Post Session: Quick Review

Weakness prevailed for second consecutive session at Dalal Street on Tuesday, in absence of fresh positive trigger as caution ahead of F&O expiry on Thursday and GDP data on Friday also weighed on the sentiment. Additionally, anticipation of weaker earnings from index heavyweight Tata Motors added to the pessimistic environment. Tata Motors shares fell 1%, down for a second session amid expectations that its January-March earnings due later in the day could disappoint due to sluggish sales at unit Jaguar Land Rover in China. This coupled with ongoing Greece woes also ate into investors’ risk appetite. By close of trade, both Sensex and Nifty taking a knock of around half of a percent concluded below 27,550 and 8350 levels respectively on relentless selling activities.

Sentiments were also spooked as survey conducted by economic think tank National Council of Applied Economic Research (NCAER) showed that business sentiment in the country fell sharply in the March quarter due to concerns over investment climate amid patchy and uneven growth in 2014-15. Though, positive regional counterparts prevented slide of local equity markets.

On the global front, Asian shares clocked a positive close on the back of gains in Hong Kong and China, mainly on expectations of more money inflows from the mainland following Beijing's fresh moves to expedite cross-border investment. However, European markets succumbing to selling pressure were trading negative as all eyes remained on Greece's ongoing debt drama and poor local election result for Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy. Struggling Greece needs urgent financial aid to repay a loan due next week to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and make sure it can still pay wages and pensions, the government said on Monday.

Closer home, with selling being broad based in nature most of the sectoral indices on BSE finished into negative territory, much of the selling pressure was witnessed by stocks from Oil & Gas, Realty and FMCG counters. Meanwhile, IT counters also ended in red ahead of Tech Mahindra earnings. On the flip side, stocks from banking, Power and Infrastructure counters were the only gainers of the session. The overall market breadth on BSE ended in the favour of declines which outnumbered advances in the ratio of 1497:1157; while 127 shares ended unchanged (Provisional)

The BSE Sensex concluded at 27531.41, down by 112.47 points or 0.41% after having traded in a range of 27473.54-27675.94. 12 stocks advanced against 17 stocks decliners on the index. (Provisional)

The broader indices concluded in red; the BSE Mid cap index was down by 0.01%, while Small cap index lost 0.16%. (Provisional)

The top gaining indices on the BSE were Bankex up by 0.08%, Power up by 0.02%, INFRA up by 0.01%, while Oil & Gas down by 1.03%, Realty down by 0.86%, FMCG down by 0.54%, IT down by 0.35%, Auto down by 0.28% were the top losing indices on BSE. (Provisional)

The top gainers on the Sensex were BHEL up by 2.88%, Coal India up by 1.53%, Hero MotoCorp up by 1.24%, Maruti Suzuki up by 1.07% and Bajaj Auto up by 0.96%. On the flip side, Vedanta down by 2.33%, ONGC down by 2.05%, Tata Motors down by 1.60%, NTPC down by 1.23% and Dr. Reddys Lab down by 1.07% were the top losers. (Provisional)

Meanwhile, Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI), the apex business organisation in India has lauded the work of the government after completion of one year in office and sought to silence the critics of the Modi Government who are touting its pro-investment, pro-growth and pro-employment policies as ‘pro-industry’ as if business-friendly policies are against the common man and national interest, saying that restoration of investor confidence and establishment of ‘Brand India’ are the biggest achievements of the Narendra Modi government.

FICCI President Jyotsna Suri said that the focus should now turn to agriculture and water policies. She said the ‘pro-industry’ label on the government was “pure rhetoric” as its policies rested in “transparency and fairness’. Terming the government’s pro-industry label as “pure rhetoric”, Dr. Suri said that without growth it would be impossible to provide jobs to the 23 million young people who descend in the job market every month. Suri, however, said the slowing down of rural and urban demand was a cause for concern, adding that government spending on infrastructure projects must rise significantly to fuel the industrial economy.

Expressing hopes that the government will focus on accomplishing the work-in-progress agenda through continuous policy action and reforms, FICCI said that it is encouraged by the policy direction and tone set by the new government. While the government has laid a strong foundation for sustainable higher growth by laying out a sound roadmap, implementing the same in true spirit remains the key challenge. Private investments need a further push to gain momentum, which can be achieved through timely implementation of GST, clearance of land related hurdles, absolute clarity in tax policies, reduction in interest rates and stimulating consumer demand.

The CNX Nifty concluded at 8339.35, down by 30.90 points or 0.37% after having trading in a range of 8320.05-8378.90. 19 stocks advanced against 31 declining stocks on the index. (Provisional)

The top gainers on Nifty were BHEL up by 3.12%, Coal India up by 1.38%, Bank of Baroda up by 1.05%, Hero MotoCorp up by 0.99% and Bajaj Auto up by 0.98%. On the flip side, Ambuja Cement down by 2.37%, Vedanta down by 2.16%, ONGC down by 2.14%, Tata Motors down by 1.52% and NTPC down by 1.30% were the top losers. (Provisional)

European markets were trading mostly lower; with Germany’s DAX trading lower by 87.52 points or 0.74% to 11,727.49;  UK’s FTSE 100 trading lower by 37.85 points or 0.54% to 6,993.87 and France’s CAC trading lower by 14.72 points or 0.29% to 5,102. (Provisional)

The Asian markets closed mostly in green on Tuesday, despite the absence of overnight cues from the US markets that were shut for a holiday. Singapore’s economy in the first quarter grew faster than estimated as manufacturing and services sectors showed more resilience, boding well for the city-state’s economic growth outlook this year. The surprisingly strong data bolsters the case for the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) to hold off from additional monetary easing later this year. The trade-reliant economy expanded an annualized and seasonally adjusted 3.2% in the January-March quarter from the previous three months. That far exceeded the 1.1% expansion in the government’s advance estimate released in April. Singaporean Industrial Production fell to an annual rate of -8.7%, from -5.5% in the preceding month. Japan’s Corporate Services Price Index (CSPI) fell to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 0.7%, from 3.1% in the preceding month whose figure was revised down from 3.2%. South Korean Consumer Confidence rose to 105, from 104 in the preceding month.