Indices gallop to its highest level in 2013

Benchmark share indices ended at their highest level in 2013 so far led by bank shares after the RBI at its second Quarter Review of Monetary Policy 2013-14 today announced a hike in repo rate by 25 bps which was on expected lines.

At close, the Sensex ended up 359 points at 20,929 and the Nifty ended up 120 points at 6,221.

Both the Sensex and the Nifty registered their highest closing in the calendar year 2013 so far . Also, it was the seventh highest turnover for the markets.

The one to lead the rally today, the Bank Nifty, closed at his highest level since July 15.

In the broader markets, the midcap index gained 1.5% and the smallcap index added 0.5% as compared to the 1.7% uptick seen on the BSE benchmark index.

RBI in its monetary policy review today hiked the repo rate by 25 bps to 7.75%. The MSF rate was cut by 25 bps to 9.25%. CRR was left unchanged at 4%.

The central bank cuts the FY14 GDP growth forecast to 5% from 5.5%. Giving a CPI forecast for the first time, the RBI said retail inflation will remain above 9%, adding that both WPI and CPI will remain elevated in the months ahead.

Rupee

The rupee was trading stable at Rs 61.52 compared with previous close of Rs 61.53 per dollar after an in-line monetary policy review.

Global Markets

Asian shares withered and the dollar lurked just above its recent lows on Tuesday, as investors awaited confirmation the U.S. Federal Reserve will stay the course with stimulus at its policy meeting this week.

MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was down about 0.3 percent in late trade and Japan's Nikkei stock average gave up 0.5 percent, but ended off its session lows.

European markets were steady with CAC, DAX and FTSE adding 0.1-0.4%.

Sectors & Stocks

All the sectoral indices closed in the green with gains of atleast 0.5%.

Bankex was the top gainer among the sectoral indices on the BSE up 4.4% followed by Realty, Metal and Auto indices up 2% each.

 PSU, Power, Consumer Durables, Health Care, Capital Goods and Oil and Gas indices up 1% each.

Among Sensex-30, in the banking segment, ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank and SBI were up 3-6%.

Maruti Suzuki was up 8.2% after reporting a better than expected net profit at Rs 670 crore for the quarter ended September 2013 (Q2FY2014), driven by strong growth in exports, favourable exchange rate and cost control measures.

Analyst on an average had expected profit of Rs 551 crore for the quarter. The company had reported profit of Rs 227 crore in year ago quarter.

Sun Pharma was up 2% after the company said it has addressed the United States Food and Drug Administration’s (USFDA) concerns about quality control breaches at a U.S. subsidiary that was shut down by the regulator for three years because of manufacturing flaws.

Other Sensex gainers include, Tata Steel, Mahindra & Mahindra, Hero MotoCorp, Hindalco, SSLT, Hindustan Unilever, Tata Power and HDFC adding gains of 2-4%.

BHEL down 0.1% was the only loser among the Sensex-30.

The market breadth was very positive on the BSE, 1,291 stocks advanced while 1,095 stocks declined.