Victory is a matter of staying power
Acting Finance Minister seemed to be singing ‘Jai Ho,’ the triumphant song that plays towards the end of Slumdog Millionaire’s closing Bollywood dance sequence. Laced with lyrics on the achievements by the Cong-led government, the budget speech had its mention and allocation for the social sector, farmers and defence. Sound beats came in the form of desk thumping by the coalition members even as the market gave a thumbs down to the budget falling over 3%.
The market is expected to open on a weak note. The Nifty is likely to find some support near the 2780 levels. Global cues on Monday worsened the situation and the broader indices came tumbling down. Thank God the US markets were closed for President’s Day. Stocks in Europe, Asia and Latin America fell. Japan’s Nikkei is down 1.5% as it grapples with its worst economic crisis since the end of World War II. Britain was warned it faces the worst recession in almost three decades, the Group of Seven offered no solution to revive global growth and commodity prices sank.
It’s raining data on pledged shares. Dhoots, promoters of Videocon group have pledged 36.14% in Videocon Industries. United Breweries’ promoters have pledged 7.5% stake. Kingfisher Airlines’ promoters have pledged a 43.8% stake.
McDowell Holdings’ five promoters have pledged 13.2% stake. Unitech promoters have pledged 49.48% of their 64.4% holding in the company. Parsvnath, Omaxe, Sobha Developers and Ansal Properties and Infrastructure, have informed the NSE that promoters have pledged 13-64% of shares in their companies. RCOM has pledged 13.19% of the company’s shares amounting to one-fifth of the promoters holding.
Gas prices, which had crashed to low of $1.616 per gallon on Dec. 30, have grown over 20%. Crude oil prices climbed towards $38 a barrel on Monday after the International Energy Agency (IEA) said there could be an oil market supply crunch from next year.
Among other corporate news M&M says it has completed the amalgamation of Punjab Tractors with itself.
Infosys has ruled out any job cuts, but sees tough times ahead.
Hindalco to use its Rs86bn share premium account to write off costs incurred on buying Novelis and to use the fund for its expansion purpose.
LIC Housing Finance will launch its financial services subsidiary, LIC Housing Finance Financial Services, but has deferred its venture capital fund.
The Government has transferred the investigation of the Satyam scam to CBI.
The Government has earmarked a major chunk of the US$4bn World Bank aid to recapitalize 11 public sector banks, including Dena Bank, OBC, Andhra Bank, UBI and Bank of Maharashtra
Reliance Infrastructure’s promoter AAA Project Ventures has pledged 16.35% stake in the company.
It was the second straight trading session where Indian market ended with losses. Weak global cues dragged the markets at open. Key indices further lost ground as disappointment from the interim budget triggered a sell-off on the Indian bourses.
The realty, banking and the auto stocks erased gains as the interim budget failed to provide any relief as expected.
Finally, the Sensex plunged 329 points to close at 9,305 and the Nifty fell 99 points to close at 2,848.
Among the 30-components of Sensex, 29 stocks ended in the red and only 1 stock i.e. ITC held up in the positive terrain. The major laggards in the Sensex were JP Associates, Reliance Infra, ICICI Bank, RCom, Tata Steel and Reliance Industries.
Shares of Hindalco slipped by 3% to Rs44. The company announced that the board of directors considered and approved to undertake a financial restructuring exercise. The scrip touched an intra-day high of Rs46 and a low of Rs44 and recorded volumes of over 10,00,000 shares on BSE.
Shares of Aventis Pharma slipped by 5% to Rs851 after reports stated that UB Group may offload stake in Aventis Pharma. The scrip touched an intra-day high of Rs910 and a low of Rs851.
Shares of MRO Tek surged by over 4.5% to Rs23.4 after the board of directors of the company announced that it would consider buyback of shares on Feb 25. The scrip touched an intra-day high of Rs24.5 and a low of Rs22.1 and recorded volumes of over 32,000 shares on BSE.
Shares of HBL Power rallied by over 4% to Rs116 after the company announced that it has set up venture in Saudi Arabia to manufacture industrial batteries. The company would own 40% stake in Saudi Arabia venture. The scrip touched an intra-day high of Rs128 and a low of Rs112 and recorded volumes of over 13,000 shares on BSE.
Corporation Bank announced that it opened its Local Representative Office in Hong Kong, on February 16, 2009. This is the second international office of the Bank, including the first Local Representative Office at Dubai opened in last calendar year.
Shares of Corporation Bank slipped by a percent to Rs171 after hitting an intra-day high of Rs175 and a low of Rs171 and recorded volumes of over 13,000 shares on BSE.
The outlook remain bleak for the moment, with the interim budget out of the way no markets lack triggers and also with the US markets to remain closed overnight, markets might remain choppy,
In Monday’s trading session the Nifty was seen taking support at 2,840 levels. If these levels are breached, we would see fresh round of selling. However, a bounce back cannot be ruled out. Staying stock specific would be wise.