Post Session : Quick Review

Indian markets after four days of gains once again returned to their declining mood, as the sentiments across the board remained subdued on further weak economic data and sluggish global cues. Though, the trade remained range bound for most part of the day but in the final hours selling intensified in blue chips and high beta realty and auto sector stocks that led to cut of over a percent in the major benchmarks.

Earlier, the start was on a flat note and markets kept moving along the neutral lines, as the Asian markets were giving mixed signals on European concern. Though, the US markets ended higher over night on few optimistic economic data and some of the Asian markets taking cues moved higher in early trade, though the overall mood remained cautious. The sentiments turned weak after the major European markets slipped into red despite a positive start on news that Euro-area inflation slowed less than estimated.

Back home, the local markets never looked in confident mood and kept on loosing as the trade approached final hours, snapping the session near the lows of the day. There was no positive cues that could have supported the markets on up side, on the contrary services sector, which make up to nearly 60% of country’ economics output, slumped in March to its slowest pace in 17 months due to  deceleration in new business flows. HSBC services Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) fell to 51.4 in March from 54.2 in February. Even Prime Minister Manmohan Singh saying that downturn was passing and urging the business leaders to keep faith in his government's efforts to improve a dire investment climate, remained in-effective. Traders opted to book profit after four straight days of gains, fearing much greater downside. Sectorally it was a bad day for the realty, metal, capital goods and auto sector that lost over two percent on the BSE. Automakers declined further on concern over slowing vehicle sales after most of the auto majors reported weaker performance for the month of March. The sugar stocks that remained buzzing in last session went for profit taking, as the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) did not take up the proposal to decontrol the sugar sector on Tuesday. However, there was some positive move in few power sector stocks, as the power regulator CERC allowed the power utility, Adani Power to raise tariffs for electricity on a temporary basis. The order boosted other power companies, raising hopes for a similar reprieve for them too. Broader indices too lost their way and snapped the session lower by over half a percent.

The market breadth on the BSE ended negative; advances and declining stocks were in a ratio of 1297: 1456 while 134 scrips remained unchanged. (Provisional)

The BSE Sensex lost 269.19 points or 1.41% and settled at 18771.76. The index touched a high and a low of 19035.20 and 18721.72 respectively. 3 stocks were up, while 27 stocks declined on the index (Provisional)

Broader indices concluded in red; BSE Mid cap and Small cap indices were up by 0.90% and 0.57% respectively. (Provisional)

On the BSE Sectoral front, Realty down by 2.67%, Auto down by 2.21%, Capital Goods down by 2.14%, Metal down by 2.07% and Bankex down by 1.83%, were the top losers, while Health Care up by 0.03% was the sole gainer in the space.

The only gainers on the Sensex were Sun Pharma up by 1.23%, NTPC up by 1.11% and Tata Power up by 0.47%. On the flip side Bharti Airtel down by 4.00%, Bajaj Auto down by 3.84%, Tata Motors down by 3.49%, Sterlite Industries down by 2.95% and L&T down by 2.49% were the top losers on the Sensex. (Provisional)

Meanwhile, growth in services sector, which make up nearly 60% of country’ economics output, eased in March to its slowest pace in 17 months as order books filled at a slower pace. As per the HSBC services Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI), based on a survey of around 400 companies, fell to a 17-month low of 51.4 in March from 54.2 in February.

The services sector growth which rose an 18-month high in January, fell for its second straight month in March to its lowest since November 2011, but it has held above the 50 mark that separates growth from contraction - for the seventeenth successive month. Despite being solid, the pace of expansion eased to the slowest in the current sequence of growth notably due to a deceleration in new business flows.

The greater flow of new business in the service sector resulted in higher backlogs of work, which increased the workloads during the month. In tandem with the higher workloads, service providers also raised their headcounts modestly, marking a 13-month sequence of employment growth.   

Similarly, reflecting the weakest improvement in operating conditions, the HSBC India Composite Output Index, which measures activity in both the manufacturing and services sector, declined to 51.4 in March from 54.8 in February. Further, March data signaled broadly steady inflation reading even as input prices continuing the trend that started in April 2009, rose during March. Subsequently, services companies increased their selling prices.

However, the rate of output charge inflation was, however, moderate and weaker than February. Furthermore, optimism was signaled by service providers in India in March and the degree of confidence was the strongest registered since December 2012. Service sector firms linked positive sentiment to expectations of stronger demand and planned investment in marketing. 

India VIX, a gauge for markets short term expectation of volatility gained 5.46% at 14.87 from its previous close of 14.10 on Tuesday. (Provisional)

The S&P CNX Nifty lost 83.20 points or 1.45% to settle at 5,664.90. The index touched high and low of 5,744.95 and 5,650.10 respectively. 6 stocks advanced against 44 declining on the index. (Provisional)

The top gainers on the Nifty were Sun Pharmaceuticals up by 1.40%, NTPC was up by 1.18%, Ranbaxy was up by 1.01%, Tata Power was up by 0.31% and Dr. Reddy's Laboratories was up by 0.04%. On the other hand, NMDC down by 4.26%, DLF down by 4.22%, Bharti Airtel down by 3.87%, Bajaj-Auto down by 3.85% and Bank of Baroda down by 3.65% were the top losers. (Provisional)

Most of the European markets were trading in red, France’s CAC 40 down by 0.10%, the United Kingdom’s FTSE 100 down by 0.45% and Germany’s DAX down by 0.11%.

Asian markets ended the session mixed as investors remained sideways ahead of outcome of a two-day policy meeting of the Bank of Japan (BoJ) starting April 03 to see if fresh easing measures aimed at boosting the world's third biggest economy meet market expectations. Though, after a choppy start, most of the Asian counters recovered at the time of closing as Cyprus have been given two more years, until 2018, to meet the conditions of a 10 billion-euro bailout under a final agreement with euro-zone lenders, giving the island nation a bit more breathing room.