Post Session:Quick Review

It was an another nerve-racking session of performance at D-street, where benchmark equity indices continuously kept their head below water and not even for once did attempt to enter the green zone. Desistance of Finance Minister from announcing any big-bang announcement for stemming rupee’s slide mainly weighed on investors sentiment, coupled with daunting global set-up.  However, Finance Minister P Chidambaram said that the government will soon take a call on further reforms in foreign direct investment (FDI), a move which on implementation could bring back some cheers into equity markets.

Nevertheless, by the close of trade benchmark indexes, Sensex and Nifty, taking a knock of over a percent settled near their two month low level, below the crucial 19,000 and 5700 mark respectively. The session turned out to be intimidating even for broader indices which enticed losses of around a percent. Cautious approach of market-participants ahead of the release of inflation data later tomorrow added to the downside of the bourses.

On the global front, Markets across Asia suffered another bruising day as investors scrambled for the exits, with Japanese stocks falling into bear market territory, almost 5%, along with heavy losses in China and across Southeast Asia. Meanwhile, European shares sold off again on Thursday with banks and commodity stocks - two of the sectors most exposed to broader economic fortunes – remaining the top losers on concerns about stimulus unwinding and Greek political turbulence.

Closer home, the downtrend of Indian equity markets was capped to some extent on account of Fitch’s upgrade on Indian’s outlook. Fitch returned India's sovereign ratings outlook to 'stable' from 'negative' a year after its initial downgrade, citing government measures to contain the budget deficit and the progress made in improving investment and economic growth. Nevertheless, to add to the positives, Government revised the April IIP to 2.3% against 2% reported yesterday.

Further, amidst across the board selling pressure, only stocks from Consumer Durable counters showed resilience. Prominent losers amongst the sectoral space were stocks from Auto, Realty and Health Care counters. The market breadth on the BSE ended negative; advances and declining stocks were in a ratio of 760: 1563, while 133 scrips remained unchanged. (Provisional)

The BSE Sensex lost 233.95 points or 1.23% to settle at 18807.18.The index touched a high and a low of 18914.13 and 18765.53 respectively. Among the 30-share Sensex pack, 5 stocks gained, while rest of 25 declined. (Provisional)

Broader indices concluded in red; BSE Mid cap and Small cap indices were down by 1.47% and 1.06% respectively. (Provisional) On the BSE Sectoral front, Auto down by 2.59%, Realty down by 2.22%, Health Care down by 1.92%, IT down by 1.87% and PSU down by 1.86%, were the top losers, while Consumer Durables up by 7.48 was the sole gainer in the space. (Provisional)

The top gainers on the Sensex were Hindalco Industries up by 4.82%, Bharti Airtel up by 3.47%, Jindal Steel up by 0.55%, SBI up by 0.49% and Hindustan Unilever up by 0.19%, while, Tata Motors down by 3.50%, Mahindra & Mahindra down by 3.25%, Sun Pharma down by 3.22%, Tata Steel down by 2.92% and Gail India down by 2.70% were the top losers in the index. (Provisional)

Meanwhile, with exports and private investment projected to strengthen and provide a boost to growth, India’s economic growth is expected to grow by 6.7% by next fiscal. As per the World Bank’s latest 'Global Economic Prospects' report, South Asia's regional growth will be driven mainly by a projected pick up in India, whose GDP in factor cost terms is projected to grow 5.7% in the 2013 fiscal year (ending in March 2014), and then accelerate to 6.5% and 6.7% in FY2013-14 and FY2014-15, respectively.

Further, it added that Indian economy’s recovery will depend on the pace of policy and fiscal reforms, and remains subject to significant uncertainty and downside risks. Further, faster-than-projected pick up in global demand and a larger than expected decline in commodity prices reflect some upside risks to the outlook.

However, the report also highlighted that a greater dependence on foreign investment inflows to finance India's significantly larger current account deficit compared to the past has increased its vulnerability to a sudden reversal of investor sentiment. It also added that the business sentiment in the manufacturing sector in India weakened to a four-year low in May and if these sentiments continue to remain weak in coming months, then this could adversely impact investment and growth.India VIX, a gauge for markets short term expectation of volatility gained 3.12% at 19.44 from its previous close of 18.85 on Wednesday. (Provisional)

The CNX Nifty lost 64.05 points or 1.11% to settle at 5,696.15. The index touched high and low of 5,729.85 and 5,683.10 respectively. 9 stocks advanced against 41 declining on the index. (Provisional)

The top gainers on the Nifty were Hindalco Industries up by 4.71%, Bharti Airtel up by 3.31%, Jindal Steel up by 0.62%, SBI up by 0.55% and Ambuja Cements was up by 0.46%. On the other hand, PNB down by 4.73%, Bank of Baroda down by 4.20%, Gail down by 3.92%, Tata Motors down by 3.90% and NMDC down by 3.69% were the top losers. (Provisional)

The European markets were trading in red; France’s CAC 40 was down by 0.79%, Germany’s DAX was down by 1.62% and the United Kingdom’s FTSE 100 edged lower by 1.14%.

Asian stocks closed shop on a weak note, with Japanese shares leading the losses as dollar hits a two-month low against the yen, on expectations that central bank’s easing measures will soon come to an end. Shanghai markets ended lower in its first session of trade this week, as investment data at the weekend reinforced fears about a slowdown in the world's number two economy. Hong Kong market went home with red mark after touching lowest level since September.