Post Session: Quick review

March industrial production growth aided Indian equity markets in resuming their rally, which led benchmark equity indices once again end near their record highs for 2013. After taking a breather in the previous session, markets picked up pace mainly in afternoon deals that prompted 30 share index, Sensex to close above the psychological 20,050 mark and 50 share index, Nifty briefly cross the 6100 bastion, a level last seen on January 29, 2013. Although, the markets did gain some momentum in the early deals, but dipped to intra-day low level with the release of in-line March IIP data. Post recovering from intra-day low level it remained in consolidation mood till the time of European markets opening which spelled some optimism into D-street. Meanwhile, broader indices despite outperforming the benchmarks till afternoon deals failed to pick up with the peers, though ended with some gains. On the macro-front, showing signs of recovery, the industrial growth bounced back to 2.5% in March on better performance of manufacturing and power sectors coupled with higher output of capital goods. 

Meanwhile, on the global front, European equities punched fresh five-year highs on Friday, continuing to draw support from central bank stimulus with steelmaker Arcelor Mittal and telecoms group BT jumping on strong earnings. Investors in the region were also looking to a meeting of Group of Seven finance chiefs for reaffirmation of policymakers’ commitment to economic stimulus - the key driver of equities’ 11-month long rally - and for clues on possible further measures from central banks. Additionally, most Asian stocks rose as the yen weakened past 100 against the dollar for the first time since 2009, boosting the earnings outlook for exporters.

Closer home, strength of Auto, Consumer Durables and Fast Moving Consumer Good counters supported the bourses. The expectation that India’s main inflation gauge, Wholesale Price Index data (WPI), which will be released on May 14, 2013, would ease for a third straight month in April, also provided some fillip to the equity markets. Meanwhile, rally of PSU Oil Marketing Companies (OMCs) also added to the optimism. BPCL, HPCL and IOC stocks rallied on the hopes that the diesel prices might be hiked by Rs 1 per litre in the next 24 hours. On the flip side, stocks from Power and Metal counters were the dark spot of the trade. The market breadth on the BSE ended negative; advances and declining stocks were in a ratio of 821: 885, while 69 scrips remained unchanged. (Provisional)

The BSE Sensex gained 134.54 points or 0.67% to settle at 20,073.58.The index touched a high and a low of 20,119.14and 19,908.80 respectively. Among the 30-share Sensex pack, 18 stocks gained while rest of them declined (Provisional)

The BSE Mid cap and Small cap indices ended higher by 0.15% and 0.14% respectively. (Provisional)

On the BSE Sectoral front, Consumer Durables up by 2.18%, Auto up by 2.14%, FMCG up by 1.44%, Bankex up by 1.30% and Health Care up by 0.49% were the top gainers, while Power down by 0.56%, Metal down by 0.26% and Capital Goods down by 0.14%, were the only losers in the space. (Provisional)

The top gainers on the Sensex were Maruti Suzuki up by 4.20%, Tata Motors up by 2.87%, Hindalco Industries up by 2.81%, ITC up by 2.69% and Mahindra & Mahindra up by 2.21%, while, Coal India down by 3.01%, Jindal Steel down by 1.97%, NTPC down by 1.53%, Sun Pharma down by 1.52% and RIL down by 0.85% were the top losers in the index. (Provisional)

Meanwhile, registering third straight month of expansion, India's annual industrial output growth measured by index of industrial production (IIP) grew by 2.5% at 192.3 for the month of March 2013, higher than previous month’s growth figure of 0.6%, later revised to 0.5%, and in line with street estimates of over 2% figure. The cumulative growth for the period April-March 2012-13 over the corresponding period of the previous year stood at 1.0%.

The expansion in the industrial output came due to contribution from the manufacturing sector. The sector, which constitutes about 75.53% of industrial production, grew by 3.2% from a year earlier. Additionally, consumer goods sector also rose for second straight month in a year at 1.6%. Meanwhile, electricity sector too expanded by 3.5% from a year earlier. However, mining sector, continuing to show contraction stood at 2.9% for March 2013. The cumulative growth in the three sectors during April-March 2012-13 over the corresponding period of 2011-12 has been (-) 2.5%, 1.2% and 4.0% respectively.

Additionally, capital goods output, a key investment indicator, grew by 6.9% against 9.5% in February. Consumer goods grew by 1.6%, driven by growth of Consumer durables and Consumer non-durables at -4.5% and 6.5% respectively. Factory output came in-line with street estimates, due to solid contribution from manufacturing and capital goods sector. Further, the March IIP numbers, which are the best monthly IIP reading since October 2012 number of 8.2% suggests that the worst may be over for the economy.

Reacting to the IIP figure, Prime Minister’s Economic Advisory Council Chairman C Rangarajan said the number showed that the economy is on the right path to recovery. However, he said the country needs to witness higher growth.

India VIX, a gauge for markets short term expectation of volatility gained 1.56% at 16.86 from its previous close of 16.60 on Thursday. (Provisional)

The CNX Nifty gained 41.85 points or 0.69% to settle at 6,092.00. The index touched high and low of 6,105.30 and 6,045.60 respectively. 32 stocks advanced against 17 declining and one stock remains unchanged on the index. (Provisional)

The top gainers on the Nifty were Maruti Suzuki up by 4.41%, IndusInd Bank up by 3.14%, Tata Motors up by 2.93%, ITC up by 2.79% and ACC was up by 2.46%. On the other hand, Coal India down by 2.90%, Jindal Steel & Power down by 2.16%, PNB down by 1.92%, NTPC down by 1.82% and UltraTech Cement down by 1.59% were the top losers. (Provisional)

Most of the European markets were trading in green with, France’s CAC 40 up by 0.54%, Germany’s DAX up by 0.61% and the United Kingdom’s FTSE 100 up by 0.49%.

Asian equity markets ended mostly up with Japanese stocks jumped to their highest level in over five years after the dollar surged above the 100 yen mark and US jobs data boosted sentiment. Bucking the trend Seoul market closed lower amid worries among South Korean automakers about the weak yen cheapening Japan's exports. Chinese market ended higher as heavyweight bank and real estate stocks gained on expected solid profit growth. Hong Kong shares finished trade on firm note, following impressive gains of other bourses.