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…
Stocks continued to party late into Thursday with major indices closing near day’s highs as investors latched on to front line shares and traders placed long bets on beaten down fundamentally strong shares.
Here are the major highlights of today’s trade:
* Stocks opened with a gap on the higher side thanks to a record overnight close on Wall Street. The 51-share Nifty index surged 145 points to end at 8,247, its best close since November 11th. Metals, Autos, FMCG and Banking shares shone.
* Tata Steel lead 47 shares higher on the Nifty. Major gainers included Tata Motors, Adani Ports, Bajaj Auto, ITC and Hero MotoCorp. They rose between 3-4.9%.
* Four Nifty stocks lost ground. They were Bharti Infratel, Eicher Motors, Aurobindo Pharma and NTPC.
* Investors purchased Sun Pharmaceuticals aggressively with 460 crore rupees worth of shares changing hands. Maruti Suzuki and miner Vedanta were in heavy demand too.
* Woes continued to Crompton Greaves. Stock plunged for 2nd day, down 5.7%. It was the top traded stock by volume.
* The 30-shares Sensex soared 457 points to 26,694 points. Coal India, Infosys Technologies, HDFC and Mahindra & Mahindra were among 29 shares that advanced.
* Broad market indices were all up between 0.6-1.8%. The Nifty 100 was the top draw, with Havells being the top gainer, up 7.1%. The Fear Index, India ViX, dropped 7.8% as investors opened purse strings to buy beaten down shares.
* Bulls were in firm control of sentiment on Dalal Street with 1178 shares rising versus 299 that fell.
* The mood was intensely bearish in the derivatives market with 168 futures rising compared to 11 that fell.
* Markets are likely to edge higher in coming sessions as investors bet on second rung stocks to ride the uptrend.
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