Post Session: Quick Review

First session of new F&O series and last session of the week was a fairly decent one for Indian equity markets, which steadily gaining ground throughout the session and adding gains of over half a percent, ended past the psychological 21,100 (Sensex) and 6,250 (Nifty) levels respectively. In the steady session of trade, benchmarks did not once succumb to selling pressure, nevertheless hectic-buying activity that took place in the last hour of trade lifted markets substantially higher.  In the broader space, while BSE midcap-index gains were more or less in-line with frontline peers, Smallcap index ended with slender gains of close to one tenth of a percent. For the week, while frontline indices, Sensex and Nifty and Midcap index rallied close to 2%, Smallcap index managed to pocket gains of close to a percent.

Today’s trading session’s gains, which could be attributed to positive global set-up came notably ahead of April-January fiscal deficit figures and Oct-Dec quarter GDP data, which is due to be released later in the session. The gross domestic product (GDP) for Q3 FY14 is expected to be flat on a quarterly basis. It is estimated to be around 4.8 percent, which compares to 4.5 percent on a year-on-year (Y-o-Y) basis and 4.8 percent on a sequential basis.

On the global front, Asian stocks edged up in late trading after a volatile session on Friday, as investors weighed unrest in Ukraine against Federal Reserve Chairwoman Janet Yellen expressing confidence in the strength of the US economy. Additionally, European shares too edged higher in early deals, underpinned by expectations that a further drop in euro zone inflation could prompt the European Central Bank to cut rates.

Closer home, on the BSE sectoral front, while most of the sectoral indices ended in green, stocks from Oil & Gas, Consumer Durables and Fast Moving Consumer Goods counters were the weak links of trade. Meanwhile, degree of outperformance was shown by stocks belonging to Healthcare, Information Technology and Auto counters. Shares of pharmaceutical companies were on a roll for the session, with the S&P BSE Healthcare pivotal touching a lifetime high in trade on Friday. Besides, Fertilizer stocks were on buyers’ radar as ministerial panel recommended increase in fixed cost paid to urea by Rs 350 per tonne. Investors were excited about the stocks as post approval the fertilizer subsidy outgo will increase by about Rs 900 crore due to hike in the fixed cost of urea. The market breadth on the BSE ended negative; advances and declining stocks were in a ratio of 1326: 1343, while 164 scrips remained unchanged. (Provisional)

The BSE Sensex gained 89.28 points or 0.43% to settle at 21076.27. The index touched a high and a low of 21140.51 and 20989.66 respectively. Among the 30-share Sensex, 18 stocks gained, while 12 stocks declined. (Provisional)

The BSE Mid cap and Small cap indices ended higher by 0.46% and 0.11% respectively. (Provisional)

On the BSE Sectoral front, Healthcare up by 2.31%, IT up by 1.43%, Teck up by 1.37%, Auto up by 1.26% and Capital Goods up by 1.21% were the top gainers, while FMCG down by 0.66%, Consumer Durables down by 0.61% and Oil & Gas down by 0.38% were the top losers in the space. (Provisional)

The top gainers on the Sensex were Hindalco up by 7.37%, TCS up by 4.06%, Tata Motors up by 3.96%, BHEL up by 3.42% and Axis Bank up by 2.57%, while, Maruti Suzuki down by 4.53%, NTPC down by 2.86%, RIL down by 1.67%, Tata Steel down by 1.62% and HDFC Bank down by 1.39% were the top losers in the index. (Provisional)

Meanwhile, the agriculture dependent population in India grew by 50% during 1980-2011, highest for any country during this period, followed by China with 33 per cent, as per the latest report of the Worldwatch Institute. However, the share of agriculture sector in Indian economy has declined to around 14 percent in 2012-13 on account of structural changes due to a shift from a traditional agrarian economy to industry and service sectors.

On the other hand, the report highlighted that economically active agricultural population of the US declined by 37 percent on the back of improved crop varieties, fertilisers, pesticides, and federal subsidies, contributing significantly to economies of scale and consolidation in US agriculture. The global agricultural dependent population includes individuals dependent on agriculture, hunting, fishing, and forestry for their livelihood accounted for over 37 per cent of the world’s population. Meanwhile, there is a decrease of 12 percent from 1980, when world’s agricultural and non-agricultural populations were roughly in same size. However, the world’s population grew numerically from 2.2 billion to 2.6 billion people during this period, the report highlighted.

As per the Worldwatch Institute report, Africa's agricultural population between 1980 and 2011 grew by 63 percent, and its non-agricultural population grew by 221 percent. Asia's agricultural population grew by 20 percent, and its nonagricultural population grew by 134 percent, while, Oceania's agricultural population grew by 49 percent, and its nonagricultural population grew by 65 percent, it said. Agriculture dependent population in Europe and Americas has declined in the reported period due to factors like movement of people towards cities and agricultural consolidation. India VIX, a gauge for markets short term expectation of volatility gained 1.59% at 14.17 from its previous close of 13.95 on Wednesday. (Provisional)

The CNX Nifty gained 30.40 points or 0.49% to settle at 6,269.20. The index touched high and low of 6,282.70 and 6,228.10 respectively. Out of the 50 stocks on the Nifty, 28 ended in the green, while 21 ended in the red and one stock remains unchanged.

The major gainers of the Nifty were Hindalco up by 7.62%, TCS up by 4.11%, Lupin up by 3.94%, BHEL up by 3.76% and Tata Motors up by 3.74%. The key losers were Maruti Suzuki down by 4.33%, NTPC down by 2.86%, Reliance Industries down by 1.65%, Tata Steel down by 1.52% and HDFC Bank down by 1.24%. (Provisional)

Most of the European markets were trading in red; France’s CAC 40 was down 0.28% and UK’s FTSE 100 dropped 0.03%, while Germany’s DAX was up 0.27%.

The Asian markets barring Nikkei 225 concluded Friday’s trade in green, with Japan's Nikkei share average dropping for a third day as investors remained cautious amid tensions in Ukraine, while a stronger yen weighed on risk appetite and dragged down exporters. Taiwan Stock Exchange was closed for trade today on account of ‘Peace Memorial Day’ holiday. Indonesia’s rupiah was set for its best month in almost five years after a narrower shortfall in the widest measure of trade prompted overseas investors to increase purchases of the nation’s assets. Thailand’s Industrial Production fell to a seasonally adjusted -6.4%, from -6.1% in the preceding month while the country’s Trade Balance fell to a seasonally adjusted -0.75B, from 2.00B in the preceding month.

Japan’s first round of its monthly Festival of Data is out, and the big one is the January core consumer price index (CPI) which excludes volatile fresh food prices. Japan’s National Core CPI remained unchanged at a seasonally adjusted 1.3%, from 1.3% in the preceding month while the percentage of the total work force that is unemployed and actively seeking employment during the previous month remained unchanged at a seasonally adjusted 3.7%, from 3.7% in the preceding month. Japan’s industrial production rose to a seasonally adjusted 4.0%, from 0.9% in the preceding month while the retail sales rose to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.4%, from 2.6% in the preceding month. Japanese Housing Starts fell to a seasonally adjusted 12.3%, from 18.0% in the preceding quarter. Japanese Household Spending rose to a seasonally adjusted 1.1%, from 0.7% in the preceding month.