Post session - Quick review

Squandering a positive start, benchmark equity indices put forth a bleak session of performance on Tuesday, as profit taking in select blue chip stocks mainly erased all the early gains of Indian equity markets. Index heavyweights, namely, Reliance Industries, SBI, ICICI bank, plummeting over a percent, mainly took the steam out of otherwise sanguine equity markets. Further, even concerns of poor Q2 earnings mainly became a reason enough for bourses consolidation, which after taking a breather in previous session, again resumed its southbound journey. Overlooking positive global development, Indian equity markets staged a sluggish session of performance, with 30 shares barometer index, Sensex, knocking off over 100 points, to conclude below the crucial 18600 level. Similarly, widely followed index, Nifty, too shedding 3/4 percent, concluded below the psychological 5650 mark. However, broader indices showcased degree of underperformance, with Midcap index ending with loss of over 0.50% and Small cap index declining over 0.25%. Meanwhile, trade of over Rs 1.80 lac crore was done in terms of volume turnover.

On the global front, Asian pacific market staged a positive close buoyed by strong U.S. retail sales data. Further, the gains also came in as investors shopped for equities onto hopes that Spain will ask for a bailout in coming weeks to activate the European Central Bank's bond buying scheme, and Greece would eventually bridge the gap on its austerity measures with its lenders, to ease fears that Athens will leave the euro zone. Meanwhile, European markets too were on gaining spree after Portugal revealed an austerity-focused budget and after a report suggested Spain is ready to request a bailout.

Closer home, Q2 earnings of two blue chips stocks, namely, country’s third largest private sector lender Axis Bank combined with market bellwether Reliance Industries, led to a positive opening at Dalal Street. India's third largest private lender, spurted over 2% on reporting 22% increase in its net profit at Rs 1,123.54 crore for the second quarter ended September 2012 on the back of lower expenses. The bank continued to show strong performance in terms of growth of net interest income (NII), fee income and operating revenue.

Meanwhile, Reliance Industries, before ending with loss of over 1%, traded higher in early deals on reporting in line with estimates Q2 numbers, as refining margins rebounded and treasury gains from its huge cash pile bolstered profits. The company controlled Mukesh Ambani posted 6% drop in its net profit to Rs 5,376 crore, on falling gas production and squeezed petrochemicals margins and falling revenues. Further, even shares of NIIT Technologies, rallied close to a percent despite posting lower than expected net profit at Rs 43.1 crore in the quarter ended September 2012, down 26.7 percent compared to Rs 58.8 crore in the previous quarter due to forex loss. However, brushing aside the positive earnings, Indian equity markets underperformed the globe on account of intense weakness in stocks from Realty, Metal and Power counters. However, FMCG and Consumer Durable counterparts, toppling the BSE sectoral chart, limited the downside of Indian equity markets. Further, even Aviation stocks namely, Spicejet, Kingfisher Airlines and Jet Airways, lost momentum after trading positive in early deals as oil marketing companies reduced the price of Aviation Turbine Fuel (ATF) by 3 per cent. From Monday, every litre of ATF would cost Rs 68.40 in Delhi against Rs 70.51 earlier. The market breadth on the BSE ended negative; advances and declining stocks were in a ratio of 1181:1709 while 124 scrips remained unchanged. (Provisional)

The BSE Sensex lost 133.97 points or 0.72% and settled at 18,579.58. The index touched a high and a low of 18,801.10 and 18,549.28 respectively. 7 stocks were seen advancing while 23 stocks were declining on the index (Provisional)

The BSE Mid-cap index was down by 0.70% while Small-cap index was down 0.31%. (Provisional)

On the BSE Sectoral front, FMCG up by 0.26% and Consumer Durables up by 0.25% were the only gainers, while Realty down by 3.15%, Metal down by 1.93%, Power down by 1.53%, Capital Goods down by 1.49% and PSU down by 0.96% were the top loser in the space.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Maruti Suzuki was up 2.20%, Bharti Airtel up 1.79%, Hero MotoCorp up by 1.50%, Sun Pharma Bank up by 0.29% and ITC up 0.26%, while, Tata Steel down by 2.68%, M&M down by 2.67%, Tata Motors down by 2.45%, Hindalco Industries down by 2.42% and Tata Power down by 2.17% were the top losers in the index. (Provisional)

Meanwhile, reflecting a slow-down in economic activity, indirect tax collections, comprising of customs, excise and service tax, grew at a low rate of 15.6 per cent to Rs 2.17 lakh crore in April-September against the annual target of Rs 5.05 lakh crore for the current fiscal, an increase of about 27 per cent from 2011-12 target.

The excise duty collection during the period aggregated to Rs 80,000 crore, while customs duty collection totaled at Rs 77,000 crore. Meanwhile, the service tax collection was at Rs 60,000 crore during the period.

In September, the tax collection witnessed a growth of about 19 per cent at Rs 22,000 crore, over the realization in the same month last fiscal. Out of this, revenue from Customs duty summed up to Rs 8,000 crore and from excise aggregated to Rs 8,110 crore. Service tax collection stood at Rs 5,890 crore in September.

The collection from service tax is expected to be higher from October, as the government has imposed the duty on railways also, which till September was exempted from the ambit of the tax. The exchequer from this is expected to earn about Rs 3,000 crore from the service tax decision coming into force from October 1. Meanwhile, the gross direct tax collection during the first six months of 2012-13 has registered growth of 5.87% at Rs 2.72 lakh crore as against Rs 2.57 lakh crore in the corresponding period last year.

India VIX, a gauge for markets short term expectation of volatility lost 2.07% at 15.57 from its previous close of 15.90 on Monday. (Provisional)

The S&P CNX Nifty lost 42.35 points or 0.74% to settle at 5,644.90. The index touched high and low of 5,714.00 and 5,635.60 respectively. 11 stocks advanced against 39 declining ones on the index. (Provisional)

The top gainers on the Nifty were Axis Bank was up 2.05%, Maruti Suzuki up 2.00%, Hero MotoCorp up 1.84%, Cairn India up 1.53% and Bharti Airtel was up 1.53%. On the other hand, DLF down 4.42%, M&M down by 3.38%, ACC down by 3.17%, Tata Steel down by 2.64% and Reliance Infrastructure down by 2.48% were the top losers. (Provisional)

The European markets were trading in green with, France’s CAC 40 up 0.49%, Germany’s DAX up 0.67% and the United Kingdom’s FTSE 100 up 0.50%.

All Asian markets went home with green mark barring KLSE Composite, which edged marginally down. The stronger than expected retail sales data from the world’s largest economy supported the market to a major extent. Japan’s Nikkei ended with strong gains on the back of firm recovery in index heavyweight - Softbank following the official announcement that it will acquire a majority stake in Sprint Nextel Corp. Meanwhile, Hong Kong and China market closed with marginal gains on Tuesday ahead of China's growth data and with strong performance of Chinese real estate developers.