Sensex, Nifty consolidate for 3rd day; Re up 35 paise at 66.84/$

redfort

Moneycontrol Bureau

Equity benchmarks saw consolidation for third consecutive session Thursday as investors, after pricing in Union Budget and RBI's neutral policy stance, shifted their focus back to Q3 earnings and global cues. Factory data for the month of December, due Friday evening, will also be closely watched.

The 30-share BSE Sensex was up 39.78 points at 28329.70 and the 50-share NSE Nifty gained 9.35 points at 8778.40, aided by technology stocks. However, Banks and infra stocks were under pressure.

Experts expect consolidation to continue but don't see major correction in near term. After more or less stable earnings from banks, the market will closely watch third quarter earnings of SBI & Bank of Baroda, country's largest public sector lenders, on Friday.

"The government’s prudence on fiscal side and positive quarter results will give some support but the global factors are looking choppy for a turnaround in FII’s sentiment towards emerging markets," Vinod Nair of Geojit BNP Paribas Financial Services said.

Ridham Desai of Morgan Stanley expects the Sensex to touch the 39,000 mark in a 'bull case' scenario by this December.

"Strong corporate payout (buybacks and dividends), a new M&A cycle, and robust household demand for equities combined with improving growth and reasonable equity valuations (versus emerging markets and bonds) bring our bull case into play," he said.

Meanwhile, the rupee gained past 67 against the US dollar. It closed at 66.84 a dollar, up 35 paise compared with 67.19 in previous session.

Technology stocks hogged limelight today, with Nifty IT index rising 1.6 percent despite rupee strengthening against the US dollar. TCS, HCL Technologies, Infosys, Wipro and Tech Mahindra gained 1-3 percent.

Hero Motocorp shares gained 1.3 percent after better-than-expected operating margin performance despite fall in revenue.

Ahead of third quarter earnings, Mahindra & Mahindra rose 1 percent while State Bank of India fell half a percent and Bank of Baroda lost 1.4 percent.

Lupin reported healthy growth in US business that helped it post better-than-expected earnings in Q3. The stock was up half a percent.

Among other Sensex stocks, ITC and Reliance Industries gained 0.7-1 percent whereas HDFC Bank, L&T, Cipla and NTPC were down 0.6-2.6 percent.

In broader space, Welspun India shares climbed 7.6 percent on strategic agreement with Cotton Egypt Association while Maharashtra Seamless surged 8 percent on bagging order worth Rs 421 cr from ONGC.

Bank of India gained 3 percent on improvement in asset quality while Venky's locked at 20 percent upper circuit after posting profit at Rs 41.7 crore in Q3 against loss of Rs 2.7 crore YoY.

Max Ventures shares jumped 16.6 percent as the company will consider urgent business matter in its board meet on Friday.

Markets in Europe were slightly higher as investors focused on earnings and took a cautious approach amid rising political uncertainty. Asian shares also closed mostly higher, as crude and gold prices also climbed. Brent crude oil prices increased 1.36 percent to USD 55.87 a barrel at the time of writing this article.