With the bulls storming the ring right at the stroke of the opening bell and staying put right through the session, amid rising optimism about reforms and implementation of GST following the Bharatiya Janata Party’s spectacular show in the assembly elections in five states, the Indian stock indices Sensex and the Nifty50 – the latter hit a new all-time high – ended with impressive gains on Tuesday.Data showing India’s industrial production grew at a faster than expected pace in January 2017 and the rupee’s strong upmove against the U.S. dollar further bolstered sentiment. Data showing India’s wholesale price inflation to have accelerated at a faster than expected pace in February failed to deter investors from picking up stocks.The BSE benchmark Sensex ended up 496.40 points or 1.71% at 29,442.63, a two-year closing high, after touching 29,561.93 in early trades. The Nifty50 of the National Stock Exchange, which scaled a new all-time high of 9122.75, ended at 9087.00, gaining 152.45 points or 1.71%.In the forex market, the rupee strengthened to 65.93 against the U.S. dollar, its best in nine months. Around late afternoon, the rupee was trading at 65.97 a dollar, up 64 paise from its previous close of 66.61 a dollar.Bank, capital goods, power, consumer durables, housing finance and realty stocks rallied sharply. Automobile, IT, healthcare and FMCG stocks too ended with impressive gains. Oil stocks turned in a mixed performance, while telecom and metal stocks underperformed. Midcap and smallcap stocks had a good outing.ICICI Bank ended 6% up. Hindustan Unilever and Larsen & Toubro gained 4.6% and 4.4%, respectively. HDFC, Sun Pharmaceutical Industries, Asian Paints, Maruti Suzuki, Adani Ports and Wipro ended stronger by 2.8% – 3.7%. Mahindra & Mahindra, Cipla, NTPC, ITC, Infosys, Hero Motocorp and Tata Steel gained 1% – 2%.State Bank of India, Tata Consultancy Services, HDFC Bank, Reliance Industries, Power Grid Corporation and Dr Reddy’s Laboratories ended with modest gains.UltraTech Cement, Grasim Industries, Yes Bank, Eicher Motors, Tata Power, Ambuja Cements and BHEL gained 2% – 4%. BPCL, Hindalco, Aurobindo Pharma, ACC, Zee Entertainment Enterprises and IndusInd Bank also ended notably higher.Bosch, Idea Cellular, Axis Bank, Coal India, Bharti Airtel, GAIL India and Lupin missed out on the rally and ended with sharp to moderate losses.According to the data released by the Central Statistics Office after trading hours last Friday, India’s industrial production recovered at a faster than expected pace in January 2017, climbing 2.7% year-on-year, reversing a revised 0.1% fall in December 2016. Manufacturing output was up 2.3% in the month, while mining output climbed 5.3%. Electricity output increased 3.9%.Data released by the government on Tuesday showed India’s wholesale price inflation to have accelerated at a faster-than-expected pace in February, climbing 6.55% (y-o-y), following a 5.25% increase in January.The market breadth was positive. Out of 3045 stocks traded on BSE, 1704 stocks advanced. 1125 stocks declined and 216 stocks ended flat.
July 26, 2024
