BSE Sensex, Nifty gain over 1% each

Key benchmark indices edged higher in the week ended Friday, 28 December 2012 in thin trading. The market gained in 3 out of four trading sessions in the week just gone by. Shares of Bajaj Auto scaled a record high. Data showing that foreign institutional investors (FIIs) remained net buyers of Indian stocks boosted sentiment. Shares of three companies debuted on the bourses in the week. Shares of Credit Analysis & Research (CARE) surged on its debut on Wednesday, 26 December 2012. Shares of PC Jeweller logged modest gains on its debut on Thursday, 27 December 2012. But shares of Bharti Infratel dropped on debut on Friday, 29 December 2012. The BSE Sensex rose 202.84 points or 1.05% to 19,444.84 in the week ended Friday, 28 December 2012. The 50-unit S&P CNX Nifty gained 60.65 points or 1.03% to 5,908.35 in the week. The BSE Mid-Cap index advanced 1.36%, outperforming the Sensex. The BSE Small-Cap index gained 0.23%, underperforming the Sensex. The Sensex has risen 104.94 points or 0.54% in this month so far (till 28 December 2012). The Sensex has surged 3,989.92 points or 25.81% in calendar 2012 so far (till 28 December 2012). From a 52-week low of 15,358.02 on 2 January 2012, the Sensex has risen 4,086.82 points or 26.61%. The Sensex is off 167.34 points or 0.85% from a 52-week high of 19,612.18 hit on 11 December 2012. Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) have purchased shares worth Rs 24183.30 crore in December 2012 so far (till 27 December 2012). FIIs had bought shares worth Rs 9577.20 crore in November 2012. FIIs have bought shares worth net Rs 127455.30 crore in calendar 2012 so far (till 27 December 2012). FIIs offloaded shares worth a net Rs 2714.20 crore in 2011. Key benchmark indices eked out slender gains on Monday, 24 December 2012 as trading across the globe remained thin ahead of Christmas holidays. The BSE Sensex advanced 13.09 points or 0.07% to settle at 19,255.09. The stock market remained closed on Tuesday, 25 December 2012, on account of Christmas. Market rose on Wednesday, 26 December 2012 after the government announced measures to boost India's merchandise exports. The BSE Sensex surged 162.37 points or 0.84% to 19,417.46. Key benchmark indices edged lower in choppy trade on Thursday, 27 December 2012 as index heavyweights Reliance Industries (RIL) and ITC dropped. The BSE Sensex shed 93.66 points or 0.48% to 19,323.80. The market was volatile as traders rolled over positions in the futures & options (F&O) segment from the near month December 2012 series to January 2013 series. The December 2012 derivatives contracts expired on Thursday, 27 December 2012. Key benchmark indices advanced on Friday, 28 December 2012 as index heavyweights Reliance Industries (RIL) and ITC were in demand. The BSE Sensex was up 121.04 points or 0.63% to 19,444.84. Among the 30-Sensex shares, 21 rose and the remaining shares declined in the week ended Friday, 28 December 2012. Bharti Airtel (up 3.65%), Tata Power Company (up 2.93%) and NTPC (up 2.09%) edged higher from the Sensex pack. Jindal Steel & Power (down 1.94%), M&M (down 1.40%) and Hindustan Unilever (down 1.12%) edged lower from the Sensex pack. Index heavyweight Reliance Industries advanced 2.11% to Rs 840.35. RIL after market hours on Thursday, 27 December 2012 denied reports floating in the market that RIL is buying Hotel Leela Venture's business park in Chennai. It clarified that no agreement has been done to buy Hotel Leela Venture's business park in Chennai as reported. Russia's Spirit DPS last week said that Indian telecom operator Infotel, a subsidiary of Reliance Group, has licensed its software TeamSpirit Voice and Video Engine. "Reliance intends to invest $10 billion in its LTE network and has turned to Spirit's software products for voice and video calls over LTE instead of waiting for phone makers who are slow in offering handsets transmitting voice and video in 4G networks. The lack of mobile devices supporting VoLTE (Voice-over-LTE) drives a growing number of carriers to implement a software-only product, which is more flexible, scalable and offers a quicker time to market. By using Spirit engines, Reliance will be able to offer its subscribers high-quality services as an alternative to Skype over cellular networks and attract new high-value subscribers that used services from other operators and commercial OTT service providers," Spirit DPS said in a statement. RIL has bought back 4.62 crore shares for about of Rs 3358.09 crore till 11 December 2012 under its ongoing share buyback program. RIL has set maximum buyback price of Rs 870 per share. The company has set aside Rs 10440 crore for share buyback. The buyback program opened on 1 February 2012 and closes on 19 January 2013. Index heavyweight and cigarette maker ITC rose 0.47% to Rs 289.15. The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare in October 2012 notified new pictorial health warnings to be depicted on tobacco product packs which will come into effect from 1 April 2013. The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare said in a statement on 22 October 2012 that three sets of warnings each have been notified for smoking as well as smokeless forms of tobacco product packages. The well-designed health warnings and messages are part of a range of measures to communicate health risks due to tobacco use. Pictorial health warnings communicate health risks in a visible way, provoke a greater emotional response and increase the motivation of tobacco users to quit and to decrease their tobacco consumption, the ministry's statement said. Graphic warning labels have a greater impact than text-only labels and can be recognized by low-literacy audiences and children, the statement added. Tata Steel fell 0.28%. The company on Monday, 24 December 2012, said some contract workers and the company's security personnel clashed at its factory in Jamshedpur town on Monday, 24 December 2012, injuring about 25 people. The agitating workers also damaged cars, burnt a few two-wheelers and broke one of the factory gates, Tata Steel said in a statement. The plant's operations weren't affected, it added. IT stocks rose on hopes the US lawmakers will try to reach a deal to break the budget impasse before the end of the year. US is the biggest outsourcing market for the Indian IT firms. India's largest software services exporter by revenues TCS rose 0.57%. The company on 20 December 2012 said its new software development campus at Rajarhat in West Bengal will be functional by the end of the financial year 2014-15. TCS said that the new campus will house over 16,000 seats and is being constructed with an investment of about Rs 1350 crore. The campus will be built in two phases, with the first phase to be completed in the first quarter of 2014 and the second phase by the fourth quarter of the year. In the first phase, 7,000 seats will be ready with the remaining 9,500 seats being completed in phase II, TCS said in a statement. India's second largest software services exporter by revenues Infosys gained 1.13%. India's third largest software services exporter by revenues Wipro rose 3.23%. State Bank of India (SBI) rose 1.89%. The bank announced at the fag end of the trading session Monday, 24 December 2012, it has signed a Preliminary Non-Binding Memorandum of Understanding with Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF), to facilitate advancing bilateral economic cooperation and trade between Russia and India which is aimed at exploring investment opportunities in both the countries. The modalities of the Joint Venture are expected to be further discussed and finalised between the parties in due course. The fund will be operationalised on receipt of requisite regulatory approvals, SBI said in a statement. Larsen & Toubro (L&T) rose 1.85%. L&T after trading hours on Thursday, 27 December 2012, said it has secured an offshore contract valued at Rs 781 crore for 3 Wellhead Platforms from ONGC. The contract, won against international competitive bidding, encompasses total 'EPCI' -- Engineering, Procurement, Construction & Installation of three wellhead platforms, spread over Heera and South Heera fields of ONGC. The project, part of ONGC's strategy to re-develop Heera and South Heera fields to meet India's rising energy demands, is scheduled to be completed by April 2014. Bajaj Auto rose 2.36% to Rs 2,136.75. The stock hit record high of Rs 2,164.70 in intraday trade on Wednesday, 26 December 2012. Bajaj Auto's total sales fell 1% to 3.72 lakh shares in November 2012 over November 2011. Motorcycle sales fell 2% to 3.26 lakh units in November 2012 over November 2011. The company said sales bigger and sportier Pulsar and Discover brands contributed 68% of motorcycle sales in November 2012. Sales of Discover brand totaled 1.5 lakh units in November 2012. Bajaj Auto's three-wheeler sales rose 7% to 45,566 units in November 2012 over November 2011. The company said growth in its diesel three-wheeler sales and growth in the company's market share in this segment continues. Bajaj Auto's total exports fell 4% to 1.24 lakh units in November 2012 over November 2011. Tata Motors surged 3.42%. The company last week announced the launch of a new variant of its crossover vehicle Tata Aria viz. Tata Aria Pure LX with a bouquet of features. The Tata Aria Pure LX has been priced at Rs 9.95 lakh (ex-showroom Bangalore), Tata Motors said. Shares of Credit Analysis & Research settled at Rs 923.95 on BSE on its debut on Wednesday, 26 December 2012, a premium of 23.19% over the initial public offer price of Rs 750. Shares of PC Jeweller settled at Rs 149 on BSE on its debut on Thursday, 27 December 2012, a premium of 10.37% over the initial public offer price of Rs 135. Shares of Bharti Infratel settled at Rs 191.20 on BSE on its debut on Friday, 29 December 2012, a discount of 13.09% over the initial public offer price of Rs 220 per share. On the macro front, Union Minister for Commerce, Industry and Textiles Mr. Anand Sharma on Wednesday, 26 December 2012, announced additional incentives to boost exports. Finance Minister P. Chidambaram has expressed optimism that the Indian economy will continue to grow at a healthy rate even as the global economies face recession. He said Indian economy has strong fundamentals and factors such as high savings rate, growing services sector, a large middle class which continues to create demand and technical and qualified manpower and the youth. The Finance Minister was speaking at the National Development Council meeting in New Delhi on Thursday, 27 December 2012. The Finance Minister said that it was imperative to contain the fiscal deficit by augmenting resources and controlling expenditure. He said that some measures may cause immediate pain but this was necessary to ensure that the fiscal deficit came down to 3 per cent in the next three years. Steps were also being taken to contain the Current Account Deficit (CAD), he said adding that there is need to control gold imports which contributed $64 billion to the CAD. Chidambaram lauded the States for containing the fiscal deficit to 2.1 per cent of the GDP and also for generating revenue surplus of 0.75 per cent. The Finance Minister urged state governments to adopt the Direct Benefit Transfer scheme as it provided a technology enabled platform to transfer benefits in an efficient manner directly to the people. He said that in the initial phase subsidies relating to petroleum, food and fertilizer would not be distributed through this scheme and only those schemes which are amenable will be taken up. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh Thursday, 27 December 2012, said that the government's first priority is to reverse the economy's sharp slowdown. "We cannot change the global economy, but we can do something about the domestic constraints which have contributed to the slowdown," Mr. Singh said at a meeting of the National Development Council, which coordinates development issues between the Centre and the state governments. He said the immediate issues at hand include problems in the implementation of large projects, especially in the power sector, which are stuck because of delays in getting approvals. He said that the government has taken a number of steps to deal with this problem, including the establishment of a new Cabinet Committee on Investment under his Chairmanship. He said these steps will have a positive effect, but their full impact will take time. Mr. Singh said energy is underpriced in India and that there is a need for "some phased price adjustment." Mr. Singh said that early implementation of a Goods and Services Tax (GST), a long-delayed plan intended to replace myriad state and central taxes, is critical to raise the tax/GDP ratio. The Prime Minister sought the co-operation of the states to introduce GST as quickly as possible. The Planning Commission on Wednesday, 26 December 2012, lowered its economic growth forecast for the country for the five years through 2017 to 8% from a previous estimate of 8.2%. Mr. Singh said that this is an "ambitious target," especially since it will follow growth of less than 6% in 2012. In global market, Japan's industrial output tumbled more than forecast to the lowest level since the aftermath of the record 2011 earthquake, bolstering the case for Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to unleash large-scale stimulus. The 1.7% drop in November from October exceeded forecasts, a government report showed on Friday, 28 December 2012 in Tokyo. The nation also remained mired in deflation, with consumer prices excluding fresh food dropping 0.1% from a year before, compared with a central bank goal of 1% and Abe's desired target of 2%. Japanese manufacturing activity contracted in December at the fastest pace in more than three years, a survey showed on Friday, as companies focused on drawing down inventories due to a mild recession at home and weak demand for exports. The Markit/JMMA Japan Manufacturing Purchasing Managers Index (PMI) fell to a seasonally adjusted 45.0 in December from 46.5 in November. The index showed that manufacturing contracted at the fastest pace since April 2009. President Barack Obama and lawmakers are launching a last-chance round of budget talks just days before a New Year's deadline to reach a deal or watch the economy go off a "fiscal cliff." Obama will meet congressional leaders from both parties at the White House on Friday to try to revive negotiations to avoid tax hikes and spending cuts - together worth $600 billion - that will begin to take effect on January1. In order to be ready to legislate if an agreement takes shape, the Republican-dominated House of Representatives convened a session for Sunday. The US fiscal cliff refers to the year-end deadline for the expiration of hundreds of billions of dollars worth of tax cuts and the triggering of $109 billion in across-the-board spending cuts, if the US Congress fails to act. The US Congress created the hazardous deadline of 31 December 2012 in August 2011 when it agreed to a deficit deal as a way out of a deadlock over raising the US debt ceiling. The Congressional Budget Office has estimated the US economy would drop into a recession in the first half of the new year if a deal is not reached.