Post Session: Quick Review

Local equity markets witnessed drubbing for yet another session on Friday and ended with massive cut of around a percent which dragged both Sensex and Nifty below psychologically crucial 27,450 and 8,350 levels respectively on broad-based selling pressure in absence of any positive trigger which could otherwise lift the markets higher. Continued worries over foreign fund outflows due to retrospective taxes and lower than expected Jan-March earnings weighed on the market. Besides, reluctance of market-participants to add position ahead of F&O expiry also added to the negative milieu. Meanwhile, the session also was harrowing for broader indices which went home with larger cuts in the range of 1.60-2.60%.

On the global front, Asian stocks traded mixed on Friday as investors took profit after the recent run up and as earnings season gets underway in some parts of the region. Meanwhile, European shares rose in early deals on Friday, boosted by encouraging earnings reports, with investors also cautiously optimistic over the prospects of a deal over Greece's debt crisis.

Closer home, amidst broad-based selling pressure, most of the sectoral indices on BSE concluded into negative territory, nevertheless stocks from FMCG counters were the only exceptions among the rest. On the flip side, stocks from Realty, Consumer Durables and Information Technology counters were the top losers of the session. In stock specific activity, telecom and cement stocks edged lower on selling pressure. Additionally, PSU OMCs declined as crude rises. Notably, IT pack tanked after IT bellwether, Infosys reported its Q4 earnings. Infosys, India's second largest IT outsourcer, missing Street estimates reported a net profit of Rs 3,097 crore on sales of Rs 13,411 crore for the March quarter. In dollar terms, Infosys revenues dropped by 2.4 per cent in constant currency during the fourth quarter, a big negative considering all its competitors had reported an uptick in dollar revenue growth. TCS had reported a 1.6 per cent growth in dollar revenues, HCL Tech grew at 2.7 per cent and Wipro posted a 1.2 per cent growth. The overall market breadth on BSE was in the favour of decliners which thumped advances in the ratio of 711:2053; while 99 shares remained unchanged.

The BSE Sensex concluded at 27437.94, down by 297.08 points or 1.07% after trading in a range of 27344.70 and 27829.11. There were 11 stocks advancing against 19 stocks declining on the index. (Provisional)

The broader indices ended in the red; the BSE Mid cap index was down by 1.62%, while Small cap index down by 2.66%. (Provisional)

The lone gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were FMCG up by 0.01% while, Realty down by 3.85%, Consumer Durables down by 3.18%, IT down by 2.78%, Capital Goods down by 2.57% and TECK down by 2.33% were the losing indices on BSE. (Provisional)

The top gainers on the Sensex were ONGC up by 2.66%, TCS up by 2.22%, Maruti Suzuki up by 1.92%, Tata Motors up by 1.25% and ITC up by 1.20%. On the flip side, Infosys down by 6.15%, Cipla down by 3.63%, Sesa Sterlite down by 2.90%, Axis Bank down by 2.75% and Larsen & Toubro down by 2.55% were the top losers. (Provisional)

Meanwhile, India, which has so far been an urea importer is all set to become an exporting nation in the next 5 years with an addition of 10 million tonnes (MT) in fertilizer production capacity at an estimated investment of Rs 60,000 crore. Fertiliser Minister Ananth Kumar underscored that this development would help realize the dream of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to make India urea exporting country.

Further, the Minister highlighted that the government was working on revival and expansion plans with regard to 9 fertilizer (urea) plants in 5 years with an investment of Rs 60,000 crore, and the work with respect to that had already been commenced.

Among the five plants, the minister asserted the government has already started the revival process of closed fertilizer plants in Talcher and Ramagundam and had approved other two plants in Gorakhpur and Barouni. With regards to Sindri plant, fertilizer minister stated that his ministry was working on its revival process.

The minister added that new plants will be set up by Rashtriya Chemicals and Fertilsiers at Thal in Maharashtra and by BVFCL in Assam, post to which India's urea production will increase by another 10 MT to 32 MT.

India VIX, a gauge for markets short term expectation of volatility surged 3.13% at 19.07 from its previous close of 18.49 on Thursday. (Provisional)

The CNX Nifty settled at 8305.25, down by 93.05 points or 1.11% after trading in a range of 8273.35 and 8413.30. There were 17 stocks advancing against 33 stocks declining on the index. (Provisional)

The top gainers on Nifty were NMDC up by 3.37%, ONGC up by 2.89%, Cairn India up by 2.36%, Lupin up by 1.81% and ITC up by 1.71%. On the flip side, Infosys down by 5.98%, Tech Mahindra down by 4.50%, Cipla down by 3.96%, Indusind Bank down by 3.28% and Yes Bank down by 3.21% were the top losers. (Provisional)

European Markets were trading in the green; Germany's DAX gained 0.70%, France's CAC surged 0.58% and UK's FTSE 100 was up by 0.47%.

The Asian markets made a mixed closing on Friday, though some of the indices extended their weekly gains, some others closed with cuts of around half a percent. Japanese and Chinese market both suffered profit-taking and took a breather, following the recent strong gains. Although, the Bank of Japan said that an index measuring producer prices in Japan were up 3.2 percent on year in March, standing at 103.0. For the first quarter of 2015, producer prices were up 3.3 percent on year, slowing from 3.5 percent in the previous three months. On the same time, the Chinese labor ministry reported that the urban unemployment rate ticked down to 4.05 percent at the end of March from 4.1 percent at the end of 2014. In other markets, Hang Seng, KLSE Composite and Straits Times moved higher, while the Taiwanese market surged by over a percent.