Post Session: Quick Review

Indian markets extended their jubilation on Monday and added around half a percent to their last session’s rally with Nifty hitting its fresh all time high. Amid the election euphoria traders turned bullish with constant buying by foreign institutional investors. Though, there was some cautiousness too with the start of the F&O week, as the series will be expiring a day ahead of its schedule and also as there was weakness in the rupee. However, markets trading steadily kept gaining gradually and both the benchmarks Nifty and Sensex closed at their fresh all time high.

The global markets showed a mixed trend with some of the Asian markets still remaining closed for Ester holidays and others ending mostly in red. Japanese markets after initial gains gave up and ended marginally in red on reporting weakest export growth in a year that led to wider than expected trade deficit.

Back home, the local markets moved higher supported by fund buying and hopes of further upmove after elections. Steel stocks remained in upbeat mood since beginning after a report stated that global steel demand is likely to grow at a faster pace of 3.3 per cent this year, driven by rising demand for the commodity from India, Brazil, Russia, West Asia and North Africa. Also, as the Supreme Court lifted its ban on Goa mining with riders, which has been in progress since September 2012. Now, the iron ore mining will be restricted to 20 million tonnes annually. The court also said that the Goa government must consider all leases expired post 2007. Sesa Sterlite, which is going to be one of the biggest beneficiary, surged by over 8% intraday but finally managed a gain of 4% for the day. Sugar stocks too showed some gains after the government decided to continue with the export subsidy of Rs 3,300 per tonne on raw sugar shipments for the April-May period. As much as 4,00,000 tonnes of sugar are likely to be exported in April and May. The sectors that remained in sombre mood were IT, Tech and FMCG. The IT sector despite rupee weakness was under pressure with the drag in heavy weight Wipro after its results. Wipro reported a strong performance in the March quarter that beat average market expectations, but forecast revenue in the range of $1.715 billion and $1.755 billion, which was below expectation. The defensive FMCG sector stocks too suffered some profit booking.

The market breadth on the BSE ended positive; advances and declining stocks were in a ratio of 1749: 1033, while 113 scrips remained unchanged. (Provisional)The BSE Sensex gained 117.27 points or 0.52% to settle at 22746.11. The index touched a high and a low of 22795.58 and 22636.75 respectively. Among the 30-share Sensex, 18 stocks gained, while 12 stocks declined. (Provisional)

The BSE Mid cap and Small cap indices ended higher by 0.73% and 1.39% respectively. (Provisional)

On the BSE Sectoral front, Capital Goods up by 2.78%, Metal up by 1.86%, Auto up by 1.31%, PSU up by 1.30% and Bankex up by 1.28% were the top gainers, while IT down by 0.74%, FMCG down by 0.50%, Realty down by 0.42%, Teck down by 0.21% and Healthcare down by 0.02% were the top losers in the space. (Provisional)

The top gainers on the Sensex were L&T up by 3.87%, SSLT up by 3.74%, Mahindra & Mahindra up by 3.53%,  Bharti Airtel up by 3.18% and BHEL up by 2.95%. On the other hand, Wipro down by 6.86%, Hindustan Unilever down by 1.96%, Sun Pharma down by 0.63%, HDFC Bank down by 0.38% and Tata Power down by 0.36% were the top losers in the index. (Provisional)

Meanwhile, the Government has reviewed the raw sugar subsidy amount and decided to continue with the export subsidy of Rs 3,300 per tonne on its shipments for the period of April-May 2014. In February, the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) had approved an incentive for export of four million tonnes of raw sugar for two years to help the cash-starved sugar industry to pay arrears to sugarcane farmers. The CCEA decided to review the subsidy amount after every two months depending on the rupee-dollar exchange rate. The government had fixed export subsidy at Rs 3,300 per tonne for the February-March 2014 period.

As per the Indian Sugar Mills Association (ISMA), around 4,00,000 tonnes of sugar is likely to be exported during April- May 2014. In the first six months of the current marketing year (October-September), India exported around 1.45 million tonnes of sugar in both raw and refined form out of which around 3,50,000 tonnes of sugar was exported in March, the first month of this subsidy plan. The latest government’s move is likely to enhance the raw sugar exports in coming future.

India, world's second biggest sugar producer and largest consumer, particularly produces more white sugar for domestic consumption as comparison to raw sugar. Meanwhile, the raw sugar segment is presenting a lot of exports opportunities for the country. Till April 15 of marketing year 15, the country’s sugar output declined 4 percent to 23.1 million tonnes from 24.15 million tonnes in the same period last year. Sugar production declined in Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra, country’s top two producing states, while output in Karnataka was at a record level on the back of good rains.

India VIX, a gauge for markets short-term expectation volatility gained 11.44% at 34.38 from its previous close of 30.85 on Thursday. (Provisional)

The CNX Nifty gained 38.25 points or 0.56% to settle at 6,817.65. The index touched high and low of 6,825.45 and 6,786.90 respectively. Out of the 50 stocks on the Nifty, 28 ended in the green, while 22 ended in the red. 

The major gainers of the Nifty were L&T up 4.14%, SSLT up by 3.66%, M&M up by 3.63%, PNB up by 3.26% and Bharti Airtel up by 3.18%. The key losers were Wipro down by 6.97%, Hindustan Unilever down by 2.04%, Cairn down by 1.75%, DLF down by 1.35% and Power Grid down by 1.12%. (Provisional)

The Asian markets concluded Monday’s trade mostly in red while Hong Kong Stock Exchange was closed today on account of Easter Monday holiday. Japan’s weakest export growth in a year spurred a wider-than-forecast trade deficit in March, adding to challenges for Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in steering the economy through the aftermath of an April 1 sales-tax rise. Japan’s trade balance fell to a seasonally adjusted -1.71T, from -1.18T in the preceding month whose figure was revised down from -1.13T. The trade data also helped spur a weaker yen to boost shares. Indonesia’s central bank expects inflation to ease in April, for a rise of 7.2% on the year compared to 7.32% the previous month. Deputy governor Perry Warjiyo stated that the bank estimated inflation on a monthly basis would be below 0.1%. The deputy governor also added that the country’s current account deficit is also expected to stand at below 2% of gross domestic product in the first quarter of the year.