Markets surge on Fed stance, rupee gains

Markets surged to end nearly 2% higher on Thursday, amid strong global cues, led by bank shares after comments by the US Fed allayed fears of soon-than-expected easing of monetary stimulus measures and gains in the Indian rupee.

Meanwhile, investors are also awaiting first quarter results by Infosys on Friday. The 30-share Sensex ended up 382 points or 1.98% at 19,676 levels and the 50-share Nifty ended up 118 points or 2.04% at 5,935 mark.

The Sensex and the Nifty touched an intraday high of 19,724 mark and 5,949 levels, respectively. Foreign Institutional Investors also turned buyers during the previous two sessions, exchange data showed.

INDIAN RUPEE

The rupee was trading at 59.66/67, falling sharply from a more than one-week high of 59.32 hit in opening deals as importers rushed in to buy the dollar.

GLOBAL MARKETS

Shares and bonds rallied globally on Thursday and the dollar tumbled, after the head of the Federal Reserve signalled the US central bank may not be as close to winding down its stimulus programme as markets had started to believe.

This came despite minutes showing half of Fed policymakers think the programme should stop by the end of this year.

As investors cheered the prospect of ongoing support, risk assets performed strongly. European bonds from Germany to Greece tracked gains in US debt and European shares opened up almost 1%, pushing MSCI's world index, which tracks stocks in 45 countries, to its highest in almost a month.

Japan's Nikkei share average rebounded on Thursday in choppy trade even though the yen's rally paused, while firmer Asian stocks boosted market sentiment. The Nikkei rose 0.4% to 14,472.58, after opening 1.0% lower on the back of the yen's surge against the dollar.

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SECTORS & STOCKS

BSE Metal index zoomed by almost 3% followed by counters like Realty, Banks, Oil & Gas, Capital Goods, PSU, TECk, FMCG and IT, all gaining by 2% each. Apart from Consumer Durables, all the major BSE sectoral indices are trading in green zone.

Shares of metal companies were in focus on the bourses by surging up to 6% as the dollar fell and weak Chinese data stoked hopes of monetary easing in the world's largest consumer of the industrial metal.

Hindalco Industries, Sesa Goa, Sterlite Industries, Coal India, JSW Steel, Tata Steel, NMDC, Jindal Steel and Power and Hindustan Zinc ended higher by 2-5% on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE).

Tata Steel gained after the company said its Indian operations have seen a strong volume growth during the first quarter (April-June) of the current fiscal.

Hindalco Industries rallied after its overseas subsidiary Novelis Inc. raised the price of all automotive aluminum sheet products sold in Europe.

Financial shares gained on bargain hunting at lower levels after recent losses. HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, HDFC and SBI were up 2-3% each.

Software major Infosys trimmed most of its early gains and ended higher by over 1%, falling nearly 2% from intra-day high ahead of its first quarter (April-June) earnings tomorrow. TCS has gained by nearly 3%.

Bharti Airtel rose by over 3%. The company expressed shock and disappointment at receiving a demand notice of Rs 650 crore from the Department of Telecom (DoT) pertaining to its subscriber local dialing (SLD) service between 2002 and 2005.

Larsen and Toubro (L&T) ended higher by nearly 3% on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE). Shares of engineering major have tuned ex-bonus today.

Other notable gainers are Hero Moto, ONGC, ITC, Tata Power, NTPC and GAIL.

The broader markets under performed the benchmark indices.

BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices gained by nearly 1%. The market breadth in BSE ended firm with 1,366 shares advancing and 964 shares declining.

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SMART MOVERS

BGR Energy Systems soared over 4% on BSE after the company said it has received an order worth of Rs 1,573 crore from Odisha Power Generation Corporation (OPGC).

Kalindee Rail Nirman (Engineers) rallied 11% after Jupiter Metal made an open offer to acquire 30% stake in the company for Rs 24.17 crore.

State Trading Corporation of India (STC India) dipped over 5%, after the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) approved disinvestment of government stake in the company.

IndusInd Bank moved higher by nearly 3% after reporting a better-than-expected 42% year-on-year (yoy) growth in net profit at Rs 335 crore for the quarter ended June 2013 on back of healthy growth in interest income and improved margins.

Shasun Pharmaceuticals rallied 9%, extending its previous day’s 20% surge, ahead of a board meeting on Saturday, July 13, to review the operations of the company.

Mangalore Chemicals and Fertilisers (MCFL) was locked in upper circuit of 10% at Rs 67.85, also its record high on BSE, after  Zuari Fertilisers and Deepak Fertilisers are fighting it out to take control of the company.