Post session - Quick review

Registering fifth straight session of loss, Indian equity markets relinquishing all the early gains ended down in red, albeit with minute losses. Bout of profit-booking, which was witnessed in the last leg of the trade, dragged the benchmark equity indices lower, which otherwise for almost entire session of trade, held their fort upright in green. Underperforming the globe, benchmark 30 share index, Sensex, losing close to 20 points, settled near 19600 level, while, 50 share barometer index, Nifty, negotiating a flattish close, managed to shut shop above 5950 bastion. Broader indices, additionally, too failed to put up a positive show of trade. Prevailing caution ahead of the 2013/14 budget to be unveiled later this month, which is seen as a key test of commitments to shore up finance, mainly kept investors edgy. Besides, drubbing in index heavyweights, viz, Reliance Industries, ICICI Bank, SBI and ICICI Bank, also added to the downside pressure. In early trade, sentiment got a boost from uptick of sugar stocks, namely, Balrampur Chini, Shree Renuka Sugars, Bajaj Hindusthan , after reports suggested of food minister seeking cabinet approval for sugar decontrol, a first proposal that will be taken to the highest decision-making body of the government since the sector was brought under strict regulation 50 years ago. However, the sentiments towards the end of trade also soured on drop of Jewellery stocks, viz, Rajesh Exports and Titan Industries, after RBI said it would consider imposing value and quantity restrictions on gold imports by banks, which account for 60 percent of India's imports of the yellow metal, under extreme conditions, as the world's biggest consumer of gold battles a record high current account deficit.

On the global front, Japanese index, Nikkei 225, gains drove Asian shares higher on Wednesday after yen slid to a near three-year low following the early resignation of the Bank of Japan governor, Masaaki Shirakawa, since investor’s were of the view that whoever replaces Shirakawa would comply with pressure from the government to ease monetary policy to help stimulate economic growth. Further, positive economic data from both US and Europe also boosted sentiment. However, European shares were trading soft, halting the previous session's tentative recovery as mixed corporate results kept investors on edge.

Closer home, bucking the trend, most of the power sector stocks ended higher on renewed buying after power ministers of state governments on Tuesday, 5 February 2013, unanimously resolved that the state governments and Centre would continue to work together to ensure Electricity for All. Torrent Power, GVK Power & Infrastructure, Adani Power, JSW Energy, Reliance Power, Tata Power Company, Power Grid Corporation of India and Reliance Infrastructure rose by 0.18% to 2%. Additionally, Realty, Technology and Information Stocks also enticed significant traction.  On the other hand, Capital Goods, PSU and Power counters, witnessing fierce profit-booking, emerged as worst performers. Drop of index heavyweight BHEL and NTPC mainly dragged the pivotal lower. BHEL stocks have been on declining spree ever after reporting 18% fall in Q3 net profit at Rs 1181.85 crore as compared to Rs 1432.61 crore in the corresponding quarter of previous financial year. Likewise, NTPC shares tanked 2% ahead of its OFS tomorrow, which could fetch government a sum of Rs 12,000 crore. A ministerial panel under finance minister P Chidambaram, fixed a floor price of Rs 145 a share for government’s 9.5% stake in power major NTPC, that would be put up for sale on February 7, 2013. However, the price offered for sale turns out to be at 6.81% discount to the Market Price of Rs 155.60 as February 5, 2013. The market breadth on the BSE ended positive; advances and declining stocks were in a ratio of 849:753 while 1384 scrips remained unchanged. (Provisional)

The BSE Sensex lost 20.10 points or 0.10% and settled at 19639.72. The index touched a high and a low of 19767.25 and 19611.27 respectively. 11 stocks were seen advancing while 19 stocks were declining on the index. (Provisional)

The BSE Mid cap and Small cap indices rose 0.02% and 0.24% respectively. (Provisional)

On the BSE Sectoral front, Realty was up by 0.78%, IT was up by 0.62%, TECk was up by 0.60%, FMCG was up by 0.32% and Metal was up by 0.29% were the top gainer, while Capital Goods down by 0.93%, PSU down by 0.57%, Power down by 0.49%, Bankex down by 0.34% and Oil & Gas down by 0.18% were the top losers in the space. (Provisional)

The top gainers on the Sensex were Jindal Steel up by 2.30%, Maruti Suzuki up 1.54%, Bharti Airtel up by 1.22%, ITC up by 0.94% and HDFC up by 0.81%, while, NTPC down by 2.63%, BHEL down by 1.91%, Coal India down by 1.63%, L&T down by 1.62% and Hindustan Unilever down by 1.47% were the top losers in the index. (Provisional)

Meanwhile, the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) has given its in-principle approval for price pooling of coal by which prices of domestic and imported coal are averaged to get a uniform price for the fuel in the country.

Information and Broadcasting Minister Manish Tewari said 'the in-principle decision has been taken and there are some data that have to be put into these principles. The structure of the decision has been put in place and the ministries of coal and power would come back with the specifics. Basic principles and parameters have been identified and the plotting of real numbers has to be done'.

The CCEA would again deliberate on the issue, while both the power and coal ministries have appreciated the urgencies and they would be coming back as quickly as possible.

The decision on price pooling has been pending for long time because of the conflict between the coal and power ministries on how the impact of higher imported coal prices will be shared between state miner Coal India (CIL) and power companies. Earlier, the power ministry after consultation with the Central Electricity Authority (CEA) has suggested the Coal Ministry that the difference in cost of imported and domestic coal should be added to the cost of indigenous fuel at the time of finalising proposal for pooling coal prices.

However, coal India had said that price pooling was a mechanism to implement fuel supply agreement (FSA) and if price pooling is approved then 15 percent supply of imported coal ‘will be not in the cost plus method, but in pooling mechanism’. Coal India board had earlier approved the modified FSA without price-pooling with 65 percent domestic coal and 15 percent imported coal at cost plus basis. Till now, 48 companies have entered into fuel supply pacts with Coal India for receiving the fuel. According to the FSA, Coal India has to provide an assured supply of minimum 80 percent of the total quantity, if failing to which would be penalized.

India VIX, a gauge for markets short term expectation of volatility lost 2.39% at 14.26 from its previous close of 13.91 on Tuesday. (Provisional)

The S&P CNX Nifty gained 2.30 points or 0.97% to settle at 5,959.20. The index touched high and low of 5,990.90 and 5,953.15 respectively. 26 stocks advanced against 24 declining ones on the index. (Provisional)

The top gainers on the Nifty were Kotak Bank up by 2.29%, Jindal Steel up by 2.22%, Ultra Tech Cement up by 1.80%, Maruti Suzuki up by 1.73% and Ambuja Cements was up by 1.71%. On the other hand, JP Associate down by 3.55%, NTPC down by 2.38%, Larsen & Toubro down by 1.77%, Coal India down by 1.72% and Siemens down by 1.61% were the top losers. (Provisional)

Most of the European markets were trading in green with, Germany’s DAX up by 0.06% and the United Kingdom’s FTSE 100 up by 0.49% while France’s CAC 40 down by 0.26%.

Asian equity markets recovered from earlier session’s losses and ended mostly higher on Wednesday as solid eurozone data relieved some worries arise by potential political turmoil derailing the region's efforts to resolve its debt crisis. Japan’s Nikkei went home with strong gains after touching 52-month high, as a prospect of a dovish new governor for the Bank of Japan (BoJ) weakened the yen. Shanghai Composite closed marginally higher, ahead of trade and inflation data out on Friday, while Hang Seng made a partial recovery from the sell-off on Tuesday and ended with gains.