Banks lift Sensex 122 pts; Nifty ends tad below 9150 ahead of FO expiry; autos skid
The market extended gains amid consolidation for second consecutive session Wednesday ahead of expiry of March derivative contracts due tomorrow. Investors awaited final clearance to important GST bills that presented today by Finance Minister in parliament for discussion.
The 30-share BSE Sensex was up 121.91 points at 29,531.43 and the 50-share NSE Nifty gained 43 points at 9,143.80, backed by banking & financials, FMCG and select technology stocks.
Experts expect the market to continue to consolidate for few more days due to lack of triggers. Next trigger, according to them, would be earnings.
Jayant Manglik of Religare Securities says consolidation is still not over yet and market needs broader participation for a sustainable move.
He feels volatile swings will subside after the derivatives expiry. He suggests limiting leveraged positions and wait for further clarity.
Rahul Chadha of Mirae Asset Global Investments (HK) also says the time for easy money is over as markets are up 15-17 percent (from lows) and a breather could be on the cards.
Market_Close___29032017
The broader markets underperformed benchmarks, with the BSE Midcap rising 0.14 percent due to weak breadth. About 1656 shares declined against 1188 advancing shares on the exchange.
Meanwhile, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley introduced four bills – Central Goods and Services Tax Bill, Integrated GST Bill, Compensation Bill and Union Territory GST Bill, in the Lok Sabha today to give effect to the Goods and Services Tax (GST) that is likely to be implemented from July 1, 2017.
The rupee gained past 65 against the US dollar for first time since Octoober 2015, up 13 paise to close at 64.90.
Banking stocks remained on buyers’ radar on hopes of early NPA resolution. A high profile meeting between Finance Ministry, bank heads and Reserve Bank of India (RBI) representatives is scheduled this week in New Delhi to deliberate on several proposals to handle larger debt-laden accounts, sources told CNBC-TV18.
Nifty Bank index hit a record high of 21418.60 intraday, before closing higher by 0.8 percent. It was supported by SBI (up 1.98 percent), ICICI Bank (up 1.81 percent) and HDFC Bank (up 0.66 percent). HDFC was up 1 percent.
Auto stocks were under pressure after the Supreme Court imposed a ban on sale of BS-III vehicles from April 1. Hero Motocorp was biggest loser among Sensex stocks, down 3.15 percent followed by Tata Motors, Maruti Suzuki and Bajaj Auto.
L&T gained 0.7 percent as L&T Construction has bagged orders worth Rs 2,400 crore. With this, the company received total orders worth Rs 12,824 crore in March.
Bharti Infratel was biggest gainer among Nifty stocks, up 5.7 percent as HSBC has upgraded the stock to hold from reduce and raised target price to Rs 340 from Rs 295. Bharti Airtel sold a 10.3 percent stake in company to a consortium of funds advised by KKR and Canada Pension fund for a total consideration of USD 951 million.
Post this transaction, Bharti’s stake in Bharti Infratel stands at 61.7 percent. Given that Vodafone and Idea are keen to sell their stakes in Indus, there may be a case for KKR and Canada Pension Fund increasing stakes in Bharti Infratel going forward, HSBC says. It sees such an outcome as a key upside risk to its valuations.
Panacea Biotec shares rose over 4 percent on launch of Hexavalent combination vaccine, EasySix. Siemens gained over a percent as the company and Sumitomo Electric bagged order from Power Grid worth USD 520 million.
