Post Session: Quick Review

The start of new month F&O series turned out to be an equally pleasant to the last series ending day, which led to Indian equity markets close with gains of over a percent on Friday, well above the psychological  20,750 (Sensex) and 6,150 (Nifty) levels respectively. Trading strength to strength for the entire trading session, benchmarks did not once witnessed any sign of profit-booking, as investors got engrossed in frenzied buying activities on hopes of positive Q2 GDP data, which is up for release later in the evening. On the macro-front, the country’s economic growth may have grown better than a four-year low of 4.4% in the previous quarter on the back of improved manufacturing activity and good monsoon in this quarter.

Benchmarks also got a sentimental boost after exchange and regulatory data unveiled domestic institutional investors (DIIs), turned buyers of shares worth Rs 330 crore after twelve days long losing streak on Thursday. Further, optimistic statements from PMEAC Chief C Rangarajan, who expects Current Account Deficit (CAD) to come down below 3% of GDP in the current fiscal on the back of measures taken by government, also augured well for Dalal Street, besides, the hopes that state elections results on December 8 would yield a clear winner. Thus, markets clocking gains of over a percent for the session rallied over three percent for the week. Meanwhile, broader indices too went home with gains of over 3/ 4 of a percent for the session. For the week, while CNX Midcap index clocked gains of over three percent, BSE Smallcap index ended up over a percent and half.

On the global front, Asian shares ended on mixed note on Friday as Japanese shares eased from a six-year high this week in thin trade following the US Thanksgiving holiday. On the flip side, European shares traded flat on Friday as investors waited to see if euro zone inflation came in higher than expected, which would alleviate pressure on the European Central Bank to add more stimulus.

Closer home, participation of index heavyweight, ICICI Bank, L&T and ITC, which suggested that rally, had legs, mainly heartened investors. Nevertheless, with across the board buying activity, only stocks from Auto counter ended weak. Meanwhile, the top gainers in the space were Banking, Public Sector Undertaking (PSU) counters. PSU banks witnessed some buying interest after the Committee on Economic Affairs yesterday cleared a proposal to allow state electricity boards of Jharkhand, Bihar and Andhra Pradesh to convert their outstanding loans till March 2013 into bonds as part of an amendment to the discom debt restructuring package. The overall market breadth on BSE ended in the favour of advances which thumped declines in the ratio of 1463: 1026; while 183 shares ended unchanged. (Provisional)

The BSE Sensex gained 243.77 points or 1.19% to settle at 20778.68.The index touched a high and a low of 20819.77 and 20558.93 respectively.  Among the 30-share Sensex, 26 stocks gained, while 4 stocks declined. (Provisional)

The BSE Mid cap and Small cap indices ended higher by 0.82% and 0.83% respectively. (Provisional)

On the BSE Sectoral front, Bankex up by 2.36%, PSU up by 1.97%, Capital Goods up by 1.87%, Metal up by 1.60% and Power up by 1.41% were the top gainers, while Auto down by 0.02% was the only losers in the space. (Provisional)

The top gainers on the Sensex were SSLT up by 4.42%, SBI up by 3.59%, BHEL up by 3.38%, ICICI Bank up by 2.94% and Cipla up by 2.89%, while, Mahindra & Mahindra down by 1.29%, Hero MotoCorp down by 0.67%, Wipro down by 0.40% and NTPC down by 0.17% were the top losers in the index. (Provisional)

Meanwhile, amid rising concerns over the widening fiscal deficit of the country, Economic Affairs Secretary Arvind Mayaram has said that country’s fiscal deficit will remain within set target at 4.8 percent of GDP for current fiscal as the government is taking various measures to maximize revenues. During the first six month of current fiscal, fiscal deficit of the country has touched Rs 4.12 lakh crore, or 76 percent of the budget estimate of Rs 5.42 lakh crore.

By adding further, Mayaram said that the government is considering spiking government bonds’ yields and will calibrate borrowing programme according to the market conditions.  Mararam is also confidence to meet the divestment target of Rs 40,000 crore for current fiscal. However, during the first seven months, the government was able to garner only about Rs 1,150 crore through disinvestment.

In order to contain the country's fiscal deficit, the government has been taking a number of measures including banning government departments for holding meetings in 5-star hotels among others to cut government spending in non-critical areas. Finance Minister P Chidambaram had also said that the government can reduce spending soon by some large government departments despite up coming national election. In the previous financial year, the government was able to contain the fiscal deficit at 4.89 percent of GDP, against the budgeted target of 5.1 percent of GDP.

India VIX, a gauge for markets short term expectation of volatility gained 3.23% at 21.38 from its previous close of 20.71 on Thursday. (Provisional)

The CNX Nifty gained 84.45 points or 1.39% to settle at 6,176.30. The index touched high and low of 6,182.50 and 6,103.80 respectively. Out of the 50 stocks on the Nifty, 42 ended in the green, while 8 ended in the red.

The major gainers of the Nifty were JP Associate up by 9.20%, NMDC up by 6.67%, Bank of Baroda up by 5.17%, SSLT up by 4.57% and BHEL up by 3.78%. The key losers were M&M down by 1.34%, Hero MotoCorp down by 0.69%, Wipro down by 0.54%, NTPC down by 0.27% and Asian Paint down by 0.18% (Provisional)

Most of the European markets were trading in green with, France’s CAC 40 up by 0.10%, the United Kingdom’s FTSE 100 up by 0.22% and Germany’s DAX up by 0.01%.

The Asian markets concluded Friday’s trade mostly in green while profit-taking pulled Japanese shares down from a near six-year high hit in the prior session. Japan’s core consumer price index rose 0.9% in October from a year earlier, an acceleration in the pace of price growth from the previous month and a sign that Japan is on its way to shaking off 15 years of deflation. The 0.9% rise was the fastest pace of growth in the index since November 2008. Japanese industrial production rose 0.5% in October from the previous month marking the second straight month of expansion. Japanese Housing Starts fell to a seasonally adjusted 7.1%, from 19.4% in the preceding quarter.

In Hong Kong, the value of total retail sales in October, provisionally estimated at $37.8 billion, rose 6.3% year-on-year. After netting out the effect of price changes over the same period, the total retail sales volume grew 5.8%. The revised estimate of the total retail sales value in September increased 5% over a year earlier, while the total retail sales volume rose 4.9%. For the first 10 months of the year, total retail sales grew 11.9% in value and 11.3% in volume over a year earlier. Thailand’s trade balance fell to a seasonally adjusted 0.34B, from 2.56B in the preceding month.