The Indian stock market ended on a firm note on Monday, after trading in positive territory right through the session on the back of encouraging industrial output and inflation reports.
Global cues were not any significantly positive and quarterly earnings reports from India Inc not any spectacular either. But strong macroeconomic data and expectations about the government's reforms agenda kept the market floating in positive territory.
The BSE benchmark Sensex ended up 133.97 points or 0.44% at 30,322.12, after advancing to a high of 30,357.96 earlier in the day. The Nifty50 of the National Stock Exchange ended at 9445.40, slightly off the day's high of 9449.25, gaining 44.50 points or 0.47%.
In the forex market, the rupee was trading at 64.15 against the U.S. dollar around mid afternoon, up 16 paise from its previous close of 64.31.
Metal stocks turned in a fine performance today, thanks to higher copper prices in global commodity markets. The BSE Metal index advanced 2.4%, while Nifty Metal index gained 2.28%. Welcorp, the top gainer in the metal space, ended nearly 7.5% up. Tata Steel gained more than 4.5% and Hindalco added 4%. JSW Steel, SAIL, NMDC, Vedanta and APL Apollo Tubes gained 1.7% - 2.6%. Ratnamani Metals and Hindustan Zinc ended notably higher, while Nalco edged up marginally.
Healthcare stocks had a good outing. Dr Reddy's Laboratories (3.5%) and Piramal Enterprises (up nearly 10%) rose sharply on better than expected quarterly results. Vivimed Labs, Sequent, Astrazen Pharma, Biocon, JB Chemicals and Claris Lifesciences also rallied sharply. Lupin ended 2.5% up. Cipla, Sun Pharmaceutical Industries and Cadila Healthcare ended slighlty lower, while Glaxo Smithkline ended flat.
In the banking space, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Federal Bank and ICICI Bank gained 1.8% - 2.2%. State Bank of India, Bank of Baroda and HDFC Bank ended modestly higher and IndusInd Bank closed little changed. Axis Bank, Yes Bank and Punjab National Bank ended weak.
Among IT majors, Infosys, Oracle Financial Services, Wipro, HCL Technologies ended weak, while Tata Elxsi, Tech Mahindra and Tata Consultancy Services edged higher.
FMCG stocks Jubilant Foodworks, Godrej Industries, Procter & Gamble, ITC, Britannia Industries and Tata Global Beverages ended with strong gains. Hindustan Unilever, Godrej Consumer Products and United Breweries edged up marginally.
In thte telecom space, Idea Cellular declined sharply on weak results. Bharti Airtel edged down marginally.
From the Oil & Gas index, Petronet LNG gained 3.7%, Castrol ended nearly 3% up, Indian Oil Corporation added 1.75, ONGC and GAIL India gained about 1.2% each, and Indraprastha Gas, Oil India and Hindustan Petroleum Corporation posted modest gains. Reliance Industries and BPCL ended slightly lower.
Realty stocks HDIL (4.2%), Oberoi Realty (2%) and Indiabulls Real Estate (1.4%) posted strong gains. DLF, Godrej Properties, Omaxe and Phoenix ended modestly higher.
Among automobile stocks, Maruti Suzuki, Mahindra & Mahindra, Ashok Leyland and Tata Motors gained 0.3% - 1.3%, while Bajaj Auto, Eicher Motors and Hero Motocorp ended weak.
Among power stocks, GMR Infrastructure, CG Power, JSW Energy, Siemens, Thermax and Tata Power ended on a firm note, while Reliance Infrastructure and Suzlon declined.
With the latest data showing India's retail inflation to have declined sharply, investors appeared to be betting on an interest rate cut by the Reserve Bank of India.
The market breadth was slightly positive. Out of 2989 stocks traded on BSE, 1483 stocks advanced. 1297 stocks declined and 209 stocks ended flat.
Last week, the government released a new series of industrial output and wholesale inflation data, revising the base year to 2011-12 from 2004-05.
After trading hours on Friday, the government released a report that showed India's consumer and wholesale price inflation rates to have slowed more-than-expected in April. The consumer price index rose 2.99%, following a 3.89% increase in March. Food inflation eased to 0.61% from 2.01%. The wholesale price inflation eased to 3.85% in April, from 5.29% in March, another data showed.
Meanwhile, India’s industrial output rose 2.7% in March from a year earlier, another release from the government showed.
