Post session - Quick review

A sense of disillusionment reacting to the budget was visible across Dalal Street for second straight session with the announcement of Union Budget 2012-13 as barometer gauges after getting an optimistic start, failed to show any fervor, thereafter. Backed by negative global cues, the market went downhill into the negative terrain to register gigantic losses of over a percentage points each in the session, with large volumes of over Rs 1.4 lakh crore.  Stiff resistance that came at 17250 (Sensex) and 5250 (Nifty) level and obstructed the momentum of the bourses.

Sentiments remained dismal in the session since investors pocketed their profits from majority of the counters after global rating agency S&P cautioned that India’s budget for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2013, would be mildly negative for the unsolicited sovereign credit rating on India (BBB-/Stable/A-3).

However, even political uncertainty pushed the bulls on defensive after reports suggested that SP could replace Trinamool Congress in UPA in light of Trivedi’s resignation as Railway Minister. The drag of the bourses could be blamed majorly blamed to the crash of Index heavyweight such as that of ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank, State Bank of India, Reliance Industries (RIL) and Oil & Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC). Banking stocks wilted under intense selling pressure in the absence of visibility of a rate cut after retail inflation showed an upward tick today.

India's annual inflation rate, based on all India general Consumer Price Index, or CPI, as per base year 2010, for February stood at 8.83 percent, up from preceding month's 7.65 percent as per the nation-wide retail inflation data, indicating an acceleration in prices in February. Meanwhile, the dip of stocks of Union Bank of India also weighed on the markets. Union Bank of India shares tumbled more 5% after the rating agency Moody's downgraded the stock by one notch from BA1 to BA2 on weak asset quality and insufficient loss-absorption. Additionally, fall of the index heavyweight Reliance Industries too did not augur well for the market. Reliance Industries witnessed profit booking on reports that production at its KG-D6 basin hit all-time low following shut down of six wells in the basin.

However, on the global front, Asian stock markets ended mixed as investors paused to reassess the global growth outlook following some downbeat economic data in the US, though shares in Tokyo climbed for the fifth straight session, with a weaker yen underpinning Japanese exporters. Stock movements were restricted across the region following Friday's disappointing US consumer sentiment survey, a below-view industrial production outcome for February, and data showing there was little inflationary pressure outside of soaring energy costs. Meanwhile, European shares too retreated from 8 months high.

Back on the home turf, the session which started on a promising note, could not show any reversal of trade and for third straight session, led to the red close of Dalal Street. The market breadth on the BSE ended negative; advances and declining stocks were in a ratio of 1044:1816 while 111 scrips remained unchanged. (Provisional)

The BSE Sensex lost 202.84 points or 1.16% and settled at 17,263.36. The index touched a high and a low of 17,561.46 and 17,226.43 respectively. 7 stocks advanced against 23 declining ones on the index (Provisional)

The BSE Mid-cap index lost 0.90% while Small-cap index shed 1.13%. (Provisional)

On the BSE Sectoral front, FMCG up 1.04% and Health Care up 0.09% were the only gainers while Realty down 2.57%, Power down 2.32%, Capital Goods down 2.13%, Bankex down 2.00% and PSU down 1.89% were the top losers.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Sun Pharma up 1.97%, ITC up 1.94%, M&M up 1.78%, Jindal Steel up 0.82% and HUL up 0.78%.

On the flip side, BHEL down 4.75%, TCS down 3.81%, Tata Power down 3.27%, SBI down 2.88% and Coal India down 2.26% were the top losers in the index. (Provisional)

Meanwhile, after showing signs of moderation in recent times, India’s consumer price inflation quickened in the month of February as compared to that in January, in line with the trend also shown by wholesale price inflation.  According to the data released by Central Statistics Office, provisional annual inflation rate based on all India general CPI (Combined) for February 2012 on point to point basis (February 2012 over February 2011) came in at 8.83% as compared to  7.65% (final) for the previous month of January 2012.

All India provisional General (all groups) Consumer Price Index (CPI) numbers of February 2012 for rural and urban combined was 114.6 against 114 in January 2012, according to the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation which released the monthly provisional CPI on Base 2010=100 along with annual inflation rates for February 2012.

The corresponding inflation rates for rural and urban areas came in at 8.36% and 9.45% as against January’s 7.38% and 8.25% which indicated that the growth in rate of price rise in urban areas was at a faster clip than that in the rural areas. Provisional annual inflation rates of February 2012 for rural, urban and combined in respect of ‘food and beverages’ were 6.33%, 7.17% and 6.62% respectively.

India VIX, a gauge for market’s short term expectation of volatility lost 0.69% at 22.97 from its previous close of 23.13 on Friday. (Provisional)

The S&P CNX Nifty lost 62.35 points or 1.17% to settle at 5,255.55. The index touched high and low of 5,340.70 and 5,238.55 respectively. 14 stocks advanced against 36 declining ones on the index. (Provisional)

The top gainers on the Nifty were Cairn India up 2.33%, Sun Pharma up 2.01%, M&M up 1.92%, ITC up 1.80% and ACC up 1.20%.On the other hand, Reliance Infrastructure down 6.30%, BHEL down 4.73%, IDFC down 4.69%, TCS down 3.98% and JP Associates down 3.95% were the top losers. (Provisional)

The European markets were trading in red, with France's CAC 40 down 0.63%, Germany's DAX down 0.38% and Britain’s FTSE 100 down 0.35%.

Asian markets exhibited mixed trend on Monday. The US economy helped in maintaining enthusiasm for riskier assets while a weaker yen improved the outlook for some of Japanese companies. On the other side, rising oil prices dented the outlook for airlines, whose fortunes are closely linked to the cost of fuel. Taiwan’s EVA Airways fell 2.5 percent and Korean Air Lines Co. was down 2.4 percent.

Meanwhile, Japanese Nikkei share average rose for the fifth straight session, with investors scooping up straggling blue-chips as they sought further evidence of US economic recovery before pushing the index higher. While, Chinese Shanghai ended up 0.2 percent in see-saw trade on Monday, with strength in small-cap shares outweighing weakness in financial and property stocks. However, the main index for Hong Kong shares was in positive territory for most of the session, but closed 1 percent lower, dragged by Chinese banks on fears that loan growth could fall short of quarterly targets ahead of corporate earnings for the sector that start this week.