The rally gathered further steam as key benchmark indices extended gains and hit fresh intraday high in mid-morning trade. Both the key benchmark indices -- the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, and the 50-unit CNX Nifty -- hit record high. The market sentiment was boosted by data showing that foreign institutional investors (FIIs) made heavy purchases of Indian stocks on Thursday, 6 March 2014. Gains in Asian stocks also boosted sentiment on the domestic bourses. The Sensex was up 241.11 points or 1.12%, up about 215 points from the day's low and off close to 10 points from the day's high. The market breadth, indicating the overall health of the market, was positive.
IT stocks declined on a firm rupee. Realty stocks extended their recent strong gains. Prism Cement rose after the company said it has started production of coal at the Prism Coal Mine in Chhindwara, Madhya Pradesh. Index heavyweight Reliance Industries (RIL) extended initial gains.
Trading for the day started on an upbeat note as the Sensex and the 50-unit CNX Nifty, both, hit record high in early trade. Key benchmark indices extended initial gains and hit fresh intraday high in morning trade. The uptrend continued uptrend as key benchmark indices hit fresh intraday high in mid-morning trade.
The market sentiment was boosted by data showing that foreign funds made heavy purchases of Indian stocks on Thursday, 6 March 2014. Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) bought shares worth a net Rs 1272.93 crore on Thursday, 6 March 2014, as per provisional data from the stock exchanges.
Investors are betting that the Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) will form the next government at the centre after Lok Sabha elections in April-May this year. The BJP with its prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi is considered more pro-business and a more pro-reform party than the Congress party.
Asian shares edged higher on Friday, 7 March 2014, as most US stocks rose on Thursday, 6 March 2014, with the S&P 500 hitting record closing high.
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At 11:26 IST, the S&P BSE Sensex was up 241.11 points or 1.12% to 21,754.98. The index jumped 254.98 points at the day's high of 21,768.85 in mid-morning trade, a fresh record high, with the index surpassing its previous record high of 21,525.14 hit on Thursday, 6 March 2014. The index gained 25.57 points at the day's low of 21,539.44 in opening trade.
The CNX Nifty was up 78.15 points or 1.22% to 6,479.30. The index hit a high of 6,479.15 in intraday trade, a new record high, with the index surpassing its previous record high of 6,415.25 hit on 9 December 2013. The index hit a low of 6,413.55 in intraday trade.
The BSE Mid-Cap index was up 3.81 points or 0.06% at 6,711.81. The BSE Small-Cap index was up 5.58 points or 0.08% at 6,632.04. Both these indices underperformed the Sensex.
The market breadth, indicating the overall health of the market, was positive. On BSE, 1,232 shares gained and 1,047 shares fell. A total of 103 shares were unchanged.
Among the 30-share Sensex pack, 19 stocks rose and rest of them fell. L&T (up 6.14%), ICICI Bank (up 6.53%) and AXIS Bank (up 5.47%) edged higher from the Sensex pack.
Index heavyweight Reliance Industries (RIL) rose 3.73% to Rs 852.70. The stock hit high of Rs 853.45and low of Rs 825 so far during the day. Reliance Jio Infocomm (Reliance Jio), a subsidiary of RIL, and Bharti Infratel, early this week announced the signing of a Master Services Agreement. Under the agreement, Reliance Jio would utilize the telecom tower infrastructure of Bharti Infratel to launch its services across the country. As per the agreement, the pricing would be at 'arm's length,' based on prevailing market rates.
Shares of Bharti Infratel rose 1.35%, with the stock gaining for the third day in a row.
Realty stocks extended their recent strong gains. DLF (up 3.13%), HDIL (up 1.99%), Sobha Developers (up 1.54%), and Unitech (up 2.1%) gained.
IT stocks declined on a firm rupee. A firm rupee adversely affects operating profit margins of IT firms as the sector derives a lion's share of revenue from exports. HCL Technologies (down 0.89%), Infosys (down 1.25%), TCS (down 2.73%), Tech Mahindra (down 2.79%) and Wipro (down 2.44%) declined.
Financial Technologies (India) rose 2.3% to Rs 378.50 after global financial services firm Merrill Lynch bought an additional 0.57% stake in the company through bulk deal on NSE on Thursday, 6 March 2014. On Thursday, 6 March 2014, Merrill Lynch Capital Markets Espana bought an additional 2.64 lakh shares, or 0.57% equity, of Financial Technologies (India) (FTIL), as per bulk deal data available with the stock exchanges. The shares were purchased on NSE at an average price of Rs 370.07, valuing the transaction at Rs 9.77 crore. However, identity of seller of the shares could not be ascertained.
On Wednesday, 5 March 2014, Merrill Lynch Capital Markets Espana bought 2.35 lakh shares, or 0.51% equity, in FTIL. The shares were purchased on NSE at an average price of Rs 347.76. Shares of FTIL hit an upper circuit limit of 5% on Wednesday, 5 March 2014 and on Thursday, 6 March 2014.
After the latest transaction, Merrill Lynch Capital Markets Espana holds 4.99 lakh shares, or 1.08% equity, in FTIL.
Prism Cement rose 1.76% after the company said it has started production of coal at the Prism Coal Mine in Chhindwara, Madhya Pradesh. The company made the announcement during trading hours today, 7 March 2014. Prism Cement said that it has been granted all statutory clearances for the operation of the coal mine. The mined coal will be used for captive consumption of the cement plant located at Satna, Madhya Pradesh, the company said.
In the foreign exchange market, the rupee edged higher against the dollar as equities rose. The partially convertible rupee was hovering at 60.975, compared with its close of 61.11/12 on Thursday, 6 March 2014.
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.
On the political front, the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) is expected to do well in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections according to CNN-IBN-Lokniti-CSDS national election tracker and seat projections by Chennai Mathematical Institute Director Rajeeva Karandikar. As per the survey, NDA is projected to win 212-232 seats. The Congress-led UPA is projected to get 119-139. The survey indicates that the BJP alone is expected to get 193-213 seats and the Congress alone can get 94-110 seats. Mamata Banerjee led TMC is expected to emerge as the third largest party with 20-28 seats. The Left Front is expected to win just 15-23 seats. Tamil Nadu CM J Jayalalithaa led AIADMK is likely to win 14-20 seats, YS Jagan Mohan Reddy's YSR Congress Party is projected to get 11-17 seats, Mulayam Singh Yadav led SP is likely to get 11-17 seats, Naveen Patnaik led BJD is expected to win 10-16 seats, The TDP led by N Chandrababu Naidu is expected to win 10-16 seats, M Karunanidhi led DMK is expected to win 10-16 seats, Mayawati's BSP is projected to get 8-14 seats, K Chandrashekhara Rao led TRS is expected get 4-8 seats, former PM HD Deve Gowda's JDS is also expected to get 4-8 seats, the JDU 1-5 seats and the AAP is also projected to get 1-5 seats respectively.
The BJP and its allies together (NDA) are expected to get 36% votes and the Congress and its allies are projected to get 29% votes nationally. The BJP alone can get 33% votes and the allies can add 3% more. The Congress is projected to get 26% votes on its own and the allies may contribute 3% extra votes. Both the BJP and the Congress have lost 1% votes each since January survey. While the Congress allies have gained 2% votes, the BJP allies have gained 1% votes since last January.
According to election tracker, the BJP is expected do to remarkably well in battleground states of UP and Bihar, where its electoral fortunes have been on a downswing for a long time. However, regional parties are expected to do very well in Andhra Pradesh (including Telangana), Odisha, West Bengal and Tamil Nadu. Smaller regional parties like TRS, JDS etc are also expected to retain their relevance at national level by retaining their strength in their respective states, according to the survey.
According to CNN-IBN-Lokniti-CSDS election tracker, BJP Prime Ministerial candidate Narendra Modi leads the race for the next prime minister in six states of India. Of the six states, five are key battleground states of Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu. The sixth state is Delhi, the stronghold of the AAP led by Arvind Kejriwal.
The 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.
Asian shares edged higher on Friday, 7 March 2014, as most US stocks rose on Thursday, 6 March 2014, with the S&P 500 hitting record closing high. Key benchmark indices in China, Singapore, Japan, Hong Kong and Indonesia were up 0.19% to 0.8%. Key benchmark indices in South Korea and Taiwan shed 0.04% to 0.16%.
According to reports, Shanghai Chaori, Solar Energy Science & Technology Co., a Chinese maker of energy cells to convert sunlight into power, has defaulted on bond interest payments today, 7 March 2014, which is a first case of default in China's domestic corporate-bond market.
Trading in US index futures indicated that the Dow could advance 16 points at the opening bell on Friday, 7 March 2014. Most US stocks rose on Thursday, 6 March 2014, sending the Standard & Poor's 500 Index to an all-time high as data showed jobless claims fell to the lowest level in three months and investors watched developments in Ukraine.
Fewer Americans than projected filed applications for unemployment benefits last week, an indication companies are holding on to staff even as cold weather threatens to slow the world's largest economy. Separate data indicated factory goods orders in January fell 0.7%, declining more than forecast.
The US Labor Department will release its February jobs report today, 7 March 2014.
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.
In Europe, the European Central Bank (ECB) kept interest rates unchanged at a record low of 0.25% on Thursday, 6 March 2014, as stronger inflation and economic output reduced the need for officials to take action. ECB head Mario Degahi again said that although the bank is not introducing new easing programs, he is still ready to act if need be. The ECB also raised its growth outlook and said that inflation is likely to increase slowly in the medium-term.
The Bank of England on Thursday, 6 March 2014, made no change in policy, holding its key lending rate at a record low of 0.5% and its asset purchases at 375 billion pounds ($627 billion).
Lawmakers in the largely-autonomous Russian-majority peninsula of Crimea on Thursday voted in favour of leaving Ukraine and joining the Russian Federation, even as the US slapped visa restrictions on the separatists and began lining up financial sanctions against Moscow.
The US and Ukraine complained that Crimean legislators were tutored by Russia and they did not recognize the legitimacy of a formal referendum that has been scheduled for March 16 to put a seal of approval on the vote. The Crimean parliament resolved "to enter into the Russian Federation with the rights of a subject of the Russian Federation" It said it had asked Russian President Vladimir Putin "to start the procedure"
US President Barack Obama said the US and its allies will keep raising pressure on Russia to back down in Ukraine and held open the possibility of further sanctions if Vladimir Putin's government doesn't respond. His administration earlier banned visas for Ukrainian officials and others, including Russians, who it says are threatening Ukraine's sovereignty. Obama also authorized the imposition of financial sanctions.
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