Post Session: Quick Review

Friday’s session turned out to be a choppy day of trade for Indian equity markets with frontline gauges ended the session with marginal losses as disappointing global cues dampened sentiments. Traders failed to get any sense of relief with Niti Aayog Chief Executive Officer Amitabh Kant’s statement that India needs to grow at ten percent to become ten trillion dollar economy and eliminate poverty by 2032. He also said a growth rate of ten percent would also help in creation of 175 million jobs by 2032.

Depreciation in Indian rupee too dampened sentiments. The rupee depreciated by 14 paise to trade at 66.53 against the US dollar at the time of equity markets closing due to fresh buying of the American currency by banks and importers. However, losses remained limited on hopes that the central bank would continue to cut interest rates in view of easing inflation and expectations of good monsoon rains. Some support also came with report that foreign investors bought a net $872.22 million worth of Indian shares so far this month, taking this year's inflows to $1.41 billion.

On the global front, European shares were trading with a cut of around half a percent in early deals on Friday following some disappointing company news, with automaker Daimler sliding after its results and a planned probe into its emissions certification process, while poor sales also hit luxury group Kering. Asian markets ended mostly in red as disappointing earnings from US blue-chip companies poured cold water on the rally that took off in March.

Closer home, shares of public sector undertaking (PSU) banks edged higher for third straight trading session with the Nifty PSU Bank index hitting three-month high. As per a report on Thursday, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) trimmed the list of debt-laden companies for loan provisioning in the fourth quarter ended March 31, 2016. Lower provisioning would help reduce credit cost burden thereby easing pressure on profitability.

On the flip side, telecom stocks remained under pressure as the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), accusing telecom companies of running a cartel with scant care for customers facing the problem of call drops, has told the Supreme Court that the firms were not upgrading infrastructure to ensure disruption-free calling and justified its decision to impose penalty. The aviation stocks edged lower despite report that Domestic air traffic logging a robust 24.03 percent growth in January-March 2016 with 11 Indian carriers together flying 230.03 lakh passengers as compared to 185.46 lakh passengers in the same period last year.

The NSE’s 50-share broadly followed index Nifty slipped by over ten points to end below the psychological 7,900 support level, while Bombay Stock Exchange’s Sensitive Index -- Sensex declined by over forty points to but managed to hold its psychological 25,800 mark. Broader market too struggled to get any traction, but somehow managed to end marginally in green on Friday.

The market breadth remained in favor of decliners, as there were 1244 shares on the gaining side against 1,312 shares on the losing side while 169 shares remain unchanged. (Provisional)

The BSE Sensex ended at 25838.14, down by 42.24 points or 0.16% after trading in a range of 25771.88 and 25922.02. There were 13 stocks advancing against 17 stocks declining on the index. (Provisional)

The broader indices ended in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.08%, while Small cap index up by 0.02%. (Provisional)

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were PSU up by 0.87%, Auto up by 0.87%, Bankex up by 0.44%, Utilities up by 0.40% and Oil & Gas up by 0.36%, while FMCG down by 0.78%, IT down by 0.57%, TECK down by 0.47%, Consumer Durables down by 0.46% and Realty down by 0.34% were the top losing indices on BSE. (Provisional)

The top gainers on the Sensex were Maruti Suzuki up by 3.09%, SBI up by 2.99%, ONGC up by 1.69%, NTPC up by 1.49% and Axis Bank up by 1.39%. On the flip side, Hindustan Unilever down by 2.19%, Asian Paints down by 1.96%, HDFC down by 1.71%, Sun Pharma down by 1.30% and ITC down by 1.11% were the top losers. (Provisional)

Meanwhile, more than 1 crore LPG consumers have stopped using subsidised cooking gas ,since Prime Minister Narendra Modi made a call to the well-heeled to give up their cooking gas subsidies. About 1, 00, 06,303 LPG consumers have given up their cooking gas subsidies in one year helping the exchequer save a few thousand crores of rupees in doles, as per oil ministry data. The surrendered subsidy is used by the government to provide cooking gas connection to the poor in rural households free of cost.

Giving up subsidised LPG will help cut the government's subsidy bill, which was at Rs 30,000 crore on the fuel last fiscal. These gas cylinders surrendered would be transferred to the poor who use wood for cooking. Consumers who have decided to give up their subsidies have to buy the product at the market price. At present, consumers are currently entitled to 12 cylinders of 14.2 kg each or 34 bottles of 5 kg each in a year at subsidised rates. A subsidised 14.2-kg cylinder is currently available at Rs 419.13 per bottle in Delhi while the 5-kg pack costs Rs 155. Market-priced LPG is available at Rs 509.50 per 14.2-kg cylinder.

On March 27, 2015, Modi had launched the 'Give-it-Up' campaign, urging the well-off to surrender their LPG subsidy so that it can be targeted for the needy. The aim is also to bring down the country's dependence on energy imports by 10 percent by 2022.

The CNX Nifty ended at 7899.30, down by 12.75 points or 0.16% after trading in a range of 7873.35 and 7923.35. There were 24 stocks advancing against 27 stocks declining on the index. (Provisional)

The top gainers on Nifty were Maruti Suzuki up by 2.99% and SBI up by 2.98% and Bank of Baroda up by 2.66% and NTPC up by 1.77% and Axis Bank up by 1.69%. On the flip side, Hindustan Unilever down by 2.20%, Asian Paints down by 1.98%, HDFC down by 1.58%, Kotak Mahindra Bank down by 1.54% and Sun Pharma down by 1.52% were the top losers. (Provisional)

Asian equity markets ended mostly lower on Friday after US shares halted a three-day winning streak overnight on the back of disappointing earnings updates from some US companies. However, a rebound in oil prices in Asian deals helped limit losses across the region. Chinese shares closed a tad higher as gains in consumer and tech stocks outweighed losses in the resource sector. Japanese shares rose for the fourth day as the yen hit a two-week low against the dollar after reports that the Bank of Japan may expand its negative interest rate policy beyond its current applications at its upcoming policy meeting next week.