Mkts end strong as banks zoom ahead of RBI policy

Financials advanced on rate hike anticipation in RBI’s quarterly monetary policy meet scheduled tomorrow, which led the markets to end strong

Major headlines

Jindal Steel Q3 consolidated net profit up 9% yoy

ICICI Bank Q3 net profit soars 30.5% yoy

Idea Cellular Q3 consolidated net profit at Rs243.05 crore



Indian indices

The Indian markets stayed higher led by major support from banking sector owing to gains in SBI and ahead of the Reserve of India’s quarterly monetary policy meet tomorrow. A 25 basis points rate hike is anticipated in key rates. Other sectors like consumer durables, PSU, capital goods, realty, auto also led the upmove. Heavyweights like ONGC, BHEL, NTPC and Infosys were other leading gainers, supporting the markets.

However, Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group, private sector power and telecom companies' shares along with Reliance Industries, Wipro, TCS, SAIL, Hindalco, Sesa Goa, Cipla and Bajaj Auto were witnessing selling pressure. Among largecaps, SBI, ONGC, Tata Steel, BHEL, HDFC and Axis Bank surged 2.5-4%. However, Wipro, Reliance Industries, Reliance Communications, Cipla, Reliance Infrastructure and Sesa Goa slipped 1.5-2.5%.

The Sensex started the trade higher by 88 points at 19096 and soon hit the day’s low of 18998. From lowest level, the index immediately turned positive and inched higher. In mid-morning trade, the Sensex hit the day’s high of 19194 owing to support from financials. The index continued to trade in the positive zone in the afternoon session led by buying in banks, consumer durables, PSU stocks.

The Sensex settled at 19151, up by 143 points and the Nifty rose 47 points to close at 5743.

Market sentiment

The market breadth was strong as gaining shares outpaced the losing ones. Out of the 2,976 stocks traded on the BSE, 1,650 advanced and 1,137 fell whereas 189 stocks remained unchanged.

Viewing volumes

Housing finance firm - LIC Housing Finance was traded the most, with over 0.52 crore shares changing hands on the BSE, followed by wind turbine major - Suzlon Energy (0.29 crore shares), construction firm - Hindustan Construction Company (0.23 crore shares), commercial vehicle maker - Ashok Leyland (0.20 crore shares) and industrial finance company - IFCI (0.19 crore shares).

Sectoral & stock screening

Of the 13 sectoral indices, 11 ended higher, while remaining two closed lower. BSE Bankex was ahead of all sectors rising by 2.40%, followed by BSE Consumer Durables (CD) up by 1.93% and BSE PSU gained by 1.20%. On the losers' front, BSE Oil & Gas lost the most by 0.21% and BSE Healthcare (HC) declined by 0.03%.

Looking into 'A' group stocks, National Fertilizers was the biggest gainer, up by 8.28%, followed by Indian Bank up by 6.02% and Zee Entertainment Enterprises advanced by 5.13%. Among laggards, Exide Industries slid the most by 3.01%, followed by Wipro down by 2.57% and LIC Housing Finance lost by 2.24%.

Global signals

The European shares fell, after data showed euro zone growth accelerating, but with the peripheral countries way behind Germany, and Philips Electronics down on below-forecast fourth-quarter profits.

The Asian markets closed on a mixed note. Shanghai Composite down by 0.47%, Nikkei up by 0.69%, Hang Seng down by 0.31% and Kopsi up by 0.59%.

The US stock index futures point to a flat opening on the Wall Street. The investors will keep an eye on earnings of American Express, Amgen, CSX Corp, Halliburton Company, McDonald's and Texas Instrument.