Benchmarks close near intraday highs; Sensex regains 19,000 mark

Energetic benchmarks witnessed an enthusiastic performance by rallying over one and a half percentage points and breaking a lot of psychological levels in their bull run on Thursday. There appeared not even a bit of profit booking in the session as the benchmarks managed to fervently gain from strength to strength as investors continued to hunt for fundamentally strong but oversold stocks. Frontline indices managed to finish the session near its intraday high and settled above 5,750 (Nifty) and 19,000 (Sensex) bastions as investors took to hefty across the board buying. Investor’s risk-appetite was firm after prices of global commodities such as Brent crude and gold slipped further, which will help to reduce the burgeoning current account deficit (CAD). Sentiments also got a boost after country’s trade data showed that the exports grew for the third month in a row, rising by 6.97% in March though on an annual basis it declined 1.76% to $300.6 billion in 2012-13. Exports in March increased to $30.8 billion compared to $28.8 billion in the same month of previous year.

Rally in rate sensitive too buttressed the sentiments as stocks from banking, realty and auto counters extended recent gains triggered by expectations that the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) will cut its key policy rate viz. the repo rate to boost growth amid slowing wholesale price inflation. Jubilation continued in the noon deals after Commerce Minister Anand Sharma announced a slew of measures including extension of the popular EPCG scheme to all sectors and sops for Special Economic Zones (SEZs) to boost shipments.

Firm opening in European counters too provided much needed support to the local bourses with CAC and DAX surging by over half a percent in early trade with some investors seeing value after the market’s worst four-day fall in nine months. Asian equity indices too witnessed some recovery in the end after a negative opening. Though, regional markets snapped the session mostly in red with KOSPI Composite declining by over a percent as LG Display led a broad selloff of tech stocks on worries about slowing demand for Apple Inc’s products.

Back home, markets continued its positive trade supported by buying in export oriented stocks like Shree Ganesh Jewellery House and Rajesh Exports.  Rally in energy sector too aided the sentiments as Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has pitched for subsidies for clean energy saying market forces alone would not be able to finance it. FMCG stocks too remained on the buyers’ radar on expectation of normal rains in the country; the rain is expected to be 103% of the season's average of 89 cm. The sentiments also buttressed with the rally in mining stocks, viz. Kalyani Steel, JSW Steel and Sesa Goa, after Supreme Court lifted a one-and-a-half-year old iron ore mining ban in Karnataka. Stepping back from its stance on imposing a total ban on mining in Karnataka State on account of environmental concerns, SC cleared the long awaited verdict on the Category B iron ore mining in Bellary district of Karnataka.

The NSE’s 50-share broadly followed index Nifty gained by over ninety points to regain its psychological 5,750 support level, while Bombay Stock Exchange’s Sensitive Index - Sensex rose by over two hundred and eighty points to finish near its psychological 19,000 mark. Moreover, the broader markets too traded throughout in green and snapped the session with a gain of over half a percent.

The overall volumes stood at over Rs 2.31 lakh crore, which remained on the higher side as compared to that on Wednesday. The market breadth remained in favor of declines as there were 1,319 shares on the gaining side against 1,047 shares on the losing side while 136 shares remain unchanged.

Finally, the BSE Sensex surged 285.30 points or 1.52% to settle at 19,016.46, while the CNX Nifty climbed by 94.40 points or 1.66% to end at 5,783.10.

The BSE Sensex touched a high and a low of 19,058.80 and 18,691.61, respectively. The BSE Mid cap index up by 0.74% and Small cap index was up by 0.59%.

The top gainers on the Sensex were, Bharti Airtel up by 4.65%, Tata Motors up by 3.98%, L&T up by 3.61%, HDFC up by 3.34% and GAIL India up by 3.20%, while Wipro down by 1.68%, TCS down 0.58%, Sun Pharma down 0.04% and Dr Reddys Lab down by 0.02% were the top losers on the index.

The top gainers on the BSE Sectoral space were Consumer Durables up 2.78%, Capital Goods up 2.63%, Bankex up 2.49%, Auto up 2.26% and Realty up 1.86%, while IT down 0.31% was the only loser on the sectoral space.

Meanwhile, India's exports, although declined by 1.76% to $300.6 billion during 2012-13, its first decline since 2009-10, were up for the third straight month in March, offering some relief to the record current account deficit. Driven by lower spending on oil purchases, imports fell to 2.87% to $41.16 billion, while exports rose 6.97% year-on-year in March to $30.84 billion, thereby leaving trade deficit in the month to $10.32 billion.

However, the declining exports which missed the government target of $360 billion by a wide margin, also pushed up the trade deficit during the fiscal to $190.91 billion from $183.4 billion in the previous financial year. 

Acknowledging the need to enhance exports to address the real challenge of bringing down the trade account deficit, which directly impacts the current account deficit, trade Minister Anand Sharma, who gave the full year figures at a meeting of exporters, also announced incentives for external trade. The measures include a 2% interest rate subsidy for the stressed textile industry, which was once a stronghold of the Indian economy but now struggles to compete with China and Bangladesh for the European and US markets.

The current account deficit has emerged as a big threat to Asia's third largest economy since last year. It is expected to have hit about 5% of GDP in the fiscal year that ended in March, but a fall in gold and oil prices along with the uptick in exports since January should ease some of the pressure.

The CNX Nifty touched a high and a low of 5,794.35 and 5,681.85 respectively. 

The top gainers on the Nifty were Indusind up by 7.71%, IDFC up 4.91%, Bharti Airtel up 4.47%, Tata Motors up 3.85% and Axis Bank up by 3.84%.

On the flip side, the top losers of the index were, NMDC down by 2.48%, HCL Tech down by 1.97%, TCS down by 0.93%, Dr Reddy’s down 0.28% and Grasim down by 0.21%.

Most of the European markets were trading in green, France’s CAC 40 up by 0.87%, the United Kingdom’s FTSE 100 up by 0.40% and Germany’s DAX up by 0.45%.

Asian markets ended mixed on Thursday, as investors sentiments were dampened with sharp fall in commodity prices and weak US corporate results, with some technology stocks dropping after a sharp fall in Apple Inc. shares. Hong Kong market closed lower for a fifth straight session, while, Chinese market found a little support from economic data showing an improvement in foreign direct investment inflows and home prices. Japanese market went home with red mark as yen increased against the dollar.