Post Session: Quick Review

Indian equity markets took a breather after three consecutive sessions’ record breaking run on Tuesday, with both Sensex and Nifty settling below the psychological 21,850 and 6550 levels respectively with a cut of close to half a percent. Sentiments failed to get a lift despite narrower than expected February trade deficit data, which recorded its steepest fall since September 2013. On the contrary, investors read more into the sluggish exports data, which registered its first fall in previous seven months and ruthlessly thrashed all the stocks that they held onto in the previous few sessions. In the dismal session of trade, local equity markets, underperforming Asian counterparts and grinding lower with each passing hour, settled near day’s low point. Although, benchmarks did show a degree of resilience in early morning deals after making a flattish start, but succumbed to selling pressure soon. Meanwhile, broader indices too succumbing to selling pressure, ended on a flat note.

On the global front, Asian stocks overcame an uninspiring handover from their US counterparts to end higher on Tuesday, after posting steep declines in the previous session. The gains came even as investors tracked Bank of Japan’s meeting to see if it will announce any fresh economy-boosting measures. On the flip side, European shares steadied after a two-day slide on Tuesday, with concerns over the Ukraine crisis sapping appetite for risk, although Portuguese stocks outperformed on mounting bets for a turnaround in the country's finances.

Closer home, while most of the sectoral indices ended in red, stocks from Realty, Power and Information Technology counters outperformed. Surprisingly, gains of IT stocks came even as Indian currency appreciated to seven months high level. Power stocks also vaulted after the Appellate Tribunal of Electricity (ATE) on Tuesday asked the Delhi Electricity Regulatory Commission (DERC) and private power distribution companies in the city to lay out a roadmap for liquidation of “regulatory assets” worth up to Rs 8,000 crore. Regulatory assets are non-cash assets that have been put on the books of discoms in cases where the regulator did not raise power tariffs to compensate for higher costs for discoms.

On the flip side, stocks from Metal, Healthcare and Capital goods counters were the top losers of the session. Metal stocks ended downbeat for second consecutive session on raising fears of a slowdown in the world's second-largest economy, China. Meanwhile, in stock-specific activities, tyre stocks, viz Ceat, MRF, JK Tyre among others hogged limelight after rubber prices slipped to multi years low in international market. The market breadth on the BSE ended negative; advances and declining stocks were in a ratio of 1241: 1546, while 177 scrips remained unchanged. (Provisional)

The BSE Sensex lost 89.65 points or 0.41% to settle at 21845.18. The index touched a high and a low of 22018.52 and 21772.11 respectively. Among the 30-share Sensex, 11 stocks gained, while 19 stocks declined. (Provisional)

The BSE Mid cap index ended lower by 0.24%, while Small cap index ended higher by 0.02%. (Provisional)

On the BSE Sectoral front, Realty up by 2.10%, Power up by 0.57%, IT up by 0.07% and FMCG up by 0.01%, were the only gainers, while Metal down by 3.48%, Healthcare down by 0.90%, Auto down by 0.77%, Oil & Gas down by 0.77% and Capital Goods down by 0.54% were the top losers in the space. (Provisional)

The top gainers on the Sensex were Tata Power up by 3.86%, ONGC up by 0.85%, Hindustan Unilever up by 0.84%, HDFC up by 0.54% and ICICI Bank up by 0.50%, while,  Tata Steel down by 5.64%, Hindalco down by 4.14%, SSLT down by 3.39%, Maruti Suzuki down by 2.67% and Sun Pharma down by 2.40% were the top losers in the index. (Provisional)

Meanwhile, India's trade deficit recorded its steepest fall since September 2013 in the month of February to $8.13 billion from $14.12 billion in the year ago period and $9.92 in January, led by sharp decline in imports, especially oil and non-oil imports. Signaling that government's efforts at containing deficit had started reaping benefits, country’s import slid by a steep 17% on Year-on-Year (Y-o-Y) basis. While oil imports were down to $13.7 billion from $14.13 billion in February 2013, non-oil imports too showed a decline of 24.5% to $20.12 billion from $26.65 billion (Y-o-Y) basis.

However, in a jolt to the economy, exports declined once again after a span of seven months. Exports came down by 3.67% at $25.68 billion in February compared to $26.66 billion in the same month last year, thereby casting doubts over chances of achieving export target of $325 billion for the present fiscal.

According to data released by the ministry of commerce and industry, cumulative value of exports for the period April-February 2013 -14 grew by 4.79% at $282.78 billion as against $269.86 billion. On the flip side, cumulatively imports during that period slid by 8.65% at $449.79 billion as against $410.86 billion in the same period last year. Consequently, trade deficit for Apr-Feb period narrowed down to $128.08 billion from $179.93 billion (Y-o-Y), thereby making government's current account deficit target of sub $50 billion by March 2014 more achievable.

India VIX, a gauge for markets short term expectation of marginally lost 2.54% at 17.32 from its previous close of 17.77 on Monday. (Provisional)

The CNX Nifty lost 17.65 points or 0.27% to settle at 6,519.60. The index touched high and low of 6,562.85 and 6,494.25 respectively. Out of the 50 stocks on the Nifty, 21 ended in the green, while 28 ended in the red and one stock remained unchanged.

The major gainers of the Nifty were DLF up 3.90%, Tata Power up by 3.79%, Grasim up by 2.61%, IDFC up by 2.54% and IndusInd Bank up by 1.77%.

The key losers were Tata Steel down by 5.84%, Hindalco down by 4.18%, Gail down by 3.02%, SSLT down by 2.91% and Maruti Suzuki down by 2.85%. (Provisional)

Most of the European markets were trading in red; France’s CAC 40 was down 0.30% and UK’s FTSE 100 was down 0.29%, while Germany’s DAX was up by 0.15%

The Asian markets concluded Tuesday’s trade in green with Hong Kong closing flat, as an early rally fuelled by bargain hunting fizzled out in the afternoon. China’s yuan and money market rates fell after exports shrank last month, indicating the central bank may take measures to support trade and curb interest arbitrage. Japan’s economy grew at a slower pace than initially thought in the last quarter of 2013, underscoring concerns about the pace of recovery under Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s policy blitz. The fresh figures will turn the focus onto Bank of Japan policymakers as they start a two-day meeting, with speculation they could unveil further monetary easing measures to counter a possible slowdown from a sales tax rise next month. The Bank of Japan board has decided by a unanimous vote to leave the bank’s policy target unchanged while noting weaker exports and slightly higher business investment and factory output. Japan’s Economy Watchers Current Index fell to a seasonally adjusted 53.0, from 54.7 in the preceding month.