Indian equities gain strength to hover towards the highest point of day

Indian equities gain strength to hover towards the highest point of the day in the late afternoon session as investors hunt for beaten down but fundamentally strong bargains after the colossal damage done in last eight back to back sessions. It seems bears have exhausted its carnage in the market to take some pause with bulls taking charge and leading the much needed relief rally. Traders were seen accumulating in Metal, IT and Auto sector while selling was witnessed in Consumer Durables and FMCG sector. With F&O expiry scheduled this week we are likely to witness volatile sessions ahead. Tata Steel, Sesa Goa, Sterlite, Hindalco, SAIL and Jindal Steel from Metal pack were seen trading firm in green with gain of around half to more than four and half percent pulling the markets. Infosys, TCS, Wipro and HCL Technologies from IT sector were firm giving the much needed push for the markets. A weak rupee boosts revenue of IT firms in rupee terms as the sector derives a major share of revenue from exports. Tata Motors, Maruti, Hero MotoCorp from Auto pack were in green making markets trade on a positive note. Index heavyweight RIL is seen trading with a gain off around more than one and half percent helping market rejoice, with the stock snapping off its fall for the sixth straight trading day. Cairn India, ONGC, BPCL, HPCL and IOC from Oil & Gas counters were seen trading in green helping benchmarks to march northwards. BHEL and L&T from Capital Goods pack were firm in green inching up the benchmarks. ICICI Bank, PNB, SBI, Axis Bank, HDFC Bank and Kotak Bank from banking sector were trading in green helping markets edge higher.

However, Bharti Airtel, Tata Power, ITC, Bajaj Auto, HUL and M&M were trading on a weak note in red pulling the markets down. In scrip specific development, Shree Renuka Sugar, Balrampur Chini, Dhampur Sugars, Bannari Aman Sugar Mills and Bajaj Hindustan were firm trading in green, ahead of a meeting of the Empowered Group of Ministers (EGOM) on sugar exports. Bharti Airtel was trading in red extending the yesterdays fall triggered by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) conducting searches at Bharti Airtel's office in Gurgaon. Pipavav Defence and Offshore Engineering Company is firm trading in green after the company roped in an international strategic investor. Amtek Auto soared on reports of buy back news. On the global front, all Asian markets were seen trading in mix while the European markets were trading in green on optimistic note. Besides, Germany’s Finance Ministry stated that the country’s expansion has gotten noticeably slower while another report issued yesterday had rating agency Moody’s Investors Service warning that elevated borrowing costs and a wobbly economy pose a threat to France’s credit outlook. Back home, the NSE Nifty and BSE Sensex were trading above their psychological 4,800 and 16,100 levels, respectively. The market breadth on the BSE was positive in the ratio of 1363:1272 while, 123 scrips remained unchanged.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 16,188.93 up by 242.83 points or 1.52% after trading as high as and 16,212.95 as low as 15,970.11. There were 24 stocks advancing against 6 declines on the index.

The broader indices were too trading on positive note; the BSE Mid cap index rose 0.57% while Small cap gained 0.26%.

On the BSE sectoral space, Metal up 2.77%, IT up 2.65%, Auto up 1.70%, TECk up 1.69% and Oil & Gas up 1.53% were the major gainers while Consumer Durables down 1.88% and FMCG down 0.65% were the only losers in the space.

Tata Motors up 7.65%, JP Associates up 4.93%, Tata Steel up 4.37%, Hindalco up 3.90% and Sterlite up 3.50% were the major gainers on the Sensex, while Bharti Airtel down 2.05%, Tata Power down 1.41%, ITC down 0.78%, HUL down 0.74% and Bajaj Auto down 0.64% were the major losers in the index.

Meanwhile, commenting on the historical decline in Indian rupee, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee said the volatility in the Indian rupee is a reflection of the uncertainty in the international market. The rupee skidded to an all-time low on as oil refiners and other companies jumbled to buy dollars, with the currency looking increasingly weak to an enlarging current account deficit.

The rupee declined by 58 paise to its all time low of Rs 52.73 per dollar in early trade on November 22. The main reason for record fall in rupee is continued dollar demand from importers, mainly from oil refiners, to meet the month-end requirements amid the expectations of a further rise in the dollar value overseas because of the lingering European debt.

On the role of Reserve Bank of India (RBI), finance minister said that the central bank would have been helpful if the fall was due to domestic factors. However, he expects that there will be a self correction in market.

This record decline in rupee is expected to hurt country’s current account deficit, and it is also expected to increase the borrowing cost of overseas loan for Indian Inc, who are looking for cheap funds to meet their investment as well as other requirements. 

Exposure to short-term portfolio flows, a rising oil import bill and slowing export growth have heightened the risk on the rupee and the outlook remains bearish. On the other hand, trade secretary Rahul Khullar asked not to overreact to the weakening rupee, after the local currency skidded to an all-time low.

The S&P CNX Nifty is currently trading at 4,847.55, higher by 69.20 points or 1.45% after trading as high as 4,853.20 and as low as 4,782.55. There were 41 stocks advancing against 9 declines on the index.

The top gainers on the Nifty were Tata Motors up 7.55%, JP Associates up 5.02%, Tata Steel up 4.67%, Sesa Goa up 3.71% and Sterlite up 3.65%.

Siemens down 3.13%, Bharti Airtel down 2.05%, Tata Power down 1.61%, ITC down 0.93% and Ambuja Cement down 0.90% were the major losers on the index.

Asian markets continued to trade on a mix note, Shanghai Composite dropped 0.10%, Nikkei 225 declined 0.40% and Taiwan Weighted dived 0.61%.

On the flipside, Hang Seng inched up 0.14%, KLSE Composite gained 0.17%, Jakarta Composite edge higher 1.01%, Straits Times inched up 0.38% and Seoul Composite advanced 0.34%.

The European markets were trading in green with, France’s CAC 40 up 1.35%, Germany's DAX ascended 1.18% and Britain’s FTSE 100 jumped 0.95%.