Post Session: Quick Review

The start of the new year 2015 proved an uninspiring one for the Indian equity markets, though there was not much from the global front as all the major Asian markets remained closed for the day, while the weakness in the US markets overnight weighed on the sentiments and kept the indices in check. The absence of foreign investors too restricted any gains in the markets, while the domestic institutions too remained in holiday mood. It was a low volume trade and total market turnover stood less than 90k crore. Meanwhile, in a political development, the government the Planning Commission, which was established in 1950, will be called 'Neeti Ayog' in its new avatar. It has been reported that the new structure will have the Prime Minister, some Cabinet ministers and some chief ministers along with technocrats and experts in various fields.

The mood mainly continued of holiday and trade remained lackluster from the very beginning, though there was buying interest in selective counters during mid of the day, but intermittent profit booking restricted the markets in a tight range, posting just modest gains by last.

Auto sector despite apprehension of a decline after the government decided to roll back the 4-6% excise duty cuts on automobiles announced last February, kept their head high in day’s trade supported by some upbeat monthly sales numbers. The country’s top passenger car maker, Maruti Suzuki reported 20.8 percent increase in its monthly sales, its domestic sales were up by 13.3 percent. Eicher Motors reported 24.66 percent growth in total sales in December, while Atul Auto’s sales were up by 18.82 percent. The other gauge that witnessed sudden spurt was of aviation after oil marketing companies (OMCs) reduced aviation turbine fuel (ATF) price for sixth succeeding month in January 2015 by sharp 12.5%. ATF price were reduced for sixth straight month to a cumulative 34% till date. Jet Airways surged by 10% and Spicejet gained over 4%. The PSU oil marketing companies too moved higher, as they decided against cutting petrol and diesel prices. Instead, the companies would absorb the benefits of falling crude oil prices to meet their inventory losses. However, price of non-subsidised cooking gas (LPG) was cut by Rs 43.50 per cylinder. The power sector stocks too kept buzzing after coal secretary Anil Swarup reportedly said that he expected Coal India to scale up its output in a big way from 2016 onwards once railways succeed in augmenting infrastructure to transport coal.

The BSE Sensex ended at 27507.54, up by 8.12 points or 0.03% after trading in a range of 27395.34 and 27545.61. 18 stocks advanced against 12 declining stocks on the index.(Provisional)

The broader indices outperformed the benchmarks with a big margin; the BSE Mid cap index ended up by 0.65%, while Small cap index surged by 1.25%.(Provisional)

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Metal up by 1.07%, INFRA up by 0.73%, PSU up by 0.48%, TECK up by 0.48%, Auto up by 0.39% while, FMCG down by 0.27%, Power down by 0.06% were the losing indices on BSE.(Provisional)

The top gainers on the Sensex were Bharti Airtel up by 2.98%, Sesa Sterlite up by 2.50%, BHEL up by 1.70%, Tata Steel up by 1.65% and Bajaj Auto up by 0.97%. On the flip side, NTPC down by 1.04%, Dr. Reddys Lab down by 1.03%, Coal India down by 0.98%, HDFC down by 0.88% and GAIL India down by 0.54% were the top losers.(Provisional)

Meanwhile, in a big sign of disappointment to the central government, India’s fiscal deficit widened to 99% at Rs 5.25 lakh crore during April-November this fiscal as against Rs 5.31 lakh crore Budget Estimates for 2014-15. In the corresponding year-ago period, fiscal deficit, gap between government expenditure and revenue, was 93.9% of the budget estimate.

During the reported period, government's net tax revenue was Rs 4.13 lakh crore or 42.3% of the Rs 9.77 lakh crore estimated for the whole year. Total receipts including revenue and non-debt capital during the eight months of the year was Rs 5.49 lakh crore or 43.4% of the target. Prevailing slowdown in manufacturing sector is adversely impacting the tax collection, which is the major source of revenue for the government. On the other hand, Plan expenditure of the government during the period was Rs 2.93 lakh crore or 51.1% of target and non-Plan expenditure was Rs 7.8 lakh crore or 64 % of the target. The fiscal deficit was recorded at around Rs 5.08 lakh crore or 4.5% of GDP in FY14 as against 4.9% in FY13.

With an aim to trim the fiscal deficit to 4.1% of gross domestic product (GDP) in FY15, the government has recently issued new austerity measures including 10% cut in non-Plan expenditure. The government barred senior officials from first-class air travel, foreign jaunts, holding meetings in five-star hotels and purchase of new cars. Moreover, it had also put in place a fiscal consolidation roadmap as per which the fiscal deficit has to be brought down to 3 per cent of the GDP by 2016-17.

The CNX Nifty ended marginally higher at 8284.00, up by 1.30 points or 0.02% after trading in a range of 8248.75 and 8294.70. There were 27 stocks advancing against 21 stocks declining on the index.(Provisional)

The top gainers on Nifty were Jindal Steel & Power up by 3.10%, Bharti Airtel up by 2.89%, NMDC up by 2.24%, Sesa Sterlite up by 2.21% and BPCL up by 1.27%. On the flip side, Dr. Reddys Lab down by 1.10%, NTPC down by 1.08%, HDFC down by 1.05%, Coal India down by 0.99% and Zee Entertainment down by 0.80% were the top losers.(Provisional)

All the major Asian and European markets remained closed on account of New Year holiday.