Helping You Build Wealth With Honest Research
Since 1996. Try Now

MEMBER'S LOGINX

     
Invalid Username / Password
   
     
   
     
 
Invalid Captcha
   
 
 
 
(Please do not use this option on a public machine)
 
     
 
 
 
  Sign Up | Forgot Password?  


Sensex Ends Marginally Higher; Consumer Durables and FMCG Stocks Witness Buying
Wed, 30 Sep Closing

Indian share markets continued to witness volatile trades during closing hours today and ended marginally higher, lifted mainly by FMCG stocks.

The BSE Sensex ended the day up by 95 points.

Meanwhile, the NSE Nifty stood higher by 25 points.

The top gainers in NSE today were Grasim, Tech Mahindra and Titan.

SGX Nifty was trading at 11,248, up by 14 points, at the time of writing.

Both, the BSE Mid Cap index and the BSE Small Cap index ended on a flat note.

Sectoral indices ended on a mixed note with stocks in the FMCG sector and consumer durables sector witnessing buying interest.

Meanwhile, telecom stocks witnessed selling pressure.

Asian stock markets ended on a mixed note. As of the most recent closing prices, the Hang Seng was up 1% and the Shanghai Composite stood lower by 0.2%. The Nikkei ended down by 1.5%.

US stock futures are trading lower, indicating a negative opening for Wall Street indices. Nasdaq Futures are trading down by 122 points (down 1.1%), while Dow Futures are trading down by 266 points (down 1%).

The rupee is trading at 73.76 against the US$.

Gold prices are trading down by 0.7% at Rs 50,365 per 10 grams.

Domestic gold and silver prices fell sharply, tracking softness in global rates. In the previous session, gold had surged 1% or about Rs 500 while silver had jumped Rs 1,900 per kg.

Gold has given up significant gains after hitting a record high of Rs 56,200 on August 7. Earlier this week, it had dipped below Rs 49,500 before seeing some recovery.

Speaking of the precious yellow metal, how lucrative has gold been as a long-term investment in India?

The chart below shows the annual returns on gold over the last 15 years...


As you can see, barring just two years - 2013 and 2015, gold has delivered positive returns in 13 of the last 15 years.

The recent price volatility in the bullion market has rattled many traders. Even with the recent volatility in prices, gold remains among the best performing commodities this year to combat the fallout from the coronavirus pandemic.

So is the rally over? Will gold and silver prices fall?

India's #1 trader Vijay Bhambwani doesn't think so. Vijay believes the bull market still has a long way to go.

In his latest video, he tells you why. Tune in to find out more:

Moving on to stock specific news...

Bharat Petroleum Corporation (BPCL) was among the top buzzing stocks today.

Shares of the company slipped over 9% in intraday trade today after the government extended deadline to submit expression of interest (EoI) for the company's privatization to November 16, 2020.

The government on March 7, 2020, had issued a Preliminary Information Memorandum document (PIM) for inviting Expression of Interest (EoI) for strategic disinvestment of BPCL.

"In view of further requests received from the Interested Bidders (IBs) and the prevailing situation arising out of Covid-19 pandemic, the last date for submission of EoIs is further extended to 16th November 2020," the circular said.

According to a Reuters report, Rosneft and Saudi Aramco are unlikely to bid in the privatization of the state-owned refiner.

A Rosneft source told that it will not buy BPCL, while another source said the Russian oil major would only be interested in BPCL's marketing business which is comprised of fuel depots and more than 16,800 fuel stations.

The government is proposing to sell its entire shareholding in BPCL, comprising 1.14 million equity shares which constitutes 52.98% of BPCL's equity share capital, along with transfer of management control to a strategic buyer as part of its strategic disinvestment.

BPCL share price ended the day down by 9%.

Market participants were also tracking Advanced Enzyme Technologies share price.

Shares of the company hit a fresh 52-week high of Rs 339, rallying 13% on the back of heavy volumes. In the past one week, stock of the agricultural products company has zoomed as much as 45% after foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) bought nearly 4% stake in the company via open market.

Moving on to news from the IPO space, the Rs 21.6-billion initial public offering (IPO) of UTI Asset Management Company, the eighth-largest asset management company in India in terms of mutual fund QAAUM, was subscribed 57% at the time of writing.

The IPO received bids for 15.5 million equity shares against an offer size of 27.3 million equity shares.

The response seems to be tepid when compared to Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders and Likhitha Infrastructure IPOs that too are open for subscription.

However, these issues are smaller in size compared to UTI AMC.

The Rs 4.4 billion IPO of Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders was subscribed 5.8 times, so far, as it received bids for 177.5 million equity shares against an offer size of 30.5 million shares.

Retail investors have been in the leading position for bids as their reserved portion has been subscribed 12.35 times and that of non-institutional investors (NII) 3.26 times.

Mazagon Dock IPO was supposed to launch in September 2019, but the plan was shelved due to low demand.

To know more about the company, you can read our note on the IPO here: Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders IPO: Should You Apply? (requires subscription).

How the above IPOs sail through remains to be seen. We will keep you updated on the latest developments from this space. Stay tuned.

To know what's moving the Indian stock markets today, check out the most recent share market updates here.

For information on how to pick stocks that have the potential to deliver big returns, download our special report now!

Read the latest Market Commentary


Equitymaster requests your view! Post a comment on "Sensex Ends Marginally Higher; Consumer Durables and FMCG Stocks Witness Buying". Click here!