It is a mistake to try to look too far ahead. The chain of destiny can only be grasped one link at a time - Winston Churchill.
The weak link for the market appears to be fears of an adverse outcome of the RBI’s annual policy meet next week. Meanwhile, India’s quest to break into the elite global space club will be delayed. In a rare failure, ISRO’s indigenously made rocket (GSLV-D3) crashed soon after take off on Thursday.
Even the bulls will have to wait for better links before they see the NSE Nifty cross 5400. A sudden bout of selling pulled the market down despite inflation being steady. What is more disturbing is that fund flows have started to taper off. Even the FIIs, who till recently were pouring money at a steady pace have turned a bit cautious.
Its still early days as far as results are concerned. So, the volatility will prevail for a while amid a mix bag of earnings. In any case, the market seems to be looking far ahead at FY12 numbers. Today we see a sluggish opening and another choppy session. A rebound cannot be ruled out after Thursday’s selloff.
US stocks closed higher for a sixth straight session at fresh 2010 highs, bolstered by upbeat economic reports and a strong forecast from UPS. Shares of Google fell in extended trading despite reporting earnings that beat Wall Street estimates. European stocks closed at an 18-month high.
However, Japanese stocks fell for the first time in three days as jobless claims by Americans unexpectedly increased and China announced measures to cool its real-estate market. Hong Kong shares declined, tracking weakness in Shanghai stocks, as Chinese property and banking stocks fell after Beijing tightened policies toward the residential property market.
Results Today: CRISIL, DCB, IndusInd Bank and Stone India.
FIIs were net buyers of just Rs997mn on Thursday on a provisional basis. Local funds were net sellers at Rs768.7mn, according to figures published on the NSE's web site. In the F&O segment, the foreign funds were net sellers of Rs3.91bn. On Tuesday, FIIs were net buyers of Rs6.08bn in the cash segment, as per the SEBI web site.
Shares of JSW Steel will be in focus amid reports that Japan’s JFE is in advanced talks to buy a small stake in the company. Glodyne Technoserve might also gain from reports that it is close to buying a US company for Rs5bn. Airlines could also be in the spotlight as domestic air traffic climbed 23% yoy in March 2010. But, Oil PSUs are set to hike ATF prices again.
US stocks ended up for a sixth consecutive session on Thursday after a volatile session, as investors ignored the latest jobless claims report and Google reported much better-than-expected earnings after the closing bell.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 21 points, or 0.2%, to close at 11,144.57. The S&P 500 index ended nearly flat at 1,211.67. The Nasdaq Composite was up 11 points, or 0.4%, to end at 2,515.69.
The industrials sector led the gains the most, while consumer staples fell the most among the index's 10 industry groups.
The dollar was up versus the euro, but it fell against the British pound and Japanese yen.
The price of oil dipped 34 cents to settle at $85.50 a barrel.
Gold prices added 70 cents to settle at $1,159.70 an ounce.
Prices for US Treasurys rose, with the yield on the 10-year note at 3.85%.
Stocks opened weak earlier in the session after the jobless claims report, which showed a surprise surge for the second week in a row. But the Labor Department attributed the jump to "technical" issues, including the Easter holiday.
The major indexes meandered in and out of positive territory during the session, but pushed to afternoon highs in the wake of an industry survey finding increased optimism among US home builders in April.
Stocks had soared on Wednesday on strong earnings and retail sales. The Dow and the S&P 500 both rose to their highest levels in more than 18 months, while the Nasdaq topped the 2,500 mark for the first time since June 2008.
Labor Department's weekly jobless claims report said there were 484,000 new claims filed last week, up 24,000 from the previous week. That was the highest level since the week ended Feb. 20 - a disappointment to economists, who had expected new claims to fall to 440,000.
Separately, government figures showed that capacity utilization increased to 73.2% in March from 72.7% the previous month, slightly missing analysts' expectations of a jump to 73.3%.
The Philadelphia Federal Reserve's regional manufacturing index jumped to 20.2 in April from 18.9 the previous month. Economists expected a reading of 20.
The New York Federal Reserve's manufacturing index also improved, climbing to 31.9 in April from 22.9 in March.
A report from RealtyTrac said there were more than 930,000 foreclosure filings in the first quarter of 2010, up 7% from the previous quarter and a whopping 16% jump from the year-earlier quarter.
A report from China's National Statistics Bureau showed the nation's economy surged nearly 12% during the first quarter compared with a year earlier. China's GDP was up 1.2% from the fourth quarter of 2009. The report fueled worries of tighter monetary policy.
After the closing bell, Google reported quarterly sales and profit that trumped expectations. The search giant's net income was $1.96 billion, or $6.06 per share, in the first quarter, up 38% $1.42 billion from the same period last year.
Analysts expected only $6.60 per share. Google shares rose 1% in after-hours trade.
UPS pre-reported its quarterly results late on Wednesday. The parcel delivery service said earnings per share jumped 33% to 53 cents, compared to 40 cents in the first quarter of last year. Shares rose 5.2%.
Toyota said it is conducting safety tests on all of its sport utility vehicles after suspending worldwide sales of its Lexus GX 460 over rollover concerns.
After the bell, news reports said the Securities and Exchange Commission is investigating whether Hewlett-Packard executives paid nearly $11 million in bribes to secure a contract from a Russian official's office. Shares of HP fell 27 cents, or 0.5%, $54.25 in after-hours trade.
European stocks closed up, boosted by further improvement in the global economic backdrop and a strong rise in sales by Swiss drug giant Roche. The Stoxx Europe 600 index rose 0.6% to finish at 272.14, its highest close since Sept. 23, 2008.
The UK's FTSE 100 index gained 0.5% to close at 5,825.01, the French CAC-40 index advanced 0.2% to 4,065.65 and the German DAX index ended 0.2% higher at 6,291.45. Greek stocks advanced, with the ASE Composite Index rising 2.1% to close at 2,028.55.
The euro lost ground against major rivals.
Speculation has intensified that Greece will have to take up an IMF/European aid package. Greek bond yields spiked. Later this month, Athens plans to hold a sale of US-dollar-denominated bonds, and there are concerns that demand could be smaller than anticipated.
The markets are still worries that Greece will require more aid to stave off a possible default. Earlier this week, European Union officials announced a plan to provide an additional $40 billion in low-cost loans for the debt-stricken nation. The IMF agreed to step in with another $13.5 billion.
European miners and metal futures traded broadly lower after the Chinese GDP data.
Unlike the US market, where the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq crossed key psychological milestones, the BSE Sensex and the NSE Nifty actually slid by 1% each. The key indices finished with a whimper after a smart opening despite inflation staying static in March. Selling intensified post 2 pm as European markets gave up early gains.
The benchmark indices gradually lost ground on the back of selling in the index heavyweights like Reliance Industries, ICICI Bank and L&T. Not all was gloomy in today’s trade as the small-cap and mid-cap indices escaped a sharper selloff. In terms of sectors, Real Estate, IT and Pharma indexes stood out as they bucked the negative trend. On the other hand, Oil & Gas, Banking and Capital Goods indices bore the brunt of the fall.
The Sensex lost over 330 points and the Nifty shed over 100 points from their respective intra-day highs. "Market players turned cautious ahead of the RBI monitory policy scheduled on April 20. The central bank is widely expected to raise key short-term policy rates to rein in stubbornly high inflation", says Amar Ambani VP Research IIFL.
The BSE Sensex fell 183 points to end at 17,639 and NSE Nifty lost 49 points to close at 5,274. Among the 30 components of Sensex, 19 ended in the negative terrain and 11 were in the green.
Markets in Asia ended in the green; the Nikkei in Japan was up 0.6%, Australia's S&P/ASX edged higher by 0.2%. Shanghai SE Composite ended lower by 0.5% and Hang Seng index in Hong Kong was up 0.2%.
On the other hand, European indices were trading with a slight negative bias, the DAX in Germany was down 0.3%, the CAC 40 index in France was down 0.3% and the FTSE in the UK was down 0.2%.
Coming back to India, among the BSE sectoral indices, the BSE Oil & Gas index was top loser, the index lost 1.8%, followed by BSE Banking index down 1.5% and Capital Goods index down 1.4%.
Among the top gainers were, BSE Realty index up 1.5% and BSE Consumer Durables index up 0.7%.
Outside the frontline indices, the big losers in the broader market were Max India, LIC Housing Fin, BOB and GVK Power. On the other hand, gainers included Apollo Hosp, JP Hydro, Titan Ind and Castrol.
Shares of ABB erased early gains and ended at Rs832 losing 0.8%. The stock hit an intra-day high of Rs852 after the company won an order worth Rs630mn from Haryana Vidyut Prasaran Nigam Ltd. to build a 400 kV (kilovolt) substation that will facilitate the transmission of electricity from new power generation plants being constructed in the region. The order was booked in the first quarter.
Shares of IVRCL Assets & Holdings gained by 1.7% to end at Rs180 after the company announced that the board of directors declared bonus shares in the ratio of 1:2.
The board also approved raising of equity funds to the extent of Rs10bn by way of QIP in one or more tranches.
Shares of Zee News plunged over 75% to end at Rs18. Zee News had approved the Scheme of Arrangement whereby the Regional General Entertainment Channel (GEC) business of the company would be de-merged and transferred to Zee Entertainment Enterprises with effect from January 1, 2010 (appointed date).
April 16 was fixed as the Record Date for determination of members of the company who would become eligible for issuance of equity shares by Zee Entertainment Enterprises.
Triveni Engineering announced that the company has signed a joint venture with GE Oil & Gas, through one if its affiliates (GE Pacific Mauritius Ltd.) to design, manufacture, supply, sell and service advanced technology steam turbines in India in the above 30 to 100MW-range for power generation applications in the Indian and worldwide markets. Triveni will hold one extra share with both parties having equal representation on the Board.
Shares of Triveni Engineering gained 1% to end at Rs131. The stock opened at Rs132. It hit an intra-day high of Rs135 and an intra-day low of Rs130. Total traded quantity was 0.43mn on NSE.
Tata Sons Ltd, the largest Differential Voting Rights (DVR) shareholder in Tata Motors are planning to cut stake in the company further by selling shares that have less voting rights than common shares.
Tata Sons had reduced its stake to 54% from 73% in 2009 and is further planning to cut it in an attempt for better pricing for the DVR, which is currently quoting at an almost 30% discount.
Tata Sons plans to sell the shares in the open market through an auction and has also reportedly appointed Tata Capital for the transaction.
On Tuesday, in bulk deal on the exchanges, Tata Sons sold ~1.6mn shares. HDFC MF bought ~1.05mn shares at an average rice of Rs485 per DVR.
The BSE IT index surged to record high and rose to its highest level since February 2007 after heavyweight Infosys came out with its results beating street estimates.
On the other hand, shares of Infosys gained 0.5% to end at Rs2801. The scrip opened at Rs2799 it touched an intra-day high of Rs2823 and a low of Rs2760 and recorded volumes of over 0.47mn shares on BSE.
Finally the BSE IT index ended at 5526 level rising nearly 0.4%, the index pared losses in the second half on account of profit booking.