Mumbai, Nov 18: The stock market ended on a mixed note for the week with benchmark sensex registering a modest rise of 28.24 points, end at 33,342.80, while Nifty closed with minor loss of 38.15 points to conclude at 10,283.60.
The key benchmark indices declined in three out of five trading sessions of the week.
Selling was triggered as posibility of the central bank cutting interest rates next month, dampened after India’s inflation picked up in October.
Domestic investors turned cautious giving more weight to slowdown in IIP to 3.8 per cent, bogged down by geopolitical tensions in the Middle-East and rally in crude oil prices.
The selling pressure dragged the Sensex to its lowest closing level in more than three weeks and the Nifty to its lowest closing level in five weeks Wednesday. The market, however, recovered due to bargain hunting in the last two trading sessions. Rapid pace of recapitalisation process had kept the PSU bank stocks buoyant.
Investor risk appetite soared Friday after the US-based Moody’s upgraded India’s sovereign credit rating for the first time in nearly 14 years by a notch to ‘Baa2′ from Baa3’, with a stable outlook citing improved growth prospects driven-by economic and institutional reforms.
The ratings upgrade came just weeks after the World Bank moved India up 30 places in its annual ease of doing business rankings.
The S&P BSE Sensex resumed higher at 33,397.41 and hovered between 33,520.82 and 32,683.59 before finishing the week at 33,342.80, showing a modest rise of 28.24 points or 0.08 per cent. The Sensex had dropped by 371.00 points or 1.10 per cent last week.
However, the 50-share Nifty shed 38.15 points or 0.37 per cent to close the week at 10,283.60 after moving in a range of 10,343.60 and 10,094.00.
Sectorwise, Realty, Bankex and Auto gained, while selling was witnessed in Capital Goods, Metal, Oil&Gas, IPO, PSUs, Teck, Consumer Durables, FMCG, Healthcare and Power.
Meanwhile, foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) and foreign institutional investors (FIIs) bought shares worth Rs 5,942.09 crore during the week, as per Sebi’s record including the provisional figure of November 17.
The S&P BSE Mid-Cap index advanced 110.64 points or 0.67 percent to settle at 16,673.33, while, the S&P BSE Small-Cap index fell 38.69 points or 0.22 per cent to settle at 17,605.13.
Among sectoral and industry indices, Realty jumped by 2.35 per cent, bankex 1.11 per cent and auto 0.55 per cent.
However, capital goods fell by 2.67 per cent, metal 2.63 per cent, oil&gas 1.65 per cent, IPO 1.43 per cent, teck 0.94 per cent, consumer durables 0.92 per cent, FMCG 0.90 per cent, healthcare 0.84 per cent and power 0.84 per cent.
Among the 31-share Sensex pack, 20 stocks rose and remaining 11 stocks fell during the week.
Adani Ports & Special Economic Zone was the biggest loser in the Sensex pack last week. The stock dropped 7.19 per cent, State-run ONGC declined by 6.97 per cent to Rs 177.50, followed by Coal India 4.27 per cent, L&T 3.39 per cent, Wipro 2.42 per cent and Bharti Artl 1.89 per cent.
However, Kotak Bank rose by 4.91 per cent, Reliance 2.97 per cent, Maruti 2.15 per cent, ICICI Bank 2.04 per cent, M&M 1.67 per cent and ITC 1.08 per cent.
The total turnover during the week on BSE fell to Rs 21,017.96 crs as against last weekend’s level of Rs 37,433.79 crores, While NSE dipped to 1,60,647.22 crores compared to Rs 1,80,596.80 crores previously.
Muted demand hits gold
Both the precious metals, gold and silver, showed a divergent trend at the bullion market as gold prices ended slightly lower on muted demand, even as the metal strengthened overseas, while silver maintained its third weekly gain on increased offtake by industrial units.
Globally, however, the trend was positive.
Bullion traders said, easing demand from local jewellers and retailers following wedding season failed to spur fresh demand at domestic market mainly led to the decline in gold prices but a volatile trend overseas capped the slide.
In worldwide trade, Gold prices rallied to a more than one-month high, tacking on nearly 1.8 per cent for the week, as the latest developments in the investigation into Russia’s interference in the US presidential election knocked the dollar lower.
December gold climbed by USD 18.30, or 1.4 per cent, to settle at USD 1,296.50 an ounce. Gold futures, which saw their biggest single-session percentage gain since May, scored an almost 1.8 per cent weekly rise, its second in a row.
In other metals trading, December silver jumped 30.1 cents, or 1.8 per cent, higher to USD 17.373 an ounce, for a weekly rise of about 3 per cent.
In the New York Comex trade, gold for December delivery rose to USD 1,296.50 an ounce compared to last Friday’s December close of USD 1,274.20 and silver for December also climbed to end at USD 17.373 an ounce from USD 16.871.
On the domestic front, standard gold (99.5 purity) resumed lower at Rs 29,485 per 10 grams from last Friday’s closing level of Rs 29,520 and hovered in a range of Rs 29,575 and Rs 29,385 before settling at Rs 29,460, revealing a loss of Rs 60, or 0.20 per cent.
Pure gold (99.9 purity) also commenced lower at Rs 29,635 per 10 grams compared to preceding weekend’s level of Rs 29,670 and moved in a range of Rs 29,725 and Rs 29,535 before ending at 29,610, revealing a fall of Rs 60 per 10 grams, or 0.20 per cent.
Silver ready (.999 fineness) opened negative at Rs 39,415 per kilogram from last Friday’s closing level of Rs 39,545 and hovered between Rs 39,365 and Rs 39,725 before finish at Rs 39,590, registering a modest gain of Rs 45 per kilo, or 0.11 per cent.
Rupee makes emphatic return
The Indian rupee staged an euphoric rally from its multi-month low and ended firmly higher at 65.01 against the US dollar after Moody’s upgraded the country’s sovereign credit rating.
Overall forex market witnessed a sudden revival in sentiment towards the tail-end session to offset the fears of renewed fiscal slippage following a sudden spike in global crude prices along with a slew of weak macro-economic data releases.
Stamping one of the most significant milestones, the global credit rating agency Moody’s upgraded India’s sovereign credit rating by a notch to ‘Baa2’ with a stable outlook on expectations of continued economic reforms and improved growth prospects.
Wide-ranging reforms have been undertaken in the last few months and that have led to improved investment climate.
There is an air of optimism on India’s economic prospects and created an ambiance of feel good factor following Modi government’s continued commitments towards strong governance and sweeping reforms measures, a forex dealer said.
The home currency had plunged to hit a fresh one-month low of 65.54 at the start of the week stunned by risk of another oil shock.
Surging crude prices could could hurt fiscal deficit target of the government for current year and spur market concerns over the nation’s inflation outlook.
India is the second-largest crude oil consumer in Asia after China.
A breathtaking rally on domestic equities further supplemented the currency momentum in a health way.
At the Interbank Foreign Exchange (forex) market, the home currency resumed substantially lower at 65.38 on the back of immense dollar pressure v/s last Friday’s close of 65.16.
It, later witnessed wide swings between 65.5400 and 64.6000 in the face of Moody’s rating developments before concluding the highly volatile week with a smart gain of 15 paise, or 23 per cent at 65.01.
Suspected intervention by central bank officials through state-run banks believed to have crubed sharp recovery towards the fag-end of the week, resulting rupee to gave back some early strong gains.
Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) and funds were remained net buyers of Indian equities and bought USD 712.85 million as per stock exchanges data.
Meanwhile, Foreign investors pumped in a staggering USD 1.5 billion in the Indian equity markets this month so far, propelled by the government’s Rs 2.11 lakh crore bank recapitalisation plan.
The Indian currency has fallen 61 paise last week to the dollar.
The RBI fixed the reference rate for the USD at Rs 64.8462 and euro at Rs 76.5574, respectively.
On the global front, the greenback weakened most of the emerging market currencies, especially against the yen despite progress on tax reform and the prospect of a Federal Reserve rate hike next month.
The dollar index, which tracks the greenback against six major currencies, was down 0.28 per cent at 93.67 from 94.38.
In cross-currency trade, the rupee dropped further against the British pound to close at 85.79 per pound from 85.67 and drifted sharply against the Euro to finish at 76.71 as compared to 75.83 previously.
The local unit also weakened against the Japanese Yen to settle at 57.75 per 100 yens from 57.43 last weekend.
In the forward market, premium for dollar remained under pressure owing to sustained receiving from exporters.
The benchmark six-month forward dollar premium payable for April slumped to 127-129 paise from 132.50-134.50 paise and the far-forward contract maturing in October 2018 also declined to 266-268 paise from 273-275 paise last Friday.
In global commodity trade, crude prices recovered some lost ground Friday, retracing much of the early losses, which were stoked by concerns about oversupply.
US light crude ended Friday’s session up USD1.41, or 2.6 per cent, to USD56.55 a barrel.
Benchmark Brent crude oil was up USD 1.23, or 2 per cent, at USD 62.59 a barrel, recovering ground after five sessions of losses. (PTI)