seen improving at 3 per cent by 2016-17, in its soon-to-be-unveiled fiscal reforms blueprint.

Finance ministry officials are functioning overtime to safeguard that a widely anticipated fiscal slippage this year is minimal and not much beyond the budgeted 5.1 per cent that they contend could go a prolonged approach in satisfying international ratings agencies that have threatened a hillside of India’s emperor rating to junk status.

Meanwhile, Finance Minister P Chidambaram, who has betrothed a 'credible and feasible path of fiscal correction', has been personally fine-tuning the proposed fiscal framework for the next five years that will be presented in the forthcoming winter session of Parliament.

Further, having shot a diesel price hike bullet which is expected to reduce ballooning subsidies burden, the finance ministry is now focusing on a three-pronged strategy comprising massive expenditure cuts, aggressive disinvestment, and large receipts from the sale of telecom spectrum to achieve the fiscal numbers. 

India VIX, a gauge for markets short term expectation of volatility lost 1.38% at 13.52 from its previous close of 13.71 on Tuesday. (Provisional)

The S&P CNX Nifty gained 22.20 points or 0.39% to settle at 5,713.60. The index touched high and low of 5,718.75 and 5,685.70 respectively. 28 stocks advanced against 22 declining ones on the index. (Provisional)

The top gainers on the Nifty were M&M was up 4.03%, IDFC up 2.51%, Hero MotoCorp up 2.07%, HDFC up 2.07% and Gail India was up 1.68%. On the other hand, Dr. Reddy’s Lab down 2.47%, Ranbaxy Laboratories down by 1.83%, PNB down by 1.66%, SBI down by 1.66% and Reliance Infrastructure down by 1.43% were the top losers. (Provisional)

The European markets were trading in green with, France’s CAC 40 up 0.66%, Germany’s DAX up 0.63% and the United Kingdom’s FTSE 100 up 0.40%.

Asian shares ended mostly higher on Thursday after US Federal Reserve stated that it will keep its loose monetary policy in place until America's economy comes back on track. Even signs of recovery in China and the United States eased some investor’s worries. Hong Kong market closed higher on the back of huge inflows of cash which have pushed the local dollar to the high end of its trading band against the greenback. Meanwhile, Japan Nikkei went home with green mark as Japanese automakers advanced and yen dropped to its lowest level versus the U.S. dollar in four months as investors speculated that the Bank of Japan will expand monetary stimulus next week.