Stocks end 2016 with 3% gains; volatility, black swan events dominate
Fresh buying into front line shares and continued covering of short positions helped markets to end higher for the 4th…
Broader markets consolidated in a narrow range for the fifth session on Tuesday due to lack of volumes during the holiday season. Most stocks showed negative price ticks as investors and traders refrained from aggressive position making during the Christmas week.
Volumes are generally low in the last fortnight of each year as traders take off for a much needed break, prompting the indices and stocks to move in thin price bands. The Nifty, for instance, fell for the 5th session in a row, down just 7 points to 8,120 points. The cumulative fall over the past week has been less than 1 percent, pointing to little or no interest in the market.
Meanwhile, here are the major events in today’s trade:
* Six Tata Group companies — Tata Motors, Tata Steel, Tata Chemicals, Tata Power, Tata Global Beverages and Indian Hotels — showed mild upticks after ousted group Chairman Cyrus Mistry resigned from these companies the previous day as he upped his ongoing battle with scion Ratan Tata. Marketmen expect Mistry, who termed Ratan Tata’s Oct 24 step to remove him from the post of the chairman as an `illegal coup’ — to take up his fight to the courts.
* Meanwhile, TCS, Coal India, ITC, NTPC and Tech Mahindra rose 1.2-1.5% and were 26 stocks that on the Nifty.
* Bosch, Aurobindo Pharma, Bajaj Auto, hindalco and Bharti Airtel dropped between 1.2-2.6% and were among 24 decliners on the index.
* The Sensex rose 26 points to 26,401 points on the Bombay Stock Exchange. Coal India was the top gainer while Bajaj Auto slipped the most on the index.
* Bharat Financial, Aurobindo Pharma and TCS were the top traded shares by value.
* Opto Circuits, Bharat Financial and TreeHouse Education were the top traded shares by volume.
* Sun TV, India Cements and IRB Infra futures were the top gainers in the derivatives segment.
* Granules India, Bosch, Havells and Hind Zinc futures dropped the most.
* Overall, the trend was flat in the broader markets with the Advance-Decline Ratio at 1:1.
* However, the bears had an upper hand in the derivatives market where 112 futures lost versus 63 that gained.
* Engineers India, Sonata Software and India Glycols were hit fresh highs in the market.
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