Sensex ends above 17k...Nifty tops 5150

The benchmark Indian stock indices ended with smart gains on Thursday, extending its winning streak to a third straight trading session. After consolidating in the first half, the markets galloped in the mid afternoon trades on the back of short-covering and fresh buying in Banking and Real Estate shares. Capital Goods, Power and PSU shares also accelerated. However, sustained weakness in index heavyweights Reliance Industries and TCS kept the gains in check. The market participants cheered a sharp drop in crude oil prices. Oil futures trading in New York declined to the lowest level in eight months after US stockpiles unexpectedly swelled and the Federal Reserve cut its outlook on the world's largest economy. In addition, a report today signaled that China’s manufacturing will shrink for an eighth straight month in June. The BSE Sensex ended at 17,032 gaining by 0.8% or 136 points. It had earlier touched a day’s high of 17,050 and a day’s low of 16,799. It opened at 16,855. The NSE Nifty settled at 5165 up by 44 points or 0.9%. It touched a day’s low of 5,093 and day’s high of 5,170. JP Associates, Reliance Infra, DLF, BHEL, PNB, IDFC, SBI, Sterlite Industries, Bank of Baroda and ITC were the notable gainers on the Sensex and the Nifty today. Reliance Industries, Cairn, TCS, Ambuja Cement, ACC and HCL Tech were among the losers on the Nifty. The INDIA VIX on the NSE lost by 5.2% to close at 19.94. It hit days high of 21.22. It hit a low of 19.14. The market breadth on the BSE was positive, 1658 stocks advanced and 1079 stocks declined. At close, the BSE Small-Cap index and BSE Mid-Cap index were up ~0.8% each. Among the sectoral indices, Realty, Capital Goods and Bankex gained between 2-2.9% while Power, PSU and FMCG gained between 1.3-1.7%. Oil and Gas and IT are the losers, down 0.9% an d 0.2% respectively. Consumer Durables and Teck closed flat. "Today’s gains came despite the Indian rupee hitting a record low against the US dollar. Global investors continued to shun risky assets on disappointment about the Federal Reserve's latest monetary stimulus and weak Chinese data on manufacturing PMI. Eurozone composite PMI data also remained at a 35-month low while borrowing costs increased for Spain at a debt auction. Globally, markets in Asia finished lower with the exception of Japan while in European markets, Italy managed to buck the negative trend," says Amar Ambani, Head of Research, IIFL. Shares of three public sector oil marketing companies (OMCs) - IOC, BPCL and HPCL - rose after Brent crude fell to its lowest in 18 months on Thursday at around US$92 a barrel. On the other hand, Cairn India shares declined after US oil futures sank to their lowest level in eight months on Wednesday. Shares of cable television distribution companies such as Den Networks and Hathway Cable declined after the Union Information and Broadcasting Ministry extended the deadline for digitilisation in four metros from June 30 to October 31. Shares of L&T gained amid reports that a consortium of L&T, Tata Power and HCL Technologies has been chosen to compete with state-run Bharat Electronics for a Rs. 100bn Indian defence project. Shares of BHEL advanced on reports that the Government was considering levying taxes on imported power equipment. The Government was considering 5% import duty, 10% countervailing duty, and 4% special additional duty on imported power equipment for projects over 1,000mw. Shares of Reliance Industries Ltd. (RIL) declined after Canada's Niko Resources sharply cut the reserves estimate at the KG D6 gas blocks, off India's east coast, where the two companies are partners. Niko Resources said that total proved plus probable natural gas reserves have fallen almost 51% to 377 billion cubic feet equivalent (bcfe). Proved plus probable reserves at the KG D6 block, as of March 31, have decreased to 193 bcfe, Niko said. The Canadian company has a 10% stake in the KG-D6 block, which is estimated to hold more than 9 trillion cubic feet (tcf) of gas. Sentiment in Asia was hit by further evidence of cooling in Chinese manufacturing activity, and disappointment with regard to the Federal Reserve's latest monetary stimulus. China’s Shanghai Composite dropped 1.4% and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index fell 1.3%. South Korea’s Kospi lost 0.8% and Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 index declined 1.1%. Japan’s Nikkei Stock Average, however, gained 0.8%. European stocks dropped after the Fed's policy announcement failed to meet market expectations. Mining stocks fell following weak China manufacturing data. The Stoxx Europe 600 index was down 0.4% and looked set to snap a four-day winning streak.