Choppy Trading Day Ends Positive; Hindalco Gains 5%

The Indian markets rebounded from the lows seen earlier in the day to end higher, pushed upwards by Hindalco, Maruti Suzuki and Tata Motors, which gained 5.09%, 3.39% and 2.87% respectively. Globally, the sentiment wasn’t negative due to favourable earnings boosting the European and Asian markets. With this, the Sensex ended the day higher by 74.53 points or 0.40% at 18505.38 and Nifty closed higher by 21.80 points or 0.39% at 5619.70.

Of the heavyweights supporting an upward move in the markets was Hindalco, which gained 5.09% today after the Mahan coal block allocated in 2006 to Mahan Coal, a JV between Essar Energy and Hindalco, received stage 1 clearance. This will help accelerate fuel supply to the company's 1200 MW (approx.) Mahan phase 1 power project.

Maruti Suzuki extended yesterday’s gains after a better-than-expected results announcement although the company faced production headwinds due to the lockdown at its Manesar facility, resulting in an upward move of 3.39%.

Tata Motors gained 2.87% after Goldman Sachs said in a report that the company has the potential to reach a market capitalisation of USD 30 billion by 2017 and for its cash flows to double in the same time frame. A positive outlook on the company led to the stock price rising by 2.87% today.

While the broader indices gained by nearly 0.40%, midcaps and smallcaps saw gains of 0.88% and 0.50% respectively. Of the 13 sectoral indices, only 3 ended the day negative. The highest gains were seen in Heathcare, Auto and Realty, which rose by 1.72%, 1.55% and 1.43% respectively. However, the overall market breadth seemed flat, with 1480 advances and 1303 declines.

Internationally, investors have been keeping a keen eye on key developments in the US after Hurricane Sandy left large parts of the east coast without power. The US markets were closed on Monday and Tuesday and are expected to reopen on Wednesday. A look at the US stocks futures is indicative of a higher opening on Wall Street.

European and Asian stocks have been fairly optimistic and positive ahead of the US equity markets' reopening. Moreover, the results from oil companies in Europe and overall better-than-expected results in Asia have led to healthy gains in both these regions.

Tomorrow, we expect the markets to track developments in the US markets and pick up cues from global equity performance apart from being moved by individual stocks.