Interest rate sensitive stocks in limelight

Key benchmark indices settled with small gains in a lackluster trading session ahead of the Reserve Bank of India's monetary policy review for 2012-13 tomorrow, 17 April 2012. The BSE Sensex was up 56.44 points or 0.33%, up about 140 points from the day's low and off close to 20 points from the day's high. The market breadth was positive. Index heavyweight Reliance Industries (RIL) was marginally lower.

Interest rate sensitive auto, realty and banking stocks edged higher ahead of Reserve Bank of India's (RBI) monetary policy review tomorrow, 17 April 2012. Cigarette maker ITC hit record high in intraday trade today, 16 April 2012. Auto major Tata Motors hit record high on reporting good global sales figures. Infosys declined for second day after setting a weak forecast in dollar terms for the current year ending 31 March 2013 on uncertain global economic environment before market hours on Friday, 13 April 2012.



The Reserve Bank of India's (RBI) monetary policy review for 2012-13 is due tomorrow, 17 April 2012. Investors are hoping that RBI may cut its key policy rate to spur economic growth after the latest data showed that industrial production grew by lower-than-expected 4.1% in February 2012.

After raising interest rates 13 times since early 2010, the central bank indicated in December 2011 its next move would be a reduction. Since January 2012, RBI slashed the cash reserve ratio (CRR) - the percentage of deposits that commercial banks must keep with central bank - by a combined 125 basis points, but has left rates on hold.

The BSE Sensex was up 56.44 points or 0.33% to 17,150.95. The index fell 84.35 points at the day's low of 17,010.16 in early trade. The index rose 78.55 points at the day's high of 17,173.06 in late trade.

The S&P CNX Nifty was up 18.75 points or 0.36% to 5,226.20. The Nifty hit a high of 5,233.50 and a low of 5,183.50 in intraday trade.

The BSE Mid-Cap index rose 0.86% and the BSE Small-Cap index gained 0.56%. Both these indices outperformed the Sensex.

The total turnover on BSE amounted to Rs 1790 crore, lower than Rs 2,961.77 crore clocked on Friday, 13 April 2012.

The market breadth, indicating the overall health of the market, was positive. On BSE, 1,551 shares gained and 1,223 shares fell. A total of 133 shares were unchanged.

From the 30-share Sensex pack, 15 stocks gained while the rest declined.

Index heavyweight Reliance Industries (RIL) shed 0.39% to Rs 748.30. The stock hit a high of Rs 752.75 and a low of Rs 736.15. The stock snapped two-day 2.5% gains. Reportedly upstream regulator Directorate General of Hydrocarbons (DGH) has asked the Oil Ministry to take a call on allowing RIL and its partner BP plc to invest in pre-development activities in 16 gas discoveries in KG-D6 block, most of which have not yet been proved to be commercially viable at current prices.

Interest rate sensitive auto stocks were mostly higher ahead of Reserve Bank of India's (RBI) monetary policy review on Tuesday, 17 April 2012. The country's largest two-wheeler maker Hero MotoCorp gained 0.4%. The country's second largest two-wheeler maker Bajaj Auto rose 0.76%.

India's largest commercial vehicle maker by sales Tata Motors surged 3.91% to Rs 300.40 after scaling a record high of Rs 301.80 in intraday trade today, 16 April 2012. It was the top gainer from the Sensex pack. The company said its global vehicle sales rose 26% to 1.39 lakh units in March 2012 over March 2011. Global sales of all commercial vehicles were reported at 63,791 units in March 2012, a growth of 12% over March 2011.

Passenger cars sales stood at 75,864 vehicles, a rise of 41% from a year previously. Sales of its Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) brands stood at 36,471 vehicles in the month, an annual rise of 51%. Tata Motors sold 12.52 lakh vehicles globally in the fiscal year ended March 2012, a 16% increase on sales in the fiscal year ended March 2011. The announcement was made during trading hours today, 16 April 2012.

India's largest car maker by sales Maruti Suzuki India rose 1.41% with the stock extending two-day 3.97% gains after the company on Thursday, 12 April 2012, unveiled industry's first Life Utility Vehicle (LUV) - Ertiga. Designed primarily for India at Suzuki, Japan, Ertiga represents aspirations of young urban Indian families that are active and connected, Maruti said. The company further said that India is the first market to sell Ertiga, to be followed by other South East Asian markets.

India's largest utility vehicles and tractors maker by sales Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M) slipped 0.64%.

Cigarette maker ITC advanced 2.07% to Rs 241.10. The stock hit a record high of Rs 242 in intraday trade today, 16 April 2012.

FMCG major Hindustan Unilever (HUL) fell 0.68% to Rs 421.20 on profit booking. The stock hit a record high of Rs 427.70 on Friday, 13 April 2012.

Coal India rose 0.43% to Rs 339.20, off day's low of Rs 334. Reportedly the UK-based hedge fund The Children's Investment Fund (TCI) would initiate a legal action against state-run coal miner within a week for failing to protect the interest of minority shareholders.

India's largest engineering and construction firm, L&T, rose 1.54%. L&T last week said that L&T Construction, part of the L&T conglomerate, has commissioned India's largest solar photo voltaic based power plant (40 MWp) owned by Reliance Power at Dhursar village in Jaisalmer district of Rajasthan. With the commissioning of this plant, L&T Construction has installed 114 megawatts (MW) of utility scale solar PV power plants over the last fiscal -- a benchmark in India's solar EPC industry, L&T said.

India's largest power equipment maker by sales Bhel rose 0.87% on reports the company is expanding its solar photo voltaic module manufacturing unit with an investment of Rs 20 crore.

Private sector steel major Tata Steel rose 0.97% on reports the company plans to invest up to £800 million in its facilities in Wales over the next five years.

India's second largest software services exporter by revenues Infosys lost 1.41% to Rs 2369.35. The stock extended Friday's 12.61% slump after consolidated net profit as per International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) fell 2.4% to Rs 2316 crore on 4.8% decline in revenue to Rs 8852 crore in Q4 March 2012 over Q3 December 2011. The result was declared before market hours on Friday, 13 April 2012.

Infosys had set a weak forecast in dollar terms for the current year ending 31 March 2013 as the uncertain global economic environment continued to weigh on the software services exporter.

Among other IT stocks, India's third largest software services exporter by revenues Wipro was flat. India's largest software services exporter by revenue Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) rose 0.05%.

Interest rate sensitive realty stocks gained ahead of Reserve Bank of India's (RBI) monetary policy review tomorrow, 17 April 2012. Unitech, HDIL, DLF, and D B Realty rose by between 0.53% to 4.95%.

Interest rate sensitive banking stocks were mostly higher ahead of Reserve Bank of India's (RBI) monetary policy review on Tuesday, 17 April 2012. India's largest bank by branch network State Bank of India (SBI) gained 2.44%. India's biggest private sector bank in terms of net profit, ICICI Bank, rose 1.02%. India's second largest bank by net profit HDFC Bank, slipped 0.12%.

Among other banking stocks, Bank of Baroda, Punjab National Bank and Bank of India gained by between 0.29% to 2.28%.

Reliance Industrial Infrastructure rose 1.11% after net profit rose 5.50% to Rs 23.61 crore on 9.50% rise in net sales to Rs 61.34 crore in the year ended March 2012 over the year ended March 2011.

Cals Refineries clocked highest volume of 85.47 lakh shares on BSE. Kingfisher Airlines (82.54 lakh shares), IVRCL (80.82 lakh shares), SpiceJet (72.19 lakh shares) and K S Oils (60.88 lakh shares) were the other volume toppers in that order.

Infosys clocked highest turnover of Rs 138.33 crore on BSE. SBI (Rs 108.74 crore), Tata Motors (Rs 62.61 crore), IVRCL (Rs 57.22 crore) and Gravita India (Rs 54.31 crore) were the other turnover toppers in that order.

Data released today, 16 April 2012 showed wholesale price index (WPI) inflation for March 2012 rose a faster-than-expected 6.89% from 6.95% in February 2012, on higher food prices. The inflation for food articles came in at 9.94% from 6.07% in February. The WPI data for the month of January was revised upwards to 6.89% from 6.55% earlier.

Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) bought shares worth Rs 137.25 crore on Friday, 13 April 2012, as per provisional data from the stock exchanges.

Investors will closely watch India Inc's Q4 March 2012 and year ending March 2012 (FY 2012) earnings. Investors will focus on the guidance provided by the management for the year ending March 2013 (FY 2013) to gauge the earnings outlook.

Private sector bank HDFC Bank unveils FY 2012 results on 18 April 2012. HCL Technologies unveils Q3 March 2012 results on the same day. ACC and Ambuja Cements unveil quarterly results on 19 April 2012. Cairn India reports FY 2012 results on 20 April 2012. TCS unveils FY 2012 results on 23 April 2012. Wipro unveils Q4 results on 25 April 2012.

ICICI Bank unveils FY 2012 results on 27 April 2012. Axis Bank and Siemens unveils quarterly results on the same day. Maruti Suzuki India unveils FY 2012 results on 28 April 2012. FMCG giant Hindustan Lever unveils FY 2012 results on 1 May 2012. Housing finance major HDFC announces FY 2012 results on 7 May 2012. Ranbaxy Laboratories will declare its Q1 March 2012 results on 9 May 2012.

European stock markets rose on Monday as investors used steep declines last week as an opportunity to snap up battered stocks, although moves to the upside were hampered by persistent worries about Spanish debt. Key benchmark indices in Germany and France were up 0.7% and 0.89%, respectively. UK's FTSE 100 slipped 0.4%.

Asian markets edged lower on Monday on renewed concerns about Europe's debt crisis. Key benchmark indices in China, Japan, Indonesia, South Korea, Hong Kong and Taiwan were down by between 0.09% to 1.74%. Singapore's Straits Times rose 0.14%.

The People's Bank of China said Saturday 14 April 2012 that, effective Monday, 16 April 2012 it will widen the yuan's trading band against the U.S. dollar to 1% above and below a daily reference exchange rate from 0.5% previously.

China's economy grew at its weakest pace in nearly three years in the first quarter, with the annual rate of expansion slowing more than expected to 8.1% from 8.9% in the previous three months, the National Bureau of Statistics said on Friday.

Trading in US index futures indicated that the Dow could gain 42 points at the opening bell on Monday, 16 April 2012. U.S. stocks fell sharply Friday, 13 April 2012 after disappointing economic data from China and rising borrowing costs in Spain damped sentiment. Concerns that Europe's debt crisis was flaring up again added to selling pressure. The Dow Jones Industrial Average declined 136.99 points, or 1.05%, to 12849.59, while the S&P 500 lost 17.31 points, or 1.25%, to 1370.26. The Nasdaq Composite shed 44.22 points, or 1.45%, to 3011.33.