Post session - Quick review

Local equity markets underwent massive tribulation in trade today as bourses wilting under intense selling pressure went for correction after consolidating in previous session. Amid alternate bouts of buying and selling, local barometer gauges, ended down in dumps as a host of negative triggers across the globe and domestic markets activated the snoozing bears. 30 scrip sensitive index, Sensex, pummeled close to a percent, to shut shop in proximity to 16700 level. The index, after sneaking past the 16900 level, ahead of inflation numbers today, cooled off significantly to end near intra-day low level. Similarly, the 50 share index, Nifty, on NSE too after offloading over a percentage points settled far way the 5100 level. Among the broader space, Midcap index enticed weakness in larger magnitude in comparison to the Small pocket counter.

May Month’s inflation data acted as dampener for Indian equity markets, which earlier hinging on RBI’s aggressive stance in its upcoming monetary policy review on June 18, 2012, were weigh down with the release of numbers, which slightly diminished the chances of a rate cut. Driven by double-digit rise in food and fuel prices, India's wholesale price index (WPI) rose 7.55 percent in May. Moreover, March’s WPI inflation was revised higher to 7.69% as against 6.89% (provisional). Sentiment was also soured after the Cabinet Committee of Economic Affairs (CCEA) in its meeting today deferred the Fertiliser Ministry's proposal to hike retail prices of urea by 10 percent to Rs 5,841 per tonne for the 2012-13 fiscal. Reacting to this, National Fertilizers, Rashtriya Chemicals & Fertilizers (RCF), Coromandel International and Chambal Fertilisers & Chemicals all gave up their early gains to end in red terrain. However, resilience was showcased by Information Technology and Technology counters, who made up for some losses of the markets. Software stocks gained out of Rupee’s fall as the beleaguered currency weakened to 55.85/$ psychological level. A weak rupee boosts revenue of IT firms in dollar terms as the sector derives a huge amount of revenue from exports.

Pessimistic global leads also added to the market’s gloom. Asian shares slipped on Thursday as weak US retail sales data flagged concerns about sluggish economic growth, while an Italian debt auction which would test market confidence in whether Rome can avoid becoming the next victim of the euro zone crisis, also kept trader’s wary. Meanwhile, European shares too turned wobbly after Moody's became the latest rating agency to downgrade Spain, intensifying the cautious mood among investors who are bracing themselves for the outcome of the Greek election over the weekend. Ahead of an Italian bond auction at which borrowing costs are seen sharply rising, Moody's ratings agency slashed its rating on Spanish government debt by three notches to 'Baa3' from 'A3.

Back home, the BSE Sensex lost 208.12 points or 1.23% and settled at 16,672.39. The index touched a high and a low of 16,921.49 and 16,658.98 respectively. 4 stocks were seen advancing against 26 declining ones on the index (Provisional). The market breadth on the BSE ended negative; advances and declining stocks were in a ratio of 1017:1697 while 116 scrips remained unchanged. (Provisional)

The BSE Mid-cap index lost 1.32% while Small-cap index was down 0.65%. (Provisional)

On the BSE Sectoral front, IT up 0.25% and TECk up 0.04% were the only gainers while Realty down 3.04%, Bankex down 2.94%, Capital Goods down 2.89%, Power down 2.17% and Auto down 2.10% were the top losers.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Infosys up 1.08%, Cipla up 0.36%, ITC up 0.25% and Sterlite Industries up 0.20% while, Tata Motors down 4.65%, L&T down 4.05%, ICICI Bank down 3.70%, NTPC down 3.66% and SBI down 3.03% were the top losers in the index. (Provisional)

Meanwhile, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee is expected to meet industry leaders on June 26, to discuss steps to revitalize the manufacturing sector and the slowing economy. This is mainly on the back of GPD registering a nine-year low growth of 5.3% in January-March quarter of FY12, with manufacturing growth stagnating to 0.1% in April and depreciation in the rupee to a record low.

The meeting is likely to be attended by Mukesh Ambani, Anil Ambani, Ratan Tata, Sunil Bharti Mittal and Y C Deveshwar. This would be a follow up of a conference held in August last year to give a boost to the manufacturing sector.

Earlier this month, even Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in an attempt to boost investment in infra space, had met industry leaders, together with key ministers and set an investment target of around Rs 2 lakh crore for core sector projects in the current financial year.

The industrial growth rate remained flat in April recording a growth of just 0.1%, after contracting by 3.5% in March, mainly on the back of poor performance of manufacturing and mining sectors and lower production of capital goods, which is an indicator of investments.

India VIX, a gauge for market’s short term expectation of volatility gain 5.54% at 25.71 from its previous close of 24.36 on Wednesday. (Provisional)

The S&P CNX Nifty lost 70.00 points or 1.37% to settle at 5,051.45. The index touched high and low of 5,130.00 and 5,047.60 respectively. 11 stocks advanced against 39 declining ones on the index. (Provisional)

The top gainers on the Nifty were Infosys up 1.14%, Cipla up 0.91%, ACC up 0.79%, BPCL up 0.77% and Cairn India up 0.73%.On the other hand, Tata Motors down 4.68%, IDFC down 4.32%, L&T down 3.97%, NTPC down 3.89% and SAIL down 3.79% were the top losers. (Provisional)

The European markets were trading in red, with France's CAC 40 down 0.90%, Germany's DAX down 1.10% and Britain’s FTSE 100 down 0.97%.

All the Asian equity indices barring KOSPI Composite snapped the day’s trade in the negative terrain on Thursday following losses on Wall Street while, selling was also triggered by nervousness ahead of crucial Greek polls at the weekend and fears over Spain. Sentiments also remained dampened after Moody's rating for Spain's government bonds dropped three notches to Baa3 from A3, one step above junk status, which is considered a ‘highly speculative’ investment. Meanwhile, Japanese Nikkei edged lower on Thursday as investors continued to cut their exposure to risky assets, hedging against the potentially disruptive consequences of Greece’s election at the weekend and Federal Reserve and G20 meetings next week. However, Seoul shares rose over half a percent after a range-bound session, showing a small spike in late business on arbitrage trading triggered by expiring futures.