Indian Markets Wednesday Wrap-Up: Markets End on a High

Strong buying activity during the final hour of trade led the Indian markets to end the day on a firm note as the BSE-Sensex ended the day higher by around 520 points, while the NSE-Nifty closed higher by about 160 points. Stocks from the mid-cap and small-cap spaces ended the day on a strong note, recording gains of 3.7% and 3.4% respectively. Buying activity was witnessed in stocks across sectors led by realty, banking and power. However stocks from the healthcare and FMCG spaces were less in favour.

Asian markets ended the day on a firm note. The European indices are currently trading in the green as well. Rupee was trading at 47.7 against the US dollar at the time of writing.

Software stocks ended the day on a firm note led by HCL Technologies, Tech Mahindra and Mphasis. As per a leading business daily, the respective managements of software majors, Infosys (INFY) and Wipro (WIT) expect higher demand from the domestic market and the Middle East going forward. In fact, Wipro plans to ramp up its expansion plans in the Middle East as the company expects growth to be in the region of 50% plus each year. It may be noted that the Middle East and the Indian markets are not highly penetrated as compared to the developed countries.

Auto stocks ended the day on a firm note led by Ashok Leyland, Tata Motors and M&M. A leading business daily reported that the management of Maruti Suzuki is concerned about its revenue growth coming from two of its models - Dzire and Swift. It believes that the company could face problems if this issue continued longer. The management added that Maruti’s performance in many other models was not up to the mark. Volumes of the company’s A1 models, which mainly includes the M-800, declined by 29% YoY during the year, while volumes of its C segment (includes Omni, Versa) declined by 13% YoY. On the other hand, volumes of its other two segments - A2 (which includes Alto, Wagon R, Swift, amongst others) and A3 (which includes SX4 and Dzire) grew by 54% YoY. As such, on account of the slowing volumes in the A1 and C segments, the company is trying to boost volumes by targeting the rural areas.

Consulting firm McKinsey in its latest report has stated that it expects the Indian pharmaceutical industry to grow rapidly in the coming years. It believes that the demand will largely grow in the domestic market. It expects the market to grow by at least 10% YoY to 12% YoY. In addition, the firm stated that it expects large pharma companies to weather the slowdown in the economy as they have comfortable cash positions. However, it expects smaller and highly leveraged firms to be under pressure.