Jitters prevails ahead of Q4GDP numbers; Sensex staggers near the 16100 level

Increasing jitters ahead of the release of fourth quarter GDP numbers have persuaded investor’s to go short on risky bets, thereby prompting additional weakness at Dalal Street. Industry’s aficionado expect India's annual economic growth to hold steady in the January-March quarter at 6.1% as compared to 7.8% for the quarter ended March 31, 2011, in the backdrop of global economic slowdown, government policy paralysis and a record low currency suggesting little chance of up-take in the current quarter. Indian rupee, which collapsed to fresh historic low’s by touching new low levels of Rs 56.50 against the dollar in early deals, aggravated hefty position squaring on F&O expiry day. Further, the gargantuan pressure was also been exerted by upstream companies Oil Marketing companies viz., BPCL, HPCL and Oil India, which are tanking on the likelihood of partial rollback of petrol price hike.

30 scrip sensitive index - Sensex, after starting above the 16300 level, was now staggering close to 16100 mark, with a nasty laceration of over a percentage points, while the widely followed 50 share index, Nifty, after slashing close to 50 points was oscillating near the 4900 bastion. The broader indices, too were reeling under losses, bit not in the magnitude of the frontline indices.

Pessimistic global leads, right from the start of the trade, mainly endorsed weakness from early deals. Fears that Europe’s debt crisis is morphing from Greece to engulf bigger economies such as Spain and Italy have undermined the sentiment of Asian stock markets lower on Thursday.

Meanwhile, India's Gross Domestic Product (GDP), growing at its lowest space in almost three years, stood at a mere 5.3% in the fourth quarter of the financial year as against 7.8% in the same quarter last year.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 16,153.59, down by 158.56 points or 0.97%. The index has touched a high 16,224.86 and low 16,129.47 of respectively. There were 7 stocks advancing against just 23 declines on the index. The overall market breadth on BSE was in the favor of declines in the ratio of 654:1104, while 80 shares remained unchanged.

The broader indices were trading on a negative note; the BSE Mid cap and Small cap indices down by 0.48% and 0.53% respectively.

The only gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Fast Moving Capital Goods (FMCG) up by 0.05%, Metal up by 0.01%. While, Auto down by 1.69%, Oil & Gas down by 1.52%, Bankex down by 1.28%, CD down  by 1.22% and  Capital Goods (CG) down by 0.88% were losers on the index.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Hindalco Industries up by 3.80%, Cipla up by 0.87%, Bharti Airtel up by 0.36%, Hindustan Unilever up by 014%, and NTPC up by 0.14%.

On the flip side, Maruti Suzuki down by 3.55%, ICICI Bank down by 3.52%, RIL down by 2.61%, Tata Motors down by 2.61% and Sterlite Industries was down by 1.57%, were the major losers on the index.

Meanwhile, imports of sensitive items have grown substantially by 40.9% in the first eleven months of the last fiscal. In the period of April-February 2011-12, imports grew to Rs 92,574 crore up from Rs 65,695 crore during the same period last year. The category of sensitive items includes commodities such as foodgrains, automobiles, milk and beverages, which are monitored by the government to check their negative impact on domestic production.

Foodgrains imports contracted by 93%, however, imports of all sensitive commodities were up. Imports of fruit and vegetables increased by a whopping 75.3% to Rs 8,374 crore from Rs 4,776 crore during April-February of 2010-11. Edible oil imports were also up by 54.7% to Rs 42,262.72 crore year-on-year. The increase in edible oil has primarily been due to considerable increase in import of crude palm oil and its fractions.

Further, alcoholic beverages were up by 55.5% and spices were up by 53.3%. Imports belonging to the small scale industry like toys, umbrellas, locks and glassware increased by 53% year-on-year and were to the tune of Rs 2,034.7 crore.

Automobile imports jumped by 43.5% April-February 2012 to Rs 3,321 crore. Similarly, milk imports also increased by 33.2% during the period. Except for Brazil, imports from all other countries like Indonesia, China, Malaysia, Argentina, Germany, Korea, the US, Canada, Japan, the UK, and Australia have gone up. Total imports of all commodities during April-February 2012 was Rs 20,69,643 crore as compared to Rs 15,29,295 crore during the same period of last year.

The S&P CNX Nifty is currently trading at 4,901.70, lower by 49.05 points or 0.99%. The index has touched a high and low of 4,908.65 and 4,894.45 respectively. There were 15 stocks advancing against 35 declines on the index.

The top gainers of the Nifty were Hindalco up by 3.54%, SAIL up by 1.52%, Bank Baroda up by 1.04% Cipla up by 1.04%, and IDFC up by 1.00%. 

On the flip side, Maruti down by 3.78%, ICICI Bank down by 3.59%, Reliance down by 2.63%, Tata Motors down by 2.55% and HCL Tech down by 2.00% were the major losers on the index.

All the Asian equity indices continued to reel under pressure; Jakarta Composite down 2.64%,  Shanghai Composite down  0.44%, Hang Seng Index  down  0.87%, Straits Times Index  down  0.55%, KOSPI Composite Index  down  0.88%, Taiwan Weighted  down 0.36%,  Nikkei 225 was down  1.28% and KLSE Composite down by 0.07%.