Post session - Quick review

Indian equity markets, after making a lackluster start, concluded in shambles, as lack of investor’s confidence ahead of the crucial RBI’s mid-quarterly policy review on March 19, led to massive profit-booking on the last trading session of the week. Barometer gauges, after taking a breather in the previous session, ended lower for four out of five trading session, thereby registering a loss of over a percent. Caution was witnessed ahead of RBI’s monetary policy, which will hold key pointers to the way in which the economy is headed and whether RBI governor Duvvuri Subbarao and Chidambaram continue to be on the same page on how to tackle the growth. Additionally, lack of any positive cues also led to the decline of Indian equity markets amidst mostly negative global set-up. Thus, in the subdued session of trade, Sensex and Nifty offloading over half a percent, concluded sub 19450 and 5900 levels respectively. Meanwhile, broader indices too witnessing selling pressure went home with loss of over 0.50% (Midcap index) and 0.75% (Smallcap index). For the week, CNX midcap index suffered a loss of close to 1.50%, while BSE Smallcap index took a knock of over 2%.

On the global front, Asian shares ended mix, though Japanese marked closed higher after the national parliament approved the Bank of Japan's next governor, while South Korean indices were weighed by a decline in Samsung Electronics, after the technology giant revealed its latest smart-phone. Meanwhile, European shares struggled to gain some traction on Friday, a day after pushing to their highest level in nearly five years, as euro-zone finance ministers prepared to discuss a Cyprus bailout and Italy’s parliament was set to open after last month’s inconclusive elections.

Closer home, the slide of equity markets was prompted by the massive fall of rate sensitive counters, viz, Realty, Bankex and Auto. Banking pivotal fall was led by selling in ICICI Bank, Axis Bank and HDFC Bank shares, which tumbled following accusations of money laundering. The news portal Cobrapost played the contents of purported video recording of officials of HDFC Bank, ICICI and Axis Bank allegedly agreeing to receive unverified sums of cash and putting them in their investment schemes and benami accounts in violation of anti-money laundering laws. On the flip side, Consumer Durable, Fast Moving Consumer Goods and Information Technology counters, were the gainers. Information Technology gained ground in rather subdued trade on positive US economic data. A faster-than-expected increase in US retail sales and a decline in weekly jobless claims added to signs the world's biggest economy is recovering, which in turn boosted IT stocks that derive their major chunk of revenue in dollars. Besides, PSU OMCs, viz, IOC and HPCL, rose on reports that diesel prices may be hiked by 40-50 paisa a litre from 15-16 March 2013. The market breadth on the BSE ended negative; advances and declining stocks were in a ratio of 1111: 1749 while 127 scrips remained unchanged. (Provisional)

The BSE Sensex lost 133.60 points or 0.68% to settle at 19436.84.The index touched a high and a low of 19673.16 and 19383.13 respectively. 12 stocks were up, while 18 stocks declined on the index. (Provisional)

The BSE Mid cap and Small cap indices declined by 0.63% and 0.84% respectively. (Provisional)

On the BSE Sectoral front, Consumer Durables up by 2.56%, FMCG up by 0.28% and IT up by 0.12% were the only gainers, while Realty down by 2.82%, Bankex down by 1.50%, Oil & Gas down by 1.20%, Capital Goods down by 0.80% and Auto down by 0.73% were the only losers in the space. (Provisional)

The top gainers on the Sensex were Mahindra & Mahindra up by 1.47%, Tata Power up by 0.99%, Hindustan Unilever up by 0.89%, Wipro up by 0.81% and Hero MotoCorp up by 0.73%, while, ICICI Bank down by 3.81%, Tata Motors down by 3.27%, Gail India down by 2.81%,  RIL down by 1.93% and HDFC Bank down by 1.48% were the top losers in the index. (Provisional)

Meanwhile, Finance Minister P. Chidambaram has said that the direct benefit transfer (DBT) scheme is the best way to transfer money directly to poor and will be implemented across the country by end of the year. Chidambaram stressed that the country has potential to implement the scheme successfully and urged the state governments to make contribution for the proper implementation of this scheme.

The primary aim of this Direct Benefit Transfer program is to bring transparency and terminate corruption from distribution of funds sponsored by the government. In DBT, benefit or subsidy will be directly transferred to the citizens living below poverty line and curbing the subsidy to those who don't require it.

The government launched its ambitious DBT programme on January 1 this year. The welfare plan was initially rolled out in 20 districts and covered seven schemes, mostly scholarships, and is likely to have benefited more than 2 lakh people. A total of 43 districts in 16 states have been identifying for the first round of DBT that will cover 26 social welfare schemes.

India VIX, a gauge for markets short term expectation of volatility gained 3.41% at 15.16 from its previous close of 14.66 on Thursday. (Provisional)

The CNX Nifty lost 34.05 points or 0.58% to settle at 5,874.90. The index touched high and low of 5,945.65 and 5,861.00 respectively. 22 stocks advanced against 28 declining ones on the index. (Provisional)

The top gainers on the Nifty were Siemens up by 6.15%, Asian Paints up by 2.52%, Lupin up by 1.92%, Ranbaxy up by 1.70% and M&M was up by 1.49%. On the other hand, DLF down by 4.44%, ICICI Bank down by 3.72%, Tata Motors down by 3.24%, Gail down by 2.90% and JP Associate down by 2.81% were the top losers. (Provisional)

All European markets were trading in red with, Germany’s DAX down by 0.12%, the United Kingdom’s FTSE 100 down by 0.21% and France’s CAC 40 down by 0.51%.