Buying in late hour help benchmarks to clock third consecutive session of gains

Thursday turned out to be a tremendous session of trade for the Indian equity markets with both the domestic gauges snapping the session at high point of day’s trade, re-capturing their crucial 19,400 (Sensex) and 5,850 (Nifty) levels. Aided by buying in last leg of trade in stocks of Realty, Capital Goods, Software and Technology counters, the bourses not only recuperated all the losses but also allured massive gains of over three percent in three consecutive sessions. Though, the frontline indices traded lackluster for most part of the day’s trade due to profit-booking by funds and retail investors after two days of massive rally.

But, the domestic markets picked up the pace in late trade following firm opening in European counters, pushing major indices to near multi-year highs and with investors forecasting more gains in the medium term. Moreover, Asian markets ended mixed as investors remained sideline awaiting the outcome of the meetings of the central banks of Britain and the euro zone for signs of more policy stimulus, while solid US economic data underpinned the dollar. Meanwhile, the central bank of Japan kept its monetary policy unchanged as it is likely to continue assessing the impact of the 2-percent inflation target introduced by the BOJ in January to curb deflation.

Back home, some support also came in from Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s statement that the economy has faced a difficult situation in the past year but the government aims to achieve an average growth of eight percent during the 12th Five Year Plan. Sentiment also got some boost by data showing that foreign funds remained net buyers of Indian stocks on March 6, 2013. Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) bought shares worth a net Rs 524.05 crore on March 6, 2013. Appreciation in Indian rupee against dollar too supported the sentiments. The rupee recovering from initial losses appreciated by twelve paise at 54.59 on mild dollar demand from banks and importers on the back of firm global cues.

Sentiments also got some strength as market-men kept themselves busy in buying stocks from software counter as the latest economic data from US added to optimism for a gradual recovery in the US economy, the biggest outsourcing market for the Indian IT firms. Banking counter too boosted the investors’ confidence as stocks like Axis Bank, ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank, SBI, PNB, Union Bank and Yes Bank all edged higher amid optimism that the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) may cut interest rates in March policy to boost growth. On the flip side, telecom stocks like Idea Cellular, Bharti Airtel and Reliance Communication edged lower as there was no decision on the timeline for the third round of auctions and further reduction in auction prices.

The NSE’s 50-share broadly followed index Nifty gained by over forty points to end above its psychological 5,850 support level, while Bombay Stock Exchange’s Sensitive Index - Sensex rose by one hundred and sixty to finish over its psychological 19,400 mark. Moreover, the broader markets too traded in0line with benchmarks and ended the session with a gain of over half a percent.

The overall volumes stood at over Rs 1.20 lakh crore, which remained on the lower side as compared to that on Wednesday. The market breadth remained in favor of declines as there were 1,527 shares on the gaining side against 1,301 shares on the losing side while 133 shares remain unchanged.

Finally, the BSE Sensex gained 160.93 points or 0.84% to settle at 19,413.54, while the CNX Nifty rose by 44.70 points or 0.77% to end at 5,863.30.

The BSE Sensex touched a high and a low of 19,465.52 and 19,212.92, respectively. The BSE Mid cap index up by 0.48% and Small cap index was up by 0.85%.

The top gainers on the Sensex were, Hero MotoCorp up by 4.05%, TCS up 2.10%, L&T up 2.08%, Maruti Suzuki up 2.07% and Wipro up 1.82%, while Jindal Steel down by 2.28%, Hindustan Unilever down by 1.69%, Coal India down by 1.25%, Tata Motors down 1.07% and Tata Steel down by 0.74% were the top losers on the index.

The top gainers on the BSE Sectoral space were, Realty up 1.68%, IT up 1.66%, Capital Goods up 1.59%, TECk up 1.34% and Bankex up 0.86%, while FMCG down by 0.57%, Metal down 0.43% and PSU down by 0.11% were top losers on the sectoral space.

Meanwhile, the government has proposed an increase of over 124 per cent in Gross Budgetary Support (GBS) to Rs 35.68 lakh crore for Central Plan in the 12th plan period (2012-17) as compared to the 11th five year plan.  For the Central Sector and Centrally Sponsored Schemes in the 12th Plan, an increase of 132.12 per cent is projected to Rs 27.11 lakh crore, versus realization of Rs 11.68 lakh crore in the 11th Plan. Central Assistance to State Plan is projected to increase by 103.53 per cent at Rs 8.57 lakh crore, over realization of Rs 4.21 lakh crore in the previous Plan.

While, the National Development Council (NDC) approving the draft 12th Plan, which aims at achieving 8 per cent average growth rate during 2012-17. The Plan aims to generate 50 million non-farm work opportunities and will give priorities to high employment generating labour-intensive industries like food processing, textile, leather goods, gems and jewellery. 

The 12 Plan also emphasizes on creation of appropriate skill sets among the rural migrant and urban poor to make growth inclusive and will also provide nurturing, protective and safe environment for women to facilitate their entry into public spaces.

The CNX Nifty touched a high and a low of 5,878.00 and 5,801.30 respectively. 

The top gainers on the Nifty were Hero MotoCorp up by 4.67%, DLF up 3.65%, Asian Paints up 3.09%, ITC up 2.42% and L&T up by 2.38%.

On the flip side, the top losers of the index were, Jindal Steel down by 1.99%, HUL down by 1.76%, Coal India down by 1.26%, Ambuja Cement down by 1.09% and Tata Motors down by 1.03%.

The European markets were trading in green, France’s CAC 40 up by 0.54%, United Kingdom’s FTSE 100 up by 0.45% and Germany’s DAX up by 0.34%.

Asian equity markets closed shutter on mixed note snapping earlier session’s rally, despite the Dow hitting another record on Wall Street. Japan’s Nikkei closed higher after touching 12,000 mark for the first time in more than four years, supported by weaker yen and as BoJ kept things unchanged. China’s Shanghai Composite went home with green mark ahead of trade data release for February, due on March 8. Meanwhile, South Korea’s Kospi Composite closed lower with market heavyweight Samsung Electronics losing after announcing a Y10bn investment in Japanese rival Sharp.