Post Session: Quick Review

Indian markets witnessed a stellar rally to start the crucial F&O expiry week on a solid note and the benchmark indices touched their fresh all time highs during the day. It was mainly a blue chips driven rally, as the broader indices despite remaining in green largely shied away from the big moves. Markets that had gone in a consolidation mood last week were back with renewed vigor after the weekend. The heavy March series witnessed good short covering and traders lapped up large cap stocks on hopes of further appreciation.

The global cues remained supportive,e leading the domestic markets higher and though the US markets had ended marginally lower in last session, the Asian markets surged after the weak preliminary purchasing managers’ index of China for March from HSBC Holdings Plc and Markit Economics raised hopes that the country will go for more stimulus to revive the economy. The European markets too made a good start but turned lower despite the euro-area manufacturing and services stayed close to the fastest since 2011 in March.

Back home, amid the election euphoria heavy buying by foreign investors led the markets higher, while traders also got support with the report that retail inflation for farm workers and rural labourers eased to 8.14 percent and 8.27 percent respectively in February from 9.08 percent and 9.21 percent in January mainly due to decrease in prices of food items. The report raised hopes that the Reserve Bank of India would keep interest rates on hold at its policy review on April 1. The rally in Indian markets was led by the banking stocks with the banking index on the BSE surging over two percent, ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank, SBI and IndusInd Bank all surged in a range of 1.5-4.5% for the day. The oil & gas sector stocks that have shown some fervor in the Saturday’s special session too continued their upmove led by the heavy weight Reliance Industries. After AAP sought the Election Commission's intervention in stalling the gas price hike from April 1, the poll panel has sought details from the government on the proposed increase. Meanwhile, the Petroleum Minister M Veerappa Moily has made it clear that the government will not go back on its decision to hike rates from April 1. RIL gained around 2%, while the ONGC surged by around 4%. Finally, both the major indices surged to their record high and while Sensex went for a 300 point rally, Nifty just missed its gains of three digits,

The market breadth on the BSE ended negative; advances and declining stocks were in a ratio of 1,269: 1,536, while 154 scrips remained unchanged. (Provisional)

The BSE Sensex gained 302.67 points or 1.39% to settle at 22,057.99. The index touched a high and a low of 22,074.34 and 21,827.50 respectively. Among the 30-share Sensex, 23 stocks gained, while 7 stocks declined. (Provisional)

The BSE Mid cap and Small cap indices ended higher by 0.10% and 0.09% respectively. (Provisional)

On the BSE Sectoral front, Bankex up by 2.79%, Oil & Gas up by 2.67%, PSU up by 2.43%, Metal up by 1.01% and Power up by 0.94% were the top gainers, while Healthcare down by 0.58%, Consumer Durables down by 0.41% and IT down by 0.05% were the top losers in the space. (Provisional)

The top gainers on the Sensex were Gail India up by 5.22%, ONGC up by 4.16%, ICICI Bank up by 3.59%, Coal India up by 2.90% and HDFC Bank up by 2.77%. On the other hand, Dr Reddys Lab down by 1.75%, Wipro down by 1.17%, Cipla down by 0.85%, Infosys down by 0.67% and Sun Pharma down by 0.61% were the top losers in the index. (Provisional)

Meanwhile, the inflation based on consumer price index (CPI) for agriculture and rural workers eased to 8.14 percent and 8.27 percent in February on y-o-y basis from 9.08 percent and 9.21 percent in January mainly driven by the decrease in prices of food items. Food inflation index of Consumer Price Index-Agriculture Labourers (CPI-AL) and Consumer Price Index-Rural Labourers (CPI-RL) were eased to 6.85 percent and 6.99 percent during the reported month.

India CPI-AL and CPI-RL for February, 2014 remained stationary at 757 points and 759 points respectively. The rise and fall in index varied from State to State. In case of Agricultural Labourers, the retail inflation index recorded an increase between 2 to 9 points in 11 States and a decrease between 1 to 9 points in 8 States. The index however, remained stationary in 1 State. Haryana with 843 points topped the index table whereas Himachal Pradesh with the index level of 623 points stood at the bottom. In case of Rural Labourers, it recorded an increase between 1 to 7 points in 12 States, and a decrease between 1 to 8 points in 8 States. Haryana with 836 points topped the index table whereas Himachal Pradesh State with the index level of 656 points stood at the bottom.

The inflation index for Agricultural and Rural workers in Rajasthan State registered the maximum increase of 9 points and 7 points respectively mainly due to increase in the prices of wheat, bajra, pulses, gingely oil, milk, ghee among others. On the other hand, Andhra Pradesh State registered the maximum decrease of 9 points and 8 points in inflation index for Agricultural and Rural Labourers driven by lower prices of rice, jowar, ragi, groundnut oil and onion among others.

India VIX, a gauge for markets short-term expectation volatility gained 4.17% at 16.53 from its previous close of 15.87 on Saturday. (Provisional)

The CNX Nifty gained 88.30 points or 1.36% to settle at 6,583.20. The index touched high and low of 6,591.50 and 6,510.50 respectively. Out of the 50 stocks on the Nifty, 40 ended in the green, while 10 ended in the red. 

The major gainers of the Nifty were Gail up 5.51%, ONGC up by 4.47%, IndusInd Bank up by 4.08%, Kotak Bank up by 3.84% and ICICI Bank up by 3.58%. The key losers were HCL Tech down by 1.55%, Wipro down by 1.26%, Dr. Reddy's Laboratories down by 1.22%, Cipla down by 1.10% and Infosys down by 0.64%. (Provisional)

The European markets were trading in red; France’s CAC 40 was down 0.71%, Germany’s DAX was down 0.73% and UK’s FTSE 100 down 0.37%.

The Asian markets concluded Monday’s trade in green with Japan’s Nikkei share bouncing off from a six-week low on the back of a tentative recovery in risk appetite, though underlying concerns about Japan’s economic outlook kept gains in check. China’s Vice Premier Zhang Gaoli stated that deepening reform will bring a new impetus for economic growth in China and provide room and opportunity for the world economy. China’s central bank hinted that it was willing to accept some debt defaults in the $1.8 trillion wealth management market, as the world’s second-largest economy struggles to curb bad debts that pose a risk to the financial system.

China HSBC flash manufacturing purchasing managers index (PMI) fell to an eight-month low in March. The preliminary reading of 48.1 fell from February’s final reading of 48.5, while the flash March index also showed new orders slid for a fourth consecutive month to 46.9 - its lowest point since July 2013, while output fell to 47.3, the lowest since September 2012.