Post session - Quick review

Indian equity markets consolidated gains after a six-day rally propelled stocks to seven-month high on Thursday as investors turned jittery ahead of the conclusion of US Federal Reserve's two day meet later in the day, amidst uncertainty over Fed unleashing its most potent weapon, a third round of bond purchases meant to ease long-term interest rates and spur borrowing and spending.

However, even the hopes of accelerated pace of policy reforms on reports suggesting Cabinet Committee on Political Affairs (CCPA) meeting later today for deciding on diesel, cooking gas and kerosene price hike, did much to bourses gains. Nevertheless, bourses in the range-bound session of trade, failed to entice much of traction as market-men took some profits off the table ahead of the release of August month’s WPI data, which is expected to have accelerated 6.95 percent against July's inflation figure of 6.87 percent.

Thus, by the close of trade, 30 share barometer index of Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), Sensex, adding a little over neutral line, concluded above the 18,000 crucial level, while widely followed index of National Stock Exchange (NSE), Nifty, managed a flattish close of 5400 crucial level. However, it was degree of underperformance by broader indices, with both Midcap and Smallcap index suffered a cut of over quarter percentage.

On the global front, Asian stock markets rose on Thursday, underpinned by expectations the Federal Reserve will announce new measures to stimulate the U.S. economy, while the cautiousness ahead of the similar Fed meeting, led to slide of European equities.

Closer home, there was lot of sector-specific activity. Top performance on BSE sectoral front were putforth by the stocks from Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG), Public Sector Undertaking (PSU) and Oil & Gas counters, while that from Health Care, Realty and  Auto counters acted as mood dampeners.

Additionally, PSU’s OMC’s stocks, viz, BPCL, HPCL and IOC, gained steam on hopes of diesel hike, while Aviation Stocks too flew higher on the reports suggesting cabinet considering relaxing the norms on foreign direct investment (FDI) in aviation on Friday. The market breadth on the BSE ended negative; advances and declining stocks were in a ratio of 1262:1580 while 127 scrips remained unchanged. (Provisional)

The BSE Sensex gained 12.65 points or 0.07% and settled at 18,012.68. The index touched a high and a low of 18,062.68 and 17,976.28 respectively. 17 stocks were seen advancing while 13 stocks were declining on the index (Provisional)

The BSE Mid-cap index was down 0.26% while Small-cap index was down 0.35%. (Provisional)

On the BSE Sectoral front, FMCG was up 0.59%, IT was up 0.57%, PSU up 0.51%, Capital Goods up 0.34% and Oil & Gas up by 0.20% were the top gainers, while Health Care down 1.25%, Realty down 0.67%, Auto down 0.50%, Metal down 0.33% and Power down 0.18% were the top losers in the space.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Hero MotoCorp up 1.89%, BHEL up 1.47%, HUL up by 1.30%, Bajaj Auto up 1.18% and ONGC up 1.05% while, Bharti Airtel down by 3.20%, Cipla down by 2.43%, Tata Motors down by 1.67%, Jindal Steel down by 1.47% and M&M down by 1.16% were the top losers in the index. (Provisional)

Meanwhile, amid meager growth in Index of Industrial Production (IIP) of about 0.1% in July, down from 3.7% from the same period a year ago, Finance Minister P Chidambaram opined that the sluggish growth in industrial production reveals that the economy continues to be disappointing.

Albeit, the index for July 2012 with respect to June 2012, is positive at 0.1%, 14 of the 22 industrial categories recording declines in output, against eight in the previous month. The sector-wise performance has revealed a mixed picture with gains in some areas and slippages in other areas. The manufacturing sector, which constitutes over 75% of the production index, witnessed a decline in output by 0.2% in July, as against growth of 3.1% in the same month previous year.

The production of capital goods also dipped by 5% in July this fiscal compared to the contraction of 13.7% in the same month last fiscal. While GDP growth of India remained low by 5.5% in Q1 against previous year’s 8%. The ministry however, confirmed that it will deeply engage with the industry to look into the constraints that affect industrial production and will also continue its efforts to find practical solutions to the issues concerned.

India VIX, a gauge for markets short term expectation of volatility gained 4.18% at 15.67 from its previous close of 15.04 on Wednesday. (Provisional)

The S&P CNX Nifty gained 4.35 points or 0.08% to settle at 5,435.35. The index touched high and low of 5,447.45 and 5,421.85 respectively. 21 stocks advanced against 28 declining ones while 1 stock remained unchanged on the index. (Provisional)

The top gainers on the Nifty were BPCL was up 2.00%, Hero MotoCorp up 1.95%, BHEL up 1.49%, Bajaj Auto up 1.13% and HUL was up 1.11%. On the other hand, Bharti Airtel down 3.03%, Cipla down by 2.74%, Ranbaxy Laboratories down by 1.87%, Siemens down 1.86% and Tata Motors down 1.77% were the top losers. (Provisional)

The European markets were trading in red with, France’s CAC 40 down 0.61%, Germany’s DAX down 0.35% and the United Kingdom’s FTSE 100 down 0.06%.

Asian stock markets ended mixed on Thursday, ahead of Federal Reserve’s decision later in the day. Investors remained optimistic of further stimulus action to boost economic growth of the world's largest economy. Japan's Nikkei ended higher, as dealers picked up stocks on better-than-expected earnings. However, Shanghai market ended lower as investors were cautious to make any strong position despite the cabinet saying yesterday it would take various measures, including speeding up payment of tax rebates to exporters, to bolster flagging exports.