Nifty ends above 8200, Sensex gains 216 pts; ITC down 1%

Mumbai : The Indian Stock market has ended with strong gains ahead of June Future & Options (F&O) expiry. The Sensex closed up 215.84 points or 0.8 percent at 26740.39, and the Nifty was up 76.15 points or 0.9 percent at 8204. About 1833 shares have advanced, 773 shares declined, and 183 shares are unchanged.Hero MotoCorp, NTPC, Wipro, BHEL and GAIL were top gainers while Lupin, Coal India, ITC, Bharti Airtel, and Adani Ports were losers in the Sensex.

Country’s largest lender SBI today said it will raise long-term capital of up to USD 1.5 billion (over Rs 10,000 crore) by issuing bonds in US dollar or other convertible currency.

SBI said in a BSE filing that the decision is the outcome of the executive committee meeting of the Board today.

The Executive Committee of the Central Board in its meeting held on June 29, 2016, has approved “to raise long term funds up to USD 1,500 million in single/multiple tranches”, SBI said in the filing.

It said the fund raising will take place through a public offer and/or private placement of senior unsecured notes in US dollar or any other convertible currency during the current financial year 2016-17.

The 7th Pay Commission and Model Shop & Establishment Act are both great consumption boosters, says Shoppers Stop MD Govind Shrikhande in an interview to CNBC-TV18.

However, for Shoppers Stop, keeping stores open 24 hours is not an immediate option as a lot of factors like the Mall environment and cost-benefit ratio needs to be assessed, he says.

He says the last time pay revisions were announced, the company had seen almost a 20 percent jump in sales, particularly in cities like Delhi where concentration of central government employees is higher, he says. This is despite retail sales already doing quite well at that time, he adds.

He believes the two policies cleared by the government will help boost sales and the company could clock double-digit revenue growth in FY17 as against 8 percent like-to-like sales growth targeted earlier.

Keki Mistry, CEO of HDFC said that Seventh Pay Commission will put more money into people’s pockets. There will be a demand for white goods, cars, houses as consumption will increase.

Mistry believes that the urban economy is doing well. “Occupancy rates in hotes, car sales have all gone up,” he said.

He cautions that the rural economy is facing headwinds. But he is hopeful that a good monsoon this year coupled with the government’s focus on spending and the 7th Pay Commission hikes will result in an increase in demand and consumption.

Currently, capacity utilisation among companies is about 72 percent, he said, adding that it will go up to 80 percent on back of strong tailwinds.

Religare Institutional Research has maintained buy rating on KEC International with target price of Rs 150, citing likely improvement in cash flows & margins in FY17 and pick up in orders from state electricity boards (SEB). The stock rallied 5 percent intraday Wednesday.

After meeting with the company’s management, the brokerage says it remains sanguine on power transmission company’s growth prospects as margins and cash flows improve with an increase in order size and a pick-up in execution.

On the broader market, the management expects flat orders of Rs 22,000-25,000 crore annually from the Power Grid Corporation of India over FY17-FY18. However, an increase in activity from State Electricity Boards (SEBs) should lead to order inflow growth for the company.

Equity benchmarks extended rally in afternoon trade, tracking further upside in European markets that gained 1.5-2 percent.

European stocks continued their rally today as global markets realise that any change to the status quo in the European Union (EU) after the Brexit vote is unlikely to change in the short-term. London’s FTSE index, Germany’s DAX and France’s CAC were up 1.2-1.7 percent.Oil rose as financial traders poured money back into commodities following the initial shock of Britain’s vote to leave the European Union, and as a potential strike in Norway and crisis in Venezuela threatened to cut supply. Brent crude futures were trading at USD 49.10 per barrel, up 52 cents from their last settlement. US crude was up 58 cents at USD 48.42 a barrel.