Sensex up 330 pts, Nifty ends above 8300; HDFC twins lead

Moneycontrol Bureau

It was a strong start to the Christmas week as the equity benchmarks rallied more than a percent on Monday largely supported by late trade rally in banking & financials stocks. Positive global cues and recovery in crude oil prices from five-year lows also pushed Indian indices higher for the third consecutive session.

Going ahead, the market may witness fresh highs before the Budget, says Sandeep Bhatia, Executive Director and Head of Sales at Kotak Institutional Equities.

The 50-share NSE Nifty closed above 8300 level, up 98.80 points or 1.20 percent at 8324 on the first day of the December series expiry week. The 30-share BSE Sensex climbed 329.95 points or 1.21 percent to 27701.79.

The broader markets gained too with the BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices rising 0.9 percent and 0.35 percent, respectively. Advancing shares outnumbered declining ones by a ratio of 1562 to 1351 on the Bombay Stock Exchange.

Globally the recovery in crude oil prices helped equities gain further. Asian markets like Hang Seng, Shanghai, Straits Times and Kospi advanced 0.6-1.6 percent at close. European markets like France’s CAC, Germany’s DAX and Britain’s FTSE went up nearly a percent (at 16 hours IST).

Brent crude oil prices inched up 0.9 percent to USD 61.93 a barrel while US crude February futures gained 0.7 percent at USD 57.53 a barrel.

On the home turf, HDFC was the stock of the day after the company agreed to sell 0.95 percent stake in HDFC Standard Life Insurance Company to the Azim Premji Trust at a price of Rs 105 per share. Post this deal, HDFC will hold 71.42 percent stake in the insurance company. The stock gained 2.8 percent.

Its group company HDFC Bank was up 2.4 percent while rival ICICI Bank, Axis Bank and State Bank of India advanced 1-1.5 percent.

Utility vehicle maker Mahindra and Mahindra topped the buying list on Sensex, up more than 4 percent as report suggested that the company, in order to win market share, lined up close to a dozen launches for 2015.

Coal India was up 3.6 percent. Power equipment maker BHEL jumped 2.7 percent on getting euro 16.96 million contract for thermal power project from EUAS in Turkey.

Jindal Steel and Power gained more than 6 percent after the company announced that it's arm, Jindal Power alloted NCDs worth Rs 500 to Kotak Mahindra Bank. JSPL already raised Rs 1,000 crore via the non convertible debentures alloted to Kotak Mahindra Bank last week.

Shares of ITC, Tata Motors, ONGC, HUL, Bharti Airtel, NTPC, Hero Motocorp, Dr Reddy’s Labs, GAIL and Maruti Suzuki climbed 1-2 percent. However, Larsen & Toubro, Infosys, Tata Steel and Hindalco were the only losers on Sensex, down 0.3-1.2 percent.

In the broader space, Suzlon Energy surged 8 percent as its subsidiary Senvion won new and repeat orders of over 60 MW in UK while IVRCL was up 5 percent as its irrigation and water divisions bagged orders worth Rs 1,255.67 crore.

Vakrangee jumped 7 percent after the qualified institutional placement (QIP) committee of the company decided to launch the issue of securities to the QIBs in the month of January, 2015. Jindal Stainless climbed 8 percent ahead of board meeting, on December 29, for mulling asset monetisation.

R Systems International shot up 14 percent on approval of buyback offer. The company will buyback shares at a price upto Rs 100 per share.

BF Utilities, Mastek, India Cements, Future Retail, Manappuram Finance, Petronet LNG, HCC and SKS Microfinance were up 4-20 percent.

However, Electrosteel Castings and Electrosteel Steels were down 7-10 percent as media report suggested that the CBI registered a case against both companies for alleged criminal conspiracy and cheating in acquiring a coal block mine in Jharkhand.

Tyre companies like Ceat and JK Tyre lost 4-6 percent as they have agreed to procure rubber from the domestic market at 25 percent higher price over international price to aid the fund-staved sector in Kerala.