Post Session: Quick Review

Thursday’s session turned out to be that of consolidation as markets paused to take breather after previous session’s ferocious run which led benchmarks record life time high levels. Gyrating in a thin band for entire session of trade, Nifty settled above the psychological 7,700 level, while BSE’ Sensex which resumed trading after being disrupted for about three hours due to a network outage earlier, too settled above crucial 25,800 mark, with negative bias. The session turned out to be grueling for broader indices, which settled with wider losses of around two tenths of a percent.

Absence of positive catalyst at home front mainly prevented any kind of bourses’ uptrend, while profit-booking at record high levels by market-participants in the run-up to the budget, which is scheduled to be presented on July 10, mainly weighed on the sentiment. Besides, sentiments to some extent took a hit after World Bank in its reports suggested that India’s inflation still remains uncomfortably high and that new government should avoid fiscal slippage as it seeks to revive the economy.

On the global front, Asian markets ended mixed as profit-taking tempered the buoyant sentiment fuelled by another record-breaking performance on Wall Street. Moreover, European stocks inched up in early trading on Thursday, adding to the week's gains as investors awaited U.S. payrolls figures and the outcome of a European Central Bank policy meeting. Street widely expects payrolls to increase by 212,000 in June, marking the fifth consecutive month of job gains above 200,000, thereby cementing views that the U.S. economic recovery is gaining momentum.

Closer home, however, investors to some extent drew solace from 17-month high June’s service PMI data, which suggested some signs of recovery in the economy even as inflation remains high. Majority of the sectoral indices on BSE ended into negative territory, with the top losers being stocks from Realty, Oil & Gas and Power counters. On the flip side, stocks from Healthcare, Auto and Consumer Durable counters were the top gainers of the session. The market breadth on the BSE ended negative; advances and declining stocks were in a ratio of 1292: 1467, while 104 scrips remained unchanged. (Provisional)

The BSE Sensex slipped 17.46 points or 0.07% to settle at 25823.75. The index touched a high and a low of 25999.08 and 25793.70 respectively. Among the 30-share Sensex, 11 stocks gained, while 19 stocks declined. (Provisional)

The BSE Mid cap and Small cap indices ended lower by 0.17% and 0.14% respectively. (Provisional) 

On the BSE sectoral front, Healthcare up by 1.12%, Auto up by 0.80%, Consumer Durables up by 0.59%, IT up by 0.34% and FMCG up by 0.28% were the top gainers, while Realty down by 1.47%, Oil and Gas down by 1.19%, Power down by 0.86%, Infrastructure down by 0.57% and Metal down by 0.55% were the top losers in the space. (Provisional)

The top gainers on the Sensex were Tata Motors up 3.03%, Wipro up by 2.58%, Sun Pharma up by 1.45%, TCS up by 0.86% and Cipla up by 0.68%. On the flip side, the key losers were Hero MotoCorp down by 3.17%, Hindalco down by 2.47%, Bajaj Auto down by 2.39%, ONGC down by 1.99% and Tata Power down by 1.74%. (Provisional)

Meanwhile, on the back of general elections and uncertainties over the new Companies Act, Private equity (PE) investments in the April-June quarter dropped 28% to $1.94 billion across 88 deals as compared to $2.69 billion through 114 transactions in the same period last year. In January-March quarter, private equity firms invested $2.43 billion via 109 deals. There were merely four PE investments worth at-least $100 million in April-June quarter of 2014 compared to eight such transactions in the same period last year. There was a delay in closure on few deals as investors squeezed through bets on 'safe sectors' in the second quarter of 2014 given that national election results were declared only in the last month of the quarter and also on account of new rules imposed by the New Companies Act.

According to a quarterly study by Venture Intelligence, e-commerce, pharma companies attracted dominant share of private equity investments in the second quarter of the Calendar Year (CY) 2014. Among the E-commerce segment, Flipkart's latest round of investments totaling $210 million led by Russia-based DST Global - was the largest PE investment announced during the quarter. Flipkart, which has been attracting new investors from around the world into India regularly over the last couple of years, has now raised $750 million in total.

Meanwhile, the other two largest transactions were in the pharma sector and involved investors who have been operating in India for more than a decade --Temasek and Warburg Pincus. While Temasek paid $170 million to buyout fellow PE investor ChrysCapital from Intas Pharma, Warburg Pincus committed to invest $150 million in Laurus Labs by buying out the stake held by previous investor Fidelity Growth Partners India.

India VIX, a gauge for markets short term expectation rose 1.33% at 17.80 from its previous close of 17.57 on Wednesday. (Provisional)

The CNX Nifty dipped 10.35 points or 0.13% to settle at 7,714.80. The index touched high and low of 7,732.40 and 7,677.30 respectively. Out of 50 stocks in Nifty, 15 stocks ended in the green and 35 in red. (Provisional)

The major gainers of the Nifty were Tata Motors up 3.13%, Wipro up by 2.51%, Sun Pharma up by 1.64%, M&M up by 1.00% and Cipla up by 0.72%. On the flip side, the key losers were Hero MotoCorp down by 3.31%, Bajaj Auto down by 2.40%, Hindalco down by 2.38%, Tata Power down by 2.15% and ONGC down by 2.13%. (Provisional)

European markets were trading in green; UK’s FTSE 100 up by 0.45%, Germany’s DAX up by 0.54% and France’s CAC 40 was up by 0.51%.

The Asian markets concluded Thursday’s trade mixed, with China stocks gaining for a fourth day in the longest winning streak since May. An index of China’s services industry from HSBC Holdings Plc and Markit rose to 53.1 in June from 50.7 in May, the highest reading since March 2013. Figures above 50 indicate expansion. Separate data showed the official non-manufacturing gauge slid to 55 in June from 55.5 the month before. Hong Kong Retail Sales rose to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of -4.1%, from -9.8% in the preceding month. Indonesia has received a $500 million loan from the World Bank to bolster the nation’s efforts in reforming the financial sector. Consumer confidence has declined in June amid concern over the availability of jobs and an expected slowdown in Indonesia’s economy in the next six months. The consumer confidence index may decline 0.3% to 94.8 points in June.