Markets stay volatile but end on a mildly positive note

After remaining volatile for much of the day, stocks staged a mild recovery on Friday as the Sensex mopped up modest gains amid creation of fresh bets with the beginning of the October series of derivative contracts.

For the week though, the market registered a fall.

The NSE Nifty in the process reclaimed the 8,600-level to close at 8,611.15.

The strong showing in the October series added to the investors’ confidence level to an extent. Recovery in realty, oil and gas, infrastructure, power, auto, PSU and metal stocks helped both the indices end in the positive terrain.

According to HSBC, the global financial services major, inflation is likely to remain below the Reserve Bank’s early 2017 target of 5 per cent for the next 12 months, opening up space for monetary easing.

However, for the week, the Sensex dropped 802.26 points, or 2.79 per cent, while NSE Nifty lost 220.40 points, or 2.49 per cent.

The movement in the rupee too came as a big positive, which put up a strong show against the American currency.

“Volatility eased from the previous day, but indecisiveness was visible. With US jobs data and RBI monetary policy scheduled for next week, investor focus is expected to be back on macros soon,” said Anand James, Chief Market Strategist, Geojit BNP Paribas Financial Services.

Extending yesterday’s sharp losses, the Sensex opened lower. But emergence of value-buying across the board meant it wiped off early losses to close higher 38.43 points, or 0.14 per cent at 27,865.96.

The index had tumbled 465 points in Thursday’s session after India carried out “surgical strikes” on Wednesday night on terror launch pads across the Line of Control (LoC).

At the close, the 50-share NSE Nifty was at 8,611.15, up 19.90 points, or 0.23 per cent, after moving between 8,637.15 and 8,555.20.

Meanwhile, foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) bought shares worth a net Rs 1,107.42 crore on Thursday, showed provisional data.

As many as 15 in the 30-share Sensex pack advanced.

M&M was in the lead ahead of announcement of monthly auto sales numbers, rising 3.06 per cent followed by GAIL 3.06 per cent. Other big movers were ONGC, Power Grid, Tata Steel, Tata Motors and SBI, surging by up to 2.19 per cent.

The BSE realty index gained the most by surging 3.16 per cent, oil and gas 1.70 per cent, infrastructure 1.58 per cent and auto 1.34 per cent.

Broader markets small- and mid-caps performed better than blue-chips, up 2.13 per cent and 1.95 per cent, respectively, as investors widened their bets.

Asian shares tumbled at the close and so did European bourses in their early session, tracking Thursday’s sell-off in New York on lingering concerns about the future of German banking giant Deutsche Bank over its financial health.

Key indices in Hong Kong fell 1.86 while Japan’s Nikkei slumped 1.46 per cent. Shanghai Composite rose 0.21 per cent.

Europe’s London FTSE fell 0.98 per cent, Paris CAC 1.35 per cent and Frankfurt’s DAX 1.14 per cent in their early trade.