Auto, capital goods charge up

STOCK REPORT

The Sensex and Nifty ended at record closing-high levels on Friday, after touching new all-time peaks, on the back of strong gross domestic product growth and positive outlook for October - December. Automobile and capital goods led gainers.

The Nifty crossed 4000 for the first time ever. The index has gained 33 per cent from 3000-mark it touched on June 22. On Friday, the Bombay Stock Exchange Sensex ended at 13844.78, up 148.47 points or 1.1 per cent, after touching a record high of 13857.81.

The National Stock Exchange Nifty ended at 3997.60, up 43.10 points or 1.1 per cent. It touched a lifetime high of 4001.30 in the last half-hour of trade.

Both indices ended 1 per cent higher than their closes a week ago. Combined turnover of both exchanges was over Rs 12,600 crore, up 8.6 per cent from Thursday. Mid-cap and small-cap shares also rose in line with the frontliners. CNX Midcap and S&P CNX indices each ended 1.2 per cent higher.

Hero Honda Motors ended 3.9 per cent up at Rs 771.15. Early on Friday, the company reported better-than-expected sales for November.

Tata Motors gained 4.2 per cent to Rs 842.85, and Bajaj Auto rose 3.7 per cent to Rs 2,743.50. Maruti Udyog, Bajaj Auto, TVS Motor Co, Bajaj Auto, and Mahindra and Mahindra also reported November sales.

"The auto space has been underperforming during the recent run-up, and going forward, we may see a build up in momentum in select auto stocks," a dealer said. The BSE Auto Index ended up 2.9 per cent.

Market watchers attribute part of the strong rally on Friday to the upbeat sentiment caused by India's gross domestic product figures.

Strong rollover of positions in the derivatives segment on the expiry of the November futures and options contracts on Thursday has also boosted sentiment, dealers said.

On Thursday, the marketwide rollover in the derivatives segment was 83 per cent while Nifty futures saw a rollover of 70 per cent.

Nifty December on Friday closed at 4003, while Nifty January ended at 4011.95.

Headline inflation rate, based on the wholesale price index, rose to 5.45 per cent in the week to November 18 from 5.29 per cent a week earlier and 4.27 per cent a year ago.

This is the highest inflation rate since the week ended June 17.

"Market will discount inflation rate so long as it stays within the 5-5.5 per cent target RBI has set," a dealer said.

Though the rise on Friday extended to all sectors, shares in the capital goods and bank sectors kept pace with the gains in auto stocks.

BSE Capital Goods Index ended up 2.1 per cent and BSE Bank Index ended up 1.6 per cent.

ABB, up 5.4 per cent, and Siemens India, up 4.6 per cent, were top Nifty gainers.

Among banks, mid-cap banks outpaced frontliners. State Bank of Mysore ended 10 per cent and UTI Bank gained 3.7 per cent.

Among the few losers, Steel Authority of India, down 1.4 per cent, and Grasim Industries, down 0.9 per cent, were the worst affected.