The government's decision to stand by its reforms and support from the Samajwadi Party to the UPA coalition saw the market settling over 2% higher. Today with the overall positive cues, the Nifty hit an intraday high of 5,720, its highest since 11 July 2011 and closed at 5,691 which is the highest closing since 8 July 2011. We may see a strong uptrend continuing, however, a close below 5,570 may change the trend. The National Stock Exchange (NSE) saw a volume of 110.65 crore shares, the highest since 24 February 2012, while the advance decline ratio was a positive 1020:435.
The market witnessed a gap up opening on the government's move to notify the policy decisions taken last week. The Nifty opened 23 points higher at 5,577 and the Sensex resumed trade at 18,411, up 62 points over its previous close. The opening figure on the Sensex was its intraday low while the Nifty touched its low at 5,575.
Gains in power, capital goods, realty and banking stocks saw the market moving higher in early trade. The benchmarks hit their highs in noon trade as finance minister P Chidambaram announced measures to revive investment sentiment. At the highs, the Nifty touched 5,720 and the Sensex climbed to 18,867. The gains were also supported by a firm opening of the key European markets.
Moving ahead with steps to revive investor sentiment, the finance minister today cut withholding tax on overseas borrowings to 5% from 20% and approved the Rajiv Gandhi Equity Savings Scheme (RGESS). While the RGESS is aimed at encouraging first time retail investors to invest in stock markets through tax concessions, the cut in withholding tax to 5% seeks to lower the cost of foreign borrowings by the Indian companies.
The indices came off the highs in late trade as a minor bout of profit booking was noticed. However, the market closed with smart gains of over 2%, erasing the losses incurred in the past two trading days.
The Nifty climbed 137 points (2.46%) to 5,691 and the Sensex settled at 18,753, a jump of 404 points.
Among the broader markets, the BSE Mid-cap index surged 1.61% and the BSE Small-cap climbed 1.46%.
BSE Power (up 4.35%); BSE Capital Goods (up 4.12%); BSE Metal (up 4.06%); Bankex (up 4.05%) and BSE PSU (up 2.74%) were the top gainers in the sectoral space. On the other hand, BSE IT (down 0.68%) and BSE TECk (down 0.04%) were the only losers.
Twenty six of the 30 stocks on the Sensex closed in the positive. The key gainers were BHEL (up 7.12%); Jindal Steel (up 6.41%); Sterlite Industries (up 5.20%); State Bank of India (up 4.30%) and ICICI Bank (up 4.19%). Dr Reddy's Laboratories, TCS (down 1.38% each); Infosys (down 0.80%) and Sun Pharma (down 0.10%) were the losers on the index.
The top two A Group gainers on the BSE were-GMR Infrastructure (up 10.64%) and Reliance Capital (up 10.11%).
The top two A Group losers on the BSE were-Ruchi Soya (down 3.90%) and AstraZeneca Pharma India (down 3.67%).
The top two B Group gainers on the BSE were-ICICI Prudential MF (up 20.61%) and NEPC India (up 20%).
The top two B Group losers on the BSE were-Silicon Valley Infotech (down 16.67%) and Landmarc Leisure Corporation (down 15.22%).
Out of the 50 stocks listed on the Nifty, 45 stocks settled in the positive. The major gainers were Reliance Infrastructure (up 9.86%); Axis Bank (up 7.72%); SAIL (up 7.62%); BHEL (up 7.47%) and Jindal Steel (up 7.34%). The main losers were TCS (down 1.15%); Dr Reddy's (down 0.96%); Infosys (down 0.85%) and Cipla (down 0.11%).
The Asian pack settled mostly higher on the measures taken by central banks across the world to stimulate growth in their economies. The International Monetary Fund, which is expected to announce a revision in its economic forecasts, is expected to cut growth expectations, analysts opined. The move is expected to see government looking at new initiatives to boost growth.
The Shanghai Composite rose 0.09%; the Hang Seng advanced 0.70%; the Jakarta Composite climbed 0.64%; the Nikkei 225 gained 0.25%; the Straits Times rose 0.51%; the Seoul Composite surged 0.60% and the Taiwan Weighted settled 0.35% higher. Bucking the trend, the KLSE Composite fell 0.12%.
At the time of writing, the European indices were mixed with a negative bias while the US stock futures were in the green.
Back home, institutional investors-both foreign and domestic-were net sellers in the equities segment on Thursday. While foreign institutional investors pulled out Rs73.67 crore, domestic institutional investors were net sellers of 331.11 crore worth of stocks.
Mumbai-based pharma major Wockhardt has said that the winding up petition filed by the trustees to the foreign currency convertible bonds before the Bombay High Court has been withdrawn. The petition was filed by BNY Corporate Trustee Services (the Bank of New York Mellon) on behalf of bondholders, including Sun Pharma Global and QVT after it defaulted on repaying its $110-million FCCB (foreign currency convertible bonds), in October 2009. The stock jumped 5% to close at Rs1,253.70 on the NSE.
Mahindra & Mahindra Financial Services has sold 12.27% stake in its wholly-owned subsidiary, Mahindra Insurance Brokers (MIBL), to Inclusion Resources for Rs64.33 crore. Inclusion Resources is a subsidiary of Leapfrog Financial Inclusion Fund, incorporated in Singapore. This stake sale is subject to the "receipt of necessary regulatory approvals," said M&M Financial Services in a filing to the BSE. M&M Financial settled 1.06% down at Rs837 on the NSE.
