Post Session: Quick Review

Local equity markets added to their five successive sessions rally and hit another record high on Wednesday, as investors chose to ride the euphoria and went on accumulating fundamentally sound blue-chip stocks into their kitty, leading to gains of close to half a percent at Dalal Street. Bourses’ record-setting share rally has been sparked by heavy foreign buying - reaching record $3.3 billion in March, mainly on expectation of a recovery in the domestic economy, and bets that main opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), perceived as more business-friendly, will come to power.

In an extremely stable session of trade, not a speck of profit-booking emerged during the session, rather benchmarks going from strength to strength concluded at day’s high point due to hectic buying activities by both funds and retail investors, thanks to positive global set-up. By close of trade, both Sensex and Nifty settled above the crucial 22,550 and 6,750 levels respectively. Meanwhile, much of the action was witnessed in broader space, which outperforming larger counterparts, went home with gains of over percent and half.

On the global front, Asian share markets added to their recent rally on Wednesday as investors chose to accentuate the positive in a mixed bag of global economic data after US manufacturing sector picked up modestly in March, following a period of weakness over the winter, according to a gauge of factory activity from the Institute for Supply Management. Additionally, European shares rose on Wednesday, gaining for their seventh session in the row, lifted by German stocks on optimism over the outlook for Deutsche Post and good U.S. sales figures for some car makers.

Closer home, the rally at Dalal Street was broad-based and the one which saw the participation of all the sectoral indices on BSE, barring Metal and Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) space that witnessing maximum thrashing, ended into negative territory. On the flip side, rally at local equity markets was by by stocks belonging to Realty, Oil & Gas and Healthcare counters. Nonetheless, all the limelight was stolen by banking license aspirants stocks, IDFC and LIC Housing Finance after the Election Commission (EC) allowed the Reserve Bank of India to announce new bank licences before the outcome of general elections set to conclude next month. Meanwhile, auto stocks also were in top gear after reporting monthly sales figure. Notably, Information Technology (IT) stocks too showcased resilience against the backdrop of Rupee’s appreciation to eight month high level. On the currency front, the partially convertible currency was currently trading at 59.67/$ on bunched up dollar inflows post two days of break. In non- sectoral gauge activities, shares in sugar manufacturer rallied on expectations of higher demand during the summer season from bulk consumers such as ice-cream makers in the spot market. The market breadth on the BSE ended positive; advances and declining stocks were in a ratio of 1,887: 901, while 133 scrips remained unchanged. (Provisional)

The BSE Sensex gained 105.05 points or 0.47% to settle at 22551.49. The index touched a high and a low of 22,592.10 and 22,473.46 respectively. Among the 30-share Sensex, 18 stocks gained, while 12 stocks declined. (Provisional)

The BSE Mid cap and Small cap indices ended higher by 1.66% and 1.59% respectively. (Provisional)

On the BSE Sectoral front, Realty up by 1.99%, Healthcare up by 1.57%, Capital Goods up by 1.49%, PSU up by 1.48% and Oil & Gas up by 1.27% were the top gainers, while FMCG down by 1.51% and Metal down by 0.68% were the top losers in the space. (Provisional)

The top gainers on the Sensex were Bharti Airtel up by 3.22%, SBI up by 2.40%, Tata Motors up by 2.31%, L&T up by 2.24% and ONGC up by 1.98%. On the other hand, ITC down by 2.31%, Hindalco down by 1.56%, SSLT down by 1.49%, Coal India down by 1.26% and Hindustan Unilever down by 0.93% were the top losers in the index. (Provisional)

Meanwhile, the inflation based on consumer price index (CPI) for industrial workers eased to a two year low at 6.73 percent in the month of February as compared to 7.24 percent in the previous month and 12.06 percent during the corresponding month of the previous year.

The significant decline in inflation index was primarily driven by moderation in the prices of food articles which eased to 7.56 percent in February, 2014, against 8.94 percent of the previous month and 14.98 percent during the corresponding month of the previous year. At item level, arhar dal, ground nut oil, onion, vegetable & fruit items, sugar showed a decline. However, the prices of rice, wheat, moong dal, fish fresh, milk, pure ghee and medicine has increased in the reported month.

At centre level, six centres registered a decline of 3 points each, 10 centres recorded decline of 2 points each and 12 centres one point each, while, indices for rest of the 20 centres remained stationary. Quilon recorded the highest increase of 9 points each followed by Tiruchirapally & Conoor (6 Points each) and Lucknow (5 points). On the contrary, Chhindwara reported a decline of 5 points followed by Rourkela & Ajmer (4 points each). Further, the indices of 36 centres are above All-India Index and other 42 centres' indices below national average.

The government determines the rate of dearness allowance for its employees and pensioners based on the last 12-month average of CPI-IW index. It revises the DA quantum twice in a year, and is effected from January 1 and July 1.  India VIX, a gauge for markets short-term expectation volatility gained 2.55% at 21.21 from its previous close of 20.68 on Tuesday. (Provisional)

The CNX Nifty gained 33.75 points or 0.50% to settle at 6,754.80. The index touched high and low of 6,763.50 and 6,723.60 respectively. Out of the 50 stocks on the Nifty, 32 ended in the green, while 18 ended in the red. 

The major gainers of the Nifty were Bank of Baroda up 5.86%, IDFC up by 3.98%, PNB up by 3.27%, Bharti Airtel up by 3.00% and Tata Motors up by 2.57%. The key losers were Asian Paint down by 2.53%, Jindal Steel down by 2.28%, ACC down by 2.22%, ITC down by 2.12% and SSLT down by 1.69%. (Provisional)

The European markets were trading in green; France’s CAC 40 was up by 0.06%, Germany’s DAX was up by 0.31% and UK’s FTSE 100 up by 0.25%.

The Asian markets concluded Wednesday’s trade mostly in green tracking upbeat manufacturing data from US with Hang Seng Index closing in green for the fourth session in a row. The monetary base in Japan spiked 54.8 percent on year in March, standing at 208.592 trillion yen that follows the 55.7 percent jump in February and the 51.9 percent increase in January. Housing prices in China kept heading north in March, though at a slower pace. The average price of new homes in 100 cities climbed 0.38 percent last month from February to 11,002 yuan ($1,773) per square meter, the 22nd straight month-on-month gain.

According to the Asian Development Bank the emerging Asia’s economic growth will probably accelerate in 2015 from this year, helped by increasing momentum in developed nations and withstanding a slowdown in China’s expansion. The region will probably grow 6.4 percent next year from a 6.2 percent pace this year. China’s economy is forecast to expand 7.4 percent in 2015, slowing from 7.5 percent this year.