Post session - Quick review

Barometer gauges halting three straight session gaining streak concluded lower as investors turning vigilant, pocketed their gains, due to a delay in cementing a crucial bailout for Greece. A three-hour teleconference between euro zone finance ministers failed to resolve all the issues surrounding a second aid package for Athens, putting off any decision on the matter until Monday at the earliest.

However, the weakness of the Indian equity market was neither intense nor broad-based, but enough to resemble a 'risk-off' event. Local bourses showing some signs of fatigue, consolidated in trade, however, lower level buying by investors in the last leg of trade, made bourses recuperate from their day’s low level. This bargain hunting, however, led the benchmark indices hold the skin by their teeth as both Sensex and Nifty even after consolidating for the day ended above the crucial psychological 18100 and 5500 level respectively.

Local bourses after getting a soft start traded lower till the afternoon deals as Moody’s warning of slashing credit rating of 17 global and 114 European financial institutions, acted as road block, which ate into the investor’s risk appetite as this warning was perceived as another sign of impact of the euro zone government debt crisis spreading throughout the global financial system.

On the global front, Asian shares too imitating the performance of overnight trade at Wall Street were tormented under selling pressure and ended with apparent large cuts. Meanwhile, European shares too staged gloomy leads. The US future indices too were no exception.

Back home, Index heavyweights such as energy conglomerate Reliance Industries and ICICI Bank led the losses, after the main stock index climbed to its highest close in more than six months in the previous session. However, even Unitech fell as much as 5.2% after its telecoms partner Norway's Telenor said it would seek indemnity and compensation from the company following a court order to cancel licences held by the joint venture.

On the flip side, however, power utility companies extended gains for a second session after the government directed state-run Coal India was reported to sign long-term fuel supply agreements with private power producers. Adani Power, Lanco Infra and Tata Power accumulated gains in the range of 4-6%. However, even stocks of Kingfisher Airlines amassed gains over 0.50% even after the troubled carrier reported a 75% increase in losses during the quarter to end-December. All the airline stocks like Kingfisher, Jet Airways and Spice Jet rallied higher after state-owned oil companies slashed jet fuel prices by a marginal Rs 350 per kiloliter, the second reduction in this month.

Stocks of Realty, Capital Goods and Auto exhibited commendable performance as the barometer gauges were up with noticeable gains. However, stocks from Metal, Oil & Gas and Consumer Durable led to the negative close of Dalal Street. The 30 share volatile index of Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE)-Sensex- despite offloading over 50 points, finished the trade above the 18100 level. Similarly, the 50 share index of National Stock Exchange (NSE)-Nifty-shedding over 15 points ended above 5500 level. Reversing the trend, broader indices captured sufficient gains. The market breadth on the BSE ended positive; advances and declining stocks were in a ratio of 1613:1317 while 113 scrips remained unchanged (Provisional).

The BSE Sensex lost 76.38 points or 0.42% and settled at 18,126.03. The index touched a high and a low of 18,182.78 and 18,043.32 respectively. 14 stocks advanced against 16 declining ones on the index (Provisional)

The BSE Mid-cap index gained 0.89% while Small-cap index was up by 0.80%. (Provisional)

On the BSE Sectoral front, Power up 1.15%, Realty up 1.13%, Capital Goods up 0.45%, IT up 0.44% and Auto up 0.41% were the top gainer while Metal down 1.85%, Oil & Gas down 1.69%, Consumer Durables down 1.05% and FMCG down 0.08% were the only losers.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Hero MotoCorp up 4.49%, Jindal Steel up 4.46%, SBI up 4.11%, Maruti Suzuki up 3.32% and Bajaj Auto up 3.22%.

On the flip side, Coal India down 5.70%, Hindalco Industries down 4.62%, Sterlite Industries down 4.27%, Tata Steel down 3.77% and Tata Motors down 3.63% were the top losers in the index. (Provisional)

Meanwhile, Oil companies have cut jet fuel prices by a marginal Rs 350 per kilolitre. This is the second reduction this month after the cut of 3% on February 1. Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) has stated that the price of aviation turbine fuel (ATF), or jet fuel in Delhi was cut by Rs 350.7 per kilolitre (kl), or 0.5%. The revised prices of ATF would now be Rs 62557.12 per kilolitre in Delhi, Rs 70816.98 in Kolkata (against the current price of Rs 71155.22), Rs 63499 in Mumbai (Rs 63864.31) and Rs 67339 in Chennai (Rs 67702.21).

Jet fuel constitutes about 40% of an airlines' operating cost and the reduction in prices will slightly ease the burden on cash-strapped airlines.

The three public sector OMCs  - Indian Oil, Hindustan Petroleum and Bharat Petroleum - revise ATF prices on the 1st and 16th of every month on the basis of the average international price in the preceding fortnight.

India VIX, a gauge for market’s short term expectation of volatility gained 5.56% at 23.33 from its previous close of 22.10 on Wednesday. (Provisional)

The S&P CNX Nifty lost 16.20 points or 0.29% to settle at 5,515.75. The index touched high and low of 5,531.40 and 5,483.75 respectively. 27 stocks advanced against 23 declining ones on the index. (Provisional)

The top gainers on the Nifty were Hero MotoCorp up 4.34%, Jindal Steel up 4.27%, SBI up 4.10%, Maruti Suzuki up 3.62% and Cairn India up 3.17%.

On the other hand, Coal India down 5.84%, Hindalco Industries down 5.14%, Tata Motors down 4.12%, Sterlite Industries down 3.86% and Tata Steel down 3.77% were the top losers. (Provisional)

The European markets were trading in red, with France's CAC 40 down 0.71%, Germany's DAX down 1.20% and Britain’s FTSE 100 down 0.79%.

After witnessing a decent rally in yesterday’s session Asian shares fell on the back of another delay in cementing a crucial bailout for Greece underscored how far Europe is from resolving a debt crisis that threatens the stability of the financial system. A three-hour teleconference between euro zone finance ministers failed to resolve all the issues surrounding a second aid package for Athens, putting off any decision on the matter until Monday at the earliest.

Seoul’s index ended down by 1.40 percent as foreign investors turned net sellers for the first time in nine sessions. Moreover, China shares ended down 0.40 percent, with resource shares sagging after data showed that foreign direct investment in China declined for a third straight month while, Nikkei retreated from a six-month high in choppy trade, but sentiment remained upbeat on the back of easing steps from the Bank of Japan.