Sensex ends with mild gains on last trading day of 2013

The BSE Sensex closed higher today, provisionally gaining 9 percent in 2013 as sustained foreign investor flows offset widespread concerns about a domestic economy suffering from low growth but high inflation.

The Nifty closed at 6304, up 12.90 points.

Tata Power was up 3 percent , while Wipro, Axis Bank, Reliance and Dr Reddy’s Labs were top gainers in the Sensex. Among the top losers were BHEL , Maruti Suzuki, M&M, Infosys and HDFC Bank .

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Dipen Shah, Head- Private Client Group Research, Kotak Securities said that the year 2013 yielded marginal gains for the benchmark indices though there was significant volatility during the period.

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Shah pointed out that the major factors which influenced markets were the Fed taper concerns, rupee weakness (it has recovered from the lows, though) inflation / interest rate concerns and finally, expectations on the political front. Slowing growth also kept market sentiment subdued.

“Going ahead, there is some data about the initial phase of the Fed tapering. However, India has built a war-chest of about $35bn recently, which has reduced rupee’s vulnerability to the same.”

“There is uncertainty on the outcome of general elections. In such a scenario, which is fraught with concerns and uncertainty, one needs to look at the longer term rather than the immediate future. Also, a balanced portfolio approach is advisable as compared to a concentrated one,” Shah further added.

S Varadrajan, CMD of Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited ( BPCL ) expects the 50 paisa diesel price hike regime to continue in 2014 as well. Shares of oil marketing companies have been buzzing in trade of late on hopes of higher hike in diesel prices than the current 50 paise per litre per month. According to media reports, the oil & gas ministry is mulling a new subsidy-sharing mechanism in-line with Kirit Parikh recommendation and will move a Cabinet note for the same. “Going forward, as per the current policy statement, we do hope that we will be allowed to pass-through these increases over the next year also as part of the larger deregulation for diesel,” Varadrajan told CNBC-TV18.

Stocks in news:

Apollo Tyres closed 5.77 percent up. Yesterday, Cooper Tire terminates USD 2.5 billion merger agreement with Apollo Tyres.

Trent closed 0.38 percent up.The FIPB approved the Tesco-Trent JV in multi-brand retail on Monday.

Blue chips gained today, with Reliance Industries closing up 0.78 percent, Tata Motors ending 0.45 percent higher and Tata Consultancy Services gaining 0.84 percent.