Post session - Quick review

Stock markets in India concluded the range bound session of trade on a flattish note, as market-men lacking any significant upside trigger preferred going light ahead of F&O expiry week. Indian equity markets for the hectic week managed to sneak out slender gains. 30 scrip sensitive index, Sensex, sliding near the neutral line, ended above the 16200 fortress, while, 50 share broadly followed index, Nifty, too enticing slender loss, ended above the 4900 crucial bastion. Impressive show was put forth by broader indices, which trading in a fine contour for the entire trading session, finished in green, with gains of around half a percent.

Significant recovery came to dilly-dallying Indian equity markets with the support of European shares, propped up by an unexpected boost from better-than-expected German and French consumer confidence data. The brighter mood in European region was prompted by data showing German consumer confidence index remained steady in May at 5.7, with the overall indicator signaling an identical reading for June. Even the shore-up of the Indian currency, from the vulnerable 56.4 level, underpinned the sentiment. However, overnight positive leads from Wall Street and European markets were incapable to provide a thrust to Asian indices which lacking any positive catalyst, ended on a mixed note.

Closer home, some jitters were sensed across Dalal Street as reports of partial roll-back of petrol price hike, casted doubts about whether the government would take the bolder step of raising other fuel prices to rein in the country's fiscal and economic vulnerabilities. Further, downgrade in the forecast of India’s growth trajectory by high-ranking global brokerage firm, also dissuaded investor’s from pursuing risky bets in early deals.  Both Goldman Sachs and Bank of America-Merrill Lynch cut their growth forecasts for India, following a Morgan Stanley downgrade earlier this week. Citing a weaker investment outlook on the back of domestic policy uncertainties, Goldman Sachs slashed its gross domestic product forecast to 6.6% from 7.2% for the fiscal year ending in March 2013. Meanwhile, Merrill Lynch, citing the fallout from the euro zone crisis as its main rationale, downgraded the forecast to 6.5% from 6.8% previously for fiscal 2012-13.

In the lackluster session of trade, Cigarette major ITC failed to gain traction, after surpassing street estimates with a 26 per cent jump in net in the March quarter. The company reported Rs 1,614 crore in profit in the fiscal fourth quarter against Rs 1,281 crore in the year ago period. While, Crompton Greave, too reeled under pressure after reporting Q4FY12 numbers. Crompton Greaves’ net profit plunged 60 per cent at Rs 100 crore in the March quarter against Rs 235 crore in the year ago period. On the flip side, Telecom stocks rang pretty loud after government commission said it wants more spectrum to be auctioned. High beta Metal,  Realty and Capital Goods were the counters that enticed major buying interest on BSE sectoral front, while shares of defensive Fast Moving Consumer Goods,  Health Care and  Consumer Durable suffered the major brunt of profit booking. The market breadth on the BSE ended positive; advances and declining stocks were in a ratio of 1480: 1250 while 126 scrips remained unchanged. (Provisional)

The BSE Sensex lost 4.48 points or 0.03% and settled at 16,217.82.The index touched a high and a low of 16,273.48 and 16,118.35 respectively. There were 17 stocks advancing against 13 declines on the index (Provisional)

Broader indices outperformed and the BSE Mid-cap index gained 0.44% while Small-cap index was up by 0.53%. (Provisional)

On the BSE sectoral front, Metal up by 0.92%, CG up by 0.89%, Realty up by 0.54%, PSU up by 0.53% and Bankex up by 0.31%, were the top gainers. While, FMCG down by 0.46%, CD down by 0.28%, HC down by 0.13%, Oil & gas down by 0.07%, and IT down by 0.05% were the major laggards. (Provisional)

The top gainers on the Sensex were, GAIL India up by 3.43%, Tata Steel up by 2.43%, DLF up by 1.89%, SBI up by 1.74% and L&T up by 1.54, while, Jindal Steel down by 2.59%, Maruti Suzuki down by 2.46%, M&M down by 2%, HUL down by 0.88% and HDFC down by 0.86% were the top losers. (Provisional)

Meanwhile, the government should adopt the practice of dual pricing of diesel, says CII. The farm use of the fuel should continue to be subsidized whereas its non-farm use should have a minimum subsidy. Further, the huge subsidy on the price of cooking LPG in the urban areas should be phased out.

The chamber however, is in favour of continuing with kerosene subsidy as it is the poor man’s fuel. CII is also of the opinion that the hike in prices of petrol is steep and is unlikely to resolve the issue of the large subsidy bill. However there is an urgent need to address the issue.

The PHD chamber on the other hand has criticized the hike stating that it is likely to have an inflationary impact on the economy. It has further observed that even though crude oil prices have fallen considerably in the past few weeks, their effect has been nullified with the depreciation in the rupee.

The chamber is also of the opinion that the government should initiate policies that encourage investment and attract foreign capital inflows in the economy. Efforts should also be made to stabilize the falling rupee. India VIX, a gauge for market’s short term expectation of volatility lost 1.37% at 25.14 from its previous close of 25.49 on Thursday. (Provisional)

The S&P CNX Nifty lost 1 point or 0.02% to settle at 4,920.40. The index touched high and low of 4,935.80 and 4,889.35 respectively.31 stocks advanced against 17 declining on the index, while 2 remained unchanged. (Provisional)

The top gainers on the Nifty were GAIL up by 3.70%, JP Associates up by 2.94%, tata Steel up by 2.66%, Cairn up by 2.49% and SBI was up by 2.37%. (Provisional)

On the other hand Jindal Steel down by 2.58%, Maruti down by 2.325, M&M down by 2.10%, BoB down by 1.71% and Powergrid down by 1.28% were the top losers. (Provisional)

The European markets were trading mixed, with France's CAC 40 up 0.22%, Germany's DAX up by 0.82%, while Britain’s FTSE 100 was marginally down by 0.07%.

Sentiments in the Asian region remained bearish and most of the Asian equity indices snapped the day’s trade in negative terrain on last trading day of the week amid fears that Greece may leave the euro zone. The sentiments too got hampered after European leaders failed to find an agreement on how to fix the financial crisis at their recent summit on Thursday. On the regional turf, slowing Chinese economic growth too dampened the regional sentiments. Chinese Shanghai Composite ended lower by 0.74% after the nation’s economic growth dipped about three-year low of 8.1% in the first quarter and factory output in April grew at its slowest pace since the 2008 crisis, increasing the threat of job losses and possible political tensions.

Meanwhile, Taiwan Weighted dropped 0.75% to a nearly five-month closing low on Friday as caution remained over risky assets due the euro-zone’s troubles while, Nikkei 225 edged lower after the country’s consumer prices rose 0.2 percent year on year in April, the third straight month that inflation has moved upward due mainly to higher electricity and petrol prices. However, Kospi edged higher by over half a percent, but gains were capped as investors remained cautious over euro-zone worries.