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Banking, metal stocks most favoured
Thu, 8 Jan Closing

The Indian markets ended the day on a strong note, with the BSE-Sensex closing higher by about 366 points or 1.4%, while the NSE-Nifty ended higher by about 132 points or 1.6%. Buying was witnessed in stocks across the board, with those from the realty and banking spaces being the top gainers. Mid and smallcaps ended the day on a firm note as well with their respective indices closing higher by about 1.8% each.

Asia stocks ended the day on a firm note, while stocks in Europe were trading firm as well. The rupee was trading at Rs 62.97 to the dollar.

Steel stocks have ended the day on a firm note led by Jindal Steel and Tata Steel. As reported by a leading business daily, steel major Steel Authority of India is looking to spend Rs 1.5 trillion by 2031 to more than double its capacity to 50 m tonnes by then. The company's current capacity stands at 23 m tonnes. As per SAIL's Chairman, this investment would be a mix of greenfield and brownfield projects. Of this amount, the company would be looking to invest about a fourth in the state of West Bengal - towards new capacities and allied activities including mining. As of FY14 end, the company had a gross block of Rs 566 bn. The capex over this planned period comes to about Rs 93 bn per year, which has been pretty much in line with what the company has been spending over the past few years. As of FY14, SAIL had a comfortable debt to equity ratio of 0.6 times.

The BSE Small Cap index is up by about 65% as compared to the BSE-Sensex's gain of 30% in the year gone by. As reported by the Mint, valuations of smallcaps have closed in on those of the Sensex companies by as much as 26%. This is seemingly expensive when compared to the long term average of 36% difference between the two. It is also believed that Indian smallcaps are the highest valued amongst Asian countries - with an average price to book value ratio of 2.36. While these signs to indicate an overheated market, it must be kept in mind that taking a broader approach on indices only helps in gauging the market attractiveness. However, when it comes to buying stocks, the bottom approach should be taken into consideration. Stocks with good fundamentals would outperform those which do not posses such traits.

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