Post Session: Quick Review

Indian equity markets witnessed heavy sell-off on Monday tracking US jobs data, which fanning expectations of US Federal Reserve raising interest rates sooner than expected, sapped the demand for emerging markets assets including, local equities. The sentiment remained lackluster right from the start as benchmarks after getting a weak start kept grinding lower with no any attempt of recovery which could lift the benchmarks. In point terms, Monday's fall is the biggest since January 6, when the Sensex crashed over 600 points and Nifty slumped over 150 points. By close of trade, both Sensex and Nifty losing over 2%, concluded below psychologically crucial 28,800 and 8,750 levels respectively. Meanwhile, broader indices too suffered the rout, just that cuts were less wider than that of larger counterparts. Both, Mid-cap and Small-cap index ended lower with cut of around 0.75%.

On the global front, Asian shares ended lower tracking drubbing at WallStreet overnight after U.S. non-farm payrolls (NFP) data on Friday showed the unemployment rate hit a 6-1/2-year low of 5.5 percent in February. Wage gains though were only slight, yet the data stoked expectations that the Fed was now likely to drop a reference to 'patience' on the timing of a rate hike at its next policy meeting on March 18, thus opening the door for a June rate rise. However, China’s mainland shares bucked Monday’s regional trend however, as investors stepped up buying of financial stocks on domestic media reports that banks will be allowed to venture into the stockbroking business. Meanwhile, European shares too receiving a negative handover from regional counterparts were reeling under pressure. These stocks also witnessed some selling pressure as investors focused to global worries including in Europe where finance ministers meet again Monday to discuss Greece’s debt situation.

Closer home, with losses being broad- based in nature, none of the sectoral indices concluded into positive territory, except that of Healthcare counter. On the flip side, worst drubbing was witnessed by stocks belonging from Banking, Power and Capital Goods counters. Banking stocks partly fell on account of profit taking and also over concerns that banks will have to lower interest rates at a time when bad loans continue to weigh on balance sheets. The RBI last week unexpectedly cut repo rate by 25 basis points to 7.5 per cent, fanning expectation that banks too lower their base rates probably April, in a move that could hurt bottom line at a time when credit off-take continues to be sluggish. However, even IT shares collapsed despite weak rupee as TCS management sounded caution about March Quarter earnings. TCS said it continues to see weakness in insurance vertical, while identifying energy and telecom verticals as “problem areas”. The overall market breadth on BSE was in the favour of decliners which thumped advances in the ratio of 982:1883; while 106 shares remained unchanged.

The BSE Sensex concluded at 28844.78, down by 604.17 points or 2.05% after trading in a range of 28799.76 and 29321.06. There were 3 stocks advancing against 27 stocks declining on the index. (Provisional)

The broader indices ended red; the BSE Mid cap index was down by 1.30%, while Small cap index down by 0.92%. (Provisional)

The only gaining sectoral indices on the BSE was Healthcare up by 0.30% while, Bankex down by 3.01%, Power down by 2.93%, Capital Goods down by 2.74%, Realty down by 2.58% and Metal down by 2.40% were the losing indices on BSE. (Provisional)

The top gainers on the Sensex were Hindustan Unilever up by 3.45%, Dr. Reddys Lab up by 0.93% and Sun Pharma up by 0.64%. On the flip side, Sesa Sterlite down by 5.52%, Hindalco down by 4.94%, Axis Bank down by 4.52%, GAIL India down by 4.50% and ICICI Bank down by 4.44% were the top losers. (Provisional)

Meanwhile, Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu has finally given green signal to two long stalled, big-ticket Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) proposals for setting up state-of-the art diesel and electric locomotive manufacturing plant in Bihar at a cost of Rs 2,400 crore. The move is in line with Prime Minister Narendra Modi's 'Make in India' campaign. Also, the two projects are among top eight infrastructure projects being monitored by the PMO.

Finally putting an end to the suspense over Madhepura electric locomotive plant and Marhora diesel locomotive plant, Railways has finalized the financial bidding for the high-value joint venture projects after much of consideration and prolonged due diligence amid repeated revision of bidding document.

Further towards this development, the minister has also prepared and drafted Request for Proposals (RFP), containing financial bidding documents, to shortlisted candidates including four global firms- Alstom, Siemens, GE and Bombardier. These four firms have been shortlisted for the proposed electric locomotive factory at Madhepura, while two multinationals GE and EMD are in race to bag the diesel locomotive plant at Marhora. The estimated cost for setting up state of art facilities in these factories is about Rs 1,200 crore each and the financial bidding is expected to open on August 31.

According to envisaged plan, Madhepura plant will manufacture 800 electric locomotives of 12,000 horse power (HP) over 11 year, while Marhora plant will produce 4500 HP and 6,000 HP diesel locomotives using state-of-the-art technology. In the course of about 10 years after commissioning, the proposed Marhora plant is expected to manufacture about 1,000 diesel-electric locomotives, which is about 100 locomotives annually. Lastly, Railways will have 26 per cent equity in each of the plants at Madhepura and Marhora, while the global players will have 74% equity in the project.

India VIX, a gauge for markets short term expectation of volatility soared 9.52% at 15.81 from its previous close of 14.43 on Thursday. (Provisional)

The CNX Nifty settled at 8756.75, down by 181.00 points or 2.03% after trading in a range of 8740.45 and 8891.30. There were 7 stocks advancing against 43 stocks declining on the index. (Provisional)

The top gainers on Nifty were Jindal Steel & Power up by 4.91%, Hindustan Unilever up by 3.86%, Lupin up by 1.71%, Dr. Reddys Lab up by 0.76% and NMDC up by 0.27%. On the flip side, Sesa Sterlite down by 5.26%, Hindalco down by 4.93%, BHEL down by 4.35%, ICICI Bank down by 4.30% and GAIL India down by 4.23% were the top losers. (Provisional)

European Markets were trading in the red; Germany's DAX declined 0.42%, UK's FTSE 100 shed 1.33% and France's CAC was down by 0.70%.

The Asian markets ended mostly in red on Monday, taking cues from the US markets last week as data pointed to economies in the region still struggling to re-ignite growth. China’s exports picked up in the first two months of 2015, propelled by February’s exceptionally strong performance that was inflated by the timing of Lunar New Year, while a slide in imports pointed to persistent weakness in the economy. Data released by the General Administration of Customs showed that China posted a record trade surplus of $60.6 billion last month. Exports rose 15% during the January-February period from a year earlier, quickening from a 6.1% annual rise in the whole of 2014 as demand from major markets improved.

Japan’s GDP price index rose to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 2.4%, from 2.3% in the preceding quarter. Japan’s Economy Watchers Current Index rose to a seasonally adjusted 50.1, from 45.6 in the preceding month while Japan’s Current Account rose to a seasonally adjusted 1.06T, from 0.85T in the preceding month whose figure was revised down from 0.98T. Taiwanese Trade Balance fell to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.56B, from 4.80B in the preceding month while Taiwanese CPI rose to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of -0.19%, from -0.94% in the preceding quarter.