Benchmarks snap four sessions gaining streak: IIP data eyed

Indian equity indices, snapping their four days gaining streak, ended the volatile session slightly in the red as investors opted to stay away of piling up positions in risky assets ahead slew of macroeconomic data including IIP and inflation numbers, slated to be released this week. Markets may also react to the final installment of advance tax payment for the current fiscal. Sentiments got boosted on the back of improved trade data for February 2013. Meanwhile, the country’s February exports rose by 4.25 percent from a year earlier to $26.3 billion, while imports rose 2.6 percent to $41.2 billion, leaving a trade deficit of $14.9 billion.

Supportive cues from US markets too provided the much needed support to local markets initially. Investors’ morale got buttressed on the back of better than expected jobs data. The Labor Department reported that the US added 236,000 jobs in February, while unemployment rate tumbled to 7.7 percent, the lowest since December 2008. However, disappointing cues from European market took their toll on domestic sentiments in second half and dragged the frontline gauges below the psychological 5,950 (Nifty) and 19,650 (Sensex) levels. Investors mainly resorted to profit booking following the decline in European markets. Meanwhile, Asian counters shut shop mixed on Monday.

Back home, some pressure also came in from selling in auto counters which declined by about half a percent after domestic passenger car sales declined by 25.71 percent to 158,513 units in February, the biggest fall in more than 12 years and the fourth consecutive monthly slide. This was due to sluggish economic growth, which continues to weigh on demand in the once-booming market. However, the losses remain capped as Realty Index continued to lead gains on hopes of revival of new home sales post the Budget proposal for additional tax deduction for new home loan borrowers up to Rs 25 lakh. Further, hopes of a rate-cut by the central bank at its policy meet next week also boosted sentiment.

Besides, shares of telecom companies like Reliance Communications, Idea Cellular and Tata Teleservices (Maharashtra) gained during the trade. The government has so far received bids worth Rs 3,639 crore from lone bidder Sistema Shyam Teleservices (SSTL) till the second round of the 2G spectrum auction for CDMA services. Additionally, aviation stocks like Spicejet, Global Vectra and Jet Air India all edged higher after the Cabinet Committee on Security on March 8, 2013, cleared Flexible Use of Airspace by civil and military users.

The NSE’s 50-share broadly followed index Nifty lost just three points to end tad below its psychological 5,950 support level, while Bombay Stock Exchange’s Sensitive Index - Sensex declined by about forty points to finish below its psychological 19,650 mark. However, the broader markets outperformed the benchmarks and ended the session with a gain of about quarter a percent.

The market breadth remained in favor of declines as there were 1,394 shares on the gaining side against 1,475 shares on the losing side while 134 shares remain unchanged.

Finally, the BSE Sensex lost 37.02 points or 0.19% to settle at 19,646.21, while the CNX Nifty declined by 3.35 points or 0.06% to end at 5,942.35.

The BSE Sensex touched a high and a low of 19,754.66 and 19,602.71, respectively. The BSE Mid cap index up by 0.22% and Small cap index was up by 0.28%.

The top gainers on the Sensex were, Tata Power up by 2.28%, HDFC up 1.91%, Sun Pharma up 1.79%, Mahindra & Mahindra up 1.10% and Gail India up 0.97%, while Hero MotoCorp down by 2.51%, Wipro down by 1.35%, Bajaj Auto down by 1.33%, Jindal Steel down 1.24% and TCS down by 1.05% were the top losers on the index.

The top gainers on the BSE Sectoral space were, Realty up 1.32%, Capital Goods up 0.59%, Health Care up 0.53% and Power up 0.52%, while Consumer Durables down by 1.38%, IT down 0.67%, Metal down 0.56%, TECk down 0.53% and Oil & Gas down 0.45% were top losers on the sectoral space.

Meanwhile, registering second straight month of rise, India's exports rose by 4.25% to $26.26 billion in February,2013 over $25.19 billion in the same month of 2012 on account of improving situation in the European Union and US. It was in January that exports rose for the first time after the outbound shipments contracted for eight months in the current financial year.

Meanwhile, imports on the other hand grew just 2.5% at $41.18 billion in February, 2013 over $40.12 billion in the same month a year ago, thereby leaving a trade deficit of $14.92 billion in February, 2013 marginally lower against $14.93 billion in the same month of 2012.

However, for the first 11-month, exports declined by 4% at $265.95 billion against $277.1 billion in April-February, 2011-12. Out of this, petroleum imports increased 11.9% to $155 billion from $139 billion last year, while gold imports fell 7.6% to $52.4 billion ($56.7 billion). On the other hand, imports were up by 0.25% to $448.04 billion against over $446.1 billion in the corresponding period of 2011-12.

With this, trade deficit during April-February 2012-13, stood at $182.1 billion against $169.8 billion in the similar period of 2011-12 and also way closer to $185 billion dollars witnessed in the entire 2011-12.

The CNX Nifty touched a high and a low of 5,971.20 and 5,930.35 respectively. 

The top gainers on the Nifty were Siemens up by 4.78%, DLF up 2.71%, Tata Power up 2.63%, Asian Paints up 2.24% and HDFC up by 2.18%.

On the flip side, the top losers of the index were, Hero MotoCorp down by 2.82%, Bajaj Auto down by 1.90%, IDFC down by 1.56%, Wipro down by 1.49% and TCS down by 1.43%.

The European markets were trading in red, France’s CAC 40 down by 0.38%, United Kingdom’s FTSE 100 down by 0.03% and Germany’s DAX down by 0.36%.

Most Asian markets ended firm on Friday, following upbeat economic data from the US. However, some markets backed out from higher levels and turned a bit subdued with a part of investors treading cautiously at higher levels. Japan’s Nikkei went home with green mark as the yen continued its downward trend and by fairly encouraging economic reports, which witnessed GDP growth rose at 0.2% in Q4, boosted market sentiments. However, China's Shanghai Composite closed lower, ahead of February inflation data.