Late rally lifts Nifty above 8800, up 3% in wk; telecom rebounds

Fri Sep 02 2016
Rajesh Sharma (2049 articles)
Late rally lifts Nifty above 8800, up 3% in wk; telecom rebounds

Late buying helped the Nifty close above psychological 8800 level for the first time since April 2015, driven by banks, auto and telecom stocks. The rally was also led by positive global cues as investors eagerly waited for the US jobs data due later today that will help the Federal Reserve decide on rate hike in its policy meeting later this month.The 30-share BSE Sensex rose 108.63 points to 28532.11 and the 50-share NSE Nifty gained 35 points at 8809.65.

The broader markets also gained in line with benchmarks on positive breadth. About 1531 shares advanced against 1196 declining shares on the BSE.

Renewed buying interest drove equity benchmarks nearly 3 percent higher during the week, which was the first weekly rally after consolidation for a month. FIIs pumped in nearly Rs 10,000 crore in August, in addition to Rs 46,159 crore worth of buying during March-July.

The weekly rally could be because of panic buying as investors who stayed aside waiting for sharp correction after 20 percent rally in March-July may have showed buying interest, feel experts. They expect positive momentum to continue in medium term on hopes of earnings recovery in H2FY17 but there may be some profit booking next week due to outflow of money from domestic investors for advance tax payment.

“After three years of earnings downgrade, earnings upgrade cycle could possibly start post September and that could be the single largest trigger for the market,” Mehraboon Irani of Nirmal Bang Securities said.

SP Tulsian of sptulsian.com said he was positive for the whole September series, expecting 9,000 on the Nifty but would be cautious for the next truncated week.

“The advance tax payment is due on September 15. So I expect selling next week, maybe from the local domestic institutional investors. Corporates and HNIs have kept the stock list ready for liquidating in the market to mobilise for the advance tax payment. Many of the corporate also have placed their money with the mutual funds which will also get redeemed,” he reasoned.

The market will remain shut on Monday for Ganesh Chaturthi holiday.

From the next week onwards, the RBI will have new governor Urjit Patel, who will replace Raghuram Rajan, whose three-year term will end on September 4.

Under new Governor, RBI is expected to institutionalise policy changes initiated to curb inflation and clean up the balance sheets of banks, Fitch said.

Telecom stocks rebounded on short covering after losing 6-10 percent in previous session due to Reliance Jio’s aggressive tariff plans. Bharti Airtel was up 2.66 percent and Idea Cellular gained 0.4 percent.

Tata Motors added 1 percent on reporting a 46 percent rise year-on-year in August US sales by JLR due to JLR’s F-PACE & XE brands and a 16 percent growth in passenger vehicle sales.

Fitch Ratings said it has upgraded Jaguar Land Rover Automotive plc’s long-term foreign-currency issuer default rating (IDR) and senior unsecured ratings to BB+ from BB-, adding the outlook is stable.

Coal India declined 1.6 percent as August production and offtake fell short of target set by the company itself. Coal production for August stood 32.43 MT against target of 40.89 MT and offtake at 36.72 MT against target of 44.51 MT.

JK Tyre, Apollo Tyres and MRF surged 4-9 percent on fall in rubber prices. Natural rubber prices plunged 12 percent since August 1.

Patel Engineering (up 20 percent) and HCC (up 8.55 percent) continued to rally for the third consecutive session after the government announced arbitration norms for construction firms. These stocks gained 51 percent and 39 percent during the week, respectively.

Adani Ports was the biggest gainer on the Sensex, up 3.55 percent followed by HDFC, Maruti Suzuki, Sun Pharma, M&M and Lupin with 1-2 percent upside whereas Reliance Industries shed 1.58 percent, in addition to 3 percent loss in previous session.

European markets like France’s CAC and Britain’s FTSE were trading nearly 1 percent higher ahead of crucial US jobs data that could influence when the US Federal Reserve next hikes interest rates. Asia ended mixed.

Rajesh Sharma

Rajesh Sharma

Rajesh Sharma is Correspondent for Stock Market of South East Asia based in Mumbai. He has been covering Asian markets for more than 5 years.