Nifty reclaims 5,600; RBI steps boost sentiments

Markets ended on a positive note this Monday with 50-share Nifty regaining psychological level of 5,600 after the central bank announced more measures to support the domestic currency.      

The Reserve Bank on Friday announced that it will sell government bonds worth Rs 22,000 crore every Monday to check volatility in the forex market.       

The 30-share Sensex rose 157.64 point to end at 18,946.98 and the 50-share Nifty gained 46.75  points at  5,612.40 levels.

Investors are now keeping a close tab on the industrial output data, consumer price inflation and manufacturing output data scheduled later in the day. Economists expect industrial production to be subdued in June which would drag down factory output growth in the first quarter of the current financial year.

Moody's Analytics, research and analysis arm of Moody's Corporation, has forecast the IIP to grow by 1% in June. Industrial production contracted 1.6% in May, which resulted in just 0.1% growth in IIP in the first two months of the current financial year.

The broader markets ended firm with mid-caps and small-caps gaining 1.5 per cent on the BSE.

The market breadth was positive. Out of 2,256 stocks traded, 1,366 stocks advanced while 763 stocks declined on the BSE.

FIIs DATA

Foreign institutional investors sold Rs 3.95 billion of cash shares on Thursday, exchange data showed, while domestic institutions were net buyers of Rs 5.16 billion of shares. Indian financial markets were shut on Friday for public holiday.

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Rupee

Indian Rupee, the worst currency of Asia so far this year, pared its intra-day gains after the Finance Minister failed to provide details of measures to protect rupee.

The currency traded at 61.06 a dollar from Friday's close of 60.88 at the Interbank Foreign Exchange Market.

Reports suggest that the government may soon relax borrowing rules for debt-laden Indian companies including doubling the amount a firm can borrow overseas to $1.5 billion.

GLOBAL MARKETS

Globally, Asian shares traded firm as Chinese stocks surged to a 3-1/2 week high as investors took heart from last week's encouraging data from the world's second-biggest economy, helping offset a slightly disappointing second quarter Japanese GDP report.  

Japan’s Nikkei declined 0.7% to 13,519, Singapore’s Straits Times added 0.07 % to 3,232, China’s Shanghai Composite index was up 2.3%  at 2,101 while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng rose 2% to 22,271 today.

European stocks fell from a 10-week high as a report showed Japan’s economy grew less than forecast last quarter. Telekom Austria AG dropped 2.8 percent after posting second-quarter earnings that missed analysts’ projections.

France’s CAC declined 0.4% to 4,058, Germany’s DAX dropped 0.8% to 8,267 while UK’s FTSE shed 0.3% to 6,564 today.

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GAINERS/LOSERS

Domestically, among the key sectoral indices, capital goods, metal, healthcare, FMCG, consumer durables, auto  sectors gained while banks and oil & gas sectors declined on the BSE.

The gainers included counters such as Sun Pharma gaining 6.6%, Tata Steel and Jindal Steel rose 8.3% and 9.4% respectively, Hero MotoCorp added 3% while HDFC gained 3.2% on the BSE.

The laggards were SBI declining 3.4%, TCS dropped 1.2%, Tata Power fell 3.2% while Reliance Industries dropped over 2%  on the BSE.

STOCK MOVERS

The key notable movers included counters such as State Bank of India (SBI) that dropped 3.7% at Rs 1,599 in otherwise firm market after the state-owned bank said its gross non-performing assets (NPA) ratio rose to 5.56% in the June quarter from 4.75% in the preceding quarter and 4.99% in the year-ago period.

Britannia Industries rallied 5.3% to Rs 731.10 after reporting a robust 93% year-on-year (yoy) jump in consolidated net profit at Rs 89.49 crore for the quarter ended June 30, 2013 (Q1). The packaged foods company had profit of Rs 46.48 crore in a year ago quarter.

Muthoot Finance surged 20% at Rs 96 on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) on back of heavy volumes. Kerela-based gold loan company Muthoot Finance is planning to raise around Rs 300 crore through non-convertible debentures (NCDs).