A recovery in late trade with support from power, capital goods and realty stocks helped the market recover from its lows. However, caution from ratings company Standard & Poor’s that there is a one in three likelihood of India's rating downgrade in next one year, while affirming the “BBB-” rating with negative outlook saw the benchmarks paring part of their gains.
The Nifty is currently in a highly overbought zone. Only a close below any previous day’s low may reverse the ongoing upmove. The National Stock Exchange (NSE) reported a volume of 66.99 crore shares and advance-decline ratio of 648:759.
The Indian market opened on a flat note as investors booked profits after the recent gains. On the global front, markets across Asia were subdued in morning trade on unimpressive earnings reports and weak economic indicators in the US. Markets in the US settled lower on concerns that the Federal Reserve would end its bond-buying programme later this year.
The Nifty opened three points up at 6,173 and the Sensex resumed trade at 20,268, a rise of 21 points over its previous close. Early buying in IT and realty sectors helped the benchmarks rise higher in early trade.
The market could not sustain the gains and soon began trending lower. The benchmarks made half-hearted attempts to venture into the green, selling pressure kept the indices in the red. A weak opening of the key European indices also added to the woes of local investors in noon trade.
The market slipped to its low at around 2.00pm on selling pressure from consumer durables, healthcare and oil & gas sectors. The Nifty fell to 6,146 and the Sensex went back to 20,155 at their respective lows.
However, buying in power, capital goods and realty stocks pushed the market to its high in late trade. At this point, the Nifty rose to 6,200 and the Sensex went up to 20,328.
News of global rating agency Standard & Poor’s affirming India's sovereign rating at “BBB-” with a ‘negative’ outlook and cautioning that there were one-in-three chances of a ratings downgrade over the next 12 months saw the benchmarks coming off the highs, but closing in the green for fourth day in a row.
The Nifty added 17 points (0.28%) to settle at 6,187 and the Sensex finished trade at 20,286, a gain of 39 points (0.19%).
Among the broader indices, the BSE Mid-cap index gained 0.33% and the BSE Small-cap index rose 0.13%.
The top sectoral gainers were BE Power (up 3.08%); BSE Capital Goods (up 2.95%); BSE Realty (up 2.02%); BSE Bankex (up 0.56%) and BSE PSU (up 0.48%). The main losers were BSE Consumer Durables (down 0.72%); BSE Healthcare (down 0.39%); BSE Metal (down 0.33%); BSE Oil & Gas (down 0.24%) and BSE Fast Moving Consumer Goods (down 0.05%).
Out of the 30 stocks on the Sensex, 16 settled higher. The key gainers were BHEL (up 4%); NTPC (up 2.24%); ICICI Bank (up 1.92%); Larsen & Toubro (up 1.84%) and Bajaj Auto (up 1.44%). The key losers were Bharti Airtel (down 1.96%); Dr Reddy’s Laboratories (down 1.80%); Sterlite Industries (down 1.32%); Maruti Suzuki (down 1%) and Wipro (down 0.94%).
The top two A Group gainers on the BSE were—ABB (up 21.01%) and Crompton Greaves (up 9.13%).
The top two A Group losers on the BSE were—Motherson Sumi Systems (down 4.11%) and Colgate Palmolive (down 3.56%).
The top two B Group gainers on the BSE were—Remi Metals Gujarat (up 20%) and TCFC Finance (up 20%).
The top two B Group losers on the BSE were—Infinite Computer Solutions India (down 19.97%) and Puneet Resins (down 19.64%).
Of the 50 stocks on the Nifty, 28 ended in the in the green. The main gainers were BHEL (up 5.06%); Reliance Infrastructure (up 3.05%); Jaiprakash Associates (up 2.69%); DLF (up 2.68%) and NTPC (up 2.49%). The main losers were IndusInd Bank (down 2.58%); HCL Technologies (down 2.42%); Dr Reddy’s (down 2.02%); Bharti Airtel (down 1.85%) and NMDC (down 1.65%).
Markets in Asia settled mostly higher. News that Chinese regulators will ease curbs on the refinancing process having an exposure in the real estate sector pushed the Chinese benchmark higher. Japanese stocks rose following a report that prime minister Shinzo Abe will take steps to boost lending by leasing companies.
The Shanghai Composite surged 1.38%; the Hang Seng gained 0.17%; the Jakarta Composite climbed 1.32%; the KLSE Composite rose 0.14%; the Nikkei 225 advanced 0.67% and the Seoul Composite settled 0.79% higher. On the other hand, the Straits Times lost 0.09% and the Taiwan Weighted fell 0.26%.
At the time of writing, the European markets recovered from their early losses and were 0.09% to 0.38% higher and the US stock futures were in the positive, indicating a higher opening for US stocks later in the day.
Back home, foreign institutional investors were net buyers of shares totalling Rs1,070.33 crore on Thursday whereas domestic institutional investors were net sellers of equities amounting to Rs390.42 crore.
Kirloskar Electric Company has bagged an order from the Indian Railways, albeit a small one compared to its own quarterly revenue. The company has got orders for systems which will be used in the Rajdhani and Shatabdi trains, according to an exchange notification. The stock rose 16.28% to close at Rs25 on the NSE.
A major fire broke out in one of the crude distillation unit of the Visakha refinery of the HPCL here on Thursday night, at around 11.00pm, and it was brought under control by 4.40am on Friday, according to a press release issued by the HPCL. There were no casualties and no one was injured. The stock declined 1.85% to close at Rs311.20 on the NSE.
Oil India (OIL) has demanded a revision in price for natural gas for state-owned firms alongside the planned hike in rates for private players like Reliance Industries, saying that the current margins are small. The price paid to OIL and ONGC is inclusive of royalty they have to pay on producing the gas to fields given to them on nominated basis. The rates of gas they produce, called the administered or APM gas were last revised in June 2010 to $4.2 per mmBtu from $1.79. The stock declined 1.79% to close at RS588 on the NSE.
