Post Session: Quick Review

Final session of F&O expiry turned out to be tormenting one for Indian equity markets, which nursing hefty losses of close to 1.50%, settled below the crucial 24,250 (Sensex) and 7,250 (Nifty) levels respectively. Local equity markets after making a muted start, witnessing bouts of selling pressure, kept losing ground, though some recovery came to the fore in afternoon deals that too was reciprocated by profit-booking by select market-participants, ahead of Q4 GDP data tomorrow and RBI policy review next week, wherein Raghuram Rajan is most likely to keep monetary policy rates steady, given continued concerns about inflation. Meanwhile, broader indices too succumbing to selling pressure, snapped the session with loss in the range of 0.30-0.45%.

On the global front, Asian shares settled on mixed note on Thursday in thin trade with the market looking ahead to US GDP data. On Thursday, the US is to release revised data on first-quarter GDP as well as the weekly government report on initial jobless claims and data on pending home sales. Meanwhile, European stocks edged back from six-year highs Wednesday, after clocking five sessions of gains.

Closer home, sentiment took a hit after foreign investors sold shares worth Rs 2.87 billion on Wednesday, as per provisional exchange data, extending their selling streak to a third consecutive day, marking a cumulative sales of $90.6 million in that period. Further, amidst across the board selling pressure, only stocks of defensive Healthcare counters managed to show some resilience and ended the session with positive bias. On the flip side, stocks of Information Technology, Technology and Oil & Gas counters featured in the list of top losers. Leading the decline of IT pivotal, were shares of Infosys that slumped over 7% after the company announced the resignation of its President and Member of the Board B. G. Srinivas. The market breadth on the BSE ended negative; advances and declining stocks were in a ratio of 1420:1537, while 104 scrips remained unchanged. (Provisional)

The BSE Sensex lost 321.94 points or 1.31% to settle at 24234.15. The index touched a high and a low of 24528.20and 24206.50 respectively. Among the 30-share Sensex, 6 stocks gained, while 23 stocks declined. (Provisional)

The broader indices ended in red; the BSE Mid cap index was down by 0.34% and Small cap index was down by 0.48%. (Provisional)

On the BSE Sectoral front, Health Care up by 0.02% was the only  gainer while, IT down by 3.44%, TECK down by 2.92% , India Infrastructure Index down by 1.67%, Oil & Gas down by 1.64% and Capital Goods down by 1.49%, were the losers in the space. (Provisional)

The top gainers on the Sensex were Hindalco Inds up 1.73%, Mahindra & Mahindra up by 1.08%, Dr Reddys Lab up by 1.04%, NTPC up by 1.02% and TCS up by 0.89%.  On the flip side, the key losers were Infosys down by 7.86%, Wipro down by 2.67%, Coal India down by 2.12%, Cipla down by 1.79% and BHEL down by 1.79%. (Provisional)

Meanwhile, Industry chamber Assocham has stated that delay in key central sector projects have led to steep cost over-runs during the previous fiscal year. Assocham, in its latest report, has noted that the cost over-runs, which had been worked out at Rs 94,800 crore in about 285 Central projects till March 2013 would easily exceed Rs 1 lakh crore by March 2014.

According to Assocham's report, railways sector is estimated to be most affected with maximum escalation in costs which were up nearly three times to Rs 73,500 crore by March 2014 from the original estimates of Rs. 27,900 crore in March 2013. Among other sectors, petroleum, power, and steel have also witnessed steep rise in costs due to delays. The industry body further said that the new government should take immediate measures to monitor and revive investment cycle in these central sector projects, report added.

The infrastructure development is a most critical prerequisite to boost the economic growth. To boost infrastructure development in the country, India's Government has proposed an investment of $1 trillion for the sector during the 12th Five Year Plan, with 50 percent of the funds coming from the private sector. At present, Indian infrastructure sector is under pressure and the factors like slow reforms, worse land acquisition procedure and delay in environment and forest clearance have been impeding the business sentiments in the country which in turn adversely impacting investments in the sector.India VIX, a gauge for markets short term expectation lost 4.94% at 16.69 from its previous close of 17.55 on Wednesday. (Provisional)

The CNX Nifty lost 82.95 points or 1.13% to settle at 7,246.70. The index touched high and low of 7,325.40 and 7,224.40 respectively. Out of 50 stocks in Nifty, 14 stocks ended in the green and 36 in red.

The major gainers of the Nifty were Hindalco up by 1.66%, DR Reddy up by 1.42%, NTPC up by 0.99%, M&M up by 0.98% and Sun Pharma up by 0.76%.  On the flip side, the key losers were Infosys down by 3.43%, Jindal Steel down by 3.37%, Ambuja Cement down by 3.05%, HCL Tech down by 2.92% and IDFC down by 2.89%. (Provisional)

The European markets were trading mostly in red, with France’s CAC 40 was down by 0.21% and Germany’s DAX down by 0.08%, while UK’s FTSE 100 gained 0.19%.

The Asian markets concluded Thursday’s trade mostly in red, while Jakarta Stock Exchange was closed on account of ‘Ascension Day’ holiday. China consumer sentiment rose for the second consecutive month in May amid growing confidence that authorities will take action to support growth. The Westpac MNI China Consumer Sentiment Indicator increased to 121.2 this month from 117.3 in April, showing an improvement after three straight months of declines. China’s industrial profits rose 10% in the first four months from a year earlier, easing from last year’s 11.4% - indications that the economic growth continued to slow. The profits totaled 1.76 trillion yuan ($282 billion) in the January-April period, with 30 industries of the 41 being tracked reporting higher earnings. Japanese retail sales fell to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of -4.4%, from 11.0% in the preceding month. South Korea’s current account surplus narrowed to $7.12 billion in April from a revised $7.29 billion in March. Philippines GDP fell to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.7%, from 6.5% in the preceding month.