Market snaps two-day winning streak

Key benchmark indices edged lower in choppy trade as a steep slide in rupee against the dollar hit investor sentiment adversely. The S&P BSE Sensex lost 102.59 points or 0.53%, off 160.33 points from the day's high and up 31.91 points from the day's low. The market breadth, indicating the overall health of the market, was almost even. Shares of index heavyweight Reliance Industries declined in choppy trade. Indian stocks today, 18 June 2013, snapped two-day winning streak. The Sensex had gained 498.71 points or 2.65% in two trading sessions to 19,325.87 on 17 June 2013 from a recent low of 18,827.16 on 13 June 2013. The Sensex has lost 537.02 points or 2.72% in this month so far (till 18 June 2013). The Sensex has fallen 203.43 points or 1.05% in calendar 2013 so far (till 18 June 2013). From a 52-week high of 20,443.62 on 20 May 2013, the Sensex has fallen 1,220.34 points or 5.97%. From a 52-week low of 16,598.48 on 26 July 2012, the Sensex has surged 2624.80 points or 15.81%. Coming back to today's trade, interest rate sensitive banking stocks edged lower after the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) kept repo rate and cash reserve ratio unchanged after mid-quarter review of the monetary policy on Monday, 17 June 2013. Shares of two wheeler makers rose for the second day in a row, shrugging off a hike in petrol price announced over the weekend. Capital goods stocks edged lower. Pharma stocks also declined. Telecom stocks gained for the second day in a row after Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) said on Monday, 17 June 2013 it has reduced ceilings for national roaming calls and SMS. Shares of Idea Cellular scaled 52-week high. Bharti Infratel hit record low. Shares of IPCA Laboratories hit record high. Mahindra & Mahindra Financial Services struck record high. Metal stocks were in demand on renewed buying. A steep slide in rupee against the dollar hurt investor sentiment. The rupee was hovering at 58.77 against the dollar, sharply lower than Monday's close of 57.87/88. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Monday, 17 June 2013, refrained from cutting its key policy rate further despite sluggish economic growth due to the recent steep slide in rupee against the dollar. The central bank after a monetary policy review said that the weakness in rupee could adversely impact inflation which has been slowing in the past few months. A weak rupee makes the cost of oil and other imported goods higher in rupee terms, adding to inflationary pressure. The S&P BSE Sensex lost 102.59 points or 0.53% to 19,223.28, its lowest closing level since 14 June 2013. The index fell 134.50 points at the day's low of 19,191.37 in late trade. The index rose 57.74 points at the day's high of 19,383.61 in mid-afternoon trade, its highest level since 11 June 2013. The CNX Nifty lost 36.45 points or 0.62% to 5,813.60, its lowest closing level since 14 June 2013. The index hit a low of 5,804.30 in intraday trade. The index hit a high of 5,863.40 in intraday trade, its highest level since 11 June 2013. The total turnover on BSE amounted to Rs 1627 crore, higher than Rs 1548.66 crore on Monday, 17 June 2013. The market breadth, indicating the overall health of the market, was almost even. On BSE, 1,162 shares gained and 1,164 shares declined. A total of 140 shares were unchanged. The BSE Mid-Cap index rose 0.03% and the BSE Small-Cap index gained 0.25%. Both these indices outperformed the Sensex. The BSE Metal index (up 0.75%), BSE IT index (up 0.57%), BSE Teck (up 0.57%), BSE Healthcare index (up 0.05%), BSE Realty index (down 0.15%), BSE FMCG index (down 0.31%), BSE Auto index (down 0.23%) outperformed the Sensex. The BSE Oil & Gas index (down 0.57%), BSE Power index (down 0.64%), BSE Capital Goods index (down 0.86%), BSE PSU index (down 0.91%), BSE Consumer Durables index (down 1.09%), BSE Bankex (down 1.2%), underperformed the Sensex. Among the 30-share Sensex pack, 19 stocks fell and the rest of them rose. NTPC (down 2.2%), GAIL (India) (down 1.94%) and ONGC (down 1.94%), edged lower. Shares of index heavyweight Reliance Industries (RIL) declined 0.52% to Rs 820.80 in volatile trade. The stock hit high of Rs 836.90 and low of Rs 817.70. RIL shares had risen recently after Niko Resources on 13 June 2013 said its proved reserves increased by 160%, and that a recent gas discovery in the D6 block off India's east coast could add significantly to future reserves. RIL is the operator of the block with a 60% stake. BP Plc holds 30% and Niko the rest. Interest rate sensitive banking stocks edged lower after the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) kept repo rate and cash reserve ratio unchanged after mid-quarter review of the monetary policy on Monday, 17 June 2013. HDFC Bank (down 1.27%), State Bank of India (down 0.92%) and ICICI Bank (down 0.74%), edged lower. IDFC fell 1%. IDFC after market hours today, 18 June 2013, said that the company's board of directors at its meeting held today, 18 June 2013, has approved a resolution for making an application to the Reserve Bank of India (RBl) for obtaining a banking license based on the guidelines for licensing of new banks in the private sector dated 22 February 2013 and the associated clarifications issued by RBI on 3 June 2013. Mahindra & Mahindra Financial Services advanced 1.14% to Rs 267.10 after striking a record high of Rs 271.60 in intraday trade today, 18 June 2013. Capital goods stocks edged lower. L&T (down 1.57%) and Bhel (down 1.23%), declined. Pharma stocks declined. Cipla (down 0.04%), Sun Pharmaceutical Industries (down 0.5%) and Dr Reddy's Laboratories (down 0.85%), edged lower. Metal stocks were in demand on renewed buying. Jindal Steel & Power (up 0.23%), Sterlite Industries (up 1.16%), Hindustan Zinc (up 0.72%) and Tata Steel (up 2.64%) edged higher. JSW Steel rose 2.01%, with the stock extending Monday's gain. JSW Steel during market hours on Monday announced that its May 2013 crude steel production rose 40% to 10.13 million tonne in May 2013 over May 2012. The production of flat rolled products rose 57% to 8.06 million tonne in May 2013 over May 2012. The production of long rolled products rose 13% to 1.68 million tonne in May 2013 over May 2012. The rise was production was due inclusion of production figures of JSW ISPAT Steel which was merged with the company. Hindalco Industries shed 0.74%. Shares of two wheeler makers rose for the second day in a row, shrugging off a hike in petrol price announced over the weekend. Hero MotoCorp (up 1.4%) and Bajaj Auto (up 1.81%), edged higher. PSU OMCs hiked petrol price by Rs 2 a litre on Saturday, 15 June 2013. India's largest utility vehicle maker by sales, Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M), was down 0.55% after jumping 4.43% on Monday. Mahindra Ugine Steel Company was locked at 10% upper limit, with the stock extending Monday's 10% rally. Mahindra Forgings was up 3.47%. The Mahindra Group and CIE Automotive S. A. (Spain) on Saturday, 15 June 2013, announced the signing of a global alliance agreement between Mahindra's automotive component businesses (held under its Systech Sector) and CIE Automotive (involving also its subsidiary Autometal). The agreement will see the formation of a global automotive component supply network with combined annual sales of approximately Rs 15000 crore or $3 billion with operations in North America, South America, Europe and Asia held through listed businesses in Spain, Brazil and India. As part of the transaction, CIE Automotive, through one of its subsidiaries, will acquire from Mahindra Group a stake in its listed and unlisted companies belonging to Systech Automotive Component business and CIE Automotive will contribute its forging businesses in Spain and Lithuania and together consolidate all companies under Mahindra Forgings (MFL) which will be rechristened Mahindra CIE. Mahindra CIE will continue to be listed on BSE (Bombay Stock Exchange) and NSE (National Stock Exchange). The share sale by Mahindra group will trigger open-offer provisions under the Securities Exchange Board of India (Substantial Acquisition of Shares and Takeovers) Regulations 2011. The proposed business transaction will be carried out in a series of steps over the next year that will culminate in Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M) taking a stake of 13.5% in CIE Automotive and CIE Automotive taking a majority stake in a single listed entity in India which will continue to operate the current Systech automotive component businesses globally and include CIE's European forgings operations. Post acquisition of 13.5% stake, M&M will be second largest shareholder in CIE. M&M will nominate 2 directors to the CIE board. The Mahindra Systech business consists of five companies viz. Mahindra Forgings, Mahindra Ugine Steel Company, Mahindra Composites, Mahindra Hinoday Industries and Mahindra Gears. IT stocks were mixed. Infosys (up 1.59%) and Wipro (up 0.87%) edged higher. TCS shed 0.23%. HCL Technologies fell 0.06%. The company said during market hours today, 18 June 2013 that the company is poised for continued growth and expansion in Latin America (LATAM), having recently marked the four-year anniversary of its operations in Brazil. HCL's operations in Brazil have grown 35% percent year-on-year for the last two years, adding significantly to the customer base over this period. the company said. During the past two years, the company has also increased its headcount by about 50% percent in Brazil. HCL is seeing increasing demand from its global customers headquartered in North America, as well as in Europe and Asia to support their LATAM delivery operations from its Brazil centers, it said in a statement. CMC dropped 1.08% as the stock turned ex-dividend today, 18 June 2013, for dividend of Rs 17.50 per share for the year ended 31 March 2013. Telecom stocks gained for the second day in a row after Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) said on Monday, 17 June 2013 it has reduced ceilings for national roaming calls and SMS and instituted a new regime for providing flexibility to telecom service providers to customise tariffs for national roamers through special tariff vouchers (STVs) and combo vouchers. TRAI has also mandated two types of free national roaming plans to be provided by all telecom service providers. These changes will come into effect from 1 July 2013. Reliance Communications (RCom) jumped 11.06% to Rs 123.60, after striking a 52-week high of Rs 124.95 in intraday trade today, 18 June 2013. The stock surged on high volume. On BSE, 1.11 crore shares were traded in the counter as against an average daily volume of 60.74 lakh shares in the past one quarter. Shares of Idea Cellular rose 1.54% to Rs 141.85 after striking a 52-week high of Rs 143.50 in intraday trade today, 18 June 2013. MTNL (up 1.66%) and Tata Teleservices (Maharashtra) (up 2.04%) gained. As per the latest (TRAI) mandate, outgoing local call charges, while on roaming, will be capped at Rs 1 per minute from Rs 1.40 earlier, while outgoing STD charges, while on national roaming, have been capped to Rs 1.50 from Rs 2.40 per minute earlier. The ceiling tariffs for incoming calls while on national roaming have been reduced from Rs 1.75 per minute to 75 paise per minute, TRAI said. Outgoing local SMS-es will cost Rs 1, while outgoing STD SMS will cost Rs 1.50. Incoming SMS will remain free of charge. The changes will be effective from 1 July 2013. India is divided into 22 telecoms zones. Currently, subscribers pay an additional fee for making and receiving calls when they are outside their home zone. Bharti Airtel fell 1.32% with the stock reversing intraday gain in late trade. The stock had risen 2.53% on Monday, 17 June 2013, on the back of the company's announcement that it has completed the allotment of 19.98 crore new shares, representing 5% equity stake in the company, to Qatar Foundation Endowment. The shares have been issued at a price of Rs 340 each on a preferential basis for a total consideration of Rs 6796 crore. The allotment marks one of the largest private equity transactions in the history of India, Bharti said. On 3 May 2013, Bharti and Qatar Foundation Endowment had announced a binding agreement for the share sale. As part of the entitlement, QFE is entitled to one seat on the board of Bharti. Bharti Infratel slipped 1.53% to Rs 150.95 after striking a record low of Rs 148 in intraday trade today, 18 June 2013. MMTC declined by maximum permissible level of 5% at Rs 154.70 on BSE, with the stock extending recent steep slide triggered by government concluding the divestment of 9.33% stake at a huge discount to the stock's ruling market price last week. The government last week sold 9.33% stake in MMTC via Offer for Sale through stock exchanges mechanism at an indicative price of Rs 60.86 per share. The divestment was done to make the company compliant to the public shareholding requirements under the Securities Contract Regulations (Rules) (SCRR). Sebi has mandated minimum public shareholding of 10% for state-run firms by August 2013. Ranbaxy Laboratories lost 3.8% to Rs 351.50 after hitting a 52-week low of Rs 342.75 in intraday trade today, 18 June 2013. The Supreme Court will reportedly hear on 24 June 2013 a petition seeking probe against Ranbaxy Laboratories for allegedly manufacturing and selling adulterated medicines. Ranbaxy on 31 May 2013 had said all Ranbaxy products currently in the Indian and global markets are safe and efficacious. The company stands by the quality of every medicine that the company makes and distributes in India and every country around the world, it had said. The company's India facilities are routinely inspected by Drug Controller General of India and many other global regulatory agencies, Ranbaxy said at that time. Shares of IPCA Laboratories rose 2.32% to Rs 687 after striking a record high of Rs 691.30 in intraday trade today, 18 June 2013. Orchid Chemicals & Pharmaceuticals jumped 6.36%, with the stock extending Monday's rally triggered by the company's announcement that its oral formulations facility at Irungattukottai near Chennai was successfully inspected and accepted by the USFDA without any observations. Venus Remedies gained 2.92% after the company said after market hours on Monday, 17 June 2013, it has received another patent from Mexico for its novel antibiotic product Potentox. Granted by the Mexican Institute of Industrial Property (IMPI), the patent protects the composition of Potentox. The patent provides an exclusivity period for Potentox up to 2025. The drug is also protected by a number of other patents from various other countries, including USA, India, Australia, New Zealand, South Korea, South Africa, Canada and Ukraine. Potentox is an antibiotic adjuvant entity (AAE), a drug effective in case of hospital-acquired pneumonia and febrile neutropenia infections, primarily caused by quinolones or aminoglycoside-resistant microbes. In Mexican intensive care units (ICUs), the overall cost of one single healthcare-associated infection episode is $12,155. As per WHO statistics for Mexico, healthcare-associated infections are the third most common cause of death. Mexico spends about 70% of its health budget on extra costs incurred due to hospital-acquired infections. Clinical trials conducted for Potentox on more than 500 patients have indicated a drop in cost of therapy by 20-30% as compared to conventional therapies. Besides, studies conducted in hospitals across India have shown that Potentox is suitable for the treatment of infections caused by various resistant gram-negative pathogens in the ICU. Shares of Cinemax India gained by maximum permissible level of 5% to Rs 158.20, with the stock extending Monday's rally triggered by favourable swap ratio for the company's merger with PVR. Shares of PVR advanced 2.78%. The board of directors of PVR on Saturday, 15 June 2013, approved the Scheme of Amalgamation for the merger of Cine Hospitality and Cinemax India with PVR. As per the swap ratio, shareholders of Cinemax India will get 4 shares of PVR for every 7 shares held in Cinemax India. PVR holds 93.19% stake in Cinemax India through its wholly owned subsidiary Cine Hospitality (as per the shareholding patter as on 31 March 2013). Multiplex cinema chain operator PVR in November 2012 acquired promoters' entire stake in rival Cinemax India. PVR later raised its stake in Cinemax India via a mandatory open offer. VA Tech Wabag rose 3.84% after the company said during market hours today, 18 June 2013 that the company in a joint venture with Pratibha Industries has won a Rs 262 crore order from Melamchi Water Supply Development Board, Nepal. Shares of Pratibha Industries declined 1.52%. VA Tech Wabag said the project involves construction of 85 million liter per day (MLD) water treatment plant at Sundarijal, Nepal, with options to expand up to 510 MLD at a later stage. Nitesh Estates jumped 6.51% after the company said during market hours today, 18 June 2013, that a total of 1.11 crore shares pledged by Chairman & Managing Director Mr. Nitesh Shetty with a financial institution have been released. The pledged shares were released after repayment of the financial obligations by Mr. Shetty. HT Media shed 1.57% to Rs 96.90 after a block deal on BSE. A block deal of 5 lakh shares was executed in the counter on BSE at Rs 98 per share at the onset of the trading session. Finance Minister P. Chidambaram on Monday, 17 June 2013, said that the government is proactively working towards operationalisation of 215 stalled projects involving investment of about Rs 7 lakh crore with a view to give a push to the production activity in the country. The only way to contain Current Account Deficit (CAD) is to increase the domestic production of oil and coal and restraining the consumption of gold. Chidambaram made the comments while addressing a meeting of the Parliamentary Consultative Committee of the Ministry of Finance on India's high CAD and measures to contain the deficit. On political front, the ruling Congress government ahead of 2014 Lok Sabha elections appointed eight new ministers on Monday. In all, eight ministers -- four Cabinet and four ministers of state -- were sworn in on Monday evening. Mallikarjun Kharge became new minister for railways, and Oscar Fernandes was sworn in as minister for roads and highways. European stock markets edged higher on Tuesday, 18 June 2013, as German investor confidence rose in June amid signs the recovery in Europe's largest economy is gathering pace. Key benchmark indices in France, Germany and UK rose by 0.03% to 0.86%. German investor confidence rose in June amid signs the recovery in Europe's largest economy is gathering pace. The ZEW Center for European Economic Research in Mannheim said its index of investor and analyst expectations, which aims to predict economic developments six months in advance, increased to 38.5 from 36.4 in May. Most Asian stocks rose on Tuesday, 18 June 2013. Key benchmark indices in China, Indonesia, Taiwan, Singapore and South Korea rose by 0.14% to 1.45%. Hong Kong's Hang Seng was flat. Japan's Nikkei Average fell 0.2%. Foreign direct investment in China rose in May by the least in four months, a sign of concern that growth is slowing in the world's second-biggest economy. Inbound non-financial investment increased 0.3% from a year earlier to $9.26 billion, the Ministry of Commerce said today in a statement in Beijing, after a 0.4% gain in April. Trading in US index futures indicated that the Dow could gain 31 points at the opening bell on Tuesday, 18 June 2013. US stocks surged on Monday as investors await Wednesday's monetary-policy decision by the Federal Open Market Committee. A two-day meeting of the Federal Open Market Committee, the Fed's interest-rating setting body, begins today, 18 June 2013. Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke said last month that the bank could start scaling back its aggressive easing program in coming months if data continue to improve. The Fed's monthly bond purchases of $85 billion a month is aimed at encouraging US economic growth.