Post Session: Quick Review

Local equity markets, putting a halt to five consecutive session record-breaking streak, concluded flat on Wednesday in absence of positive trigger and prevailing caution ahead of U.S. Fed meeting outcome due later in the day amidst hopes that U.S. Federal Reserve could take a dovish stance in its post-meeting statement later in the day. Incremental profit-booking activities by participants after eight consecutive sessions of winning streak in the backdrop of daunting global set-up mainly led to mixed session of trade.  On one hand, 30 share index, Sensex losing one tenth of a percent, ended below psychologically crucial 29,550 level, on the other, Nifty staying afloat in green, concluded above crucial 8900 mark. The similar trend was witnessed at broader front with Midcap index edging gains of around 0.25% and Small-cap index ending lower by half a percent.

On the global front, Asian shares concluded mostly lower tailing massive losses in US shares on Wall Street. US shares were depressed by some disappointing company results, with big companies like Microsoft and DuPont being hit by the stronger dollar. Meanwhile, European shares receiving a negative handover from Asian shares, were trading mostly into negative territory. Meanwhile, European shares dipped in early trading on Wednesday, with Greek stocks extending their sell-off sparked by the victory of leftwing Syriza party in Sunday's election.

Closer home, most of the sectoral indices on BSE concluded into positive territory nevertheless stocks from Consumer Durables, Oil & Gas and Realty counters topped the gainers list. On the flip side, much of the drubbing was witnessed by stocks from Capital Goods, Metal and Auto counters which were the prominent losers of the session. Meanwhile, healthcare stocks managed to end into positive territory even after Indian generic drugmaker Ranbaxy Laboratories reported a wider loss in the December quarter, hurt by foreign exchange losses and higher finance costs. The company's net loss in the October-December period stood at Rs 10.3 billion ($167.8 million), compared with a loss of Rs 1.6 billion posted in the same quarter last year. Additionally, banking stocks were in demand on renewed buying with shares of state-run State Bank of India hitting 52-week high. In stock-specific action, three telecom stocks rang off after the government postponed, the auction of mobile phone airwaves to March 4 2015. The auctions were earlier slated to start on 25 February 2015. The overall market breadth on BSE was in the favour of decliners, which thumped advances in the ratio of 1131:1730, while 117 shares remained unchanged (Provisional).

The BSE Sensex ended at 29547.54, down by 23.50 points or 0.08% after trading in a range of 29417.67 and 29786.32. There were 12 stocks advancing against 17 stocks declining on the index. (Provisional)

The broader indices ended mixed; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.25%, while Small cap index down by 0.57%. (Provisional)

The gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Consumer Durables up by 4.11%, Oil & Gas up by 1.69%, Realty up by 1.52%, IT up by 1.03% and PSU up by 0.78% while, Capital Goods down by 1.57%, Metal down by 1.44%, Auto down by 0.79%, Bankex down by 0.44% and Power down by 0.19% were the losing indices on BSE. (Provisional)

The top gainers on the Sensex were Reliance Industries up by 2.17%, Wipro up by 2.03%, HDFC up by 2.00%, ONGC up by 1.67% and TCS up by 1.17%. On the flip side, Bharti Airtel down by 4.84%, Sesa Sterlite down by 2.90%, Tata Motors down by 2.78%, Larsen & Toubro down by 2.68% and Tata Steel down by 1.90% were the top losers. (Provisional)

Meanwhile, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has exuded confidence that fiscal deficit targets for current year are likely to be met and manufacturing sector is showing turnaround signs. He further stated that 'even though the revenues have been challenging due to slow manufacturing industry, now, it is turning around and it looks like we will be able to meet our fiscal targets. The Finance Minister also stated that our currency is one of those two global currencies that withstood the might of the US dollar and most of the global currencies are still under pressure.

As per the data released by Controller General of Accounts yesterday, India's fiscal deficit during the April- November period was 98.9 per cent of the 2014-15 estimate, primarily on account of subdued revenue realisation.

The government has pegged fiscal deficit target at 4.1 per cent of the GDP for the current year. Earlier, the industry body, the Associated Chambers of Commerce of India (Assocham) had strongly urged Finance Minister not to slash Plan spending to meet the fiscal deficit target for FY15. The government had 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.

India VIX, a gauge for markets short term expectation of volatility surged 9.69% at 19.83 from its previous close of 18.08 on Tuesday. (Provisional)

The CNX Nifty ended at 8914.30, up by 3.80 points or 0.04% after trading in a range of 8874.05 and 8985.05. There were 24 stocks advancing against 26 stocks declining on the index. (Provisional)

The top gainers on Nifty were DLF up by 3.26%, HCL Tech up by 2.66%, Asian Paints up by 2.22%, HDFC up by 2.18% and BPCL up by 2.05%. On the flip side, Bharti Airtel down by 5.23%, Sesa Sterlite down by 2.97%, Kotak Mahindra Bank down by 2.68%, Tata Motors down by 2.54% and Larsen & Toubro down by 2.51% were the top losers. (Provisional)

European Markets were trading mostly in the green; Germany's DAX was up by 0.12% and UK's FTSE 100 was up by 0.02%, while France's CAC was down by 0.17%.

The Asian equity benchmarks ended mixed on Wednesday, with Hong Kong closing in green, reversing morning losses as investors brushed off a heavy sell-off on Wall Street that was fueled by weak US data and disappointing corporate reports. Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe stated that the government will strive to achieve both economic revival and fiscal reform. Abe added that the country is saddled with a huge public debt and its fiscal situation is very severe. Japan’s trade balance rose to a seasonally adjusted -0.71T, from -0.83T in the preceding month whose figure was revised up from -0.93T. The central bank expects Indonesia’s economic growth to accelerate this year despite challenges ranging from lower commodity prices to higher interest rates. Bank Indonesia Governor Agus Martowardojo stated that the domestic economy may expand by 5.8% this year, an increase from the bank’s estimate of last year’s growth of between 5.1% and 5.5%. Indonesia’s Finance Minister Bambang Brodjonegoro stated that the rupiah’s current level supports exports and helps narrow the country’s current account deficit, signaling the government is comfortable with the currency’s 3% drop since October.