What was hard to endure is sweet to recall.
It’s the season of recalls as far as the global auto industry is concerned even as the Indian auto story remains on a firmer footing so far. At the same time, policymakers across the globe, barring a few troubled spots, are reversing the crisis-fighting stimulus. India has already made its intentions clear on stimulus withdrawal as the economy has rebounded strongly. One only hopes that the UPA doesn’t succumb to political pressure on the issue of fuel price hike.
There might be some reversal on the bourses after two successive days of Budget-related gains. The start will most probably be a flat one due to uncertain global cues. US market erased bigger gains to close slightly higher. European indices did somewhat better and it’s a mixed bag for Asian markets.
The Budget has prevented further breakdown in sentiment but the upside too appears capped a little above these levels. Among the key factors to watch out for will be FII flows, which have turned positive again. Summer is here for now but it will be the dark clouds of monsoon which will bring the desired sunshine on the bourses.
UPA II has navigated India out of the global financial storm. The Indian economy is now in pretty good shape and will only do better from here on. Globally too, things are okay, if not spectacular. There are still some lingering worries, like the debt problems in Europe, jobless growth in the US, sluggish recovery in the UK and Japan, besides of course China’s monetary tightening.
In short, one won't have it easy in the stock markets this year after last year's stupendous run. Volatility will continue to hound us through the year and there will be no linear, one-way movement. India though will remain among the most sought after destinations for its strong fundamentals.
FIIs were net buyers in the cash segment on Tuesday at Rs13.35bn on a provisional basis while the local funds were net sellers of Rs9.77bn, according to figures published on the NSE's web site. In the F&O segment, the foreign funds were net buyers of Rs28.17bn. On Friday, FIIs were net buyers of Rs10.94bn in the cash segment.
The NSE Nifty closed above the 5000 levels for the first time since January 25, 2010 extending gains to second straight trading session as the sentiment remained upbeat post Union Budget. The index took ~24 trading days to reclaim the 5000 mark.
Better than expected monthly auto sales figures by Tata Motors, Maruti and Bajaj Auto kept the Auto stocks in limelight. The strong rally was led by the Metals and Banking stocks even the Mid-Cap and the Small-Cap stocks were in demand. The Realty stocks which were under pressure in the opening trades also erased all intra-day losses.
In addition, India's merchandise exports showed improvement for third consecutive month, exports rose by 11.5% YoY in January 2010 to touch US$14.34bn, data released by the Government. While, imports for the month under review were up by a strong 35.5% at US$24.7bn, the Commerce & Industry said today in a statement.
The trade deficit for January 2010 stood at US$10.36bn versus US$5.34bn in January 2009, the Commerce Ministry added.
Finally, the BSE Sensex advanced 343 points to end at 17,772 after touching a high of 17,808 and a low of 17,438. The Nifty advanced 95 points to end at 5,017.
Equity markets in Asia were positive. The Nikkei in Japan was up 0.5%, while Australia's S&P/ASX ended higher by 0.4%. The Shanghai SE Composite gained 1.25% and Hang Seng index in Hong Kong was up 2%.
In Europe, stocks were trading in the green. The DAX in Germany was up 0.3% and the CAC 40 index in France was up 0.3%. The FTSE in the UK was up 0.4%.
Coming back to India, all the BSE sectoral indices ended in the green, the Auto index was the top gainer, adding 4.8%, followed by the Metal index that was up 4% and the BSE Banking index was up 2.5%. Even the BSE Mid-Cap index gained 2.4% while the BSE Small-Cap index was up 2.1%.
Among the 30-components of Sensex, 25 stocks ended in the positive terrain and 5 ended in the red. Tata Motors, Tata Steel, Hindalco, Tata Power and M&M were among the top gainers.
On the other hand, among the major losers were DLF, Reliance Infra, ONGC and Hindustan Unilever.
Outside the frontline indices, the big gainers in the broader market were Jet Airways, Jain Irrigation, Fortis Healthcare and Thermax. On the other hand, losers included Renuka Sugars, KSK Energy, Balrampur Chini and Chennai Petro.
Shares Tata Motors’ shot up by over 12% to end at Rs797 after the company announced that its total sales (including exports) of Tata commercial and passenger vehicles in February 2010 were 69,427 vehicles, a growth of 58% over 43,811 vehicles sold in February 2009. The company’s domestic sales of Tata commercial and passenger vehicles for February 2010 were 66,190 nos., a 56 % growth over 42,493 nos. sold in February last year.
Cumulative sales (including exports) for the company for the fiscal at 567,535 nos., recorded a growth of 28 % over 444,095 nos. sold last year.
Shares of Bajaj Auto ended higher by 2% at Rs1848 after the company’s motorcycle sales grew by 80% to 235,000 units in February 2010 powered by its ‘bigger and sportier’ Pulsar and Discover brands.
Commercial Vehicle sales were up 60%, exhibiting strong growth across the in-city, sub-urban, and Goods Carrier segments. Exports continued its strong momentum, and exceeded the highest ever export of 772,519 units achieved in the entire last year.
Maruti Suzuki advanced by 1.8% to end at Rs1489 after the company announced that it sold a total of 96,650 vehicles in February 2010. This includes 11,885 units of exports. This is the highest ever total monthly sales in the company’s history (previous highest 95,649 units in January 2010).
The company had sold a total of 79,190 vehicles in February 2009. In February 2010, the company sold 84,765 units in the domestic market, up 20% over corresponding month last year.
JSW Steel announced that it raised prices of all products by 2% following an increase in excise duty, Jayant Acharya, executive director for marketing and sales, was quoted as saying. The move has come after the Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, in the budget presented on February 26, 2010 raised the excise tax on almost all products to 10% from 8%.
Shares of JSW Steel surged by 4% to end at Rs1113, it opened at Rs1084 it touched an intra-day high of Rs1119 and a low of Rs1084 and recorded volumes of over 0.3mn shares on BSE.
Shares of Reliance Industries edged higher by 0.5% to end at Rs983 after the board of bankrupt LyondellBasell Industries AF was reportedly said to have rejected a US$14.5bn bid from the company. After having its US$13.5bn takeover bid rejected by the Rotterdam-based company, Reliance Industries raised its offer for a controlling stake to US$14.5bn.
Welspun Gujarat Stahl Rohren Ltd has recently won orders worth Rs6bn for
Pipes and plates from its prestigious global clients. These orders include orders of specialized plates received from large wind mills manufacturers thereby reinforcing Welspun's premium positioning in plate manufacturing.
Shares of Welspun Gujarat advanced by 3.5% to end at Rs249, it opened at Rs243 it touched an intra-day high of Rs250 and a low of Rs41 and recorded volumes of over 0.33mn shares on BSE.
Shares of Hindalco Industries advanced by 5% to end at Rs169 after the company announced the suspension of work at the Mouda Unit will not affect servicing the market since the unit was delivering low production since few months.
The company announced that due to labour problems in the Mouda unit, the management has suspended operations of the Unit with immediate effect.
EdServ announced that it signed a Letter of Intent with SmartLearn WebTV, Chennai based company specialising in e-learning offering for IIT JEE and AIEEE aspirants. This is EdServ's third acquisition in the last 6 months and immediately follows last week's acquisition of Hyderabad based Education ERP provider SchoolMATE. Last September, EdServ acquired 2tion.com to expand its presence into the online tuition services space.
Shares of Edserv surged by over 4.5% to end at Rs264. The scrip opened at Rs256 it touched an intra-day high of Rs268 and a low of Rs256 and recorded volumes of over 0.15mn shares on BSE.
Steel Strips Wheels announced that it sold of 7,03,732 Wheel Rims during the month of February, 2010 as against 4,76,859 wheel Rims during the month of February, 2009 recording a growth of 47.57%. The Company has also achieved a production of 7,02,998 wheel rims during February, 2010 as against 4,67,834 during February, 2009 recording a growth of 50.33%.
The Company has achieved the highest ever Export sales of 56324 wheel rims during the month of February, 2010 as against Export sales of 43161 wheel rims, the previous highest ever Export sales, during the month of July, 2009, recording a growth of 30.50%.
Shares of Steel Strips shot up by over 6% to end at Rs105, it opened at Rs98 it touched an intra-day high of Rs108 and a low of Rs98 and recorded volumes of over 8,000 shares on BSE.