India : Sensex, Nifty rebound amid consolidation; Midcap outperforms

Thu Nov 03 2016
Rajesh Sharma (2046 articles)
India : Sensex, Nifty rebound amid consolidation; Midcap outperforms

Equity benchmarks were marginally higher with the Sensex rising 41.72 points to 27568.94 and the Nifty climbing 14.50 points to 8528.50.About 1778 shares advanced against 638 declining shares on the BSE.

Equity benchmarks recouped early losses with the Nifty firmly getting back above 8500, driven by ICICI Bank, Reliance Industries, ITC, L&T and HDFC.

The 30-share BSE Sensex was up 33.54 points at 27560.76 and the 50-share NSE Nifty gained 12.05 points at 8526.05 while the broader markets outperformed.

The BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices climbed 0.4-0.7 percent on strong breadth. About three shares advanced for every share falling on the exchange.

Bharat Iyer of JP Morgan says following yesterday’s sell-off, the Nifty has reached critical support levels of about 8,500.

He feels if sentiment does not reverse quickly, he would not rule out a deeper correction, as tired retail investors capitulate. Support would then lie in the 8,000-8,200 range for the Nifty, according go him.

ICICI Bank and Tata Steel were the biggest gainers on the Sensex, up over 1 percent followed by Reliance Industries, ITC, L&T, HDFC, Maruti Suzuki and HDFC Bank.

ONGC fell further, down nearly 3 percent on top of 3 percent loss in previous session. Infosys, Asian Paints, Tata Motors, Sun Pharma and Bajaj Auto declined over half a percent.

If Trump wins and the market takes a dive, it will be a perfect opportunity to buy, says Ajay Srivastava, CEO of Dimensions Consulting while advising investors to keep cash on the sides now.

Srivastava believes a Trump win would, in the longer term, benefit most of the world much more than anticipated.

He also advises caution on going all out and investing in any particular sector. “2017 is a year of stocks and not the market,” he says, adding, it is advisable to stick to the market leader in any sector.

Indian services activity accelerated rapidly in October as broadly steady prices helped drive a surge in domestic and foreign demand, a survey showed on Thursday.

The Nikkei/Markit Services Purchasing Managers’ Index jumped to 54.5 in October from 52.0 in September. It has only been higher once – in August – since January 2013 and marked its 16th month above the 50 level that separates growth from contraction.

A sub index measuring new business climbed to 54.3 in October from 52.1, its second highest in over two years, although optimism cooled to a four-month low, suggesting a slowdown is possible after the annual festive season between October-December.

Strides Shasun shares gained 4.5 percent intraday after the company and Mylan settled all regulatory claims related to Agila transaction.

“Strides and Mylan have agreed on a full and final settlement of all regulatory claims notified by Mylan to the company and subsidiary Strides Pharma Asia Pte Ltd,” the healthcare company said in its filing.

With this final settlement, Mylan’s regulatory concerns claims will be satisfied from the Regulatory Escrow, and Strides will receive approximately USD 30 million.

In addition, both companies have also agreed on a full and final settlement of the warranty and indemnity claims.

In December 2013, Strides and its subsidiary Strides Pharma Asia had completed the sale of Agila Specialties and Agila Specialties Global to Mylan Laboratories and Mylan Institutional Inc by entering into sale and purchase agreements.

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.