Markets at a glance

The prolonged northward journey of the market came to a screeching halt during the week. Heavy selling by FIIs on account of imposition of higher margin on trading led the market players sweating.

Over the week the Sensex plunged by 352.21 points or 3.04 per cent to settle at 11237.23. The Nifty lost 109.30 points or 3.1 per cent to end the week at 3345.50.

Market breadth was extremely negative as the market was gripped with volatility. FIIs have sold Rs 1156.5 crore in just two trading seeions barring Thursday. Mutual funds have also sold albeit a small amount of Rs 129.77 crore.

Market breadth was extremely negative over the week with only 24 out of 30 stocks ending in red. The biggest hit to the Sensex came from Infosys Technologies, ICICI Bank and ITC.

Infosys Technologies, that plunged by 4.58 per cent to Rs. 3020.8, took away 52.3 points from the Sensex. ICICI Bank (down by 5.89 per cent to Rs. 565.04) and ITC (down by 5.51 per cent to Rs. 189.25) together took away 98.97 points.

L&T (down by 5.47 per cent to Rs. 2497.9) and HDFC Ltd (down by 5.9 per cent to Rs. 1260.75) were the other losers. On the upside, Reliance Industries (up by 1.74 per cent to Rs 847.05) and Tata Steel (up by 4.38 per cent to Rs 565.45) managed to attract investor interest.

All sectoral indices except Metals and Oil & Gas ended in the negative territory. The biggest loser was BSE Bankex which delined by 4.75 per cent.

IndusInd Bank (down by 10.62 per cent), UTI Bank (down by 8.95 per cent), Canara Bank(down by 7.75 per cent), SBI (down by 6.21 per cent) and ICICI Bank (down by 5.98 per cent) pulled down the index.

BSE IT index (down by 4.67 per cent), BSE Cap Goods index (down by 4.52 per cent) and BSE FMCG (down by 4.43 per cent) were other major losers. BSE Metals increased by 2.51 per cent and BSE Oil & gas rose by a mere 0.29 per cent.

The major US indices ended the week narrowly mixed. The Dow Jones industrials ended the week up 17.61 points , or 0.16 per cent, finishing at 11,137.65. The S&P 500 index fell 6.38 points , or 0.49 per cent, to close at 1,289.12.The Nasdaq lost 12.91 points , or 0.55 per cent, to end at 2,326.11.

Most of the gains were largely due to the government data on Thursday that indicated that the economy would grow at a moderate rate raising investors' hopes that the Federal Reserve's streak of interest rate hikes might come to an end.

What to expect this week
Markets are unlikely to come out of the bearish mode for few more sessions as players are cautious that FII selling will continue.

Also, overall the quarterly results of tech major Infosys Technologies was more or less not in line with the expectations. Further expected slow growth by other major players in the quarter may also make the market more cautious.

Stock to watch 

INDIA CEMENTS
Last week's close (Rs)	186.60
Prev. week's close (Rs)	184.60
Week's high (Rs)	207.30
Week's low (Rs)	176.80
Last week's ave. daily turnover (Rs cr)	215.20
Prev. week's ave. daily turnover (Rs cr)	145.20
Number of up/down move	1/2

In a bid to reap the benefits of the rising cement prices and profitability of Indian cement sector, domestic mutual funds and Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) are cornering one more cement player-India Cements. Bajaj Alliance Life Insurance recently bought 13.1 lakh shares.

In the month of March, HSBC Mutual Fund and Kotak Mahindra Mutual Fund together bought 3.68 lakh shares. Other major mutual funds like SBI Mutual Fund, Franklin Templeton Mutual fund and Deutsche AMC (Asset Management Company) also hold substantial stake in the company.

The foreign shareholding in India Cements is at 38.8 per cent and FII investment stands at 17.2 per cent. The Chennai-based India Cements is the largest player in the South, with a capacity of 9 mt operating through seven plants. The scrip has given 12.07 per cent returns over the last month to close at Rs 186.6.

Stock of the week 

MADRAS ALUMINIUM COMPANY
Last week's close (Rs)	421.10
Prev. week's close (Rs)	278.30
Week's high (Rs)	474.00
Week's low (Rs)	278.00
Last week's ave. daily turnover (Rs cr)	4.67
Prev. week's ave. daily turnover (Rs cr)	0.49
Number of up/down move	3/0

Despite the volatiltiy in the market last week, stock of Madras Aluminium has sustained its bull run. It hit its all time high of Rs 474 in Thursday's bearish market. It closed with a gain of a whopping 51.31 per cent at Rs. 421.10.

Over the month, the scrip has recorded a rise of 76.41 per cent. Spiralling prices of metal world over is attracting interest in the non-ferrous metal stocks.

Moreover the company shot up as it has not performed in the rallying market.