A bout of volatility was witnessed as key benchmark indices trimmed losses after hitting fresh intraday low in afternoon trade. The barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was down 81.14 points or 0.37%, off close to 165 points from the day's high and up about 42 points from the day's low. The market breadth, indicating the overall health of the market was negative. The market sentiment was hit adversely after the latest data showed that India's merchandise exports fell 3.67% year-on-year in February 2014.
Auto stocks were mixed. Godrej Properties rose after the company said it has entered into an agreement with Godrej & Boyce (G&B) to develop a new project on the latter's property on the Eastern Express Highway, Vikhroli, Mumbai. Shares of state-run iorn ore miner NMDC fell after the company unveiled its iron ore production and despatches data for the 11 months ended February 2014.
The market edged higher in early trade on firm Asian stocks. The Sensex fell below the psychological 22,000 mark after regaining that level in early trade. Volatility ruled the roost as key benchmark indices regained positive terrain in morning trade. The Sensex regained the psychological 22,000 mark. The 50-unit CNX Nifty scaled a record high. High intraday volatility was witnessed as key benchmark indices once again slipped into the red in mid-morning trade. The Sensex fell below the psychological 22,000 mark. Key benchmark indices languished in the negative terrain in early afternoon trade. A bout of volatility was witnessed as key benchmark indices trimmed losses after hitting fresh intraday low in afternoon trade.
At 13:15 IST, the S&P BSE Sensex was down 81.14 points or 0.37% to 21,853.69. The index lost 123.25 points at the day's low of 21,811.58 in afternoon trade. The index jumped 83.69 points at the day's high of 22,018.52 in morning trade.
The CNX Nifty was down 20.20 points or 0.31% to 6,517.05. The index hit a low of 6,504.65 in intraday trade. The index hit a high of 6,562.85 in intraday trade, a record high.
The BSE Mid-Cap index was up 9.65 points or 0.14% at 6,732.39. The BSE Small-Cap index was up 5.09 points or 0.08% at 6,668.19. Both these indices outperformed the Sensex.
The market breadth, indicating the overall health of the market was negative. On BSE, 1,460 shares dropped and 1,147 shares rose. A total of 153 shares were unchanged.
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Among the 30 Sensex shares, 18 declined and remaining rose. Tata Steel (down 4.16%), Hindalco Industries (down 4.06%), Sun Pharmaceutical Industries (down 2.78%), Sesa Sterlite (down 2.47%), Larsen & Toubro (down 1.26%), HDFC Bank (down 1.09%), Reliance Industries (down 0.96%) and Bharti Airtel (down 0.85%), edged lower from the Sensex pack.
Tata Power (up 3.36%), Dr. Reddy's Laboratories (up 0.82%), Axis Bank (up 0.77%), Wipro (up 0.45%), Bhel (up 0.37%) and Infosys (up 0.33%), edged higher from the Sensex pack.
FMCG major Hindustan Unilever (HUL) was up 0.02%. The company announced during trading hours today, 11 March 2014, that Mr. Sridhar Ramamurthy, presently Executive Director Finance & IT and CFO of HUL has been appointed Senior Vice President Finance for the Global Markets. He will be part of the Global Markets Executive of Unilever and based in London.
Mr. P. B. Balaji, presently, Vice President, Finance, Unilever Americas Supply Chain Company will succeed Mr. Sridhar as Executive Director Finance & IT and CFO of HUL. He will join the Board of Directors of HUL and will be part of the Management Committee of HUL. Mr. Balaji's appointment was approved by the Board of Directors of HUL on March 11, 2014 after the Nomination & Remuneration Committee recommended his name to the Board. Mr. Balaji joined HUL in May 1993 and has worked in different roles in HUL. Prior to moving to Unilever in 2011, Mr. Balaji was Vice President, Finance for the Home & Personal Care Business of HUL. The changes are effective from 1 July 2014, HUL said in a statement.
Auto stocks were mixed. Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M) (down 2.42%), Eicher Motors (down 1.44%), Maruti Suzuki India (down 1.33%) and Ashok Leyland (down 1.11%), edged lower.
Commercial vehicles major Tata Motors rose 0.72%. Another commercial vehicles maker Escorts rose 0.54%.
Shares of two-wheeler makers were mostly lower. Bajaj Auto (down 0.61%) and Hero MotoCorp (down 0.13%), edged lower. However, TVS Motor Company was up 0.29%.
Godrej Properties (GPL) rose 1.87% after the company during trading hours today, 11 March 2014, announced that it has entered into an agreement with Godrej & Boyce (G&B) to develop a new project on the latter's property on the Eastern Express Highway, Vikhroli, Mumbai. The potential saleable area in this project will be up to 800,000 square feet (sq. ft.) and is likely to comprise of premium residences as well as a small componentof convenience retail.
Godrej Properties will act as development manager and will work with G&B on the conceptualisation, design, sales, and marketing of the the project. For its services, Godrej Properties will receive a fee equal to 10% of the total revenue generated from the development. The costs for design and construction of the development will be borne by Godrej & Boyce in its role as owner-developer while the cost for sales and marketing will be borne by Godrej Properties in its role as development manager, the company said.
Over a period of time, the development potential at Vikhroli is likely to make it the largest real estate development in Mumbai. The development will have a mixed-use character and will have significant amounts of residential, commercial, retail, and landscaped spaces. The first project under this agreement was Godrej Platinum, a residential development of approximately 600,000 sq. ft. across four towers. Three of these towers have been 100% sold and are at an advanced stage of construction. The last of the four towers will be launched in the next few months. Godrej Platinum is one of the first residential projects in the country to receive a LEED-Platinum precertification, which is the highest available certification for green buildings. In addition to Godrej Platinum and this new project, Godrej Properties is also developing a 35 acre mixed-use development in Vikhroli called The Trees, the company added.
NMDC fell 2.61% after the company said its total iron ore production rose 2.90% to 26.42 million tonnes (provisional) for the 11-month period ended February 2014 over corresponding previous year period. The company's iron ore despatches rose 4% to 27.43 million tonnes (provisional) for the 11-month period ended February 2014 over corresponding previous year period.
NMDC said it rolled over the February 2014 prices of lump ore (lumps - Rs 4,500 per wet metric tonne) and fines (Rs 2,910 per wet metric tonne) to the month of March 2014. The announcement was made during trading hours today, 11 March 2014.
In the foreign exchange market, the rupee edged higher against the dollar, tracking gains in most other Asian currencies. The partially convertible rupee was hovering at 60.71, compared with its close of 60.85/86 on Monday, 10 March 2014.
India's trade deficit narrowed to $8.13 billion in February 2014, from $14.12 billion in February 2013. Total imports declined 17.09% year-on-year at $33.81 billion in February 2014. Merchandise exports fell 3.67% year-on-year at $25.68 billion in February 2014. The trade deficit for the 11-month period April 2013 to February 2014 narrowed to $128.08 billion, from $179.92 billion during the period from April 2012 to February 2013. The government unveiled the trade data for February 2014 during trading hours today, 11 March 2014.
The government will unveil industrial production data for January 2014 tomorrow, 12 March 2014. Industrial output fell 0.6% in December 2013 after contracting a revised 1.3% in November 2013.
The government also unveils data on inflation based on the combined consumer price index (CPI) for urban and rural India for February 2014 tomorrow, 12 March 2014. CPI inflation eased to 24-month low of 8.79% in January 2014.
The data on inflation based on the wholesale price index (WPI) for February 2014 is due on Friday, 14 March 2014. WPI inflation stood at 5.05% (provisional) in January 2014 as compared to 6.16% (provisional) for December 2013.
The Reserve Bank of India next undertakes monetary policy review on 1 April 2014. Citing price pressures, the Reserve Bank of India raised its key lending rates by 25 basis points after Third Quarter Review of Monetary Policy for 2013-14 on 28 January 2014.
The next major trigger for the stock market is the outcome of the upcoming Lok Sabha elections. Lok Sabha elections will be held between 7 April 2014 and 12 May 2014 in nine phases. The counting of votes will be take place on 16 May 2014. The term of the current Lok Sabha expires on June 1 and the new House has to be constituted by May 31. Along with the Lok Sabha election, Andhra Pradesh (AP), including the regions comprising Telangana, Odisha and Sikkim will go to polls to elect new assemblies. AP, Odisha and Sikkim assemblies come to end on June 2, June 7 and May 7 respectively.
With the election code of conduct coming into force, government authorities will not be able to announce any major policy initiatives. However, they can announce routine or unavoidable policy measures after taking the approval of the election commission.
The Dravida Munnettra Kazhagam (DMK) in its Lok Sabha election manifesto released in Chennai today, 11 March 2014, said that the party is opposed to foreign direction investment (FDI) in retail and education. The manifesto also talks about the Tamils in Sri Lanka. Abolition of death sentence, statehood to Puducherry, implementation of Sethusamudhram project and making Tamil the local official language are some of the other promises made by the DMK in its Lok Sabha election manifesto. The M Karunanidhi-led DMK has been opposed to the death sentence to the killers of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi. The DMK has also been backing the demand for the killers to be released from jail.
Asian stocks edged higher on Tuesday, 11 March 2014, after the Bank of Japan kept monetary policy unchanged. Key benchmark indices in China, Indonesia, South Korea, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore and Japan were up 0.07% to 0.69%.
The Bank of Japan (BoJ) maintained record easing, keeping ammunition as an April sales-tax bump threatens to trigger the deepest one-quarter contraction since the March 2011 earthquake. The BoJ kept a pledge to expand the monetary base at a pace of 60 trillion to 70 trillion yen ($677 billion) per year, the central bank said in a statement in Tokyo today, 11 March 2014, after a monetary policy review. The BoJ said that Japan's economy has continued to recover moderately and a front-loaded increase in demand prior to the consumption tax hike (scheduled in April) has recently been observed.
A report yesterday, 10 March 2014, showed aggregate financing in China dropped to 938.7 billion yuan ($153 billion) last month amid a crackdown on shadow lending, down from January's record 2.58 trillion yuan. Central Bank Governor Zhou Xiaochuan said today, 11 March 2014, that China's deposit rates will be liberalized in one to two years. Zhou commented at a press briefing in Beijing as part of sessions of the annual meeting of the National People's Congress. He also said that interest rates will initially rise as controls are removed.
Trading in US index futures indicated that the Dow could drop 4 points at the opening bell on Tuesday, 11 March 2014. US stocks slid on Monday, pulling the Standard & Poor's 500 Index down from a record, as a slowdown in Chinese exports fueled concern about global economic growth.
The Federal Reserve will continue to trim its monthly asset purchases at a $10 billion pace, Charles Evans, president of the Chicago Fed and among the most dovish US policymakers said on Monday as he also detailed how the US central bank might rewrite its plan for keeping interest rates low. "We're at a point now where we're, moving away from purchasing assets, we're tapering, and our balance sheet continues to be very large but we're not going to add to it as much," Evans told a gathering at Columbus State University. "The last two meetings we reduced the purchase flow rate by $10 billion and we're going to continue to do that," he said flatly.
The Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) next undertakes monetary policy review on 18-19 March 2014. After a monetary policy review, the FOMC on 29 January 2014 announced it will reduce monthly bond purchases by another $10 billion to $65 billion.
Ukraine began military drills as Russian forces tightened their hold on the Crimean peninsula and the Foreign Ministry in Moscow warned of "lawlessness" in the former Soviet republic's eastern provinces.
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