Post session - Quick review

What seemed to be steady session of trade turned out to be another day of consolidation for Indian equity markets, as bourses despite remaining in fine fettle for almost entire part of the trading session, wrapped up near its previous close. Decline of the bourses also came on account of underlying cautioun among the investor’s, which dissuaded them to carry over their position to next trading week, which is crucial due to the release of Inflation data, a key to gauge RBI’s stance in its upcoming monetary policy review on July 31,2012. However, the losses of the bourses remained limited owing to strong Q1 numbers of Industry’s big-wigs such Tata Consultancy Service (TCS) and HDFC Bank.

The country's largest software services exporter Tata Consultancy Services shot up over two percent after announcing nearly 38% jump in consolidated net profit at Rs 3,317.68 crore for the April-June period of FY 2013, while India’s second largest private sector lender, HDFC Bank's first quarter (April-June) net profit rose nearly 31% year-on-year to Rs 1,417 crore, backed by strong loan growth and increase in other income component.

30 scrip sensitive index Sensex, of BSE, losing over 20 points, managed to shut shop above the 17200 psychological mark, while the widely followed index of NSE, CNX Nifty after losing over 0.15%, concluded above the 5200 crucial level, while the broader indices too finished on a lower note.

However, positive global set-up also succored the bourses in limiting their losses. Asian pacific shares climbed on Friday as China reported second-quarter growth in line with expectations, dousing fears of a slowdown in the region's largest economy. China's economy grew 7.6% in the April-June period, its slowest expansion since the first quarter of 2009.

On the other hand, a two-notch ratings downgrade for Italy, which served as a potent reminder that despite recent efforts by euro zone policymakers, the single currency bloc and especially its periphery, remain mired in debt, stirring some fears into Indian equity markets. Meanwhile, riskier basic resource stocks led a bounce in European equities on Friday, as investor’s bought select blue chip stocks post previous session’s drubbing.

Closer home, stocks from Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) counter only managed to show some resilience and the pivotal grabbed gains of over 0.15%, on the other hand, stocks from Consumer Durable, Realty and Metal counters, emerged as the worst performer. Some of the resilience also came to the bourses with gains of Telecom stocks. Bharti Airtel, Idea Cellular and Reliance Communication, rang loud after Empowered Group of Ministers (EGoM) on telecom approved 'in principle' the mortgaging of spectrum.

The market breadth on the BSE ended negative; advances and declining stocks were in a ratio of 1298:1457 while 155 scrips remained unchanged. (Provisional)

The BSE Sensex lost 23.91 points or 0.14% and settled at 17,208.64. The index touched a high and a low of 17,342.88 and 17,182.29 respectively. 13 stocks were seen advancing against 17 declining ones on the index (Provisional)

The BSE Mid-cap index lost 0.23% while Small-cap index was down 0.12%. (Provisional)

On the BSE Sectoral front, FMCG up 0.19% was the sole gainer while, Consumer Durable down 1.63%, Realty down 1.58%, Metal down 1.24%, Power down 0.74% and IT down 0.49% were the top losers.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Hero MotoCorp up 1.48%, HDFC Bank up 1.31%, ONGC up 1.01%, TCS up 0.83% and Cipla up 0.80% while, Jindal Steel down 3.68%, Hindalco Industries down 2.23%, Tata Power down 2.08%, SBI down 1.83% and Infosys down 1.71% were the top losers in the index. (Provisional)

Meanwhile, driven by the weak demand in traditional markets such as Europe and the US, India’s export, which is largely consumed by these developed economies, shrank 5.45 percent in June 2012 to $25.07 billion from $26.51 billion in the same month last year, according to the Director General of Foreign Trade, Anup Pujari. India's overseas sales between April and June tanked by 1.7 percent, totalling at $75.2 billion. India has set an export target of over $360 billion for the current fiscal 2012-13 after crossing the $300-billion mark last fiscal.

Imports into the country for the month under review stood at $35.37 billion after declining by 13.46 percent, leaving a trade deficit of $10.3 billion. Country’s imports for the first quarter also contracted by 6.10% at $ 115.26 billion. This notable decline in imports in July has resulted in narrowing of the nation’s trade deficit which of-late had shot up to highly uncomfortable levels. India’s trade deficit contracted to $10.3 billion, from $14.4 billion year-on-year, giving some degree of respite to policy makers.

The sectors which performed well during the period June 2012 were rice (104%), iron ore (40%), oil meal (38%) and spices (35%). Meanwhile, in absolute terms, during April-June 2012 quarter, petroleum registered a growth of 12.9 billion, engineering goods (14.6 billion), jems & jewellery (10 billion), drugs (2.1 billion) and readymade garments 3.2 billion. In percentage terms, during the similar quarter rice registered a growth of 73%, spices (32%), drugs (13.4%), oil meals (13.2%) and fruits & vegetable (9.53%).

As regards to imports during June 2012, the growth estimates on the sectors were Medicine (14.7 %), vegetable oil (8%), Iron & Steel (7.9%), professional equipments (8.5%), artificial raisin (5%). In terms of absolute value during the same period, petroleum registered a growth of 12.6 billion, gold & silver (1.9 billion), machinery parts (2.7 billion), pearls (1.8 billion) and electrical goods of 2.6 billion. During the April-June 2012, vegetable oil registered a growth of 49.8%, sulphur (37%), project goods (27%), transport equipments (21.6%), and artificial raisin (21.3%).  In absolute terms during the quarter period of April-June 2012, petroleum registered a growth of 41.5 billion, gold & silver (9.4 billion); machineries (8.5 billion); pearls (4.6 billion) and electrical goods (7.1 billion).

India VIX, a gauge for market’s short term expectation of volatility lost 2.40% at 18.26 from its previous close of 18.71 on Thursday. (Provisional)

The S&P CNX Nifty lost 11.10 points or 0.21% to settle at 5,224.15. The index touched high and low of 5,267.15 and 5,216.85 respectively. 20 stocks advanced against 30 declining ones on the index. (Provisional)

The top gainers on the Nifty were Hero MotoCorp up 1.22%, TCS up 1.06%, HDFC Bank up 1.02%, ITC up 0.89% and ONGC up 0.87%. On the other hand, Jindal Steel down 3.80%, Hindalco Industries down 2.40%, Tata Power down 2.23%, SBI down 1.94% and Infosys down 1.88% were the top losers. (Provisional)

The European markets were trading in green, with France's CAC 40 up 0.47%, Germany's DAX up 0.67% and Britain’s FTSE 100 up 0.57%.

Asian markets rose ending a six-day losing streak, despite China's Q2 GDP growth fell below 8 per cent for the first time since 2009, as data landed in line with forecasts. Both annualized industrial production and retail sales in China dropped by 10bp in June, to 9.5% and 13.7%, respectively. But market gains were limited as Moody's downgrade of Italy's credit rating to near-junk status just ahead of a bond auction threatens to intensify fears over Europe's debt crisis. Meanwhile, euro was under pressure after Italy's government bond rating.