Markets Manage To Close In Gains

After yesterday’s disappointing performance by Indian equities, the markets gave investors a sigh of relief. Though the markets kept shedding few points every hours, they still managed to finish the day in positives. The indices gained 0.25% each by the end of the day.

The negative run of the rupee has not stopped yet though. At the time of writing this note, the rupee was seen trading at 54.50 against the dollar.

There was some respite to the markets as GDP data from some countries came in. The Japanese, Chinese and Singaporean economies reported expansion. On the back of this, the Asian markets surged this morning. By the end of the day however, the Hang Seng posted a decline in value, while Shanghai and Nikkei ended the day in green. In Europe, Spain reported a contraction of its economy. In response to this and to the economic stability in Europe overall, the key European indices declined in value.

Back to the domestic front, very few sectoral indices closed in positives today. FMCG surged by 2%, Realty was up by 1% and Metals, Oil & Gas and PSU managed to gain marginally. All the other indices witnessed pressure, and closed the day in negatives.

The shares of AstraZeneca touched the upper circuit again today. Dish TV India was up 10% over better financial numbers. Alstom T&D was also up after the company posted its results yesterday. The shares of CESC rose as the power company said that it has acquired two hydel power projects from Indiabulls Power. Besides, CESC is also one of the companies with which Coal India has signed a fuel supply agreement.

Among the Sensex stocks, ITC has gained by 3.14% ahead of its result next week. Jindal Steel was also up by 1.98%. Interest rate-sensitive stocks HDFC, DLF, SBI, Maruti Suzuki and Hero MotoCorp were trading in gains. Power stock NTPC was also up over news that Coal India has signed fuel supply agreements with 14 power utilities.

The shares of M&M were the top losers, falling 3.12% by the end of the day, as the company said that it has allotted 5917 shares to Infina Finance. Cipla was also under pressure over the alleged infringement of Bayer’s patented drugs. Bajaj Auto disappointed its shareholders by posting a decline in profits, and the shareholders sent the shares down by 2.69% Tata Power, Hindalco and BHEL were also in the negative zone.

The market sentiment was mainly positive for the entire day. By closing however, it fared in a mixed bag.

As we have seen a highly volatile trading day, we do not expect any surprise upside in the markets tomorrow. In fact, the ongoing European uncertainty has impacted the all major world indices. In such an environment, investors should trade very cautiously.