Sensex, Nifty scale over 1-/2-week highs

Key benchmark indices edged higher reach their highest closing level in over 1-1/2 weeks on the first trading session of Q1 June 2012 and the year ending March 2013 (FY 2013). The market edged higher for the second straight day as mostly higher global stocks aided sentiment. The barometer index, BSE Sensex, was up 73.95 points or 0.42%, off close to 50 points from the day's high and up close to 95 points from the day's low. Tata Motors and M&M gained after reporting strong vehicle sales in March 2012. The Sensex has gained 419.54 points or 2.45% in two trading sessions from a recent low of 17,058.61 on 29 March 2012. The index has surged 2,023.23 points or 13.09% in calendar 2012 so far (till 2 April 2012). From a 52-week low of 15,135.86 on 20 December 2011, the Sensex has risen 2,342.29 points or 15.47%. From a 52-week high of 19,811.14 on 6 April 2011, the Sensex has lost 2,332.99 points or 11.77%. Coming back to today's trade, index heavyweight Reliance Industries (RIL) dropped in choppy trade. Interest rate sensitive banking and realty stocks rose for the second straight day on expectations that the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) will start cutting interest rates in the coming months to prop up slowing economy. Capital goods stocks also gained. Titan Industries jumped over 6% on reports the Directorate General of Foreign Trade has allowed the jewellery retailer to import gold directly for domestic sales. The market breadth was strong. BSE Small-Cap and Mid-Cap indices gained more than 1% each, outperforming the Sensex. The market edged higher in early trade to hit its highest level in 1-1/2 weeks. The market trimmed gains in morning trade. The market further pared gains and alternately moved between positive and negative terrain in mid-morning trade after the latest data showed manufacturing sector slowed for a third month in March 2012. The market trimmed gains after regaining strength in early afternoon trade. Key benchmark indices hit fresh intraday highs in afternoon trade. The market trimmed gains after hitting fresh intraday highs in mid-afternoon trade. The market was range bound in late trade. The BSE Sensex advanced 73.95 points or 0.42% to settle at 17,478.15, its highest closing level since 21 March 2012. The index jumped 125.78 points at the day's high of 17,529.98 in mid-afternoon trade. The index fell 21.82 points at the day's low of 17,382.38 in early trade. The S&P CNX Nifty advanced 22.35 points or 0.42% to settle at 5,317.90, its highest closing level since 21 March 2012. The Nifty hit a high of 5,331.55 and a low of 5,278.80 in intraday trade. The BSE Mid-Cap index rose 1.08% and the BSE Small-Cap index gained 1.68%. Both these indices outperformed the Sensex. BSE clocked turnover of Rs 2039 crore, lower than Rs 2682.73 crore on Friday, 30 March 2012. The market breadth, indicating the overall health of the market, was strong. On BSE, 1,932 shares gained and 852 shares declined. A total of 95 shares were unchanged. From the 30-share Sensex pack, 19 stocks rose while the rest of them declined. Index heavyweight Reliance Industries (RIL) declined 1% on expectations of weak Q4 earnings due to falling refining margins and reduced output from its KG-D6 gas blocks. The stock was volatile. The scrip hit a high of Rs 750.50 and low of Rs 739.15. India's largest commercial vehicle maker by sales Tata Motors rose 0.25% after reporting strong sales for the month just gone by. Tata Motors' total sales (including exports) of Tata commercial and passenger vehicles in March 2012 were 1,00,414 vehicles, a growth of 20% over 83,363 vehicles sold in March 2011. The company's monthly sales crossed 1,00,000 mark for the first time. The company's domestic sales of Tata commercial and passenger vehicles for March 2012 were 95,047 units, a 23% growth over 77,431 units sold in March last year. Tata Motors clocked record sales of commercial vehicles and passenger vehicles in the year ended March 2012 (FY 2012). India's largest utility vehicles and tractors maker by sales Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M) gained 1.66% after the company posted 25% increase in sales at 47,001 units in March 2012 over March 2011. This is the highest ever monthly sales number in the history of the company. Speaking on the performance, Pravin Shah, Chief Executive, Automotive Division, Mahindra & Mahindra said, “We are happy to have achieved a growth of 28% in 2011-12 given the pressures the auto industry is facing. All our brands have done well this year and we hope to create excitement in the market during FY 2013 with the addition of new products in our portfolio. We thank our customers for the continued trust which they have reposed in us”. M&M's total tractor sales rose 10.2% to 2.35 lakh units in the year ended March 2012 (FY 2012 ) over the year ended March 2011 (FY 2011). Domestic tractor sales rose 10% to 2.21 lakh units in FY 2012 over FY 2011. For the month of March 2012, the total tractor sales stood at 17,405 units. Exports for the month registered an impressive growth of 33% at 1,485 units, M&M said. The company said it maintained its leadership position in the tractor industry in FY 2012. India's largest car maker by sales Maruti Suzuki India fell 0.91%. The company said during market hours today that its total sales rose 3.3% to a record 1,25,952 units in March 2012 over March 2011. The company's domestic sales rose 2.1% to a record 1,12,724 units in March 2012 over March 2011. Shares of Bajaj Auto dropped 1.45% after Sri Lanka raised import tariff on petrol and diesel powered three wheelers. The import duty on petrol powered three wheelers was raised to 100% against 51% previously. Similarly, duty on diesel powered three wheelers rose to 100% from 61%. The company exports three wheelers to Sri Lanka among other countries. India's largest bike maker by sales Hero MotoCorp gained 0.06%. State-run Bhel rose 1.3%. The company will announce its provisional results for the year ended March 2012 tomorrow, 3 April 2012. Engineering and construction major L&T rose 1.96%, with the stock extending Friday's 2.05%. The company said during market hours on Friday that its construction division has won new orders valued over Rs 1875 crore across various business segments in March 2012. Bank stocks gained for the second straight day on expectations that the Reserve Bank of India will start cutting interest rates in the coming months to prop up slowing economy. India's biggest private sector bank in terms of net profit, ICICI Bank, rose 0.41%. India's second largest bank by net profit HDFC Bank gained 1.36%. India's largest bank by branch network State Bank of India rose 1.64% to Rs 2,129.40 after the state-run bank said after market hours on Friday, 30 March 2012, that the Executive Committee of the Central Board of the bank, at its meeting held on 30 March 2012 has approved the issuance and allotment of 3.6 crore shares at an issue price of Rs 2,191.69 per share, to Government of India (Gol) by way of preferential allotment. GoI held 59.4% stake in SBI at end December 2011. Punjab National Bank rose 0.39% after the state-run bank announced at the onset of the trading session today that on receipt of allotment money of Rs 654.99 crore from Government of India, the bank has allotted 65.25 lakh shares to Government of India on preferential basis. Bank of Baroda fell 0.07% to Rs 793.10. The state-run bank has allotted 1.95 crore equity shares at Rs 840.10 per share, aggregating to Rs 1644.68 crore to LIC on preferential allotment basis. India's biggest institutional investor -- state run Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) -- had 8.04% stake in Bank of Baroda as at end December 2011. The Government of India (GoI) held 57.03% stake in Bank of Baroda as at end December 2011. Interest rate sensitive realty stocks rose for the second straight day on expectations that the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) will start cutting interest rates in the coming months to prop up slowing economy. HDIL, Unitech and D B Realty rose by between 0.99% to 4.58%. Lower interest rates may help revive demand for properties. Purchases of both residential and commercial property are largely driven by finance. Realty major DLF rose 2.88% after the company said during market hours today that credit rating agency ICRA has assigned [ICRA]A rating to the company's bank facilities and non-convertible debentures (NCD) programme. Reliance Anil Dhirubhai Ambani (ADA) Group shares gained across the board. Reliance Communications, Reliance Infrastructure, Reliance Broadcast Network, Reliance Capital, and Reliance MediaWorks gained by between 1.8% to 8.59%. Reliance Power rose 4.62% after the company said during market hours today that that its 1,200 megawatts (MW) Rosa Thermal Power Project in Shahjahanpur, UP is now fully operational with the commissioning of fourth and last unit of the project. The project has been fully commissioned four months ahead of schedule. ACC fell 1.04%. The company said during market hours today its cement dispatches rose 7.33% to 2.34 million tonnes in March 2012 over March 2011. Production rose 5.02% to 2.3 million tonnes in March 2012 over March 2011. Ambuja Cements rose 0.64% after company said cement shipments rose 12.38% to 2.178 million tonnes in March 2012 over March 2011. Production rose 12.28% to 2.194 million tonnes in March 2012 over March 2011. UltraTech Cement, and India Cements fell by between 1.03% to 1.84%. But, Jaiprakash Associates rose 3.86%. Titan Industries jumped 6.17% on reports the Directorate General of Foreign Trade has allowed the jewellery retailer to import gold directly for domestic sales, dropping the necessity of routing imports of the precious metal through banks or designated state-run agencies. Directly importing gold will enable Titan to avoid nominal charges to bankers or state-run agencies for processing gold, but the bigger benefit is likely to be the easier import procedure. Ranbaxy Laboratories fell 2.59% to Rs 456.85 on profit booking after a recent rally. Ranbaxy announced during trading hours today, 2 April 2012, that it has commenced exports of Atorvastatin Calcium oral tablets to the US market, from its Mohali special economic zone (SEZ) manufacturing facility. The Ranbaxy stock had rallied 14.22% in four trading sessions to settle at Rs 469 on Friday, 30 March 2012, from a recent low of Rs 410.60 on 26 March 2012. Ranbaxy Laboratories on Saturday, 31 March 2012, said its wholly-owned subsidiary, Ranbaxy Pharmaceuticals Canada Inc (RPCI), has received approval from Health Canada to manufacture and market RAN-Rosuvastatin tablets to the Canadian healthcare system. Rosuvastatin is a HMG-COA Reductase Inhibitor (cholesterol-lowering medication). Brand sales of Crestor in Canada were $742.2 million ($CAD-IMS-CDH: January, 2012), Ranbaxy said in a statement. Shares of power sector lenders, Power Finance Corporation (up 5.24%) and Rural Electrification Corporation (up 5.21%), surged on reports the Tamil Nadu Electricity Board (TNEB) has announced a 37% hike in the power tariff, covering both domestic and industry sectors, a move that will fetch an additional Rs 7874 crore and bail out the state electricity board which is in the red. Power Finance Corporation and Rural Electrification Corporation provide financial assistance to state electricity boards, state government departments and rural electric cooperatives for rural electrification projects. According to recent reports, TNEB had accumulated losses of Rs 40700 crore as of March 2011, due to several years of no tariff increase. IT stocks were mixed. India's second largest software services exporter by revenue Infosys fell 0.39%. The company announces Q4 March 2012 results on 13 April 2012. India's largest software services exporter by revenue TCS gained 2.01%. The board of directors of company said after market hours today that it has appointed Mr. 0. P. Bhatt, former Chairman of SBI Group and Mr. Cyrus Mistry, Deputy Chairman of Tata Sons to the board of directors of the company with effect from April 02, 2012. TCS last week said its universal financial services platform, TCS BaNCS has been selected by AmBank, Malaysia's premier financial services group, to replace its core banking engine. This integrated banking suite, spanning conventional and Islamic banking, will support both retail banking and lending functionalities, TCS said. India's third largest software services exporter by revenues Wipro rose 0.6%. Many Tata group companies rose on reports Tata Group is aiming to increase sales five times over nine years at $500 billion by year ending March 2021. Tata Communications, Trent, Tata Coffee, TRF, Tata Metaliks, NELCO, Voltas, and Rallis India rose by between 0.07% to 5.85%. Chairman of Tata Group, Ratan Tata, will step down in December this year, and will be succeeded by Cyrus Mistry, deputy chairman and a former member of the board of holding company Tata Sons. Metal stocks were mixed. Sterlite Industries, Hindalco Industries, Jindal Steel & Power and Hindustan Zinc shed by between 0.42% to 1.39%. Tata Steel, Sail, JSW Steel, and Bhushan Steel rose by between 0.19% to 2.29%. Shares of aviation firms rose after public sector oil marketing companies hiked jet fuel price by about 3%. Jet Airways (India) (up 0.81%) and SpiceJet (up 2.76%) edged higher. The price of aviation turbine fuel (ATF), or jet fuel, in Delhi was hiked by Rs 1,850.96 per kilolitre (kl), or 2.8%, to Rs 67,800.30 per kl from midnight of 31 March 2012. ATF typically makes up almost half of an airline's operating cost. Public sector oil marketing companies (PSU OMCs) revise jet fuel prices on the 1st and 16th of every month, based on the average international price in the preceding fortnight. Cals Refineries clocked highest volume of 1.82 crore shares on BSE. Dazzel Confindiv (1.38 crore shares), Lanco Infratech (75.04 lakh shares), Kingfisher Airlines (67.11 lakh shares) and Suzlon Energy (51.88 lakh shares) were the other volume toppers in that order. SBI clocked highest turnover of Rs 93.68 crore on BSE. Yes Bank (Rs 69.98 crore), Tata Motors (Rs 48.22 crore), Axis Bank (Rs 43.37 crore) and United Phosphorous (Rs 42.33 crore) were the other turnover toppers in that order. The expansion of the manufacturing sector slowed for a third month in March as growth in new orders eased and costs for raw materials kept rising, a business survey showed on Monday. The HSBC manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI), compiled by Markit, eased to 54.7 in March from 56.6 in February. In January, the PMI reading was 57.5. The index has now stayed above the 50 mark - which shows growth rather than contraction - for three years. India's exports grew an annual 4.3% to $24.6 billion in February, while imports rose 20.7% to $39.8 billion, government data showed on Monday. The trade deficit widened to $15.2 billion during the month from $14.8 billion in January, while exports between April and February grew 21.4 percent to $267.4 billion. Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) bought shares worth Rs 962.65 crore on Friday, 30 March 2012, as per provisional data from the stock exchanges. The next major trigger for the market is 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. Lube oil major Castrol announces Q1 March 2012 results on 16 April 2012. IT bellwether Infosys announces Q4 March 2012 results on 13 April 2012. Private sector bank HDFC Bank unveils FY 2012 results on 18 April 2012. ACC unveils Q1 March 2012 results on 19 April 2012. IndusInd Bank reports FY 2012 results on the same day. Axis Bank announces Q4 results on 27 April 2012. Titan Industries announces FY 2012 results on 30 April 2012. Housing finance major HDFC announces FY 2012 results on 7 May 2012. Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee said on Friday that the government doesn't intend to levy any tax on the holders of Participatory Notes (P-Notes). He also said that a clarification on the matter would be issued by the Government in due course and that the Centre has no intention of harassing genuine overseas investors. Participatory Notes or P-Notes are instruments issued by registered foreign institutional investors to overseas investors, who wish to invest in the Indian stock markets without registering themselves with the market regulator, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi). Mukherjee on 16 March 2012, while presenting the Union Budget 2012-13, proposed to introduce the General Anti-Avoidance Rule, or GAAR, which would give the tax body the right to examine the motivation for transactions by foreign investors. Mr. Mukherjee said at the time that GAAR is aimed "to counter aggressive tax avoidance schemes." Under GAAR, a transaction would be presumed to be for obtaining tax benefit unless the taxpayer proves that obtaining benefit wasn't the main objective. India's tax treaty with Mauritius exempts capital gains from being doubly taxed, but GAAR could override such tax treaties. European stocks edged higher on Monday, buoyed by official manufacturing data for China that eased market concerns about the extent of the country's slowing economy. Key benchmark indices in UK and Germany were up by 0.21% to 0.45%. But, France's CAC 40 fell 0.36%. The downturn for manufacturing activity in the 17-nation euro zone worsened in March, according to the final Markit Eurozone Manufacturing Purchasing Managers Index. The final manufacturing PMI dropped to a three-month low, unchanged from a preliminary estimate. New orders contracted at a faster rate than in February, leading to falling output and further job losses, according to Markit. The UK manufacturing Purchasing Managers Index rose to a 10-month high in March, but conditions in the sector remain difficult overall, according to a Markit/Chartered Institute of Purchasing & Supply survey released on Monday. The March PMI rose to 52.1 from a revised 51.5 in February. The February reading had initially been reported at 51.2. Asian stocks traded mostly higher Monday at the start of the new quarter. Key benchmark indices in Indonesia, Japan, Singapore and South Korea rose by between 0.19% to 1.08%. Key benchmark indices in Hong Kong and Taiwan were down by between 0.16% to 0.88%. China's stock markets were shut for a holiday. Chinese manufacturing gauges for March offered a mixed snapshot of the nation's manufacturing activity. A Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) rose to a one-year high of 53.1, exceeding economists' estimates, a report from the logistics federation and the statistics bureau showed today. While, a PMI from HSBC Holdings Plc and Markit Economics fell to a four-month low of 48.3. The Bank of Japan's closely watched quarterly "tankan" business survey, released Monday, disappointed in terms of sentiment among the nation's large manufacturers. The headline index, covering major manufacturing firms, remained unchanged from December's reading of –4. Trading in US index futures indicated that the Dow could fall 9 points at the opening bell on Monday, 2 April 2012. US stocks closed mixed on Friday but both the Dow Jones Industrial Average and S&P 500 logged their best quarterly gain in almost 14 years.