Post session - Quick review

Snapping two consecutive session’s gaining streak, Indian equity markets, resumed its declining trajectory as early euphoria sensed on account of better than expected WPI figures, fizzled away completely by the end of the trade, leaving the benchmark equity indices at the lowest point of the day. India's main inflation gauge, wholesale price index (WPI), which cooled down to four year low at 6.62% (Provisional) for the month of January, 2013 as compared to 7.18% for December, mainly pushed the benchmark’s out of the low in the afternoon deals. However, barometer gauges, failed to prolong the gaining momentum given that wary investors grabbed every small opportunity of uptakes to cash out their profits. A negative start of European markets mainly added to the pressure of Indian equity markets.

Further, even State Bank of India’s (SBI) Q3 result adding to negative, washed away the gains the benchmarks earned in the previous two trading session. Stocks of country’s biggest lender, State Bank of India (SBI), lost close to a percent and half, after the bank reported 4% rise in quarterly net profit, its smallest increase in six quarters, as higher provisions for bad loans and slower loan demand in a sluggish economy hurt growth.

Thus, by the close, barometer 30 share index, Sensex, offloaded over 3 /4 of a percent, to end sub crucial 19500 bastion. Likewise, 50 share index, Nifty, on NSE, too taking a cut of over half a percent, concluded below the psychological 5900 level. However, the session turned out to be far worse for broader indices, which went home loss of over a percent.

On the global front, Asian pacific shares rose on improving risk sentiment while the yen steadied ahead of the weekend meeting of G20 finance and central bank officials, for clues to their views about global growth and the role currencies play in the economies of individual member countries. However, European shares fell on Thursday as growth data from the region's two largest economies came in weaker than forecast, throwing a first quarter recovery for the bloc into doubt.

Closer home, stocks from Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) and Information Technology (IT) counters, were the pivotals which staged resilience, rest all the sectoral indices surrendering to the selling pressure ended in red. Stocks from Capital Goods, Oil & Gas, Auto and Realty counters were the worst performers of the session. Further, even PSU oil marketing stocks, failed to gain any momentum even as reports suggested of petrol and diesel prices to go higher as early as Friday. The market breadth on the BSE ended negative; advances and declining stocks were in a ratio of 781: 812 while 1368 scrips remained unchanged. (Provisional)

The BSE Sensex lost 110.90 points or 0.57% and settled at 19497.18. The index touched a high and a low of 19639.83 and 19639.83 respectively. 11 stocks were seen advancing while 19 stocks were declining and one stocks remains unchanged on the index (Provisional)

The BSE Mid-cap index was down by 1.43% while Small-cap index was down by 1.86%. (Provisional)

On the BSE Sectoral front, FMCG was up by 0.44%, IT up by 0.27% and Metal up by 0.04% were the top gainers, while Capital Goods down by 2.27%, Oil & Gas down by 1.59%, Auto down by 1.49%, Power down by 1.25% and Realty down by 1.21% were the losers in the space. (Provisional)

The top gainers on the Sensex were Hindustan Unilever up by 2.18%, Gail India up 1.89%, HDFC Bank up 1.66%, Tata Steel up by 1.29% and TCS up by0.93%, while, Bharti Airtel down by 4.22%, Maruti Suzuki down by 3.61%, Wipro down by 3.17%, RIL down by 3.08% and Tata Motors down by 2.82% were the top losers in the index. (Provisional)

Meanwhile, in a pleasant surprise, the wholesale price index (WPI), India's main inflation gauge, cooled down to four year low at 6.62% (Provisional) for the month of January, 2013 as compared to 7.18% for December and 7.23% during the corresponding month of the previous year. Build up inflation in the financial year so far was 5.09% compared to a build-up of 6.15% in the corresponding period of the previous year. This positive surprise for the markets notwithstanding, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) is likely to move cautiously on monetary easing in March policy review.

As per the government data, manufactured products, which carry weight of almost 65% in the index, rose by 0.2% to 148.3 (Provisional) from 148.0 (Provisional) for the previous month. The index for ‘Food Articles’ group declined by 0.7% to 165.9 from 167.1 in the previous month.

While, the index for primary articles group, which has a weightage of 20.12% in overall WPI and includes food, non-food and minerals group rose by 0.6% to 221.4 from 220.0 of the previous month. The index for ‘Food Articles’ group rose by 0.8% to 213.8 from 212.2 in the previous month, while, the index for ‘Non Food Articles’ group declined by 0.3% at 202.3 (Provisional) from 202.9 (Provisional) for the previous month. However, the index for ‘Minerals’ group rose by 1.8% to 347.0 (Provisional) from 340.8 (Provisional) for the previous month.

Inflation has been trending down for the past 4 months, with respite seen on the 'core' component. The core inflation for January came in at 4.1%, lower than 4.2% in December last year. However, the widening wedge between WPI and CPI remains to be noted. Earlier this week data showed that retail inflation remained in double digits at 10.79% in January, driven by higher prices of vegetables, edible oil, cereals and protein-based items.

Meanwhile, March inflation, which is expected to be lower than RBI’s projection could give the apex bank the required comfort to go ahead and slash rates by 25 basis points in March. India’s central bank lowered its key policy rate for the first time in nine months in January, but struck a cautious note on further easing as it waits to see how the government’s upcoming budget aims to bring a bloated fiscal deficit under control.

India VIX, a gauge for markets short term expectation of volatility lost 0.33% at 15.09 from its previous close of 15.14 on Wednesday. (Provisional)

The S&P CNX Nifty lost 44.30 points or 0.75% to settle at 5,888.65. The index touched high and low of 5,940.20 and 5,884.55 respectively. 19 stocks advanced against 31 declining and one stock remains unchanged on the index. (Provisional)

The top gainers on the Nifty were Gail was up by 2.12%, Hindustan Unilever up by 1.69%, Tata Steel up by 1.49%, HDFC Bank up by 1.47% and Asian Paints was up by 1.27%. On the other hand, Siemens down by 4.92%, Bharti Airtel down by 4.40%, BPCL down by 4.16%, Power Grid down by 3.55% and Maruti Suzuki down by 3.51% were the top losers. (Provisional)

Most of the European markets were trading in red with, France’s CAC 40 down by 0.44%, the United Kingdom’s FTSE 100 down by 0.23% and Germany’s DAX down by 0.29%.

Most Asian markets ended higher on Thursday, with investors looking ahead to an upcoming G20 meeting. Hong Kong stocks closed with strong gains on the first trading day in the year after three days of public holidays held to celebrate the Lunar New Year. Japan’s Nikkei went home with green mark as the yen retreated again after posting strong gains on Wednesday, while there was little reaction to Bank of Japan’s move to left its monetary policy steady.

Markets in mainland China and Taiwan remained closed for public holiday.