Post Session: Quick Review

In a volatile day of trade benchmark equity indices at D-street, surprisingly changed gears in the second half of the session to conclude near day’s high point. Barometer gauges broke out in green, just when it seemed another dreary session of trade, after markets slipped into red in the post lunch session. Nevertheless, big relief came to ailing equity markets after five long sessions of decline as investors picked up fundamentally strong bets at attractive valuations. This was widely supported by a firm showing out of Asia and Wall Street overnight. Investors also appeared confident ahead of the release of monthly trade deficit data. India's trade deficit narrowed to $14.92 billion in February on rising exports. Further, due to pick up in international demand in the start of the year, March figures too are expected to be stable.

Thus, in the highly volatile session of trade, Sensex, added over hundred and fifty points to stop above the crucial 18400 level. Meanwhile, 5500 level proved to be strong support level for Nifty, with every attempt below this level being reciprocated with recovery. Broader indices too witnessing renewed buying interest and ended in green terrain. However, the gains of broader indices were comparatively less than the frontline indices, with Small cap index, just managing to close above its neutral line. On the global front, Asian pacific shares ended in green lifted by Chinese trade data, which signaled a recovery in the world's second largest economy was gathering strength. China recorded a mild trade deficit of $884 million in March as imports surged way ahead of market expectations, growing 14.1% year on year, while annual export growth of 10.0% were largely in line with forecasts. Additionally, European shares too were trading in green as the US Treasury Secretary concludes a visit to the euro zone, a region that is increasingly witnessing a backlash against austerity and bailouts.

Closer home, huge bets were placed across stocks belonging from Information Technology, Bankex and Capital Goods counters, which turned out to be the top performers of the session. IT stocks led the pack of gainers mainly aided by the recovery of IT bellwether Infosys after 5-day slide. Meanwhile, banking counter too witnessed renewed buying interest. On the flip side, stocks from Fast Moving Consumer Goods space were the only losers. Auto stocks too recovered by the end of trade, after trading lower in first half of the session post reports suggested of domestic car sales sliding 7% in FY13, registering their first fall in a decade. Declining for the fifth consecutive month, car sales declined 22.51% to 180,675 units in March compared with 233,151 units in the same month last year. The market breadth on the BSE ended positive; advances and declining stocks were in a ratio of 865: 822 while 794 scrips remained unchanged. (Provisional)

The BSE Sensex gained 187.97 points or 1.03% to settle at 18,414.45.The index touched a high and a low of 18,461.44 and 18,173.31 respectively. 21 stocks were up, while 9 stocks declined on the index. (Provisional)

The BSE Mid cap and Small cap indices ended higher by 0.53% and 0.01% respectively. (Provisional)

On the BSE Sectoral front, Teck up by 2.10%, IT up by 2.05%, Bankex up by 1.73%, Capital Goods up by 1.40% and Realty up by 1.30% were the top gainers, while FMGC down by 0.40% was the only losers in the space. (Provisional)

The top gainers on the Sensex were HDFC up by 3.64%, L&T up by 2.25%,  TCS up by 2.19%, Wipro up by 2.17% and Tata Motors up by 1.86%, while, Sun Pharma down by 1.24%, Jindal Steel down by 1.01%,  ITC down by 0.91%, Hindustan Unilever down by 0.82% and Dr Reddys Lab down by 0.55% were the top losers in the index. (Provisional)

Meanwhile, India’s steel consumption registered a modest growth of 3.3 percent to 73.3 million tonnes in FY13 lowest in the last three years on the back of subdued demand because of the prevailing economic slowdown and high interest rates. The consumption of steel, used mainly in construction and consumer durables, grew by 5.5 percent in FY12 and 9.9 percent in FY11.

While, total steel production expanded by just 2.5 percent during FY13 to 75.5 million tonne. Decline in consumption forced almost all steel companies to resort to curtailing capacity utilization. A stubbornly-high inflation and a tight monetary policy forced consumers to postpone buying decisions leading to subdued demand for steel.

Steel industry is highly correlated to the growth of the economy as its demand depends upon the manufacturing activities around the country. A sound economy ensures higher consumption.

India VIX, a gauge for markets short term expectation of volatility lost 1.96% at 16.49 from its previous close of 16.82 on Tuesday. (Provisional)

The CNX Nifty gained 53.05 points or 0.97% to settle at 5,548.15. The index touched high and low of 5,569.25 and 5,477.20 respectively. 38 stocks advanced against 11 declining and one stock remains unchanged on the index. (Provisional)

The top gainers on the Nifty were Reliance Infrastructure up by 4.62%, HCL Tech up by 3.73%, JP Associate up by 3.67%, Axis Bank up by 3.06% and Kotak Bank was up by 2.95%. On the other hand, Sun Pharmaceuticals down by 1.45%, Jindal Steel & Power down by 1.37%, ITC down by 1.20%, Hindustan Unilever down by 1.16% and Dr. Reddy's Laboratories down by 0.86% were the top losers. (Provisional)

Most of the European markets were trading in green with, Germany’s DAX up by 1.26%, the United Kingdom’s FTSE 100 up by 0.69% and France’s CAC 40 up by 1.30%.

Asian markets ended mostly higher on Wednesday, with increase in commodity prices and a surge in Chinese imports boosting resource stocks. Japan’s Nikkei closed with strong gains supported by the weak yen. Shanghai went home with marginal gains following a rare trade deficit for China in March. Meanwhile, investors were worried about the Korean peninsula, where the North continues its stand-off with the South and the United States.