Enjoyment is not a goal, it is a feeling that accompanies important ongoing activity.
There is no great feeling in the market as we stare at another soft opening. The global markets appear inconclusive. US stock benchmarks posted moderate gains while Europe was subdued. Asian markets are trading mixed. Looks like investors are on a ‘wait-n-watch’ mode and appear to be reluctant in taking major bets immediately. The Nifty is expected to remain stuck in the 5100-5150 range and the next hurdle is near the 5200. Fresh selling could take it as low as 5030-5050. Inflation numbers showed a spike in fuel price. A possible trigger later in the day would be the IIP numbers.
Meanwhile, India Inc’s global conquest continues unabated – yet another sign of revived confidence following the financial turbulence. The economy is in good shape, if not great. The Government is aiming for the top slot in a few years. This may sound a little ambitious but not unachievable. Much will depend on how the policy landscape unfolds besides of course the state of the world economy. Among the other major headwinds include inflation and its implication on monetary policy. But, fund flows should remain healthy given the strong medium-to long-term growth prospects for India.
FIIs were net buyers in the cash segment on Thursday at Rs3.05bn on a provisional basis. Local funds were net sellers of Rs2.02bn, according to figures published on the NSE's web site. In the F&O segment, the foreign funds were net buyers of Rs9.70bn. On Tuesday, FIIs were net buyers of Rs17.7bn in the cash segment. On Wednesday, FIIs were net buyers of Rs4.18bn in the cash segment, as per SEBI figures.
US stocks gained traction late on Thursday, ending higher for a third straight session, after Citigroup said that it is on its way to sustainable profitability. An apparent lack of progress on the financial regulatory front prompted investors to get more optimistic on financials.
The Nasdaq and S&P 500 ended at 18-month highs as investors eyed the day's jobs and trade news and the direction of the US dollar.
The Dow Jones industrial average added 44 points, or 0.2%, ending at a six-week high. The S&P 500 index added 5 points, or 0.5%. The Nasdaq gained 3 points, or 0.1%.
The dollar fell versus the euro and gained against the yen.
US light crude oil for April delivery rose 2 cents to settle at $82.11 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
COMEX gold for April delivery rose $0.10 to settle at $1,108.20 per ounce.
Treasury prices slipped, raising the yield on the 10-year note to 3.74% from 3.72% late on Wednesday.
Market breadth was positive.
Stocks seesawed through most of the session as investors turned cautious after the recent advance and showed concerns about a spike in China's inflation last month. But the weakness gave out by the close and markets ended with slim gains.
Stock index futures and commodities were down after China reported its inflation rate rose to 2.7% in February from 1.5% the prior month.
US stocks have been on an upswing lately, posting gains over the last month. As of Thursday's close, the Dow has risen in eight of the last 10 sessions and the S&P 500 and Nasdaq have risen in nine of the last 10 sessions.
Further stock gains will be determined by earnings and revenue growth and the transition between a government stimulus-driven economy and one driven by fundamentals.
On Capitol Hill, Senate Banking Committee Chairman Christopher Dodd, D-Conn., said he would offer his own overhaul of financial regulation after failing to get bipartisan agreement.
Today's jobs report was a little disappointing. The Labor Department reported that the number of Americans filing new claims for unemployment fell to 462,000 from a revised 468,000 the previous week. Economists thought it would fall to 460,000.
Continuing claims, a measure of Americans who have been receiving unemployment checks for a week or more, rose to 4,558,000, up 37,000 from the previous week's reading of 4,521,000. Economists expected 4,500,000 claims.
The January trade gap narrowed to $37.3 billion from a revised reading of $39.9 billion. The deficit was expected to widen to $41 billion, according to forecasts.
Another report showed that foreclosure rates rose 6% in February from a year earlier, but fell 2% from the previous month.
In corporate news, BP said it will pay Devon Energy $7 billion for exploration rights in Brazil, the Gulf of Mexico and the Caspian sea.
Regional banks extended gains after reports that Britain's Barclays was on the prowl for a U.S. retail bank acquisition.
In European markets, German automakers Volkswagen and BMW closed higher while miners lost ground in a broadly weak session. The Stoxx Europe 600 index lost 0.3% at 257.55. On Wednesday, the index advanced to a level not seen since Jan. 19, after gaining for seven out of nine sessions.
Greek shares were also underperforming, with the ASE Composite Index down 0.7% at 2,124.58 as workers staged their third general strike in protest at government austerity measures.
Germany's DAX index lost 0.1% to 5,928.63, the U.K. FTSE 100 index declined 0.4% to 5,617.26 and the French CAC-40 shed 0.4% to 3,928.95.
Buying towards the fag end lifted the otherwise lackluster benchmark indices to shut with modest gains. The index heavyweights like ICICI Bank, Reliance Industries and Infosys led from the front.
However, the breadth on the BSE Sensex was negative for second day, out of the total 2918 stocks, 1774 declined as against 1065 advances and 79 remained unchanged. Among the 30-components of Sensex, 15 stocks ended in the negative and 15 ended in the green.
The BSE Sensex advanced 70 points to end at 17,168 after touching a high of 17,215 and a low of 17,054. The NSE Nifty gained 17 points to end at 5,133.
Investors seem to be upbeat on the Initial public offerings rather than the FPOs as scintillating debut for IPOs continue. The most recent ones namely Texmo pipes, Jubilant Foodworks, Infinite Solutions and Cox & Kings were among the major outperformers.
Man Infraconstruction, which turned out to be the most successful IPO so far this year, debuted with dazzling gains on the Indian bourses today. The stock shot up to Rs348 as against its issue price of Rs252 per share translating in to premium of 38%. The IPO was subscribed 62.33 times. The issue received total bids for over 290mn shares against 465.3mn shares on offer at the end of the IPO. It generated a demand for ~Rs73.08bn worth of shares instead of the Rs1.42bn.
Among the 30-components of Sensex, 15 stocks ended in the negative and 15 ended in the green.
In Asia, the Nikkei in Japan ended in the green, adding 1%, while Australia's S&P/ASX ended flat. Shanghai SE Composite ended flat and Hang Seng index in Hong Kong edged higher by 0.2%.
In Europe, stocks were in negative terrain. The DAX in Germany, the CAC 40 index in France and the FTSE in the UK all were flat.
Coming back to India, among the BSE sectoral indices, the IT index was the top gainer, adding 1%, followed by the Teck index that was up 1% and the BSE Bank index was up 0.7%.
Among the losers were BSE Auto index down 1% and BSE FMCG index down 0.8%. Even, the BSE Mid-Cap index was down 0.2% and BSE Small-Cap index was down 0.2%.
Outside the frontline indices, the big gainers in the broader market were Shriram Transport, Sintex Ind, Exide Ind and Jain Irrigation. On the other hand, losers included NMDC, Hindustan Copper, India Cements and Gujarat NRE Coke.
Shares of Thermax have further advanced by 1.5% to end at Rs683 after the company yesterday announced that it has formed a strategic joint venture with Babcock & Wilcox Power Generation Group, Inc. (B&W PGG), to engineer, manufacture and supply supercritical boilers for the Indian power sector. The Joint venture will also manufacture subcritical boilers over 300 megawatts (MW) in size. The agreement was signed by M S Unnikrishnan, Managing Director and CEO, Thermax, and Richard L. Killion, President and Chief Operating Officer, B&W PGG.
Crompton Greaves won order worth Rs3.02bn to construct a substation in the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. The contract was signed on March 5, the company said. The stock ended lower by 1% to Rs242. The scrip opened at Rs244 it touched an intra-day high of Rs246 and a low of Rs240 and recorded volumes of over 0.23mn shares on BSE.
AstraZeneca plc announced a license and supply agreement with Torrent Pharmaceuticals Ltd. As per the deal, AstraZeneca would initially buy from Torrent the licenses and market authorizations for 18 products in 9 countries and the agreement allows the flexibility to add further products and new countries where AstraZeneca sees opportunities for growth.
Shares of Torrent Pharma gained by 3% to end at Rs490. The scrip opened at Rs476 it touched an intra-day high of Rs501 and a low of Rs476 and recorded volumes of over 81,000 shares on BSE.
Areva T&D won Rs4bn contract in India by state utility Uttar Pradesh Power Transmission Corpo- AREVA ration Ltd (UPPTCL). AREVA will build a 765 kV Extra High-Voltage (EHV) substation at the Anpara "D" thermal power plant1 in the state of Uttar Pradesh.
The stock gained 2% to Rs279. It opened at Rs275 it touched an intra-day high of Rs281 and a low of Rs273 and has recorded volumes of over 0.21mn shares on BSE.
Fortis Healthcare hit news 52-week high to end at 178 advancing 5% after the company announced that through one of its wholly owned subsidiaries has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire 23.9% strategic stake in one of the Asia's largest healthcare service provider, Parkway Holdings Ltd. from TPG Capital (formerly Texas Pacific Group) in an off market deal.
McNally Bharat received an order worth Rs243.8mn for Design, Engineering, Supply of Equipment, Civil Work, Structural Work, Erection & Commissioning of flood lighting along Indo- Bangladesh Border in the State of Tripura (Package Nos. Panifl- IV, Gokulfl- I, Gokulfl- II & Gokulfl IV) for national projects construction corporation ltd. The contractual period of completion is within 11 months.
The stock ended higher by 1.5% to end at Rs280. The scrip opened at Rs270 it touched an intra-day high of Rs284 and a low of Rs270 and recorded volumes of over 0.14mn shares on BSE.