Post session - Quick review

Benchmark equity indices managing to stage an unexpected recovery in the last leg of the trade, concluded the last trading session of the week with gains albeit marginal, sequentially negotiating fourth consecutive positive close for D-street. Some amount of caution ahead of the start of the earning season next week, kept the bulls in check at Indian equity markets, however buying which was witnessed at lower levels, mainly aided the benchmarks in reclaiming their crucial bastion. After gyrating in red zone up-till last leg of trade, 30 share index, staging recuperation ended above 19750 levels, while 50 share index, Nifty, too pierced past 6000 bastion. Additionally, broader indices too sustained its positive trend till the end of the trade. Meanwhile, the first week of the New Year turned out to be optimistic one, with Sensex and Nifty ending with gains of close to one and a half percent. Broader indices, outperformed frontline equity indices with fat margin, as both Midcap and Smallcap index went home with gains of 3% each. Trade of over Rs 1.2 lac crore was done in terms of volume turnover.

On the global front, after the somber run of Asian counterparts, European shares were trading downbeat on Friday as signs of rising concerns among U.S. Federal Reserve members about the central bank's quantitative easing programme prompted investors to book a portion of recent strong gains. Further, investors at European region were also trading cautious ahead of U.S. non-farm payrolls data for December, due later in the session, despite Thursday's forecast-beating jobs data for the private sector.

Closer home, the gains at D-street mainly came riding on the back of Oil companies stocks, which firmed up on reports the petroleum ministry has proposed a gradual rise in diesel prices, by 1 rupee a litre every month over a 10-month period. Investors also bought IT stocks on hopes of better third quarter earnings. Infosys, the bellwether stock of the technology index, will release results on January 11. Meanwhile, HSBC's Services Purchasing Managers Index (PMI), which jumping to a three months high level for December stood at 55.6, up from 52.1 in the previous month, also buttressed the sentiment.

On the flip side, high beta Metal; rate sensitive Auto and defensive Fast Moving Consumer Goods counters, capped the upside of the benchmark equity indices. Sluggish macro-economic data from the world’s top metal consumer, China, mainly dragged the Metal counter lower. China's service activity expanded in December, but at a slower pace than in the previous month, according to the HSBC Services Purchasing Managers’ Index released Friday. Although in positive territory, the Services PMI, a measure of nationwide service activity, was 51.7 in December, down from 52.1 in November. The market breadth on the BSE ended negative; advances and declining stocks were in a ratio of 1465:1472while 131 scrips remained unchanged. (Provisional)

The BSE Sensex gained 5.62 points or 0.03% and settled at 19770.40. The index touched a high and a low of 19797.44 and 19679.99 respectively. 17 stocks were seen advancing while 13 stocks were declining on the index (Provisional)

The BSE Mid-cap index and Small-cap index were up by 0.21% and 0.33% respectively. (Provisional)

On the BSE Sectoral front, PSU was up by 0.98%, IT up by 0.91%, OIL & GAS up by 0.88%, TECk up by 0.63% and Power up by 0.48% were the top gainers, while Metal down by 0.95%, Auto down by 0.43%, FMCG down by 0.40% and Capital Goods down by 0.17% were the only losers in the space.

The top gainers on the Sensex were BHEL up by 2.16%, Gail India up by 1.54%, Wipro up by 1.43%, ONGC up by 1.34% and TCS up by 1.31%, while, Tata Steel down by 1.89%, Jindal Steel down by 1.42%, Hindalco industries down by 1.41%, Sterlite industries down by 1.35% and HDFC down by 0.97% were the top losers in the index. (Provisional)

Meanwhile, to enhance electricity generation in India, the oil ministry has notified guidelines for diversion of scarce gas between two or more power plants of the same owner. The ministry notified that the clubbing or diversion should not be for more than a year in total, which should lead to the higher electricity generation compared to the pre-clubbing arrangement.

According to the oil ministry, the step was taken in view of the fact that many power plants in the country were operating at low plant load factor (PLF) due to acute shortage in availability of domestic gas, leading to inefficient production of electricity. While, PLF is a measure of average capacity utilization, which can be affected by factors like non-availability of fuel and maintenance shut-downs.

The total gas-based power generation capacity in the country is nearly 19,000 MW but the gas available to the power sector is only 55 million metric standard cubic metres per day which can only feed around 10,000 MW capacity.

Further, the cost of the diverted gas would be according to the price based on the source of the diverted gas to avoid any financial burden on end consumers. Oil ministry added 'the entity seeking clubbing/diversion would bear any additional financial liability arising from the existing and future Gas Sale Agreement (GSA)/Gas Transport agreement (GTA) and any other swapping transaction resulting there from'.

The oil ministry also specified that end-use of the diverted gas would remain power supplier to state distribution companies and these steps will help many power plants operating at low capacity to improve their power generation.

India VIX, a gauge for markets short term expectation of volatility lost 0.74% at 13.37 from its previous close of 13.47 on Thursday. (Provisional)

The S&P CNX Nifty gained 4.15 points or 0.07% to settle at 6,013.65. The index touched high and low of 6,020.75 and 5,981.55 respectively. 27 stocks advanced against 23 declining ones on the index. (Provisional)

The top gainers on the Nifty were Cairn was up by 3.21%, BPCL up by 2.09%, BHEL up by 1.97%, GAIL up by 1.82% and IDFC was up by 1.69%. On the other hand, Tata Steel down by 1.98%, Jindal Steel down by 1.68%, Sesa Goa down by 1.57%, Hindalco Industries down by 1.45% and Tata Motors down by 0.93% were the top losers. (Provisional)

The European markets were trading in red with, France’s CAC 40 down by 0.59%, Germany’s DAX down by 0.32% and the United Kingdom’s FTSE 100 down by 0.12%.

Asian markets ended mixed on Friday, as investors booked some profits from earlier sessions rally after senior Federal Reserve officials expressed worries over continuing bond buying. However, Japan's Nikkei closed firm on its first trading day of the New Year, as investors reacted to a weakening yen. Shanghai Composite went home with green mark, taking support from banking stocks, as the market opened for the first time after the U.S. fiscal-cliff agreement. Hong Kong's Hang Seng index ended lower following previous two sessions’ rally. Moreover, South Korean market closed with some losses as the country's export champions in electronics, cars and shipbuilding came under selling pressure.