Post Session: Quick review

It turned out to be a weak session of trade, wherein benchmark equity indices gyrating listlessly failed to gain any, thereby making fourth consecutive negative session of trade. Failing to showcase any pullback, benchmarks ended in red, although losses remained limited on account of some lower level buying combined with some positive news flow. Index heavyweight, BHEL stocks added close to 2.50% gains on reporting higher order inflows. Although the company posted an 8% fall in provisional net profit for the last fiscal year, its provisional orders inflow in the year ended March 31 rose by around 43% to Rs 31528 crore. Meanwhile, in a little relief to the telecom sector stocks, Supreme Court directed DoT not to take any coercive against the companies offering 3G service, until next hearing on April 11, which sent shares of Bharti Airtel and Idea Cellular higher with gains of over 3%. In a major blow to these operators, DoT had directed to immediately stop offering 3G services outside their licensed zones and even slapped a fine of Rs 300 crore and Rs 550 crore on Idea Cellular and Vodafone respectively. In the flip-flop session of trade, benchmark 30 Share index, Sensex closed below the 18450 level. Similarly, widely followed index, Nifty, too settled below the crucial 5500 level. Meanwhile, broader indices succumbed to selling pressure and ended in red terrain.

Besides, the positive news flows at home front, sanguine European counterparts too prompted markets a flattish close albeit with negative bias. European shares clawed back some of the previous session's hefty losses, led by a rise in pharma group, but gains are expected to be limited this month on concerns over the region's sovereign debt crisis. Meanwhile, Asian shares ended lower, as investors remained cautious over mounting tensions on the Korean peninsula, an outbreak of bird flu in China.

Closer home, the sentiment at D-street was soured in early trade on RBI Chief’s statement of India’s current account deficit being unsustainable at its present level of about 5% of gross domestic product (GDP). The statement hinted that central bank may not change key policy rates in the next monitory policy. Sectorally, Consumer Durable, Health Care and Fast Moving Consumer Goods lent a helping hand to bourses in cutting short their losses, while stocks from Information Technology, Capital Goods and Banking counters were the prominent losers. Software services exporters fell ahead of what is widely expected to be a lackluster earnings season, and as foreign funds continued to exit local holdings. The market breadth on the BSE ended negative; advances and declining stocks were in a ratio of 815: 893 while 623 scrips remained unchanged. (Provisional)

The BSE Sensex lost 8.96 points or 0.05% to settle at 18441.27.The index touched a high and a low of 18504.48 and 18402.93 respectively. 17 stocks were up, while 13 stocks declined on the index. (Provisional)

The BSE Mid cap and Small cap indices ended lower by 0.14% and 0.08% respectively. (Provisional)

On the BSE Sectoral front, Consumer Durables up by 1.17%, FMCG up by 0.83%, OIL & GAS up by 0.65%, Health Care up by 0.55% and Power up by 0.53% were the top gainers, while IT down by 0.90%, Capital Goods down by 0.82%, Bankex down by 0.73%, metal down by 0.52% and Teck down by 0.38% were the top losers in the space. (Provisional)

The top gainers on the Sensex were Bharti Airtel up by 3.38%, BHEL up by 2.50%, Cipla up by 2.19%, Hindustan Unilever up by 1.51% and Dr Reddys Lab up by 1.29%, while, L&T down by 1.67%, HDFC down by 1.59%, Sterlite Industries down by 1.46%, Wipro down by 1.39% and Jindal Steel down by 1.25% were the top losers in the index. (Provisional)

Meanwhile, the Reserve Bank of India Governor D Subbarao is expected to inform the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Finance on April 09 about the final guidelines for award of new licences in the banking sector. The panel has been tracking the issue since the RBI released the final guidelines for new banking licences. 

As per the RBI final guidelines, business houses, state-run enterprises and non-banking finance companies (NBFCs) having 10-year impeccable track record are eligible to apply for licences to set up banks. However, it is expected that the RBI would get difficulty in passing the bill as the left parties have already opposed the move.

The Communist Party of India (CPI) has also said in a statement that the banks set up by the big business houses will increase the scope for large-scale financial malpractices. The recent scams involving big business highlight the danger of financial swindles in such banks that will deprive the people who deposit in such banks of their hard-earned savings.

Earlier in 2011, the panel had informally discussed the issue with certain members and had expressed concerns about RBI’s move. On the other hand, several corporate bodies have already evinced interest in starting new banks. Presently, Indian banking industry consists of 26 public sector banks, 22 private sector banks and over 40 foreign banks.

India VIX, a gauge for markets short term expectation of volatility gained 3.77% at 16.77 from its previous close of 16.16 on Friday. (Provisional)

The CNX Nifty lost 8.05 points or 0.14% to settle at 5,545.20. The index touched high and low of 5,569.20 and 5,537.05 respectively. 22 stocks advanced against 26 declining on the index. (Provisional)

The top gainers on the Nifty were Reliance Infrastructure up by 3.48%, Bharti Airtel up by 3.27%, BHEL up by 2.73%, Ambuja Cements up by 2.28% and Cipla was up by 2.24%. On the other hand, Asian Paints down by 2.99%, Ranbaxy down by 2.37%, PNB down by 2.11%, Axis Bank down by 2.05% and Sesa Goa down by 1.97% were the top losers. (Provisional)

Most of the European markets were trading in green with, Germany’s DAX up by 0.34%, the United Kingdom’s FTSE 100 up by 0.24% and France’s CAC 40 up by 0.62%.

Asian markets ended mostly lower on Monday tracking a disappointing US jobs data. Meanwhile, investors were on selling spree amid lack of positive triggers from the region, which also contributed to the market’s decline. Shanghai Composite closed lower as property market curbs dragged down the markets. However, bucking the trend Japanese market went home with green mark after touching a 4 1/2-year high as yen continued to weaken against the US dollar in the wake stronger-than-expected monetary easing measures announced by the Bank of Japan.