Sensex gains 8.23% in FY 2013

Key benchmark indices edged higher boosted buying of Indian stocks by foreign funds. Indian stocks gained in two of three trading sessions in the truncated week ended Thursday, 28 March 2013. In the week ended Thursday, 28 March 2013, the 30-share S&P BSE Sensex gained 100.17 points or 0.53% to 18,835.77. The 50-unit CNX Nifty rose 31.20 points or 0.55% to 5,682.55. The S&P BSE Sensex has gained 1,431.57 points or 8.23% in the year ending 31 March 2013 (FY 2013). The S&P BSE Mid-Cap index gained 1.02% and the S&P BSE Small-Cap index advanced 0.54%. Both these indices outperformed the Sensex. Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) have bought shares worth Rs 8557.60 crore in this month so far (till 25 March 2013). FIIs had purchased shares worth Rs 24439.30 crore in February 2013. FIIs have purchased shares worth net Rs 55055.70 crore in 2013 so far (till 25 March 2013). FIIs bought shares worth net Rs 128359.80 crore in calendar 2012. Key benchmark indices dropped for seventh straight session on Monday, 25 March 2013 on political worries following reports that the Samajwadi Party (SP) might withdraw support to the Congress led UPA government at the Centre. The S&P BSE Sensex was down 54.18 points or 0.29% to 18,681.42, its lowest closing level since 26 November 2012. Market snapped seven-day losing streak to log small gains on Tuesday, 26 March 2013. The S&P BSE Sensex advanced 23.11 points or 0.12% to settle at 18,704.53, its highest closing since 22 March 2013. The stock market remained shut on Wednesday, 27 March 2013, on account of Holi. Key benchmark indices surged amid choppy trade on the last trading session of March 2013 on Thursday, 28 March 2013. The S&P BSE Sensex was up 131.24 points or 0.7% to 18,835.77, its highest closing level since 20 March 2013. The stock market remains shut on Friday, 29 March 2013, on account of Good Friday. From 30-share Sensex pack, 15 stocks gained and 15 declined in the week ended Thursday, 28 March 2013. Index heavyweight Reliance Industries (RIL) dropped 4.58% at Rs 773.70. The telecom department early this month cleared a proposal to allow companies with Internet permits to also offer basic mobile telecom services by paying a one-time license-conversion fee. RIL's telecom unit, Reliance Jio Infocomm, has frequencies to provide broadband Internet across India. Under the new rule, RIL will have to pay about Rs 1658 crore to also provide voice services. The Finance Minister said in his speech while presenting the Union Budget 2013-14 on 28 February 2013 that the oil and gas exploration policy will be reviewed to move from profit sharing to revenue sharing contracts. The natural gas pricing policy will be reviewed and uncertainties regarding pricing will be removed. NELP blocks that were awarded but are stalled will be cleared. A policy to encourage exploration and production of shale gas will be announced. Index heavyweight and cigarette major ITC rose 1.28% to Rs 309.10. The stock had hit a record high of Rs 310.75 on 4 February 2013. The government raised the excise duty on cigarettes by about 18% on all cigarettes except cigarettes of length not exceeding 65 mm in Union Budget 2013-14 which was unveiled on 28 February 2013. Auto stocks edged lower as auto companies start unveiling monthly sales volume data for March 2013 from Monday, 1 April 2013. Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M) dropped 1.45%. The company on 19 March 2013 said that as part of aligning production with sales requirements, the company will be observing no production days at its tractor plants located at Jaipur for five days and Rudrapur for two days during the period from 24 March 2013 to 31 March 2013. The management does not envisage any adverse impact on the availability of tractors in the market due to adequacy of tractor stocks to serve the market requirements, M&M said in a statement. Maruti Suzuki India declined 1.75%. Maruti Suzuki India on 15 March 2013 said it has appointed Mr. Kenichi Ayukawa as the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer in place of Mr. Shinzo Nakanishi with effect from 1 April 2013 on the latter having attained the age of retirement. Tata Motors fell 0.41%. The company's British luxury car unit Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) on 12 March 2013 said its sales rose 3% to 26,855 units in February 2013 over February 2012. Sales were up in almost every major market in February 2013, JLR said. But, sales declined 22% in China on year on year basis in February 2013, reflecting the Chinese New Year falling in February this year and January last year, JLR said. Sales of Jaguar jumped 27% to 4,595 units in February 2013 over February 2012, with increased sales of the XF (up 37%) and the XJ (up 15%), reflecting new smaller engines and all-wheel drive options as well as the XF Sportbrake, JLR said. Sales of Land Rover declined slightly on year on year basis in February 2013, reflecting the Chinese New Year holiday period, JLR said. Sales of Freelander jumped 26% year on year in February 2013 and that of Range Rover jumped 46% year on year in February 2013, JLR said. Two wheeler makers also declined. Bajaj Auto lost 1.53%. The company on 4 March 2013 said its total sales fell 3% to 3.32 lakh units in February 2013 over February 2012. Motorcycles sales fell 4% to 2.91 lakh units February 2013 over February 2012. Sales of three wheelers declined 2% to 41,090 units in February 2013 over February 2012. The company's total exports rose 10% to 1.35 lakh units in February 2013 over February 2012. Hero MotoCorp fell 6.9%. Hero MotoCorp on 1 March 2013 said total sales declined 4.23% to 5.01 lakh units in February 2013 over February 2012. Hero MotoCorp's scooters -- Pleasure and Maestro -- clocked close to 54,000 unit sales in February 2013. The company is now scaling up its scooter production to over 60,000 units a month. Coal India (CIL) rose 3.93%. The company said after market hours on 25 March 2013, that the board of directors of the company at its meeting held on 25 March 2013, has approved to convert the Loan & Current Account balance granted to BCCL, a 100% subsidiary of the company, aggregating to Rs 2539 crore into 5% Non-Convertible, Redeemable Cumulative Preference Shares as recommended by the Audit Committee of CIL on date. The board also approved to amend the Memorandum of Association & Articles of Association of BCCL to facilitate this. This is however subject to the approval of shareholders of BCCL, Coal India said. Bharti Airtel fell 0.82%. The company on 26 March 2013 announced that its wholly-owned subsidiary Bharti Airtel International (Netherlands) B.V. has successfully raised $500 million notes (the Additional Notes) in addition to the recently concluded transaction of $1 billion 5.125% Fixed Rate Senior Unsecured Guaranteed 144A/Reg S Notes due 2023. The Additional Notes were issued at a premium and priced at 100.625% to yield 5.044% and will be consolidated and form a single series a long with the $1 billion 5.125% Guaranteed Senior Notes due 2023 issued on 11 March 2013. Following the highly successful recent inaugural US dollar bond transaction on 4 March 2013, the bonds of Bharti Airtel had witnessed a strong rally in the secondary market and additional notes were issued to tap the unsatisfied investor demand through a follow-on issuance, Bharti Airtel said. The transaction drew an order book of approximately $2 billion with participation from 140 high quality investor accounts. In terms of geographic distribution, 50% of Additional Notes were distributed in the United States, 32% in Europe and 18% in Asia. The Notes were distributed to high quality fixed income accounts across fund managers, banks, sovereign wealth funds/ insurance companies and private banks, Bharti Airtel said. IT stocks gained on renewed buying. Software major TCS added 2%. The company on 26 March 2013 said that it has bagged a contract from Southern Water to implement a customer services and revenue transformation programme for the latter. The programme will combine front and back-end technology deployments with internal process redevelopment. Southern Water will benefit from enhanced customer service capabilities, improved cash collection and debt management, and will see a reduction in operating expenditure, TCS said a statement. Wipro gained 0.29%. Wipro Technologies, the Global Information Technology, Consulting and Outsourcing business of Wipro on 15 March 2013 announced that it has been appraised at Capability Maturity Model Integration CMMI-DEV 1.3 Level 5. This assessment validates Wipro's process capability based on the CMMI standards that measure process improvements, Wipro Technologies said in a statement. An assessment at maturity Level 5 indicates that the organization is performing at an "optimizing" level. At this level, an organization continually improves its processes based on a quantitative understanding of its business objectives and performance needs. The organization uses a quantitative approach to understand the variation inherent in the process and the causes of process outcomes. Infosys rose 1.02%. Infosys announces Q4 results on 12 April 2013. The company on 15 March 2013 announced that it has been selected by India Post to implement and manage a platform that will transform its rural operations. With this new agreement, Infosys will facilitate India Post's Rural Systems Integration (RSI) program. This initiative will increase adoption of the department's services, and enhance the reach of postal services to the country's rural population, streamlining the distribution of social benefits. As part of an earlier agreement, Infosys is also partnering with India Post to transform its financial services operations and end-user experience under the Financial Services System Integration program. The two projects are part of the 'India Post 2012' modernization program that aims to bring transparency, agility, flexibility and scalability to its business operations. The programs will empower employees to deliver services more efficiently to rural communities using the latest technology. They will also position India Post as a key agent in the Government of India's inclusive growth policies. Jindal Steel & Power (JSPL) slipped 1.07%. The company said after market hours on 26 March 2013, that the board of directors of the company at its meeting held on 26 March 2013 has appointed Mr. Sushil Maroo, Director as Deputy Managing Director of the company with effect from 1 April 2013. The company also said that Mr. K. Rajagopal has joined the company as JSPL Group CFO & Director from 26 March 2013. GAIL (India) slid 0.31%. The company on 25 March 2013, said it has set a target of marketing 84.05 million metric standard cubic metre per day (MMSCMD) and transmitting 110 MMSCMD of natural gas from domestic sources and through LNG route during FY 2013-14 under the Annual Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed with Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Gas for performance targets. The MoU also provides for an 'Excellent' production target of 430 TMT of Polymers (HDPE & LLDPE) and 1,310 TMT of Liquid Hydrocarbons. The excellent financial targets are pegged at Rs 49155 crore in gross sales and a gross margin of Rs 6160 crore. In addition to key physical and financial parameters, the company's performance will be assessed on the basis of various parameters related to core business streams out of which 32% is allocated to key parameters related to implementation of Pipeline, Petrochemicals, City Gas Projects, Capital Expenditure, Marketing, E&P, Mergers & Acquisitions, Safety etc besides, Corporate Governance, Research & Development, Human Resource Management (5%), Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and Sustainable Development (8%) in line with the latest guidelines issued by the Department of Public Enterprises (DPE), GAIL (India) said in a statement. State-run State Bank of India (SBI) shed 0.54%. SBI on 20 March 2013 said that the Executive Committee of the Central Board of the Bank, in its Meeting held on 20 March 2013, approved the issuance and allotment of 1.29 crore equity shares at Rs 2,312.78 per share to the Government of India (GoI) by way of preferential allotment. Shares of state run power equipment major Bharat Heavy Electricals (Bhel) declined 1.69%. Bhel on 28 March 2013, said that the company has sold its entire equity stake in Udangudi Power Corporation (UPCL), the company's joint venture with Tamil Nadu Generation and Distribution Corporation (TANGEDCO) to TANGEDCO. UPCL was initially formed as a joint venture between Tamil Nadu Electricity Board (TNEB) and Bhel in November 2008 for setting up Udangudi Power Project. In 2010, TNEB was reorganized and the interest of TNEB in the Joint venture was transferred to TANGEDCO. Consequent upon TANGEDCO's request to undertake the Udangudi Project as a state government project only and accordingly, upon approval of Boards of Bhel, TANGEDCO and UPCL, BHEL has exited the Joint Venture by selling its equity stake in UPCL to TANGEDCO. Larsen & Toubro (L&T) slipped 2.39%. The company on 26 March 2013 said that the company, Generali Group and the Future Group have signed a non-binding term sheet for the merger of L&T General Insurance Company (LTGI) and Future Generali India Insurance (FGI). On completion of the merger, L&T will have 51% stake, Generali will hold 26% stake and Future Group hold the remaining 23% in the merged entity. The completion of the transaction is subject to satisfactory due diligence by both the parties, execution of mutually agreed definitive binding documents and requisite approvals from IRDA and other regulators and related corporate bodies, L&T said. LTGI achieved a GWP of Rs 118 crore for 9 months ended 31 December 2012. LTGI currently has 15 branches. LTGI has issued more than 1.5 lakh policies covering various products till date. FGI is a joint venture between Future Group and Generali Group. The company achieved GWP of Rs 855 crore for 9 months ended 31 December 2012. It has issued over 8.4 lakh policies and has settled over 1 lakh claims in FY 2013. FGI is currently active through 83 offices with about 5,900 agents. ONGC (up 5.31%), HDFC (up 3.74%) and Hindalco Industries (up 2.06%) edged higher from the Sensex pack. Tata Steel (down 3.04%), Sun Pharmaceutical Industries (down 0.24%) and Cipla (down 0.65%) edged lower from the Sensex pack.