Post Session: Quick Review

Late hour recovery once again aided benchmarks in registering positive session of trade on Thursday, leading to a rally of over a percent at Dalal-Street. In the result heavy session of trade, benchmark equity indexes, Sensex and Nifty soared the most in the last hour of the trade to end past the psychological 20,000 and 6,000 levels respectively. Buoyed by the overnight development at the global front, local equity markets after getting gap-up opening never looked back. Although, the benchmarks languidly gyrated in narrow-range in the early deals, once giving out impression of slipping in the red territory, buying momentum, which resumed in the late hours of trade led to power pact performance of the bourses.

Sentiments got a boost with comments from Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke testimony to Congress that central bank has no plans for pulling back its stimulus measures. Besides, the chairman also played down the unemployment rate as a factor in the central bank's decision whether to cut its bond-buying program. However, Asian markets failed to draw much of the support from this development, Chinese markets fell over the concerns over availability of finance to property development. Meanwhile, European shares too exhibited mixed trend, weighed down by disappointing reports from the technology sector that put a downbeat complexion on the region's earnings season.

Closer home, corporate earnings were a positive factor for the investors. Axis Bank soared close to 4% after the posting a 23% growth in net profit to Rs 1,409 crore in the first quarter ended June 30, 2013. Meanwhile, IDBI share, which lost 3% on reporting 28.1% decline in net profit at Rs 306.95 crore for the first quarter ended June, 2013, gained close to a percent by the end of the trade. Additionally, DB Corp beat the street with the first quarter consolidated net profit soaring 74.7 percent year-on-year to Rs 76 crore and total income rising 19% to Rs 449 crore. Further, Essar Ports shares gained 3% as its first quarter consolidated net profit increased to Rs 101.4 crore from Rs 68.5 crore and income from operations rose to Rs 399 crore from Rs 325 crore(Y-o-Y).

On the BSE sectoral front, amidst across the board-buying, stocks from rate sensitive-Realty and Bankex and Consumer Durable counters were the prominent gainers.

The market breadth on the BSE ended positive; advances and declining stocks were in a ratio of 1206: 1112, while 168 scrips remained unchanged. (Provisional)

The BSE Sensex gained 202.80 points or 1.02% to settle at 20151.53.The index touched a high and a low of 20176.90 and 19956.20 respectively.  The BSE Mid cap and Small cap indices ended higher by 0.77% and 0.28% respectively. (Provisional) 

On the BSE Sectoral front, Realty up by 2.53%, Bankex up by 2.02%, Consumer Durables up by 1.96%, PSU up by 1.66% and Capital Goods up by 1.52% were the top gainers, while there were no losers in the space. (Provisional)

Out of the 30 stocks on the Sensex, 23 stocks settled higher, while 7 stocks settled lower. The top gainers on the Sensex were ONGC up by 4.74%, HDFC Bank up by 3.19%, BHEL up by 2.92%, Hero MotoCorp up by 2.70% and Tata Power up by 2.47%. On the flip side,  Mahindra & Mahindra down by 1.60%, Sterlite Industries down by 1.55%, TCS was down by 0.94%, NTPC was down by 0.81% and Bajaj Auto was down by 0.53% were the top losers on the Sensex. (Provisional)

Meanwhile, in a bid to provide more powers to the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) to crack down on ponzi schemes, the government of India (GoI) has approved a proposal to amend SEBI Act. The decision will also give Sebi powers to conduct search and seizure operations and access call data records. The same have been approved by the government at a meeting of the Cabinet.

These amendments will be finalized after thorough discussion with the market regulator and once the SEBI Act gets modified, the regulator would have direct powers to carry out search and seizure operations and for attachment of assets, as part of efforts to crackdown on ponzi schemes. In addition, the regulator would also have authority to seek out information, such as telephone call data records, from any persons or entities in respect to any securities transaction being probed by it.

The capital market watchdog has been seeking regulatory amendments as well as a mandate for a longer period given the changing nature of the securities market in general and fresh tools being used by manipulators to take gullible investors for a ride. Among others, SEBI Chairman would have the powers to authorise conducting of search and seizure.

At present, the market regulator can start their search and scrutiny only after receiving approval from the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate, though this process delays the scrutiny proceedings and hamper the confidential nature of probe.India VIX, a gauge for markets short term expectation of volatility lost 5.63% at 18.27 from its previous close of 19.36 on Wednesday. (Provisional)

The CNX Nifty gained 66.35 points or 1.11% to settle at 6,039.65. The index touched high and low of 6,051.10 and 5,974.55 respectively. Out of the 50 stocks on the Nifty, 41 ended in the green, while 9 ended in the red.

The major gainers were Reliance Infrastructure up 5.82%, ONGC up by 4.85%, Asian Paint up by 4.18%, Axis Bank up by 4.03% and Bank of Baroda up by 3.69%. The key losers were HCL Tech down by 1.75%, M&M down by 1.52%, TCS down by 1.19%, UltraTech Cement down by 0.80% and NTPC down by 0.68%.(Provisional)

Most of the European markets were trading in green with, France’s CAC 40 up by 0.30% and the United Kingdom’s FTSE 100 up by 0.34%, while Germany’s DAX down by 0.03%.

Asian markets concluded Thursday’s trade on a mixed note. China’s Shanghai Composite ended in red led by slumps in financial and property stocks, as concern lingered that Beijing won’t use stimulus to boost slowing economy. The Asian Development Bank (ADB) stated that China’s cooling economy threatens to impact growth in Southeast Asia, including Indonesia. The Manila-based lender trimmed the region’s economic growth forecast to 5.2% this year and 5.6% next year in the update to its Asian Development Outlook publication. The ADB update came one day after Beijing released a report showing China’s economy slowing for the second quarter. The bank joined the International Monetary Fund in trimming its economic growth forecast for Asia. China’s Premier Li Keqiang urged caution about rushing to change economic policy to try to revive the country’s sputtering growth, but he also signaled Beijing was prepared to take action if the economy slips too far.

The number of Chinese cities recording month-on-month home price increases fell further in June as tightening measures to rein in speculation remain in place, the National Bureau of Statistics stated. Data showed that new home prices in 38 cities registered slower month-on-month rise, an increase of 4 cities from May. Beijing's GDP rose 7.7% year on year in the first half of 2013, up 0.5% over the same period last year. The city’s GDP expanded to 911.28 billion yuan ($148 billion) in the first six months, according to data issued by Beijing's statistics bureau and the National Statistics Bureau's Beijing division.

Jakarta Composite ended the trade in green. Indonesia’s rupiah fell for a 10th day, the longest losing streak since January 2004, after the central bank stated it allowed the currency to weaken. The central bank has tried to reassure investors and appealed for calm as the rupiah fell to an almost-four-year low against the US dollar. Bank Indonesia Governor Agus Martowardojo stated that the market should not panic even though the rupiah has been trading beyond 10,000 to the dollar. Citigroup raised its 2014 current-account deficit forecast for Indonesia as the outlook for commodity prices dims and the Chinese economy slows. Japanese Nikkei rose after the yen weakened and on Federal Reserve’s Chairman comment that pace of bond purchases would hinge on US economic health

South Korean shares fell as foreign investors turned into net sellers in six sessions despite Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke’s comments over the need for highly accommodative monetary policy. Foreigners sold a net 113.4 billion won worth of shares, shifting into net sellers in six sessions. Local institutions were net buyers, but their purchases stood merely at 400 million won. Retail investors bought shares worth 115.4 billion won, limiting the KOSPI’s further decline.