Mumbai: Indian stock market continued its unabated rise for an eighth consecutive session on Monday in the longest winning run since November, with the Sensex gaining another 113 points as a slew of positive macro-economic data brought cheers amid sustained geopolitical concerns.
Domestic bourses started the day on a sluggish note due to mixed cues from Asian markets in the wake of US-led allied forces’ attack on Syria, fuelling fresh geopolitical tensions.
However, Indian markets recovered towards the fag-end as participants took comfort from encouraging inflation and industrial output numbers.
According to government data, wholesale inflation eased marginally to 2.47 per cent in March on cheaper food articles, especially pulses and vegetables.
Reflecting further improvement in the economic situation, industrial production grew by a healthy 7.1 per cent in February while the key retail inflation slipped to a five-month low of 4.28 per cent in March, official data showed on Thursday.
Meanwhile, the onset of earnings season has also attracted investors’ attention and helped them focus on this key trigger point that will be one of the guiding factors for the domestic equities in coming weeks.
In a major boost to economic growth prospects, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) on Monday said the country is likely to witness a normal monsoon — 97 per cent of long period average (LPA) — this year. IMD’s monsoon forecast will further boost overall market sentiment.
“Market rallied after a subdued start due to a mixed trend in global market amid geopolitical tensions. Crude shed some weight while bank and auto stocks rallied due to a marginal ease in WPI inflation to 2.47 per cent in March. Investors remained focused on quarter earnings while expecting some ease in geopolitical tensions,” Vinod Nair, Head of Research, Geojit Financial Services Ltd, said.
The flagship Sensex during the session swung both ways –nearly 408 points — on hectic selling and buying activity by participants.
Investors appeared slightly cautious amid mixed cues from global markets after a US-led strike on Syrian targets in response to alleged chemical weapons attacks, fuelling fresh geopolitical tensions.
The broader NSE Nifty too struggled before ending well above the 10,500-mark.
The 30-share Sensex, which cracked the 34,000-mark at the outset, hit a low of 33,899.34 on profit-booking in recent gainers amid sustained outflows by foreign funds.
However, towards the middle of the session, revival of buying, spread over a broad front, helped wipe out initial losses and took the barometer to the day’s high of 34,341.46 before closing higher by 112.78 points, or 0.33 per cent, at 34,305.43.
The index had risen 1,173.88 points in the past seven sessions.
The 50-share NSE Nifty too moved in a wide range on hectic selling and buying and finally closed 47.75 points, or 0.46 per cent, higher at 10,528.35. Intra-day, it hovered between 10,396.35 and 10,540.15.
Meanwhile, domestic institutional investors (DIIs) bought equities worth a net Rs 306.05 crore on Friday, as per provisional data. Foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) sold shares worth a net Rs 399.59 crore.
Marked by volatility, realty, healthcare, FMCG, power, infrastructure, capital goods, auto and banking stocks saw
gains, helping both the key indices to close higher for the eighth straight day, their longest winning run since November last year.
In the Sensex kitty, Hero MotoCorp emerged best performer by surging 2.02 per cent, followed by Kotak Bank 1.88 per cent.
Other gainers include Adani Ports 1.85 per cent, Bajaj Auto 1.73 per cent, M&M 1.66 per cent, HDFC Ltd 1.64 per cent, NTPC 1.55 per cent, ITC Ltd 1.42 per cent, Asian Paints 1.30 per cent, Sun Pharma 1.26 per cent, TCS 1.07 per cent, Maruti Suzuki 1.03 per cent, HUL 0.94 per cent, L&T 0.89 per cent, Power Grid 0.76 per cent, Dr Reddy’s 0.70 per cent, HDFC Bank 0.55 per cent, Yes Bank, 0.31 per cent, IndusInd Bank 0.06 per cent and Axis Bank 0.06 per cent.
On the other hand, stocks of Tata Motors suffered the most by crashing 4.96 per cent after Jaguar Land Rover said it is planning to cut jobs to scale back production at some of its UK sites.
Shares of Infosys fell 3.10 per cent after company reported less-than-expected FY19 revenue guidance. Its stock was one of the biggest contributors to the losses in the Sensex pack.
Other laggards were SBI 0.76 per cent, ONGC 0.55 per cent, Tata Steel 0.49 per cent, ICICI Bank 0.28 per cent,
RIl 0.17 per cent, Bharti Airtel 0.16 per cent, Wipro 0.15 per cent and Coal India 0.09 per cent.
Sectorally, the BSE realty index ended 1.82 per cent higher followed by healthcare by 1.11 per cent. FMCG rose 0.96 per cent, power 0.67 per cent, infrastructure 0.52 per cent, capital goods 0.44 per cent, auto 0.33 per cent and bank 0.30 per cent.
While IT declined 0.78 per cent, teck shed 0.69 per cent, consumer durables down 0.21 per cent and oil & gas 0.14 per cent.
The broader markets too continued to rule firm as investors were seen enlarging their bets, lifting the small-cap index by 0.56 per cent and mid-cap index by 0.34 per cent. Globally, in the Asian region, Japan’s Nikkei moved up 0.26 per cent, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng fell 1.60 per cent and Shanghai Composite index fell 1.53 per cent.
In the Eurozone, Frankfuirt’s DAX rose 0.08 per cent but Paris CAC shed 0.03 per cent in their early session. London’s FTSE down 0.40 per cent.
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Source: News18