Banking, engg stocks pull markets higher

Fri, 6 Dec Closing

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   Pre-Open   

   09:30 am   

   11:30 am   

   01:30 pm   

Late buying led the indices to move above the dotted line by the end of the day. The BSE-Sensex ended with gains of about 40 points or 0.2%, while the NSE-Nifty closed higher by about 20 points or 0.3%. Gains were seen in stocks across the board with those from the banking and capital goods spaces being the top performers. Stocks from the information technology and FMCG spaces were amongst the top underperformers today. BSE Mid Cap and BSE Small Cap closed on a firm note as well with their respective indices up by about 0.4% each.

Asian markets closed the day on a mixed note. However stock markets in Hong Kong, China and Japan ended with gains of about 0.1%, 0.2% and 0.8% respectively. The rupee was trading at Rs 61.63 to the dollar at the time of writing.

As per a leading financial daily, the diesel demand has dropped for the first time in the decade. This is primarily on account of monthly price increase and rise in power generation which led to the decline in demand. The current year witnessed a de-growth of 0.8 to 1%. The improvement in power generation reduced the demand for generator sets which in turn resulted in lesser demand for diesel. Moreover, diesel rates have risen by a cumulative Rs 6.62 per litre since January this year. Therefore, this impacted the demand for diesel cars too. On the other hand, petrol consumption has jumped 10% to 9.1 mn tonnes in the first seven months of this fiscal. With diesel losing its sheen, the companies forming part of the Energy sector such as Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd. (BPCL) and Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd (HPCL) will face the severe impact.

Majority of auto stocks closed in green with Escorts and Hero Motorcorp being the top gainers. As per the financial daily, India's largest utility vehicle maker Mahindra and Mahindra (M&M) has recalled 900 units of Scorpio Ex variant, due to faulty pressure regulator valve. The recall is for vehicles produced between October and November 2013. This replacement would be carried out with immediate effect. Reportedly, earlier in the year the company had recalled 25,000 to 30,000 units of its premium sports utility vehicle XUV 500 to replace parts such as fluid hose, front power window units and left wiper blade. These vehicles were produced in 2011 and 2012. Owing to continuous spate of recalls in the country, the Department of Heavy Industries is in the process of making the vehicle recall mandatory in the country. Further, it reports almost 7-10% of cars produced in the country during the last 12-18 months period have been recalled to tune of 250,000 to 300,000 units. The spate of recalls in the country shot up after the industry body, Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers Association (SIAM), came out with the Voluntary Recall Code in July 2012. M&M closed up by 0.28%