Post Session: Quick Review

Monday’s session turned out to be yet another session of gains for Indian equity markets, which with each passing day are scaling record closing high levels. After a choppy start and turning range-bound thereafter, local bourses witnessed sudden rush of buying-activities in late hours of trade as investors flocked to select blue chip stocks that too at the start of data heavy week, with February CPI and January factory output due on Wednesday and February WPI on  Friday. However, wave of selling pressure that emerged in the dying hours of trade mainly led to flattish close.

By the close of trade, both Sensex and Nifty, ended past the crucial 21,930 and 6530 levels respectively. In the intra-day trade, Namo’s magic was witnessed across Dalal Street after Sensex crossed 22,000 level and Nifty stood little shy of the crucial 6550 level. Meanwhile, the session clearly belonged to broader indices, which went home with gains in the range of 0.40%-0.75%

Indian equity markets have been scaling lifetime high levels with each passing session after announcement of Lok Sabha polling dates, amidst hopes that business friendly -Narendra Modi’s led government would emerge victorious at General Election 2014.

Notably, the gains of equity markets in today trading session were in absence of any supportive cues from regional counterparts. On the global front, Asian shares presented a lackluster sight on Monday, with major indexes across the region registering steep declines. Chinese shares in particular suffered a hefty loss of nearly 3 percent. Investors in Asia-specific region switched to ‘risk-off’ mode following disappointing Chinese export data over the weekend. The latest Japanese gross domestic product (GDP) figures further dented trading sentiment across the region. On the flip side, European shares inched higher in early trade on Monday following the previous session's sharp sell-off, although mining shares dropped again, hurt by soft Chinese macro data.

Closer home, majority of the sectoral indices on BSE ended in green, and stocks from Capital Goods, Realty and banking counters were the top gainers of the session. However, top losers were stocks belonging to Information Technology (IT), Technology and Healthcare counters. Additionally, Shares of metal companies plunged after data on Saturday showed China's exports unexpectedly tumbled in February, raising fears of a slowdown in the world's second-largest economy. In other sector specific activities, while Realty stocks extended their recent strong gains, Pharma stocks declined for the second day in a row. Ranbaxy Laboratories dropped on reports the company has recalled more than 64,000 bottles of the generic version of a cholesterol-lowering drug in the United States after dosage mix-up was detected. The overall market breadth on BSE ended in the favour of advances which outnumbered declines in the ratio of 1459:1347; while 160 shares remained unchanged.

The BSE Sensex gained 10.40 points or 0.05% to settle at 21930.19. The index touched a high and a low of 22023.98 and 21805.22 respectively. Among the 30-share Sensex, 16 stocks gained, while 14 stocks declined. (Provisional)

The BSE Mid cap and Small cap indices outperformed markets and ended higher by 0.49% and 0.81% respectively. (Provisional)

On the BSE Sectoral front, Capital Goods up by 2.87%, Realty up by 2.49%, Bankex up by 1.92%, Oil & Gas up by 0.88% and Power up by 0.79% were the top gainers, while IT down by 2.39%, Healthcare down by 1.82%, TECK down by 1.66%, Metal down by 1.21% and Consumer Durables down by 1.03% were the top losers in the space. (Provisional)

The top gainers on the Sensex were M&M up by 3.72%, Maruti Suzuki up by 3.57%, HDFC Bank up by 3.41%, L&T up by 3.37% and SBI up by 2.70%. On the other hand, TCS down by 3.60%, Tata Motors down by 3.37%, Sun Pharma down by 2.96%, Hindalco down by 2.53% and GAIL down by 2.31% were the top losers in the index. (Provisional)

Meanwhile, amid rising expectation of a coalition government post the general elections, Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) President S Gopalakrishnan has asserted that a consensus across political parties on key issues such as policy implementation and job creation would remain pivotal for economic growth in future. Expressing the need for stable government, CII President stressed that irrespective of the political party that comes to power, stability for at least a five-year term would help in economic development and job creation in the country.

CII President S Gopalakrishnan further added that immediate priorities for the new government would include creation of such an economic condition that drives job creation, formulation of the right policy and implementation of these policies.

The CII, in its recently released survey on economic growth, had highlighted political uncertainty as the biggest concern for growth and expects Indian economy’s growth to be in the range of 4.5 to 5 percent during the second half of the current fiscal year. CII survey noted that although domestic economy may have already bottomed out in the previous quarter, the recovery process is on sluggish mode and the factors like growth uncertainty, high food inflation, and rising borrowing costs have been impeding consumer demand in the country. The CII had also suggested the government to take necessary steps to improve investment climate in the country and boost domestic demand.

India VIX, a gauge for markets short-term expectation of volatility gained 6.32% at 17.78 from its previous close of 16.71 on Friday. (Provisional)

The CNX Nifty gained 10.60 points or 0.16% to settle at 6,537.25. The index touched high and low of 6,562.20 and 6,487.35 respectively. Out of the 50 stocks on the Nifty, 28 ended in the green, while 22 ended in the red. 

The major gainers of the Nifty were IDFC up 6.85%, Kotak Bank up by 5.83%, Indusind Bank up by 5.49%, JP Associates up by 5.01% and Maruti Suzuki up by 3.71%. The key losers were TCS down by 3.75%, Tata Motors down by 3.36%, HCL Tech down by 3.15%, Sun Pharma down by 3.14% and NMDC down by 2.69%. (Provisional)

The European markets were trading in red; France’s CAC 40 was down 0.80% and UK’s FTSE 100 up by 0.39%, however Germany’s DAX was down by 0.06%.

The Asian markets concluded Monday’s trade in red on disappointing Chinese trade data. Indonesia’s foreign reserves rose 2% last month, bolstered by persistent inflow of offshore funds, which were attracted to an improving economy. The reserves rose to $102.7 billion, the highest level in eight months, in February from $100.7 billion in January. An increase in foreign reserves is likely to bolster confidence in the markets even further. China’s Minister of Commerce stated that the country will meet its target of 7.5% growth in trade this year and also counseled a calm and responsible attitude when faced with rising trade disputes.

China’s exports unexpectedly fell 18.1% in February from a year earlier, leaving a trade deficit of $22.98 billion for the month. China’s posted a trade deficit in February compared with a surplus of $31.86 billion in January. On a Chinese currency basis, exports for the month were down 20.4% year on year while imports were up 7%. China’s consumer price index rose 2.0% in February from a year earlier, slower than a 2.5% on-year rise in January. The CPI also increased 0.5% in February from January. In January, it rose 1.0% from the preceding month.