Bulls back in action; Sensex reclaims 18K

Today's major news

Larsen & Toubro bags Rs6,500 crore order from JP Group; the stock ends 0.84% up

Maruti Suzuki's July sales zoom 29.2% yoy; the stock closes 0.86% higher

Gail India's Q1 net profit up by 35% yoy; the stock ends 2.05% up



Global signals

European shares rose on Monday to hit the three-month high level as HSBC and France's BNP Paribas leading banks gained after their results beat forecasts.

All the major Asian indices closed in the positive territory except Jakarta Composite after China’s manufacturing data for July was not as weak as feared and South Korea's exports grew faster than expected. SGX Nifty closed 65 points higher.

The US stock index futures pointed a higher opening at the Wall Street on Monday. The investors may focus on the US ISM manufacturing data for July and June construction spending numbers.

Indian indices

Bulls were back with a bang on the first trading day of August. The domestic indices closed the day on a healthy note on account of constructive global markets and also data back home showed that the manufacturing activity picked up pace in July. The banking stocks, which gained the most in today’s trade, supported the rally. The auto sales numbers were encouraging, which drew investors’ interest in the auto companies’ shares. Agriculture-related shares rose as the nation’s weather bureau said rains in July exceeded forecasts. The Sensex and the Nifty regained its significant levels of 18000 and 5400 respectively.

The Sensex began the session 43 points higher at 17911 tracking firm Asian cues and also its day’s low. The index started to expand its gains in the morning session and soon regained its 18000 levels. The Sensex remained firm throughout the morning session. The Sensex broadened its gains in the afternoon session after the European markets opened on a strong note. In the late trade, the Sensex hit the day’s high of 18104 as buying intensified in the banking stocks like ICICI Bank and State Bank of India.

At the closing bell, the Sensex signed off at 18081, 213 points higher. The Nifty closed at 5432, 64 points higher.

Market Outlook: In the US markets today, we have to look for ISM Manufacturing Index for July, which is expected to be 54, a number above 50, the economy is said to be in expansion phase.

Market sentiment

The market breadth was positive as advancing stocks outdid the declining ones. Of the 3,049 shares traded on the BSE, 1,762 shares advanced whereas 1,153 shares declined. Hundred and thirty-four shares traded unchanged.

Sectoral & stock screening

It was all in the green on the sector indices front today. BSE Bankex was the topper posting gains of 2.40%, followed by BSE consumer durables (CD) that gained by 1.63% and the BSE Metal that surged by 1.39%.

In ‘A’ group stocks, the star stock of the day was Videocon Industries that rose by 7.89%, followed by Bank of India that surged by 7.08% on strong Q1 results and Jai Corp that gained by 6.51%. Among the laggards, REI Agro fell by 16.61% amid huge spurt in the volumes, followed by MMTC that slid by 5.24% and Exide Industries that shed 2.55%.

Viewing volumes

India's biggest basmati rice player - REI Agro was the most traded share with over 0.63 crore shares changing hands on the BSE, followed by industrial finance company - IFCI (0.54 crore shares), public sector bank - UCO Bank (0.24 crore shares), Indian toll road builder - IRB Infrastructure Developers (0.18 crore shares) and the leading financial services firm - Indiabulls Financial Services (0.16 crore shares).