Markets End Positive; TCS Most Valued Co. Once Again

The Indian markets picked up cues from global markets that have been rising on account of positive data from the US. Key data has led to gains of more than 1% in the U.S. and Asia. European markets have been wobbling ahead of nonfarm payrolls and the unemployment rate scheduled to be released soon. The Sensex ended the day higher by 193.75 points or 1.04% at 18755.45 and Nifty closed higher by 52.65 points or 0.93% at 5697.70.

The global markets have been positive after a bunch of data from the US indicated the economy to be on the path to recovery. The following is the current data against previous readings:

• ADP Nonfarm Employment Change: 158k versus 114k
• Continuing Jobless Claims: 3263k versus 3259k
• Initial Jobless Claims: 363k versus 372k
• ISM Manufacturing Index: 51.7 versus 51.5

The positive data saw the Dow, Nasdaq and S&P500 closing higher by 1.04%, 1.44% and 1.12% respectively.

Economic indicators from the US also provided an upward boost to Asia. Moreover, Bank of Japan forecasted inflation staying below 1%, which would create enough room for more liquidity pumping to boost the economy. With these factors in play, the Hang Seng, Nikkei and Shanghai Composite gained 1.32%, 1.16% and 0.60% respectively.

Domestically, though the broader indices gained close to 1%, midcaps and smallcaps gained relatively lesser, ending higher by 0.36% and 0.33% respectively. All the sectoral indices ended positive as well, with gains in the range of 0.36% and 1.74%. Capital Goods, PSU and Auto were the higher gainers, with an upward move of 1.74%, 1.52% and 1.49% respectively.

Among individual stocks, GAIL, Bajaj Auto and L&T emerged the strongest, with an appreciation of 3.85%, 2.81% and 2.70% respectively. Auto stocks have gained heavily yesterday and today. While the Oct sales figures pushed Maruti Suzuki and Mahindra & Mahindra higher yesterday, Hero MotoCorp and Bajaj Auto advanced today. Hero and Bajaj saw YoY sales volume growth of 3.31% and 4.11% respectively. Overall, the sales figures have been indicative of a revival in the industry and manufacturers have displayed moderate growth. This led to the stock prices of Hero and Bajaj increasing by 2.11% and 2.90% respectively.

TCS gained 1.37% today and surpassed RIL to become the country’s most valued company in terms of market capitalisation.

All investors are now eyeing the release of employment data from the US. Although the sentiment seems positive at the moment, this data has the potential to change the game. On Monday, the Indian markets would open taking global cues into consideration.