Sensex gains 194 pts as all eyes on Gujarat exit polls; all sectoral indices up
Equity benchmarks rebounded sharply in last hour of trade Thursday despite weak global cues, as investors awaited exit polls after the end of second phase of Gujarat assembly elections later today. This will give some indication towards actual results of state elections which will be declared on December 18.
The 30-share BSE Sensex was up 193.66 points at 33,246.70 and the 50-share NSE Nifty gained 59.10 points at 10,252.10 but the broader markets ended flat.
All eyes are on last event of the year – Gujarat elections.
“With the end of second phase of voting in Gujarat, exit polls will start pouring in and markets would react accordingly tomorrow,” Jayant Manglik, President, Retail Distribution, Religare Securities said.
Nifty has been hovering in a broader band i.e. 10,050 and 10,350 and either side decisive break will trigger the next directional move, he feels. He suggests continuing with hedged approach and waiting for further clarity.
The 25 bps rate hike by Federal Reserve was a non event for the market as it was on expected lines. The US central bank also raised its economic growth forecast for 2018 to 2.5 percent from 2.1 percent.
Global markets were lower in trade after Fed rate hike and ahead of European Central Bank and Bank of England’s monetary policy decisions later today. Asian markets ended lower while European stocks were mildly lower at the time of writing this article.
Back home, India’s wholesale inflation hit a eight-month high, rising 3.93 percent during November, mainly due to increase in prices of onions, vegetables and fuel products. It was at 3.59 percent in October and 1.82 percent in November 2016.
All sectoral indices ended in green today. Nifty Bank, FMCG and Pharma sectors gained more than half a percent.
Index heavyweights ITC (up 2 percent), HDFC Bank (0.92 percent), Reliance Industries (0.75 percent), Infosys (0.93 percent) and HDFC (0.46 percent) participated in late rally.
Oil retailers IOC, HPCL and BPCL gained 1-3 percent as Brent crude was trading at around USD 62.5 a barrel, which was well below the USD 65.83 a barrel June 2015 high reached earlier this week.
Axis Bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank, HCL Technologies, Tech Mahindra, Cipla, Dr Reddy’s Labs and Hero Motocorp among others gained 1-2 percent whereas TCS was biggest loser, down 2.7 percent.
Vijaya Bank, IOB, Infibeam, PC Jeweller, Punj Lloyd, Aban Offshore, India Cements, Indiabulls Real Estate, Blue Star and Gitanjali Gems were down 1-4 percent.
IRB Infrastructure, Reliance Communications, Natco Pharma, Wockhardt, Fortis Healthcare, HDIL, Godfrey Phillips and Prataap Snacks gained 2-6 percent.
Manpasand Beverages rallied over 8 percent after the RBI increased FII investment limit to 49 percent from 24 percent and allowed further FII buying in the company.
Oberoi Realty gained 4.6 percent after Motilal Oswal initiated coverage with Buy call on the stock as it expects company to be a key beneficiary of the likely consolidation post RERA.
Building products and solutions provider Everest Industries shares rallied 4 percent after brokerage house Ventura has initiated coverage on the stock with buy rating.
About three shares declined for every two shares rising on the BSE.
