Key benchmark indices weakened once again after paring intraday losses in mid-afternoon trade as weakness in European stocks hit investor sentiment adversely. The barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was down 108.38 points or 0.56%, up close to 20 points from the day's low and off about 90 points from the day's high. The market breadth, indicating the overall health of the market, was negative. Index heavyweight and cigarette major ITC hovered in red. Another index heavyweight Reliance Industries (RIL) extended intraday losses.
Cement stocks edged lower. Tata Motors gained after company said its subsidiary, Tata Technologies, has signed definitive agreements for the acquisition of US-based Cambric Corporation. Maruti Suzuki India surged after the car major reported strong Q4 March results. LIC Housing Finance jumped on strong Q4 results. Castrol India gained after the company's board proposed reduction of capital.
The market edged lower in early trade. The Sensex hovered in negative terrain in morning trade. The market trimmed losses after hitting fresh intraday low in mid-morning trade. The Sensex continued to hover in negative terrain in early afternoon trade. Key benchmark indices hovered in red in afternoon trade. The Sensex weakened once again after paring intraday losses in mid-afternoon trade.
Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) bought shares worth a net Rs 1449.70 crore on Thursday, 25 April 2013, as per provisional data from the stock exchanges.
At 14:20 IST, the S&P BSE Sensex was down 108.38 points or 0.56% to 19,298.47. The index declined 126.89 points at the day's low of 19,279.96 in afternoon trade. The index fell 21.90 points at the day's high of 19,384.95 in early trade.
The CNX Nifty was down 41.40 points or 0.7% to 5,874.90. The index hit a high of 5,907.05 in intraday trade. The index hit a low of 5,868.25 in intraday trade.
The market breadth, indicating the overall health of the market, was negative. On BSE, 1,240 shares declined and 942 shares rose. A total of 137 shares were unchanged.
Among the 30-share Sensex pack, 19 stocks declined while rest of them rose.
Index heavyweight Reliance Industries (RIL) fell 2.74% to Rs 796.85. The scrip hit high of Rs 824.85 and a low of Rs 795.60 so far during the day. The company's telecom arm -- Reliance Jio Infocomm -- and Bharti Airtel on Tuesday, 23 April 2013, signed an agreement for international data connectivity under which Bharti will provide Reliance Jio data capacity on its i2i submarine cable. i2i connects India to Singapore and is wholly owned by Bharti. Reliance Jio will utilize a dedicated fiber pair on i2i. The high speed link will enable Reliance Jio to extend its network and service reach to customers across Asia Pacific region.
Earlier, at the time of announcement of its Q4 results, RIL in mid-April 2013 said that the company is working towards next wave of projects to exploit the undeveloped discovered resources in KG-D6 gas field targeted over the net 3-5 years. RIL has submitted an Integrated Block Development Plan (IBDP) for four discoveries in NEC -25 block (D-32, D-40, D-9 and D-10) proposing for a phased manner development. First gas is expected by mid-2019 subject to timely approvals.
Shares of Bharti Airtel surged 4.74%, with the stock advancing for the second straight day.
Maruti Suzuki India surged 5.32% to Rs 1,674.35 after the company reported strong Q4 results. The company said its net profit, excluding the effect of the merger of Suzuki Powertrain India (SPIL), jumped 79.8% to Rs 1147.50 crore on 9.4% rise in net sales to Rs 12566.60 crore in Q4 March 2013 over Q4 March 2012. Suzuki Powertrain India was merged with the company during the year ended 31 March 2013 (FY 2013) and the effect of the merger was given in the books of accounts in Q4 March 2013. Maruti announced the results during market hours today, 26 April 2013.
Maruti said that the increase in net profit during the quarter was on account of higher sales of new models such as Ertiga, DZire and Swift, cost reduction and localization efforts and the benefit of a favourable exchange rate.
Tata Motors gained 1.53%. Tata Motors' subsidiary Tata Technologies which is a leading global provider of engineering services and manufacturing enterprise IT, today, 26 April 2013, announced that it has signed definitive agreements for the acquisition of US-based Cambric Corporation, a premier engineering services company providing turnkey engineering services to its customers. The Partnership will strengthen Tata Technologies' global footprint and domain capabilities to provide high-end engineering services to a diverse set of existing and new clients, especially In Europe. It will also provide Cambric access to the Asia Pacific region.
Cambric is a US headquartered global engineering services company with a significant footprint in Eastern Europe. The company has three development centres in Romania and its customers include some of the world's marquee heavy machinery, agricultural, off-highway and automotive companies. Cambric provides system level engineering and design capabilities in engine, powertrain, chassis/structures, body, electrical and hydraulic systems to its global customers. Cambric is a privately held company with private equity investors holding majority stake in the company. Cambric had revenues of $25 million as of 31 December 2012 with majority of revenues coming from the construction and heavy equipment sector.
Index heavyweight and cigarette major ITC declined 0.83% to Rs 317.50 on profit booking. The scrip hit high of Rs 319.75 and a low of Rs 316.75 in intraday trade today, 26 April 2013. The stock had hit record high of Rs 323.85 in intraday trade on Thursday, 25 April 2013. West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday, 24 April 2013, announced a 10% hike in the value-added tax (VAT) on cigarettes to 25% from 15% to raise money for a relief fund for those depositors who have lost money in the Saradha chit fund scam.
Earlier, the Centre raised the excise duty on cigarettes by about 18% on all cigarettes except cigarettes of length not exceeding 65 mm in Union Budget 2013-14, which was unveiled on 28 February 2013.
LIC Housing Finance surged 4.28% on strong Q4 results. The company's net profit rose 24.66% to Rs 316.15 crore on 22.83% growth in total income to Rs 2074.74 crore in Q4 March 2013 over Q4 March 2012.
Cement stocks edged lower. ACC, Ambuja Cement and UltraTech Cement shed by 0.08% to 2.11%.
Castrol India rose 4.13%. Castrol India's board of directors at a meeting held today, 26 April 2013, proposed a scheme of reduction of the company's share capital u/s 100 of the Companies Act, 1956 i.e. to reduce the face value of the company's equity shares from Rs 10 per share to Rs 5 per share and return the same to the shareholders.
Castrol India's net profit rose 1.13% to Rs 124.30 crore on 1.14% decline in total income to Rs 805.90 crore in Q1 March 2013 over Q1 March 2012.
The focus of the market is on Q4 results. IDFC announces Q4 results on 1 May 2013. Bharti Airtel and Kotak Mahindra Bank unveil Q4 results on 2 May 2013. ACC and Ambuja Cements announce Q1 March 2013 results on 3 May 2013. Grasim and Jaiprakash Associates unveil Q4 results on 4 May 2013. HDFC unveils Q4 results on 8 May 2013. Ranbaxy announces Q1 March 2013 results on the same day. Asian Paints announces Q4 results on 9 May 2013. NTPC announces Q4 results on 10 May 2013. Dr Reddys Laboratories announces Q4 results on 14 May 2013. Bajaj Auto announces Q4 results on 16 May 2013. BPCL announces Q4 results on 29 May 2013. M&M announces Q4 results on 30 May 2013
The Prime Minister's Economic Advisory Council (PMEAC) in a report released on 23 April 2013 projected 6.4% growth in India's GDP for the current fiscal year 2013/14, higher than an estimated 5% growth for the fiscal year 2012/13. In 2013-14, the headline WPI inflation is expected to be around 6%, compared with provisional figure at 5.96% at the end of 2012-13, the PMEAC said. The net FDI inflow is expected at $24 billion in 2013-14 from an estimated $18 billion in 2012-13. In contrast, FII inflows are seen sliding to $18 billion in 2013-14 from an estimated $24 billion in 2012-13, the PMEAC said.
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) will announce the Monetary Policy Statement 2013-14 on 3 May 2013. The RBI cut its key policy rate viz. the repo rate by 25 basis points to 7.5% after a mid-quarter monetary policy review on 19 March 2013. Inflation based on the monthly wholesale price index (WPI) eased the lowest level in 40 months at 5.96% in March 2013, and sharply lower than 6.84% in February 2013, data released by the government on 15 April 2013 showed. Non-food manufacturing inflation or core inflation slowed further to 3.41% in March 2013, the data showed.
The finance ministry in October 2012 announced a five-year plan to cut fiscal deficit. The government hopes to reduce the fiscal deficit to 3% by March 2017.
The government has lined up a number of key bills for consideration and passing during the ongoing Budget session of the parliament, which include The Forward Contracts (Regulation) Amendment Bill, 2010, The Pension Fund Regulator and Development Authority Bill, 2011, The Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Bill, 2011, The National Food Security Bill, 2011 and The Insurance Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2008. The Budget Session of the Parliament ends on 10 May 2013.
European stock markets edged lower on Friday with investors staying cautious ahead of a closely watched report on US economic growth in the first quarter. Key benchmark indices in UK, France and Germany were down by 0.24% to 1.01%.
The European Central Bank's (ECB) Governing Council meets in Bratislava on 2 May 2013 to review euro area interest rates. The ECB is seen cutting euro area interest rates by 25 basis points to a record low of 0.5% amid the euro zone's worsening economic outlook and subdued inflation.
Asian stocks were mixed on Friday. Key benchmark indices in Hong Kong, Indonesia and Singapore rose by 0.01% to 0.67%. Key benchmark indices in China, Japan and South Korea fell by 0.3% to 0.97%. Taiwan's Taiwan Weighted was flat.
The Bank of Japan held off on any new policy moves after a monetary policy meeting today, 26 April 2013, in the wake of major new easing initiatives at its previous meeting. In an unusually terse, two-sentence statement, the Japanese central bank only said that it "will conduct money-market operations so that the monetary base will increase at an annual pace of about 60 [trillion]-70 trillion yen," or roughly $610 billion to $710 billion, unchanged from its previous target.
Trading in US index futures indicated that the Dow could fall 16 points at the opening bell on Friday, 26 April 2013. US stocks edged higher on Thursday, buoyed by corporate-earnings reports and data showing a sharp drop in weekly jobless claims.
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