Bulls back on D-St; Sensex zooms 406 pts, Nifty ends above 8000

Tue Dec 27 2016
Rajesh Sharma (2048 articles)
Bulls back on D-St; Sensex zooms 406 pts, Nifty ends above 8000

Finally the bulls heaved a sigh of relief as Dalal Street recovered some lost ground. The Nifty recaptured 8000 while the Sensex surged up 400 points Tuesday. What could have boosted sentiments today may be market investors bullishness as  number of global fund managers say that they are buying emerging market assets for 2017 after the beating the sector has taken since the US election in November, even though credit rating agencies have a less positive outlook.BlackRock, the world’s largest asset manager, is expecting to reap solid gains from all emerging market asset classes, especially bonds.

The Indian market bounced back reacting positively as all sectoral indices closed with gains of over 1 percent. The Sensex was up 406.34 points or 1.6 percent at 26213.44 and the Nifty ended up 124.60 points or 1.6 percent at 8032.85.
The Nifty Bank snapped 3-day losing streak, closing with gains of over 1.2 percent.

Meanwhile, Rajat Rajgarhia, MD-Institutional Equities at Motilal Oswal Securities believes India currently is been singled out by investors because of the outflows seen in recent time. There is an imminent fear in the market on the back of a slowdown in corporate earnings and economic growth. Market could revisit the 7700 levels, he says.

The weakness in the markets in recent times is mainly a function of foreign funds preferring the developed markets over the emerging ones. Data suggests that foreign institutional investors have sold shares worth about Rs 9200 crore in the cash market in the last 11 trading sessions. The relentless foreign selling comes on the back of an interest rate hike by US Federal Reserve and fears of more taxes on long-term investments in India.

FMCG, metals, auto and pharma stocks led the rally. ITC, Infosys and ICICI Bank top contributors to the index gain. Cigarette stocks were on fire today with ITC soaring 4 percent due to 14-15 percent price hike in two of its product offerings that is 69 mm cigarettes and 74 mm cigarettes.  Also dealers check suggest better December quarter results of tobacco-related companies.

Tata Steel, Adani Ports, Lupin and ICICI Bank were top gainers while GAIL was only loser in the Sensex.

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.