Q4 GDP, PMI data impress markets; Nifty holds 8,200

After a flat opening, markets gathered pace and continue to trade strongly on the back of better than expected GDP data.  India’s manufacturing PMI stood at 50.7 as against 50.5 in April indicating an uptick in the manufacturing data. 

A strong rupee, decent fourth quarter results and advancement of monsoons have aided the sentiments. 

At 11:35 am, the S&P BSE Sensex is up 143 points to quote at 26,810 and the Nifty50 has climbed 43 points to trade at 8,203.

SMART MOVERS

PVR has hit a record high of Rs 907, up 3% on the BSE in early morning trade, extending its 5% gain in past two trading sessions, after reporting lower consolidated net loss at Rs 10 crore for the fourth quarter ended March 31, 2016 (Q4FY16) compared to the same quarter last fiscal.

 

Maruti Suzuki, the country's largest car maker maintained a double digit sales growth of 10% in the domestic market for May in spite of a production loss of approximately 7,500 units. The stock has inched up.

IT stocks are witnessing buying interest with TCS, Infosys and Wipro up between 0.8%-2%.

However, select banks continue to witness selling pressure with ICICI Bank and HDFC Bank down between 0.5%-1%.

Other prominent laggards include Tata Motors, Hero Motocorp, Coal India and Sun Pharma down between 0.2%-2%.

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(updated at 10:00 am)

Markets have gathered pace with Nifty trading above the 8,200 mark on the back of robust gross domestic product (GDP) number which grew 7.6% in 2015-16, up from 7.2% a year ago.

At 10:00 am, the S&P BSE Sensex is up 163 points to quote at 26,831 and the Nifty50 has climbed 47 points to trade at 8,208.

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(updated at 9:15 am)

Markets have opened the month of June on a flat-to-positive note as robust gross domestic product (GDP) number which grew 7.6% in 2015-16, up from 7.2% a year ago failed to build the momentum.

At 9:15 am, the S&P BSE Sensex is up 52 points to quote at 26,720 and the Nifty50 has climbed 19 points to trade at 8,180.

Geojit BNP Paribas in a technical note says “last couple of indecisiveness has meant that directional move is maturing, and may unfold soon. Early bias is expected to be neutral, but a direct push above 8,225 expected to trigger short covering. But such an upmove is not expected to gain much ground, with 8,285 likely to pose challenges.”

Growth in the eight core sectors jumped to 8.5% in April, due to a sharp pick-up in refinery products and a commensurate rise in electricity generation.

Meanwhile, the country’s fiscal deficit for 2015-16 was Rs 5.32 lakh crore, about 99.5 per cent of the government’s revised target of Rs 5.35 lakh crore, compared with 99.6 per cent for the same period a year before, official data showed on Tuesday.

Other major developments include price hike of petrol by Rs 2.58 per litre and diesel rates by Rs 2.26 per litre by the OMCs in order to align the domestic rates of the automobile fuels with global prices.

TAXATION

A slew of additional taxes announced in the Budget, including agriculture cess on services, equalisation levy, higher securities transaction tax on sale of options and tax collection at source on cash purchases for goods and services over Rs 2 lakh, will kick in from Wednesday.

The 0.5% Krishi Kalyan Cess (KKC) on all services increases the total tax chargeable on services to 15 per cent, making it expensive to dine out or travel.

GLOBAL MARKET

Asian equities are trading in a mixed fashion in today’s trade amid decline in the crude oil prices ahead of the meeting of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec) in Vienna on June 2. Japan’s Nikkei lost 0.8% on the back of a firming Yen. However, China’s Shanghai is showing some strength after private surveys on China's manufacturing activity were roughly in line with expectations indicating a pick up in the economy.

STOCKS

Axis Bank is the top gainer of this hour up 2.6% after Reserve Bank allowed Axis Bank to raise foreign shareholding to up to 62%, from the earlier limit of 49%. 

Country’s largest carmaker Maruti Suzuki will resume production of vehicles at its Gurgaon facilities from Wednesday. Resumption of production at the Manesar plant may take more time. The Gurgaon plant has a capacity of 700,000 vehicles a year. Manesar is bigger at 800,000 units. The stock has gained 0.5%.

Among other notable auto stocks M&M, Hero Motocorp and Bajaj Auto have climbed between 0.5%-1% ahead of the auto sales numbers for the month of May. However, Tata Motors has shed 1% on account of profit booking.

RIL is running at lower capacity at some plants and is undertaking shut down of two of its petrochemical units at Dahej in Gujarat in response to insufficient water to run the units, the company informed bourses on Tuesday.  The stock is trading with marginal gains. 

Meanwhile, ONGC Videsh (OVL), the foreign arm of state-run Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC), has signed an agreement with SOCAR Trading, trading arm of Azerbaijan’s government-owned energy firm, SOCAR, for foraying into oil trading business. Tracking the development, ONGC has surged nearly 1%. 

Petrol price was hiked by Rs 2.58 a litre and diesel by Rs 2.26 per litre, the second increase in rates this month. Petrol will cost Rs 65.60 per litre in DELHI after the increase while diesel will cost Rs 53.93/litre. BPCL, IOC and HPCL have gained over 1% each.

Sun Pharma expects 8-10% growth in sales in 2016-17, aided by "traction" across its businesses, and cautioned that a planned investment in the US is likely to impact short-term profits.  The stock has inched higher.

On the flip side, Banks continue to lose steam with ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank and SBI trading lower between 0.3%-0.8%.