Post Session: Quick Review

Indian markets depicted the volatility usually seen ahead of the F&O series expiry and while the indices came out of the consolidation mood with a gap-up start in the morning, surging to their fresh all time highs, the second half witnessed profit booking taking the benchmarks lower for a couple of time. Earlier the traders once again betting big on the India growth story went for broad based buying and some of the sector that had suffered selling on governance concern, bounced back and supported the markets to surge to new highs. The Indian currency surging to their eight months high on the back of continued foreign fund inflows, too supported the equity markets.

The global cues too remained supportive, with US markets ending higher overnight after a report of a significant improvement in consumer confidence in the month of March. Most of the Asian markets ended higher tracking the gains in the US markets, though there was some somberness in the Chinese market after the country expanded an annual property survey that helps shape policies to more than 300 cities amid growing concern of oversupply in smaller cities. The European markets too made a strong start on hopes that US durable goods orders probably increased in February, adding to evidence the US economy is improving.

Back home, the markets which traded in fine fettle till most part of the day, suffered sudden dip in the last couple of hours after the ruling Congress party came up with its manifesto for the 2014 Lok Sabha elections promising inclusive growth along with eight per cent growth rate in three years and various tax reforms. However, markets recovered soon after, supported by the mid cap stocks to make another close with gains, albeit modest. Metals, Capital Goods and Oil & Gas supported the markets from front, while Consumer durables, IT, TECK and defensive FMCG restriceted the major upmove.  Auto sector stocks remained in jubilant mood since morning on report that auto makers are all set to increase prices for the third time this year, not withstanding a sluggish market and recent cut in excise duty, due to inflating operating costs and an unstable currency impacting their margins. However, there was some somberness in select infra stocks after an IMF report said that the slump in infrastructure and corporate investment has been the single largest contributor to India's recent growth slowdown. It also pointed that that heightened uncertainty regarding the future course of broader economic policies and deteriorating business confidence have played a significant role in the recent investment gloom. IL&FS Engineering lost over 4%, Ansal Properties & Infrastructure lost over 3% and IL&FS Transportation Networks was down by around half a percent.

The market breadth on the BSE ended negative; advances and declining stocks were in a ratio of 1,271: 1,621, while 131 scrips remained unchanged. (Provisional)

The BSE Sensex gained 21.64 points or 0.10% to settle at 22,076.85. The index touched a high and a low of 22,172.20 and 22,020.58 respectively. Among the 30-share Sensex, 16 stocks gained, while 14 stocks declined. (Provisional)

The BSE Mid cap index ended higher by 0.28% and Small cap index ended lower by 0.14%. (Provisional)

On the BSE Sectoral front, Metal up by 2.56%, Capital Goods up by 1.38%, PSU up by 1.13%, Oil & Gas up by 1.04% and Auto up by 0.96% were the top gainers, while Healthcare down by 1.92%, Consumer Durables down by 1.27%, IT down by 0.92%, Teck down by 0.73% and FMCG down by 0.70% were the top losers in the space. (Provisional)

The top gainers on the Sensex were SSLT up by 3.97%, Hindalco up by 3.19%, Tata Steel up by 2.26%,  Coal India up by 2.25% and L&T up by 2.21%, while, Dr Reddys Lab down by 3.28%, Sun Pharma down by 2.47%, TCS down by 2.13%,  Mahindra & Mahindra down by 1.49% and Cipla down by 1.07% were the top losers in the index. (Provisional)

Meanwhile, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has attributed slump in infrastructure and corporate investment a major reason for India's recent growth slowdown. Indian economy’s growth declined to a decade low at 4.5 percent in FY13 and 4.6 percent during the first three quarter of FY14.

IMF noted that the recent investment gloom in India is mainly due to deteriorating business confidence and heightened uncertainty regarding the future course of broader economic policies. Though, a portion of the recent investment slowdown can also be attributed to the increase in financing costs. IMF further added that country’s economic policy is directly correlated to investment and heightened policy uncertainty over the recent years has led to decline in new investments and increase value of investments. Therefore, these investments have either been postponed or cancelled on account of rising value.

Referring to Indian economy’s outlook, the IMF said that in the near term, lowering nominal interest rates may provide some relief in terms of a reduced interest burden, especially to corporates with high leverage. However, in the medium term, lower rates with little slack in the economy would stoke inflation further and exacerbate inflation trends across sectors, hurting investment.

India VIX, a gauge for markets short term expectation volatility gained 4.99% at 17.76 from its previous close of 16.92 on Wednesday. (Provisional)

The CNX Nifty gained 9.50 points or 0.14% to settle at 6,599.25. The index touched high and low of 6,627.45 and 6,580.60 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 SSLT up 3.91%, Hindalco up by 3.69%, Jindal Steel up by 3.20%, IDFC up by 2.91% and Tata Motors up by 2.67%. The key losers were Dr. Reddy's Laboratories down by 3.47%, Lupin down by 2.49%, JP Associate down by 2.45%, TCS down by 2.39% and Sun Pharma down by 2.31%. (Provisional)

The European markets were trading in green; France’s CAC 40 was up 0.81%, Germany’s DAX was up 1.22% and UK’s FTSE 100 up 0.49%.

The Asian markets barring Shanghai Composite concluded Wednesday’s trade mostly in green following a rally on Wall Street after data showed a strong pick-up in US consumer confidence. Shanghai closed lower despite market sentiment was lifted yesterday after the government announced a slew of infrastructure investment plans that may boost the economy. The French trade credit and insurance group stated that Indonesia, Bangladesh and Ethiopia are among 10 countries set to take over as emerging economies from the powerful BRICS nations as they struggle with growing pains. Singaporean Industrial Production rose to an annual rate of 12.8%, from 4.4% in the preceding month whose figure was revised up from 3.9%. Japan’s CSPI remained unchanged at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 0.7%, from 0.7% in the preceding month whose figure was revised down from 0.8%.