Post Session: Quick Review

After nursing heavy losses in previous session, local equity markets yet again tumbled on Thursday on heavy selling by both funds and retail investors in absence of any positive triggers which could otherwise lift the barometer gauges higher. Also, caution ahead of earnings of IT major TCS later in the evening also kept market-participants on tenterhooks throughout the session. In the extremely disappointing session of trade, frontline gauges throughout the session just kept grinding lower, although some recovery came in the last hour of trade, but that was meager enough to lift the markets from negative territory. By close of trade, both Sensex and Nifty offloading over half of a percent settled below crucial 28,700 and 8,750 levels respectively. Meanwhile, broader indices also succumbing to selling pressure, ended with cut of over three fourth of a percent.

On the global front, Asian shares headed higher on Thursday as rising oil prices boosted energy and mining shares in the region. The price of Brent crude oil hit 2015 highs above $63 (£42) a barrel, rallying on government data that showed oil inventories in the US rose less than expected last week. Meanwhile, European stocks on Thursday pulled back from a record high as investors kept an eye on Greece’s debt situation and sifted through corporate financial updates.

Closer home, most of the sectoral indices on BSE concluded into negative territory, nevertheless stocks from Oil & Gas and Public Sector Undertaking (PSU) counters were the only gainers of the session. On the flip side, stocks from Realty, Capital Goods and Healthcare counters were the prominent losers of the session. In stock-specific activity, sugar stocks like Bajaj Hindusthan , Balrampur Chini, Mawana Sugars, Sakthi Sugars  and Shree Renuka were on buyers' radar that were hoping for a hike in import duty after Food Minister Ram Vilas Paswan underscored that he was in favour of a hike in import duty of sugar to 40%. Meanwhile, oil marketing companies stocks also were in focus after rate cut in fuel prices. The overall market breadth on BSE was in the favour of declines which thumped advances in the ratio of 1088:1713; while 115 shares remained unchanged.

The BSE Sensex concluded at 28666.04, down by 133.65 points or 0.46% after trading in a range of 28497.70 and 28876.23. There were 10 stocks advancing against 20 stocks declining on the index. (Provisional)

The broader indices ended in red; the BSE Mid cap index was down by 0.70%, while Small cap index down by 0.91%. (Provisional)

The gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Oil & Gas up by 0.93% and PSU up by 0.09% while, Realty down by 2.30%, Capital Goods down by 1.56%, Healthcare down by 1.51%, Consumer Durables down by 0.92% and IT down by 0.91% were the losing indices on BSE. (Provisional)

The top gainers on the Sensex were ONGC up by 3.23%, Mahindra & Mahindra up by 1.32%, Bharti Airtel up by 1.05%, NTPC up by 0.97% and Hindalco up by 0.89%. On the flip side, Hero MotoCorp down by 3.87%, Sun Pharma down by 2.65%, Cipla down by 2.22%, Larsen & Toubro down by 2.14% and TCS down by 2.08% were the top losers. (Provisional)

Meanwhile, marking the second reduction in rates this month, India's state-run oil marketing companies, responding to lower crude oil prices reduced retail prices for petrol by Rs 0.80 a litre and retail price of diesel by Rs 1.30 a litre. Prior to this, the oil marketing companies had cut price of petrol by 49 paise and diesel by Rs 1.21 for every litre from April 2.  However, the new rates are effective from April 16, 2015.

With this price cut, petrol in Delhi will cost Rs 59.20 a litre as against the current Rs 60, while diesel will cost Rs 47.20 per litre as against Rs 48.50. The state run-oil marketing companies, Indian Oil  Corporation(IOC), Bharat Petroleum Corporation (BPCL) and Hindustan Petroleum Corporation (HPCL) increased the retail prices for the fuel twice in February, but before that the price of petrol had been reduced ten times since August 2014 while that of diesel was reduced six times since October 2014. Cumulatively, petrol prices had been cut by Rs 17.11 per litre in 10 reductions since August and diesel by Rs 12.96 a litre since its deregulation in October.

The latest cut is the usual practice followed by state-owned fuel retailers; IOC, Bharat Petroleum Corp (BPCL) and Hindustan Petroleum Corporation (HPCL) of revising petrol and diesel prices on 1st and 16th of every month based on average imported cost and rupee-dollar exchange rate in the previous fortnight. Since last price revision, the trend of international prices of petrol and diesel and Rupee-US dollar exchange rate warrant a further downward revision in prices, the impact of which is being passed on to consumers with this price reduction.

India VIX, a gauge for markets short term expectation of volatility surged 3.24% at 15.09 from its previous close of 14.61 on Wednesday. (Provisional)

The CNX Nifty settled at 8706.70, down by 43.50 points or 0.50% after trading in a range of 8645.65 and 8760.00. There were 17 stocks advancing against 33 stocks declining on the index. (Provisional)

The top gainers on Nifty were Cairn India up by 3.93%, ONGC up by 3.31%, Idea Cellular up by 2.04%, Mahindra & Mahindra up by 1.62% and Hindalco up by 1.48%. On the flip side, Hero MotoCorp down by 3.74%, ACC down by 3.12%, Ultratech Cement down by 3.06%, Ambuja Cement down by 2.87% and PNB down by 2.85% were the top losers. (Provisional)

European Markets were trading in the red; France's CAC lost 0.11%, UK's FTSE 100 declined 0.10% and Germany's DAX was down by 0.69%.

The Asian markets made mostly a positive close on Thursday following global upmove in equities. A surge in crude oil supported commodity stocks leading to rally in the equity markets. Traders also took comfort with Australia reporting that 37,700 jobs were added month-on-month in March, more than double the 15,000 expected. Chinese market surged over two and half a percent to hit fresh seven-year highs, after a report that foreign direct investment (FDI) in China rose 2.2 percent on the year in March, while outbound flows posted a milder rise, as foreign corporate investors remain undeterred by weakening domestic economic performance. Foreign direct investment into China rose 11.3 percent year-on-year to $34.88 billion in the first quarter. Outbound investment for the first three months of the year combined rose 29.6 percent from the same period in 2014 to $25.79. While, Chinese and Hong Kong shares continued their upward momentum, Japanese shares ended on a flat note with a positive bias.