“Only a fool tests the depth of the water with both feet.” – African proverb.
As we greet a new fiscal year following a stellar FY10, make sure you don’t get fooled. The main indices are set to open on a positive note. The initial gains may taper off as the day wears on as most players would prefer a ‘wait-and-watch’ stance ahead of earnings and RBI’s annual policy meet. Overall, the trend will remain insipid and sideways in a range. Auto and Cement stocks will be in focus as they release monthly as well as annual sales figures.
Most Asian markets are in the green, notwithstanding the overnight fall in US counterparts. Markets in Japan and China are up on encouraging economic data. Crude oil is trading above $83 per barrel, but the good news is that inflation back home has been showing some signs of cooling. Still, the RBI is likely to raise policy rates at its April 20 meeting.
For now, all eyes are on Thursday’s monthly payroll report in US. Wall Street finished lower on Wednesday. A private survey revealed surprising drop in jobs while a regional manufacturing report showed a bigger fall. In Europe, stock benchmarks closed in the red after a ratings agency downgraded five Greek banks.
Most markets are shut on Friday. So, enjoy the extended weekend and don’t take too many chances. The fact that the NSE Nifty has failed to sustain above 5300 is reason enough to be slightly cautious at this juncture. Even if it does surpass that milestone today, one will have to see where it finishes. Some selling pressure is expected beyond 5300 while support is placed at 5200. Though FII inflows have been strong and may remain so one should not get complacent. The gains in the past few sessions do not inspire much confidence. There are apprehensions of a fresh correction setting in though the same will not be too damaging.
FIIs were net buyers in the cash segment on Wednesday at Rs4.33bn on a provisional basis. Local funds were net sellers of Rs3.56bn, according to figures published on the NSE's web site. In the F&O segment, the foreign funds were net sellers of Rs692.9mn. On Monday, FIIs were net buyers of Rs10.32bn in the cash segment, as per the SEBI web site.
Main Indian stock indices extended losses and closed in red for a second straight trading session on Wednesday. The fall could be attributed to offloading in FMCG, IT and select Telecom stocks. However, market breadth was in favour of the bulls for the second day running. Out of total 2864 stocks on the BSE, 1,581 advanced while 1,190 declined and 93 remained unchanged. Finally, the BSE Sensex fell 62 points to end at 17,528 and NSE Nifty ended lower by 13 points to close at 5,249.
No ‘Big Bang’ movements were seen on the bourses as the mood in global markets was subdued. The key indices opened slightly up before turning choppy. On the whole, the trend was lackluster ahead of the quarterly earnings. The small-cap and mid-cap counters remained abuzz though.
"A cooling was due for some time now, and once the key indices touched new 52-week highs on Monday, it seemed like only a matter of time before the bulls ran out of steam. Market players remained cautious and preferred to book profits at the peak. With beginning of new financial year, investors might continue to remain guarded ahead of the FY10 Q4 earnings", says Amar Ambani, Vice President Research, India Infoline.
The government will hike the prices of Petrol by 50-paisa/liter and that of Diesel by 26 paisa/liter from midnight. The increase in gasoline prices is largely because of introduction of the new emission norms, the Euro IV standard fuel regime from April 1 which will be implemented in 13 other metro cities. Click here to read full story...
In Asia, the Nikkei in Japan ended flat, Australia's S&P/ASX ended lower by 0.8%. However, Shanghai SE Composite fell 0.6% and Hang Seng index in Hong Kong was down 0.6%.
In Europe, stocks were trading with a positive bias. The DAX in Germany was up 0.0.3%, the CAC 40 index in France was up 0.3% and the FTSE in the UK was up 0.3%.
Coming back to India, among the BSE sectoral indices, the BSE FMCG index was top loser, the index fell 1.7%, followed by BSE IT index down 1.2% and Teck index down 0.8%.
Among the top gainers were, BSE Pharma index up 0.9% and the BSE Auto index was up 0.5%.
Outside the frontline indices, the big loses in the broader market were Gujarat NRE Coke, Balrampur Chini, Corp Bank, LITL and Bajaj Holdings. On the other hand, gainers included Exide Ind, P&G, Torrent Power and Ashok Leyland.
Shares Bharti Airtel gained half a per cent to end at Rs312. The Asia’s leading telecommunications service provider, announced that it has entered into a legally binding definitive agreement with Zain Group to acquire Zain Africa BV based on an enterprise valuation of US$10.7 bn.
Under the agreement, Bharti will acquire Zain’s African mobile services operations in 15 countries with a total customer base of over 42 mn. Zain is the market leader in ten of these countries and ranks second in four countries. With this acquisition, Bharti Airtel will be the world’s fifth largest wireless company with operations across 18 countries.
Bharti group’s global telecom footprint will expand to 21 countries along with the operations in Seychelles, Jersey, and Guernsey. The company’s network will now cover over 1.8 billion people - the second largest population coverage among Telcos globally. Click here to read the full story…
HDIL announced that the board of directors has approved to make Investment in shares of BKC Developers Pvt. Ltd. thereby making it a subsidiary Company.
The company also approved to allot 130,00,000 equity shares to the Promoter against convertible warrants issued to him on July 02, 2009.
The stock ended lower by 1% at Rs286, it opened at Rs289 it touched an intra-day high of Rs292 and a low of Rs285 and recorded volumes of over 1.2mn shares on BSE.
Strides Arcolab produces Renerve Capsules at their USFDA approved facility in Bangalore which follows high standards and globally acclaimed good manufacturing practices. Such products were distributed through Grandix.
On getting to know of our product 'Renerve' being tampered with and the expired goods meant for destruction finding their way into the market Strides alerted the authorities and made a complaint to the Drug Controller at Karnataka and Tamil Nadu, to investigate the issue. Strides also lodged a complaint with the Police authorities in Chennai to investigate the matter. Click here to read more...
The stock fell 2% to end at Rs338. It opened at Rs347 it touched an intra-day high of Rs348 and a low of Rs336 and recorded volumes of over 78,000 shares on BSE.
Shares of Nirma advanced by 3.5% to end at Rs183 after the company announced that the board of directors approved the scheme of arrangement in the nature of demerger and transfer of the demerged undertaking viz "Cement & Mining Division" of Nirma Credit and Capital Private Ltd., to the Company.
Board also has approved scheme of amalgamation of Nirma Consumer Care Ltd., a Wholly Owned Subsidiary, with the Company.
Shares of Srf Ltd gained by 2% to end at Rs197 after the company announced that it has commissioned and capitalized the project for manufacture of Laminated fabric with a capacity of 480 lac SQM p.a. at Kashipur (Uttarakhand). The scrip opened at Rs196 it touched an intra-day high of Rs201 and a low of Rs195 and recorded volumes of over 0.21mn shares on BSE.
Shares of Ennore Coke were locked to its maximum permissible limit (20%) to Rs98.30 after ~450,000 shares, or 3% of its equity, changed hands in two block deals on the BSE. The scrip opened at Rs82.40 it touched an intra-day high of Rs98.3 and a low of Rs74.9 and has recorded volumes of over 1mn shares on BSE.