Market surges on growth recovery optimism

The broader markets ended higher with mid-caps and small-caps gaining 1 per cent on the BSE.

The markets ended on a positive note this Monday on back of buying witnessed in rate-sensitive sectors such as banks, real-estate and automobile.

Hopes of policy action from the Congress-led UPA government gained prominence after the Reserve Bank of India’s Duvvuri Subbarao cancelled his entire public engagement programme in Mumbai and rushed to Delhi to meet the finance minister and the prime minister today.

The meeting, which will be to discuss measures like sovereign bond issue to save the weakening rupee, is scheduled late afternoon. Mirroring the optimism, the 30-share Sensex gained 76.01 points to end at 20,034.48 and the 50-share Nifty rose 21.80 points at 6,030.80 levels.

Sentiments improved further after China’s slowdown was not as worse as expected. China's second-quarter economic growth cooled to 7.5% versus a year earlier, from 7.7%, in line with expectations.

Meanwhile, India’s headline inflation quickened to 4.86% in June, compared to 4.7% during the previous month. The gauge, however, remained within the RBI’s comfort zone of sub-5 per cent.

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In Asia, Singapore Straits Times rose 0.02% to 3,236.82, China’s Shanghai Composite index was up 1% at 2,059 while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng gained 0.1% to 21,303 today. Japanese markets are shut today for a holiday.

European shares rose as China’s economy expanded in line with analyst forecasts. The yen weakened and commodities declined.

France’s CAC rose 0.4% to 3,872.92, Germany’s DAX gained 0.1% to 8,226 while UK’s FTSE was up 0.3% to 6,565. Among the key sectoral indices, FMCG, capital goods, oil & gas and bankex gained while power and IT sectors dropped on the BSE.

The gainers included counters such as Bharti Airtel surging 3.2%, Mahindra & Mahindra rose 2.4%, TCS gained 2.3%, Hindalco Industries added 3.6% while HUL was up 1% on the BSE.

The laggards were Tata Steel shedding 2%, Coal India was down 2.5%, Infosys declined 2.2%, NTPC shed 2% while Tata Motors fell 1.4% on the BSE.

The key notable movers included counters such as Opto Circuits (India) zoomed as much as 35% to Rs 30.60 in noon deals on BSE on back of heavy volumes.

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Shares of Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) and HCL Technologies have touched record highs today after information technology (IT) major Infosys retained its revenue growth guidance in dollar terms for the year ending March 31, 2014 (FY 2014).

Natco Pharma rose 8% to Rs 529.90, extending its past two-week rally, on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE). The stock opened at Rs 495 and hit a record high of Rs 534 so far. A combined 311,021 shares changed hands on the counter till 1515 hours.

Chennai-based IT products and solutions firm Polaris Financial Technology's stock price rose by almost 4% on the buzz that the company is in the final stages of selling its IT services business to IT major Tech Mahindra. Business Standard had reported on Monday, Tech Mahindra has reached the stage of due diligence, with the other contender L&T Infotech quitting the buy-out race

The broader markets ended higher with mid-caps and small-caps gaining 1 per cent on the BSE.

The market breadth was positive. Out of 2,445 stocks traded so far, 1,348 stocks advanced while 966 stocks declined on the BSE.