Stock Market: Wild index swing subsides; fund houses throw anchor
By S Jha
New Delhi, January 11: The wild swings in the Indian stock markets subsided in the latter half of the Wednesday trading after the morning session saw extreme volatility in the indices. Nifty and Bank Nifty gave up their small gains to dive deep in the red, only to erase all losses to turn bullish within a few minutes, while losing all the gains again soon after.
The volatility is the underlying theme of the stock markets in India in the new-year, as the indices are taking cues from the US markets for directions. The global growth outlook is turning gloomy, with back to back bearish bets by the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank.
The Bank Nifty on Wednesday shrugged off the market gloom, suddenly shooting in the green as the most laggard stock of the last year began spurting. HDFC Bank with a singular bullish run turned the Bank Nifty and Nifty green. HDFC bank is an index heavyweight, and even a percentage move in the stock price sends Bank Nifty soaring. The market participants are eagerly awaiting the merger of HDFC entities – HDFC Bank, HDFC and HDFC Life.
The metal pack remained bullish amid the overall equity gloom. Hindalco, which is seen to be the most bullish stock in the metal pack spurted by three per cent in the day to touch the level of Rs 493 during the day. The scrip has been in a momentum since the level of Rs 440 on the China re-opening theme. It was joined by the likes of Tata Steel and JSW Steel. Copper, meanwhile, on Wednesday touched an all-time high price, which is indicative of the metals gaining strength in the international market.
TCS, which was bearish on Tuesday, returned to its momentum, while HCL technology led the way for the IT pack. Market participants for years have been betting on IT stocks to beat the recession blues. Tech Mahindra and Infosys too were marginally positive.
Foreign institutional investors remained bearish on the Indian equities, as they dumped a net of Rs 3208 crores of stocks. But their domestic counterparts sought to anchor the indices, buying a net of Rs 2431 crores. Consensus views of the market participants is that the stock markets are sideways being directionless, and indices could be prone to wild swings.
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