17th May, 2013 : Late spurt keeps Sensex, Nifty positive

iiflThe Indian equity market extended its rally for the fourth straight session even though the global rating agency Standard & Poor’s (S&P) affirmed BBB- rating for India with a negative outlook.

Capital goods stocks which were underperformers in the current rally staged a comeback. Market buzz is that the government may kick-start  activities to push the economy; the beneficiaries of which will be capital goods stocks. As a result, stocks like ABB (up 21%), Siemens (up 10%) Crompton Greaves (up 8%), BEML (up 9%) and BHEL (up 5%) were among the prominent gainers.

Among the other major contributors were power, realty and the banking stocks. After opening on a positive note, markets were on a constant declining mode with the consumer durables, healthcare and the metals stocks featuring among the top losers.

The cement stocks were under pressure, after media reports stated that the Competition Appellate Tribunal directed cement companies to pay 10% of Rs6307 bn penalty imposed on them by fair trade regulator CCI for forming a cartel in the sector.

India Cement was down 1.3% while Ultratech Cem ended almost flat. Grasim and Ambuja Cement ended in the green.

Shares of ITC ended slightly negative to close at ~Rs334. Speaking on the results, Amar Ambani, Head of Research, IIFL, said “ITC’s Q4 FY13 results were almost in line with our expectations with revenues and net profit registering growth of ~19% yoy respectively. We continue to remain bullish on the stock and it remains one of our top picks in the sector”.

The BSE Sensex closed at 20286, up 39 points over the previous close. It had earlier touched a day’s high of 20,328 and a day’s low of 20155. It opened at 20267.

The NSE Nifty closed at 6,187, up 17 points over the previous close. It earlier touched a day’s high of 6,199 and a day’s low of 6,146. It opened at 6,172.

TCS, Infosys, Tata Power, ICICI Bank, BHEL, NTPC, ONGC, Tata Steel and M&M were among gainers in Sensex and Nifty.

RIL, Wipro, HDFC Bank, Maruti Suzuki, Dr Reddy’s Lab, Sterlite Inds, Hero MotoCorp, ITC, Sun Pharma and HDFC were among losers in Sensex and Nifty

The advance-decline ratio was marginally in favour of the bears. On the BSE, 1245 stocks declined against 1112 advancing stocks, while 142 stocks remained unchanged.

Stocks which hit a 52-week high during the week were BAJFINANCE, Kotak Mah Bank, Shree Cement, Glaxosmithkl Cons, Raasi Refrac.

Stocks which hit a 52-week low during the week were Best & Crompton, Rama Petro, WH Brady, International Comb, Simbhaoli Sug.

Stocks in News

JM Financial stock was up by 12.5% after the Non-banking finance company announced a day earlier that that former CEO of Citibank Vikram Pandit will make a strategic investment in JM Financial with potential additional investments in its NBFC, proposed bank and a joint distressed asset fund.