 "Taper fears and F&O expiry halts market in its track")
It was fourth consecutive session of weak endings as key stock indices ended a volatile session on a flat note on Wednesday. Investors also remained jittery ahead of January series Futures & Options (F&O) contracts expiry tomorrow. Also, street expects US Federal Reserve to further quicken the pace of tapering its $75 billion-a-month bond buying program in its policy meet late Wednesday.
Fed policy meet will be Ben Bernanke's last at the helm of the US central bank. Janet Yellen is set to take over as the US Federal Reserve chairperson.
Fed started cutting its monthly purchases to $75 billion from $85 billion this January which saw turmoil in emerging market currencies and stocks. The street expects US central bank to shave another $10 billion from its monthly quantitative easing kitty.
Broader markets ended mixed with BSE mid-cap index closing with marginal gains while the small-cap index closed in red.
Infosys, Maruti Suzuki, L&T, BHEL,Axis Bank, Sun Pharma were the top Sensex gainers today. The gains were however capped by the losses in ICICI Bank, RIL, ITC, HDFC, Tata Motors and Sesa Sterlite.
The rupee continued to trade firm against the US dollar tracking gains in stock markets. The Indian currency was trading at Rs 62.35 compared with previous close of Rs 62.52 per dollar. The rupee is seen trading range bound ahead of outcome of FOMC meet.
Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) sold shares worth a net Rs 1267.35 crore on Tuesday, as per provisional data.
Asian markets edged higher on Wednesday amid a monetary tightening measures by the Turkish central bank which surprisingly hiked the overnight lending rate by 425 basis points to 12%. Japan's benchmark Nikkei was the top gainer in the region and ended up 2.7%, Shanghai Composite gained 0.6%, Hang Seng was up 1.1% while Straits Times was down 0.7%.
Back home, BSE Capital goods index was the top gainer among the sectoral indices, up 0.9% followed by Healthcare, IT and TECk indices among others. Metal Index was the top loser, down 1.35%, followed by consumer durables, banks, realty, power.
Market breath was slightly weak with 1,236 gainers and 1,361 losers on the BSE.
Other shares
Shares of state-owned oil marking companies (OMCs) were in limelight and ended higher by up to 8% on back of heavy volumes on the bourses.
Hindustan Petroleum Corporation (HPCL), Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) and Bharat Petroleum Corporation (BPCL) were up 5-8% on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE).
Titagarh Wagons dipped nearly 7% at Rs 106 after reporting a net loss of Rs 3.74 crore for the third quarter ended December 31, 2013 (Q3 FY14), due to lower operational income.
Havells India moved higher by over 3% to Rs 771 after reporting a healthy 27% year-on-year (yoy) jump in its net profit at Rs 121 crore for the third quarter ended December 31, 2013 (Q3).
Shares of pharmaceutical companies were in demand and ended higher by up to 6% on the bourses.
Aurobindo Pharma, Shasun Pharmaceuticals, Sun Pharmaceutical Industries, Dishman Pharmaceuticals and Chemicals, Biocon, Ipca Laboratories, Ranbaxy Laboratories, Claris Lifesciences, Wockhardt and Cipla were up 2-6% on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE).
Ipca Laboratories gained over 2%, after a strong 58% year-on-year (yoy) jump in its net profit at Rs 139 crore for the third quarter ended December 31, 2013 (Q3).
Results corner
ICICI Bank which was up over 1% also witnessed profit taking and was up 0.7%. The private banking major today reported Q3 net profit of Rs 2,532 crore compared to Rs 2,250 crore in the same quarter last year, a gain of 12.5%. Total Income increased from Rs 12,353 crore for the quarter ended December 31, 2012 to Rs 14,256 crore for the quarter ended December 31, 2013.
Gross NPA stood at 3.05% vs 3.08% q-o-q while net NPA was at 0.94% vs 0.85% q-o-q.
TVS Motor reported a 31% growth in net profit to Rs 68.80 crore during the quarter ended December 31, 2013 from Rs 52.45 crore. The company's revenue grew by 13% to Rs 2,034.71 crore during the third quarter from Rs 1,802.61 crore, a year ago.
During the quarter under review, total two-wheeler sales of the company grew to 5.12 lakh units in the quarter ended December 2013 from 5.03 lakh units, a year ago.
Polaris Financial Technology Limited reported a 25% growth in net profit during the quarter ended December 31, 2013 at Rs 51 crore as compared to Rs 41 crore, a year ago. Despite a Rs 29 crore hedging loss this quarter, the company has achieved 25% growth in PAT margins.
Total income rose to Rs 643.39 crore from Rs 572.88 crore, an increase of around 13%
Fed policy meet will be Ben Bernanke's last at the helm of the US central bank. Janet Yellen is set to take over as the US Federal Reserve chairperson.
Fed started cutting its monthly purchases to $75 billion from $85 billion this January which saw turmoil in emerging market currencies and stocks. The street expects US central bank to shave another $10 billion from its monthly quantitative easing kitty.
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The 30-share Sensex of the Bombay Stock Echange (BSE) ended 36 points lower at 20,647 levels and the 50-unit National Stock Exchange (NSE) Nifty ended 6 points lower at 6,120 mark.
Broader markets ended mixed with BSE mid-cap index closing with marginal gains while the small-cap index closed in red.
Infosys, Maruti Suzuki, L&T, BHEL,Axis Bank, Sun Pharma were the top Sensex gainers today. The gains were however capped by the losses in ICICI Bank, RIL, ITC, HDFC, Tata Motors and Sesa Sterlite.
The rupee continued to trade firm against the US dollar tracking gains in stock markets. The Indian currency was trading at Rs 62.35 compared with previous close of Rs 62.52 per dollar. The rupee is seen trading range bound ahead of outcome of FOMC meet.
Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) sold shares worth a net Rs 1267.35 crore on Tuesday, as per provisional data.
Asian markets edged higher on Wednesday amid a monetary tightening measures by the Turkish central bank which surprisingly hiked the overnight lending rate by 425 basis points to 12%. Japan's benchmark Nikkei was the top gainer in the region and ended up 2.7%, Shanghai Composite gained 0.6%, Hang Seng was up 1.1% while Straits Times was down 0.7%.
Back home, BSE Capital goods index was the top gainer among the sectoral indices, up 0.9% followed by Healthcare, IT and TECk indices among others. Metal Index was the top loser, down 1.35%, followed by consumer durables, banks, realty, power.
Market breath was slightly weak with 1,236 gainers and 1,361 losers on the BSE.
Other shares
Shares of state-owned oil marking companies (OMCs) were in limelight and ended higher by up to 8% on back of heavy volumes on the bourses.
Hindustan Petroleum Corporation (HPCL), Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) and Bharat Petroleum Corporation (BPCL) were up 5-8% on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE).
Titagarh Wagons dipped nearly 7% at Rs 106 after reporting a net loss of Rs 3.74 crore for the third quarter ended December 31, 2013 (Q3 FY14), due to lower operational income.
Havells India moved higher by over 3% to Rs 771 after reporting a healthy 27% year-on-year (yoy) jump in its net profit at Rs 121 crore for the third quarter ended December 31, 2013 (Q3).
Shares of pharmaceutical companies were in demand and ended higher by up to 6% on the bourses.
Aurobindo Pharma, Shasun Pharmaceuticals, Sun Pharmaceutical Industries, Dishman Pharmaceuticals and Chemicals, Biocon, Ipca Laboratories, Ranbaxy Laboratories, Claris Lifesciences, Wockhardt and Cipla were up 2-6% on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE).
Ipca Laboratories gained over 2%, after a strong 58% year-on-year (yoy) jump in its net profit at Rs 139 crore for the third quarter ended December 31, 2013 (Q3).
Results corner
ICICI Bank which was up over 1% also witnessed profit taking and was up 0.7%. The private banking major today reported Q3 net profit of Rs 2,532 crore compared to Rs 2,250 crore in the same quarter last year, a gain of 12.5%. Total Income increased from Rs 12,353 crore for the quarter ended December 31, 2012 to Rs 14,256 crore for the quarter ended December 31, 2013.
Gross NPA stood at 3.05% vs 3.08% q-o-q while net NPA was at 0.94% vs 0.85% q-o-q.
TVS Motor reported a 31% growth in net profit to Rs 68.80 crore during the quarter ended December 31, 2013 from Rs 52.45 crore. The company's revenue grew by 13% to Rs 2,034.71 crore during the third quarter from Rs 1,802.61 crore, a year ago.
During the quarter under review, total two-wheeler sales of the company grew to 5.12 lakh units in the quarter ended December 2013 from 5.03 lakh units, a year ago.
Polaris Financial Technology Limited reported a 25% growth in net profit during the quarter ended December 31, 2013 at Rs 51 crore as compared to Rs 41 crore, a year ago. Despite a Rs 29 crore hedging loss this quarter, the company has achieved 25% growth in PAT margins.
Total income rose to Rs 643.39 crore from Rs 572.88 crore, an increase of around 13%