Post session - Quick review

Consolidation emerged at Dalal Street after two straight sessions of gains, which led to flattish close of bourses on Wednesday. Lingering caution ahead of June month’s industrial output data, on Thursday, mainly led to sideways close of bourses. Shambled by weak investment at home because of policy inaction and a drop in export orders from the United States and Europe, India’s industrial output probably grew at a slower pace at 1.0% in June as compared to 2.4% in May. The downside of the bourses in today’s trading session mainly remained capped on account of uptick of market bellwether Reliance Industries, which amassed gains of over half a percent after management committee for the D6 field in the Krishna-Godavari (KG) basin on Tuesday conditionally approved the budget and work programmes for the field that have been pending for the last three years. Reversing the trend seen in the previous two trading sessions, benchmark equity indices dipped near intra-day’s low level by the close of trade, as traders relentlessly took their profits off the table. 30 share barometer index, Sensex, on BSE, after piercing through the 17700 psychological level, settled for a close which was sub 17600 mark.  However, the widely followed 50 share index, Nifty, adding a little over its previous close, held above the 5300 bastion for the entire trading session. The session turned out to be disappointing from broader indices, which went home with loss of over 0.15 %( Midcap) and 0.30% (Smallcap) index respectively.

Mixed global cues also failed to lend any support to benchmark equity indices Asian shares protracting gains to a third successive session on Wednesday, scaled a three-month high on Wednesday, as investors continued to bet that policymakers will soon take decisive action to address the euro zone fiscal crisis and declining global growth. Meanwhile, European shares slipped after three days of solid gains on Wednesday as investors awaited the next moves by central banks to tackle declining global growth and Europe's fiscal crisis.

Closer home, stocks from Realty, Technology and Capital Goods counters on the BSE sectoral front, mainly negated the sentiment of 30 share index, Sensex. However, sentiment at Dalal Street was also spooked with the slippage of Indiabulls group stocks. Shares of Indiabulls Power, Indiabulls Real Estate and Indiabulls Financial Services lost in the range of 0.75-1.5% by the close of trade on Veritas Investment Research report. Veritas recommended sell on all Indiabulls group stocks, on the principle that corporate governance being sacrificed for enriching the controlling shareholders. In a seriously damning report, Veritas averred that the disclosures made by Indiabulls Real Estate (IBREL) as well as Indiabulls Power (IBPOW) are unreliable and ‘the sole purpose of IBREL is to bilk institutional and retail investors for the benefit of select insiders.’ However, in other stock-specific activity, telecom major Bharti Airtel touched to 52 week low after its net profit fell for the tenth quarter in a row, declining 37% to Rs 762.2 crore for the quarter ended June 30, 2012. On the flip side, stocks of India’s biggest utility vehicle manufacturer, Mahindra & Mahindra added gains of over 4% on posting better-than-expected 20% rise in quarterly profit as strong demand for its sporty cars counterbalanced sluggish sales at its key tractor business. Additionally, Coal India added gains of over a 0.15% on clearing the way for signing of fresh fuel supply pacts by agreeing to pay hefty penalty on supply shortfall. Meanwhile, stocks from Auto, Metal and Public Sector Undertaking lessened some weakness in Indian equity markets. The market breadth on the BSE ended negative; advances and declining stocks were in a ratio of 1585:1262 while 119 scrips remained unchanged. (Provisional)

The BSE Sensex gained 0.34 points and settled at 17,602.12. The index touched a high and a low of 17,726.64 and 17,582.66 respectively. 20 stocks were seen advancing against 10 declining ones on the index (Provisional)

The BSE Mid-cap index lost 0.19% while Small-cap index was down 0.39%. (Provisional)

On the BSE Sectoral front, Auto up 1.16%, PSU up 0.74%, Metal up 0.73%, FMCG up 0.46% and IT up 0.34% were the top gainers, while Realty down 1.97%, TECk down 0.80%, Bankex down 0.60%, Capital Goods down 0.59% and Power down 0.26% were the top losers in the space.

The top gainers on the Sensex were M&M up 4.17%, Hindalco Industries up 2.15%, Jindal Steel up 1.29%, HUL up 1.23% and Infosys up 1.19% while, Bharti Airtel down 6.36%, Gail India down 2.46%, ICICI Bank down 1.62%, TCS down 1.23% and L&T down 0.72% were the top losers in the index. (Provisional)

Meanwhile, the government has decided to seek approval from Supreme Court (SC) to extend the deadline for auction of second-generation spectrum from August 31 to November 12, 2012 and assigning of frequencies of spectrum to successful bidders by January 30, 2013.

The Empowered Group of Ministers (EGoM), headed by finance minister P Chidambaram, had decided to extend the date to November due to difficulties in completing the auction process in stipulated time. Pursuant to which, the government may ask the SC time till November to begin the auction. However, the SC had earlier ordered that the auction of the spectrum must be completed by August 31.

As per the new schedule, the new licence structure will be finalized by October 1, 2012, and submission of application will start on October 2. And the list of applicants will be finalized on November 6 and mock auction will be held on November 8.

India VIX, a gauge for market’s short term expectation of volatility gained 0.98% at 16.37 from its previous close of 16.21 on Tuesday. (Provisional)

The S&P CNX Nifty gained 1.35 points or 0.03% to settle at 5,338.05. The index touched high and low of 5,377.60 and 5,331.05 respectively. 29 stocks advanced against 21 declining ones on the index. (Provisional)

The top gainers on the Nifty were M&M up 3.87%, BPCL up 3.02%, Hindalco Industries up 1.98%, Grasim Industries up 1.73% and Ranbaxy Laboratories up 1.67%. On the other hand, Bharti Airtel down 6.43%, GAIL India down 3.02%, DLF down 2.07%, PNB down 1.86% and ICICI Bank down 1.68% were the top losers. (Provisional)

The European markets were trading in red, with France's CAC 40 down 0.62%, Germany's DAX down 0.61% and Britain’s FTSE 100 down 0.58%.

Most of the Asian markets ended higher on the third consecutive session on Wednesday, on the back of continued hopes for a new round of stimulus from the US and European central banks. However, Hong Kong listed Standard Chartered's shares dropped for a second day, as the bank was accused by US regulators of hiding sanction-busting multi-billion-dollar trades with Iran. Meanwhile, oil prices fell after racing up to a 12-week high on Tuesday on expectations of further economic stimulus.