Sensex ends 380 points higher; Bank Nifty tops 19,000

Banks, Capital Goods, Metal names lead gains

Benchmark share indices gained for the sixth straight session led by banks following the start of the bankers' meet while a private survey which showed that India's manufacturing activity rose to a two-year high also boosted sentiment.

The Sensex ended up 380 points at 27,888 and the Nifty advanced 111 points to end five points shy of 8,400. However, in intra-day trades, the 50-share Nifty had crossed the 8,400 mark but failed to sustain.

The broader markets which were resilient in intra-day trades, witnessed some profit booking the last half hour of trade. As a result, smallcap and midcap index recorded gains of less than a percent, underperforming the BSE benchmark index which was up 1.4%.

In the commodity space, Brent crude continued its downward spiral. Brent slipped towards $57 after an early rise above $58 on Friday, as the glut of oil that has halved prices since June overshadowed investors repositioning at the start of the year for an eventual recovery.

Stocks

All the sectoral indices on BSE were in green with gains of atleast 0.3%. Banks and Capital Goods indices up 1.6% each were the top sectoral gainers.

Metal and Power indices added 1.2% was the other notable sectoral gainers.

Financial stocks advanced as the one-of-a-kind retreat started in Pune today. It’s being spearheaded by Prime Minister Narendra Modi along with Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor Raghuram Rajan and Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, will include all top bankers to address issues such as consolidation, bad loans, financial inclusion and capital needs.

As a result, in intra-day trades, Bank Nifty hit a fresh record high of 19,119 on hopes of faster reforms. From the Sensex pack, HDFC, ICICI Bank, Axis Bank, HDFC Bank and SBI were up 0.4-4.3% and were among the top Sensex gainers. Axis Bank and Yes Bank touched its respective life time high of Rs 515 and  Rs 794 in trade today.

IT majors ended firm. TCS, Infosys and Wipro gained 1-2%.

Metal stocks regained some sheen with Sesa Sterlite, Tata Steel and Hindalco up 1-1.5%.

FMCG names like ITC and HUL were mixed. HUL was down 0.3% while ITC gained by the same percent points.

Capital Goods shares gained on account of encouraging PMI data. Pipavav Defence, BHEL, L&T and Suzlon gained 1.5-14.5%.

However, auto names saw some selling pressure after yesterday's gains. M&M, Hero MotoCorp down 0.3-1% were the top losers among Sensex names. Baja Auto ended flat with a negative bias while Tata Motors gained 2.7%.

Smart Moves

Saksoft was locked at 20% upper circuit at Rs 191.50 on BSE, with the stock extending recent rally triggered by the company acquiring 51% stake in Threesixty Logica Testing.

Kalpataru Power Transmission gained nearly 3% at Rs 236 after HDFC Mutual Fund acquired over 1.78 million shares through two bulk deals, one each on the Bombay Stock Exchange and National Stock Exchange.

SRF Limited advanced 4.5% to Rs 920 after acquiring Global DuPont's Dymel Brand of HFC 134a which is a propellant used in applications where solubililty in water is important, such as hair spray, deodorants and other personal care items, as well as household aerosols such as air fresheners and paints.

Shares of road construction firms were up 1-8% as the government plans to allocate proceeds from the recent excise duty hike for road construction. Ashoka Buildcon, IRB Infrastructure, Sadbhav Engineering and IL&FS Transportation Networks were up between 1-8%.

The market breadth ended positive on BSE. 1786 stocks advanced while 1150 stocks declined on BSE.

Global Markets

Asian markets were flat to positive. The volumes were thin as markets in China, Japan, South Korea, Thailand and the Philippines were closed for the holiday season.

Meanwhile, European markets after a positive start slipped into the negative. CAC, DAX and FTSE were down 0.6-1%.  Meanwhile, the euro fell to its lowest level in 4-1/2 years versus the dollar.