A bout of volatility was witnessed as key benchmark indices traded off the day's high after hitting their highest level in more than eight weeks. At 14:16 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was up 148.08 points or 0.54% at 27,362.68. The gains for the Sensex were higher in percentage terms than those for the 50-unit CNX Nifty index. The Nifty was currently up 34.10 points or 0.41% at 8,272.25. The Sensex hit its highest level in more than eight weeks when it jumped 171.59 points or 0.63% at the day's high of 27,386.19 in afternoon trade. The Nifty also hit its highest level in more than eight weeks when it rose 41.60 points or 0.5% at the day's high of 8,279.75 in afternoon trade.
Shares of Reliance Industries (RIL) surged after stronger-than-expected Q2 September 2015 results. Index heavyweight and engineering & construction major L&T edged lower. Sugar stocks edged higher on renewed buying.
The market breadth indicating the overall health of the market was positive. On BSE, 1,479 shares rose and 1,071 shares fell. A total of 159 shares were unchanged. The BSE Mid-Cap index was up 0.42%, underperforming the Sensex. The BSE Small-Cap index was up 0.64%, outperforming the Sensex.
Meanwhile, the Department of Economic Affairs, Ministry of Finance announced that it has organized a meeting with the representatives of the foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) tomorrow, 20 October 2015, to seek their views on measures to simplify the procedures and documentation for registration of FPIs in India and deepening of corporate bond market. Separately, the Department of Economic Affairs will hold a meeting with domestic financial market participants on 21 October 2015 to seek their views on integration of various segments of the market, increasing retail participation and deepening of corporate bond market.
In overseas stock markets, European stocks edged higher as fears of a hard landing of the Chinese economy receded after a batch of latest economic data. Asian stocks were mixed after the latest data showed China's GDP growth slowed to 6.9% in Q3 September 2015, slipping below 7% for the first time since 2009. US stocks edged higher during the previous trading session on Friday, 16 October 2015, as investors appeared to shrug off lackluster corporate earnings and mixed economic data.
Index heavyweight and engineering & construction major L&T was down 1.13% at Rs 1,586.40.
RIL surged after stronger-than-expected Q2 September 2015 results. The stock was currently up 5.32% at Rs 960.70. The stock hit a high of Rs 962 and a low of Rs 941.60 so far during the trading session. RIL's consolidated net profit rose 12.52% to Rs 6720 crore on 33.8% decline in turnover to Rs 75117 crore in Q2 September 2015 over Q2 September 2014. The result was announced after market hours on Friday, 16 October 2015. A strong showing of the refinery business and increase in profit margins of the petrochemicals business led to a stronger-than-expected growth in RIL's bottom line in Q2 September 2015. RIL's gross refining margins (GRM) hit a seven year high of $10.6 per barrel in Q2 September 2015. The GRM was $8.3 per barrel in Q2 September 2014. The profitability of the petrochemicals business improved due to a combination of strong volume growth, product mix improvement and lower energy costs.
With regard to the progress of the roll out of the broadband business, RIL said that the network roll-out across the country is substantially complete. RIL's subsidiary Reliance Jio Infocomm (RJIL) is implementing the ambitious broadband project. FY 2017 (year ending 31 March 2017) will be the first full year of commercial operations of RJIL.
Meanwhile, RIL also announced in its Q2 September 2015 investor presentation that RJIL and Reliance Communication (RCom) have decided to share spectrum in 800 MHz band in 7 telecom circles.
Realty shares were in demand. Oberoi Realty (up 3.35%), Godrej Properties (up 2.95%), Peninsula Land (up 1.89%), Phoenix Mills (up 1.51%), Prestige Estates Projects (up 1.39%), Sunteck Realty (up 1.16%), DLF (up 1.09%), Sobha (up 0.90%), Unitech (up 0.78%), D B Realty (up 0.69%), Indiabulls Real Estate (up 0.59%) and Housing Development and Infrastructure (HDIL) (up 0.19%), edged higher. Parsvnath Developers was down 0.28%
Cement shares were mixed. UltraTech Cement (up 0.24%), Shree Cement (up 0.11%) and ACC (up 0.07%), edged higher. Ambuja Cements was down 0.56%.
Grasim Industries was down 0.96%. Grasim has exposure to cement sector through its holding in UltraTech Cement.
Most sugar stocks edged higher. Upper Ganges Sugar & Industries (up 11%), Oudh Sugar Mills (up 5.52%), Dwarikesh Sugar Industries (up 5%), EID Parry (India) (up 4.91%), Rana Sugars (up 4.69%), Eastern Sugar & Industries (up 4.48%), Sakthi Sugars (up 2.39%), Bajaj Hindusthan (up 2.09%), Triveni Engineering & Industries (up 1.93%), Shree Renuka Sugar (up 1.79%), KCP Sugar & Industries Corporation (up 0.46%) and Simbhaoli Sugars (up 0.07%), edged higher. Dhampur Sugar Mills (down 1.62%), Balrampur Chini Mills (down 1.96%), DCM Shriram Industries (down 2.41%) and Empee Sugars and Chemicals (down 3.85%) edged lower.
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