Late recovery: Nifty ends above 8500, snubs Grexit fears

Moneycontrol Bureau

Equity benchmarks recouped losses in the late trade Monday with the Nifty ending the session above 8500 for the first time since April 17. The market shrugged off the fears of Greece exit from the eurozone after the historic 'no' vote in the debt-laden country yesterday. The broader markets outperformed benchmarks.

The 30-share BSE Sensex fell 318 points intraday before rising 115.97 points or 0.41 percent to close at 28,208.76. The 50-share NSE Nifty gained 37.25 points or 0.44 percent at 8,522.15 after hitting day's low of 8,386.15. Banking & financials, pharma, FMCG and Reliance Industries led the recovery.

The BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices rallied 0.85 percent and 1.09 percent, respectively. The market breadth was also strong as about 1788 shares advanced against 1012 shares declined on the Bombay Stock Exchange.

Experts believe Grexit fears priced in and now the market will watch out for April-June quarter earnings.

The situation in Greece is unlikely to affect global markets in the short run, said Samir Arora, founder and fund manager at Helios Capital. He remained bullish on Indian equities and said the correction in the market has given investors enough opportunities to buy.

Globally, markets continued to see selling pressure but there was no major panic. Core European markets (France's CAC and Germany's DAX) fell more than 1 percent after the Greece voted for 'no' to bailout package in the referendum on Sunday. Britain's FTSE was down 0.4 percent (at 16 hours IST). Peripheral markets like Spain, Italy and Portugal lost 1-2 percent. All Asian benchmarks barring China ended in the red.

The drama continued in Greece, as the country's Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis resigned saying he is aware that his presence in future negotiations is not welcome. The European leaders, as well as ECB members, will meet today evening to discuss their next move.

Back home, the rupee recovered to hit the highest closing level since April 29, up 4 paise to 60.40 a dollar on strength in equities. Chief economic advisor Arvind Subramanian said India is well insulated from the Greek crisis thanks to the country's stable macroeconomic environment.

Dr Reddy's Labs (up 3.6 percent) and Cipla (up 3.35 percent) topped the buying list on Sensex. HDFC Bank, TCS, ITC, Reliance Industries, Lupin, Sun Pharma and SBI gained 0.8-1 percent.

Oil market companies were completely on buyers' radar today due to fall in crude oil prices. IOC, HPCL and BPCL rallied 2-4 percent as Brent crude oil dropped over 3 percent to USD 58.35 a barrel and WTI crude slipped 5 percent to USD 54.06 a barrel.

However, Vedanta plunged 4.5 percent and Cairn India declined 0.5 percent. Sources told CNBC-TV18 that LIC and other minority shareholders are likely to give their views on the Cairn-Vedanta merger by the end of this week. LIC believed to be still seeking a better deal for Cairn India shareholders. Vedanta is unlikely to offer any major sweetener, but may review the interest rate offered on the redeemable preference shares, said sources.

In the broader space, Kesoram Industries gained 4 percent. A media report suggested that India's third-largest tyre maker JK Tyre has emerged as the front-runner to purchase Birla Tyres from Kesoram Industries for a little more than Rs 2,000 crore. Tilaknagar Industries were locked in 20 percent upper circuit after a media report said Kishore Chhabria-controlled Allied Blenders & Distillers is in talks to acquire a controlling stake in the company.

Arvind Remedies also locked in 20 percent upper circuit as board members will meet on July 11 to consider the proposal for investment by a potential investor. Sterlite Technologies climbed 4 percent as the power & telecom products manufacturer is going to invest around Rs 300-400 crore on capacity expansion post 'Digital India' launch. HCL Infosystems rose nearly 6 percent as the Supreme Court has stayed the trial against the company in the National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) case.