Volatility ruled the roost as key benchmark indices slipped into the red and hit fresh intraday low in mid-morning trade. The market breadth, indicating the overall health of the market turned negative from positive. The barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, fell below the psychological 22,000 mark. The Sensex was down 49.74 points or 0.23%, off close to 135 points from the day's high and up about 45 points from the day's low.
Metal stocks edged lower after data released by China recently showed China's exports slumped in February.
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.
Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) bought shares worth a net Rs 1253.65 crore on Monday, 10 March 2014, as per provisional data from the stock exchanges.
At 11:20 IST, the S&P BSE Sensex was down 49.74 points or 0.23% to 21,885.09. The index lost 93.25 points at the day's low of 21,841.58 in mid-morning trade. The index jumped 83.69 points at the day's high of 22,018.52 in morning trade.
The CNX Nifty was down 17 points or 0.27% to 6,519.35. The index hit a low of 6,510 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 4.66 points or 0.07% at 6,727.40. The BSE Small-Cap index was up 6.82 points or 0.1% at 6,669.92. Both these indices outperformed the Sensex.
The market breadth, indicating the overall health of the market turned negative from positive in mid-morning trade. On BSE, 1,192 shares fell and 1,071 shares rose. A total of 162 shares were unchanged.
M&M (down 2.15%), Sun Pharmaceutical Industries (down 1.77%) and Maruti Suzuki India (down 1.47%) edged lower from the Sensex pack.
Metal stocks edged lower after Monday's data showed China's exports slumped in February. China is the world's largest consumer of copper and aluminum. Sesa Sterlite (down 3.01%), JSW Steel (down 2.45%), Hindalco Industries (down 2.99%), Hindustan Zinc (down 2.27%), Bhushan Steel (down 0.22%), National Aluminum Company (down 0.86%), Sail (down 2.76%), and Jindal Steel & Power (down 2.39%) declined.
Tata Steel dropped 3.12%, with the stock extending Monday's losses. The company said after market hours on Monday, 10 March 2014, that since the announcement dated 10 April 2013 regarding amalgamation of Kalimati with the company under the Scheme of Amalgamation, the company has taken various steps to complete the amalgamation of Kalimati with the company. Currently, the Scheme of Amalgamation is pending for final hearing before the Bombay High Court.
Clause 15.C of the Scheme of Amalgamation reads that "In the event of this Scheme failing to take effect by 31 March 2014 or such later date as may be agreed by the respective boards of directors of the Transferor company and the Transferee company, this Scheme shall stand revoked, cancelled and be of no effect and become null and void, and in that event, no rights and liabilities shall accrue to or be incurred inter se between the parties or their shareholders or creditors or employees or any other person. In such case, each of the Transferor Company and the Transferee Company shall bear its own costs and expenses or as may be otherwise mutually agreed."
Pursuant to the aforesaid clause, the board of directors of the company and Kalimati have at their respective board meetings held on 10 March 2014, passed the resolutions extending the long-stop date of the Scheme by one year, i.e. from 31 March 2014 to 31 March 2015.
Prime Focus gained 3.57% after the company's subsidiary Prime Focus Technologies signed a definitive agreement to acquire US-based DAX. The announcement was made before market hours today, 11 March 2014.
Prime Focus Technologies (PFT), the technology subsidiary of Prime Focus before market hours today, 11 March 2014 announced that it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire DAX, a leading provider of cloud-based production workflow and media asset management applications to the entertainment industry for a base consideration of $9.1 million (Rs 56 crore) in a uniquely structured performance linked transaction. PFT through its US subsidiary will acquire all the assets of DAX for an upfront payment and with balance payable over 3 years such that cash flows from the North American operations will support the payment.
This acquisition gives PFT ownership of DAX's patented technology and products including the Primetime Emmy award winning Digital Dailies solution which is the de-facto industry standard in television production. This acquisition also sets the course for PFT's strategic expansion in North America. PFT will significantly enhance the value proposition to DAX's marquee customers including major studios and broadcast networks (Warner Bros. Television Studios, CBS Television Studios, 20th Century Fox Television Studios, Relativity Media, Legendary Pictures, Fox Television Studios, A&E, Showtime, Starz Media and Lionsgate) and many independent production and distribution companies, Prime Focus said.
"Our vision is to build the best enterprise platform for Production on the Cloud by taking a fresh look at media workflows through the lens of a studio that wants to efficiently collaborate across divisions with its entertainment content before, during and after the production phase, said Ramki Sankaranarayanan, Founder and CEO, PFT. Digital Dailies is one of the first significant entry points to Production on the Cloud. PFT's CLEARTM Media ERP platform combined with DAX's team and products will accelerate the realization of this vision".
"The biggest broadcast networks in the world run CLEAR Media ERP platform to manage their content supply chain," said Ramki. "Managing 200 TV shows every day and over 350,000 hours of content has made CLEAR a world leader in the Media Cloud solutions market. We would like to extend this leadership to Production by tapping into the creative process in a more holistic way, empowering studios to truly transform the entertainment paradigm. DAX takes us closer to this goal," Ramki added.
Prime Focus said that the global market for media asset management, workflow management, collaboration and media processing services is pegged at approximately $10 billion. With content enterprises like broadcast networks faced with flat top lines and rising operating costs, organizations are increasingly attentive to solutions like virtualization of content supply chain operations, and media process outsourcing to enhance overall profitability as well as top line by realizing new media monetization opportunities in the multi-screen world.
The transaction is subject to customary closing conditions and is expected to close in the coming weeks. PFT and DAX will be exhibiting together at the upcoming NAB Show 2014, and will showcase a number of CLEAR and DAX product releases, Prime Focus said.
Meanwhile, Prime Focus before market hours today, 11 March 2014 said that the Board of Directors of the company at its meeting held on 10 March 2014, has considered and noted terms and conditions set out in the Draft Asset Purchase Agreement; and related documents to be executed in connection with purchase of substantially all of the Assets of Sample Digital Holdings LLC, a California limited liability Company by Prime Focus Technologies (Indian subsidiary of the company) through its wholly owned subsidiary DAX PFT, LLC, a Delaware Limited Liability Company.
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 60.7225, compared with its close of 60.85/86 on Monday, 10 March 2014.
On the macro front, 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. The party will urge India to take immediate action for conducting a referendum among Northern and eastern province Tamils. 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 Indonesia, South Korea, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore and Japan were up 0.13% to 0.57%. China's Shanghai Composite fell 0.29%.
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.
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 5 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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