Post Session: Quick Review

Local equity markets witnessed heavy drubbing for yet another session on Thursday as market-participants squared-off positions on the last trading session of April series expiry in the derivatives segment and a weak trend at other Asian bourses, following overnight losses at the US markets after growth data fell well short of forecasts which dampened sentiments. Continued sales by foreign portfolio investors amid fresh worries on retrospective taxes and a delay in earnings recovery and the land acquisition bill added to the pessimistic environment. By close of trade, both Sensex and Nifty taking a knock of over 3/4th of a percent ended below psychologically crucial 27,050 and 8,200 levels respectively. However, the session was yielding for broader indices, which went home with gains in the range of 0.07-0.15%.

On the global front, Asian markets traded lower on Thursday with investor sentiment dented by a weaker than expected first quarter growth figure in the US. The US economy grew at an annual rate of 0.2% in the first three months of the year, far lower than forecasts. Meanwhile, European equity indexes fell for a third straight day on Thursday, weighed down by a selloff in technology stocks after disappointing numbers from Nokia and by a strengthening euro.

Closer home, most of the sectoral indices on BSE concluded into negative territory, nevertheless stocks from Metal, FMCG and Auto counters were the top losers of the session. Meanwhile, IT stocks also fell on weak economic data in US, the biggest outsourcing market for the Indian IT firms. On the flip side, stocks from Realty, Oil & Gas and Healthcare counters were the prominent gainers of the session. Meanwhile, banking shares advanced after better than expected numbers of Axis Bank. The stocks of Axis Bank spurted over 4% after the bank reported better than expected 18.36% growth in quarterly net profit of Rs  2,180.59 crore for the January-March quarter against Rs 1,842.32 crore in the same quarter of the previous fiscal. The overall market breadth on BSE was in the favour of decliners which thumped advances in the ratio of 1308:1379; while 139 shares remained unchanged.

The BSE Sensex concluded at 27011.31, down by 214.62 points or 0.79% after trading in a range of 26897.54 and 27242.05. There were 8 stocks advancing against 22 stocks declining on the index. (Provisional)

The broader indices ended mixed; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.07%, while Small cap index down by 0.15%. (Provisional)

The gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Realty up by 1.54%, Oil & Gas up by 0.37%, Healthcare up by 0.31, Bankex up by 0.22% and Power up by 0.17%, while Metal down by 1.60%, FMCG down by 1.20%, Auto down by 1.05%, IT down by 0.80% and TECK down by 0.80% were the losing indices on BSE. (Provisional)

The top gainers on the Sensex were Axis Bank up by 3.13%, BHEL up by 2.91%, Reliance Industries up by 1.62%, Cipla up by 1.37% and Sesa Sterlite up by 1.13%. On the flip side, Tata Steel down by 2.37%, Mahindra & Mahindra down by 2.24%, Coal India down by 2.20%, Tata Motors down by 2.18% and Tata Power down by 1.94% were the top losers. (Provisional)

Meanwhile, in an encouraging development for the economy, FDI inflows in the manufacturing sector rose by almost 45% from the period of October, 2014 - February, 2015 at $6,916.99 million compared to $ 4,770.94 million in the same period in the previous financial year. The Commerce Minister Nirmala Sitharaman stated that this foreign investment was also on account of ‘Make in India’ initiative taken by the government, which has been targeted towards making India an important investment destination and a global hub for manufacturing, design and innovation.

She highlighted an action plan with 98 points for improvement of regulatory environment and said that improving ease of doing business in the states had been developed, with the states now being requested to complete the action by June 30, 2015. Post the implementation, the government would evaluate states on their performance on ‘Ease of doing business’.

‘Make in India’ has a significant global presence over the internet with 8,04,690 mentions since its launch of which more than 60 percent was from out of India.

India VIX, a gauge for markets short term expectation of volatility slipped 0.05% at 17.22 from its previous close of 17.23 on Wednesday. (Provisional)

The CNX Nifty settled at 8181.50, down by 58.25 points or 0.71% after trading in a range of 8144.75 and 8229.40. There were 15 stocks advancing against 35 stocks declining on the index. (Provisional)

The top gainers on Nifty were Axis Bank up by 2.87%, BHEL up by 2.54%, Lupin up by 1.63%, Reliance Industries up by 1.45% and Sesa Sterlite up by 1.35%. On the flip side, Idea Cellular down by 3.61%, ACC down by 3.42%, Zee Entertainment down by 2.71%, HDFC down by 2.59% and Tata Steel down by 2.59% were the top losers. (Provisional)

European Markets were trading mostly in the red; Germany's DAX rose 0.02% and France's CAC was down by 0.04%, UK's FTSE 100 was up by 0.07%.

The Asian markets closed mostly in red on Thursday, with Japanese stock felling sharply as the central bank’s massive policy easing appears to have stalled in its aim to increase overall prices. The Bank of Japan maintained its massive monetary stimulus, holding off on additional easing for now on hopes that rising wages will spur spending and eventually nudge inflation towards its 2 percent target. With inflation having ground to a halt due to slumping oil prices, the BOJ is seen slightly cutting its core consumer inflation forecast of 1.0 percent for the current fiscal year ending in March 2016. As widely expected, the BOJ maintained its pledge to increase base money at an annual pace of 80 trillion yen ($674 billion) through purchases of government bonds and risky assets. Japanese Housing Starts rose to a seasonally adjusted 0.7%, from -3.1% in the preceding quarter. South Korean industrial production fell to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of -0.4%, from 2.3% in the preceding month whose figure was revised down from 2.6%. Thai Industrial Production fell to a seasonally adjusted -1.80%, from 3.55% in the preceding month while Taiwanese GDP rose to 3.46%, from 3.35% in the preceding month.