Nifty ends above 8,400; RBI policy eyed

Markets finished the first day of the June F&O series on a strong note led by a stellar rally in the auto and banking stocks on hopes of rate cut at RBI’s policy meet due on June 2.

Meanwhile, the GDP growth for the fourth quarter ending March 2015 was at 7.5%, according to government data. Q3 GDP growth has been revised to 6.6% from the earlier 7.5%.

The Sensex zoomed 322 points to finish at 27,828 levels while the Nifty surged 115 points to close at 8,434 mark. A recovery in the rupee further boosted the sentiments.

The broader markets closed in tandem with the larger peers. BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices gained over 1% each. The market breadth ended strong with 1,446 advances against 1,232 declines on the BSE.

At 3.40 PM, the rupee was trading at 63.865 against the dollar at the Interbank Foreign Exchange due to increased selling of the US currency by exporters and banks.

 

MARKET VIEW

"Generally the first day of a fresh expiry, especially after the lower rollovers seen last expiry, was expected to be a bit soft. However, it was a pleasant surprise by the indices. Nifty has now managed to break the 8400 mark, and close above that. Even though the market breadth was just above 1:1, the action today was purely on the large cap names. In Nifty 50, there were approx 44 stocks advancing as compared to 6 declines," said Kunal Bothra, Head - Advisory, LKP Securities.

Adding: "We believe, that the index is headed towards a crucial 8500 resistance next week. With the RBI policy on Tuesday, and with the technical resistance at 8500 levels, we believe that its likely to be a crucial first half next week. If the data released is better than market expectations, the indices could very well start a fresh uptrend. However, any disappointment, could lead to a severe drawdown on the index and the broader market."

BUZZING STOCKS

On the sectoral front, barring BSE Realty index all sectoral indices ended the session in the positive territory led by BSE FMCG, Healthcare, Auto, Bankex and Capital Goods indices up between 1-2%.

On the hopes of a rate cut by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), financials and auto stocks gained across the bourses. According to the results of a Reuters poll, the Reserve Bank of India is likely to cut its benchmark interest rates by 25 basis points to 7.25% when it meets early next week and make a similar move before December.

M&M, Maruti Suzuki, HDFC twins, ICICI Bank, Axis Bank, SBI, Bajaj Auto, Tata Motors ended higher between 0.3-5.5%. 

Mahindra & Mahindra reported a 39% drop in fourth-quarter net profit, on account of lower sales as unseasonal rainfall hurt the rural economy. , reports suggest. However, the stock ended the session 5% higher.

Bharti Airtel soared 6%. Vodafone Group PLC said on Thursday it sold its stake in telecom infrastructure firm Bharti Infotel to its holding company Bharti Enterprises for $200 million. The stake represents about a 4.2% interest in the Indian mobile carrier Bharti Airtel, which is also a subsidiary of Bharti Enterprises.

From the healthcare space, Cipla and Sun Pharma surged 1% each ahead of their quarterly results due later in the day.

NTPC reported a 5% drop in its March quarter net profit to Rs 2,944.03 crore. However, the stock ended the session higher by 1%.From the capital goods sector, L&T climbed 1% ahead of its result that is due tomorrow while BHEL ended the session with marginal losses after reporting a 52% drop in the net profits.
 

Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) reported a 19.5% drop in standalone net profit for the quarter ended March 2015. However, the stock closed up  0.7%.

Hindalco, on the other hand, lost 2.6% after the company reported 36% fall in standalone net profit to Rs 160 crore for the quarter ended March on Thursday.