Sensex rebounds 332 pts on energy, bank stocks rally

Mumbai, November 13

The equity benchmark Sensex on Tuesday recouped nearly 332 points following robust buying in energy, infra and banking stocks amid easing crude oil prices and strong recovery in the rupee. 

Similarly, the broader NSE Nifty jumped over 100 points to cross the key 10,500 level.

However, most Asian markets ended lower after a rout in tech stocks, tracking a hefty sell-off on Wall Street, while the dollar hit a 16-month peak on safe haven bets amid China-US trade war worries.

Concerns about a slowdown in China and the Asian region due to US tariffs on Chinese goods spooked investors, sparking the largest monthly foreign fund outflows from Asia last month since August 2011.     

However, investor sentiments in domestic markets remained upbeat due to fresh foreign fund inflows and the rupee gains.                     

The domestic currency Tuesday staged a strong comeback by strengthening 37 paise to 72.52 (intra-day) against the American currency.

Besides, the global benchmark Brent crude trading 0.98 per cent lower at USD 69.43 per barrel helped ease concerns on the country’s current account deficit front.

“Despite volatility in global markets, Nifty gained nearly 1 per cent supported by sharp fall in oil prices. Softening of CPI inflation to 3.31 per cent,  India’s stable industrial production and gains in INR added to the positives. Decline in oil prices below USD 70/barrel is likely to invoke positive sentiments for domestic market in the near term,” Vinod Nair, Head of Research, Geojit Financial Services Ltd, said.   

The BSE 30-share Sensex after resuming a tad higher at 34,846.90 quickly slipped into the negative zone to touch a low of 34,672.20, largely in sync with global sell-off.

However, hectic buying in late afternoon trade reversed the day’s losses and helped the Sensex hit a high of 35,185.17 before settling 331.50 points, or 0.95 per cent, higher at 35,144.49.

The gauge had lost 425 points in the previous two sessions.

The broader NSE Nifty after shuttling between 10,451.90 and 10,595.75 finally concluded 100.30 points, or 0.96 per cent, higher at 10,582.50.

Domestic market sentiments were upbeat about the fall in consumer inflation data for October.

Retail inflation fell to a one-year low of 3.31 per cent in October on the back of cheaper kitchen staples, fruits and protein-rich items, official data released Monday showed.

Industrial production, however, grew at the slowest pace in four months at 4.5 per cent in September.

On a net basis, Foreign institutional Investors (FIIs) bought shares worth Rs 832.15 crore, while domestic institutional investors (DIIs) sold shares of Rs 1,073.84 crore Monday, provisional data showed.

Among the Sensex constituents, ICICI Bank emerged as the best performer, surging by 2.44 per cent, followed by NTPC at 2.36 per cent.

Shares of Coal India, the country’s largest miner, climbed 0.51 per cent after it posted an over eight-fold rise in consolidated net profit to Rs 3,085 crore for the quarter to September 2018.

Other big gainers were Axis Bank 2.05 per cent, RIL 1.93 per cent, L&T 1.77 per cent, HDFC Ltd 1.62 per cent, Adani Ports 1.49 per cent, M&M 1.39 per cent, Yes Bank 1.28 per cent, Hero MotoCorp 1.27 per cent, Vedanta 1.18 per cent, ITC Ltd 1.11 per cent, HUL 1.11 per cent, Tata Steel 1.07 per cent, TCS 1.04 per cent, Maruti Suzuki 1.02 per cent, Asian Paint 0.73 per cent, Bharti Airtel 0.71 per cent and Wipro 0.69 per cent.

Kotak Bank, Bajaj Auto, ONGC, HDFC Bank, Bharti Airtel, Infosys and SBI too ended higher with gains up to 0.61 per cent.

However, Sun Pharma plunged 4.72 per cent ahead of quarterly earnings to be released later in the day.

Tata Motors, PowerGrid and IndusInd Bank also retreated up to 3.31 per cent.

Shares of oil marketing companies and aviation operators were back in better shape after the global benchmark Brent crude slipped below the the USD 70-mark.

State-run IOC, BPCL and HPCL recorded gains up to 4.47 per cent.

In the aviation space, shares of Jet Airways and Interglobe gained up to 5.21 per cent.

In sector terms, the BSE energy index surged the most by gaining 1.80 per cent, followed by infrastructure 1.37 per cent, capital goods 1.25 per cent, bankex 1.01 per cent, auto 0.93 per cent, metal 0.77 per cent, PSU 0.75 per cent, power 0.75 per cent, FMCG 0.72 per cent, IT 0.39 per cent and teck 0.37 per cent.

Healthcreand realty sectoral indices ended in the red, falling up to 0.81 per cent.

Towards the broader market, the small-cap and mid-cap indices ended higher by 0.50 per cent and 0.46per cent respectively.

In Asian, Japan’s Nikkei plugned 2.06 per cent, Korea’s KOSPI fell 0.44 per cent and Taiwan Index fell 0.56 per cent. Hang Seng, however, rose 0.25 per cent while Shanghai Composite Index advanced0.93 per cent.

Key indices in european markets such as Paris CAC 40 was up 0.49 per cent, while Frankfurt’s DAX gained 0.51 per cent in their late morning deals. London’s FTSE too rose 0.34 per cent. — PTI