Markets consolidate; manages to hold the gains with modest rise

Tuesday was the day of consolidation for the Indian markets when bulls taking a breather from their last session’s rally, just tried to hold their gains. The global cues were not very supportive and traders opted to remain on sidelines to get some cues. However, there were some instances of profit booking too that dragged the markets in red for a couple of time, though there was simultaneous bounce back that took the markets back into green. The market sentiments were supported by rupee strength for the second straight session as stronger rupee could help to reduce import bill and current account deficit. Also, PMEAC Chairman C Rangarajan stated that country’s current account deficit (CAD) will be contained well below the targeted limit.

The global cues remained sluggish since morning as the US markets ended mostly lower overnight on profit booking, while the Asian pack made a mixed start and despite some recovery ended in the same state, as the euphoria of Chinese biggest package of economic reforms since the 1990s slightly got over. The European markets too made a soft start and pressured the local markets.

Back home, despite some volatility the markets managed to extend their gaining streak for the third consecutive session, albeit marginally. The rupee strength supported equity markets which traded near the 62/$ level with the Reserve Bank of India’s ongoing bonds purchase worth Rs 8,000 crore this week under the open market operations (OMO) to inject liquidity in the system. There was some cautiousness in the early deals of the markets related to stock market regulator Securities & Exchange Board of India (Sebi) tightening disclosure norms for listed companies. The regulator has empowered stock exchanges to make its current system more effective while monitoring disclosures made on shareholding pattern, financial results and on other price-sensitive information. While there was a pause in the surge what the markets have been witnessing since last two sessions, but the rate sensitives’ once again remained on forefront, though there was some somberness in the defensive. Realty and Capital Goods counter added another over a percent for the day, while the Consumer Durables and FMCG lost about half a percent. The non sectoral aviation pack too was in jubilant mood on report that the domestic airlines flew 50.08 lakh passengers in October this year, up by almost 10 percent increase over the 45.55 lakh passengers carried by them in the same period last year.

Finally, the BSE Sensex surged by 40.08 points or 0.19%, to settle at 20890.82, while the CNX Nifty added 14.35 points or 0.23% to settle at 6,203.35.

The BSE Sensex touched a high and a low of 20934.40 and 20828.69, respectively. The BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.46%, while the Small cap index gained 0.32%.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Jindal Steel up 4.37%, Hindalco Inds up 4.25%, Maruti Suzuki up 3.28%, SBI up 3.18%, and Bharti Airtel up 1.94%, on the flip side SSLT down 1.88%, HDFC Bank down 1.29%, Coal India down 1.20%, TCS down 0.79%, and Wipro down 0.77%, were the top losers on the index.

On the BSE Sectoral front, Realty up by 1.51%, Capital Goods up by 1.28%, Teck up by 0.46%, Bankex up by 0.35%, and IT up by 0.28%, were the top gainers, while Consumer Durables down by 0.69%, FMCG down by 0.45%, Healthcare down by 0.24%, and Power down by 0.18%, were the only losers on the sectoral front.

Meanwhile, in a positive sign for Aviation sector, domestic airlines flew 50.08 lakh passengers in October this year, an almost 10% increase over the 45.55 lakh passengers carried by them in the same period last year.

According to Directorate-General of Civil Aviation data, IndiGo, which had a market share of 30.2%, retained the top spot and flew 15.10 lakh passengers. This was followed by the no-frills competitor, SpiceJet with a market share of 20%, having flown 10.02 lakh passengers.

Meanwhile, Jet Airways-JetLite combined, claimed a market-share of 23.8%, followed by Air India (Domestic) with 18.4%. GoAir and start-up carrier Air Costa had 7.7% and 0.1% respectively.

However, cumulatively, passengers carried by all domestic carriers between January and October this year was 507.02 lakh as against 483.95 lakh in 2012, registering a growth of  4.77%. The top four airlines, in terms of number of passengers carried during the January-October period this year, were IndiGo with 147.15 lakh, Air India 96.80 lakh, SpiceJet 96.49 lakh and Jet Airways 93.67 lakh

The CNX Nifty touched a high and low of 6,212.40 and 6,180.20 respectively.

The top gainers on the Nifty were Hindalco Industries up by 4.33%, Jindal Steel & Power up by 4.00%, PNB up by 3.93%, Jaiprakash Associates up by 3.11% and State Bank of India up by 3.04%. On the other hand, BPCL down by 2.11%, SSLT down by 1.78%, Power Grid Corporation of India down by 1.40%, HDFC Bank down by 1.28%, and Tata Steel down by 1.22%, were the top losers.

The European markets were trading in red, France's CAC 40 was down by 0.99%, Germany's DAX was down by 0.40%, and United Kingdom's FTSE 100 was down by 0.61%. 

The Asian markets concluded Tuesday’s trade on a mixed note with shares in Shanghai and Hong Kong closed in red after rallying yesterday on Chinese reform blueprint that pledged a greater role for private firms in the economy. Hong Kong Financial Secretary John Tsang stated that the country will not experience stagflation - slow economic growth coupled with high inflation - as external economic conditions are not particularly weak, and inflation is not serious. He added that GDP was 2.9% in Q2 and 3% for the first half of the year, while the rise in inflation was not high.

Consumer confidence in China continued to pick up in the third quarter, as consumers from small cities grew more optimistic about their financial conditions and were willing to spend more against the backdrop of a modest economic recovery. China’s consumer confidence index stood at 110 in the third quarter, steady from the second quarter and up from 106 in the third quarter of 2012. China attracted $8.42 billion worth of foreign direct investment in October, up 1.24% from a year earlier. FDI in the January-October period rose 5.77% from a year earlier to $97.03 billion.