Key benchmark indices declined in early trade. The market breadth indicating the overall health of the market was positive. The barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was currently down 92.81 points or 0.33% at 27,793.40.
Foreign portfolio investors sold shares worth a net Rs 1506.86 crore yesterday, 20 April 2015, as per provisional data. Domestic institutional investors (DIIs) bought shares worth a net Rs 962.50 crore on yesterday, 20 April 2015, as per provisional data released by the stock exchanges.
In overseas markets, Asian stocks were firm today as China's latest step to prop up its faltering economy lifted global equities. US stocks rallied yesterday, 20 April 2015, posting their biggest advance in three weeks, as better-than-expected earnings from companies helped deliver a dollop of confidence to global-equity markets after a rout in stocks on Friday, 17 April 2015.
At 9:18 IST, the S&P BSE Sensex was down 92.81 points or 0.33% at 27,793.40. The index fell 21.45 points at the day's high of 27,864.76 at the onset of trading session. The index fell 103.90 points at the day's low of 27782.31 at the onset of trading session.
The CNX Nifty was down 40.10 points or 0.47% at 8,408. The index hit a high of 8,426.85 in intraday trade. The index hit a low of 8,406 in intraday trade.
The BSE Mid-Cap index was down 23.48 points or 0.22% at 10,530.48. The BSE Small-Cap index was down 27.49 points or 0.24% at 11,342.10. The decline in both these indices was lower than the Sensex's decline in percentage terms.
The market breadth indicating the overall health of the market was positive. On BSE, 551 shares rose and 532 shares fell. A total of 44 shares were unchanged.
Hindustan Zinc fell 0.99%. Net profit of Hindustan Zinc rose 6.18% to Rs 1997.44 crore on 13.50% rise in net sales to Rs 4073.11 crore in Q4 March 2015 over Q4 March 2014. Net profit rose 18.44% to Rs 8178.00 crore on 8.39% rise in net sales to Rs 14588.71 crore in the year ended March 2015 over the year ended March 2014. The result was announced after market hours yesterday, 20 April 2015.
ONGC rose 0.34%. The Minister of State for Petroleum & Natural Gas, Dharmendra Pradhan informed the Lok Sabha in a written reply yesterday, 20 April 2015, that ONGC and Pan-IIT signed a Memorandum of Collaboration (MoC) on 19 January 2015 at New Delhi to work towards a collective R&D Programme for developing indigenous technologies to enhance exploration and exploitation of hydrocarbons and alternate sources of energy. Pan IIT is a consortium of seven premier Indian Institutes of Technology, namely, IIT-Kharagpur, IIT- Kanpur, IIT-Madras, IIT-Mumbai, IIT-Delhi, IIT-Guwahati and IIT-Roorkee. This is a long-term initiative for sustained research, development and capacity building.
Under the MoC, ONGC's R&D Institutes and the IITs shall jointly undertake advanced research and development projects for the Exploration and Production (E&P) sector of the country in general and oilfield specific activities of ONGC in particular. The MoC also envisages promoting internships, visiting and adjunct faculty programmes, research oriented career programmes through an ONGC Scholar Programme. Within the ambit of this collaboration, ONGC will make its laboratories available to the students and research scholars of IITs. Also, ONGC geoscientists and engineers will have the opportunity of working with IITs.
Meanwhile, ONGC said after market hours yesterday, 20 April 2015, that it mobilised its crisis management team and all resources at its command to control the fire, which broke out on 18 April 2015 at around 00.30 IST in an onshore well in Olpad area 80 km away from Ankleshwar, during repair and maintenance job. The company called the globally renowned oil and gas blow out control experts Boots & Coots from US to contain the crisis at will Olpad-31.
Adani Power fell 0.11%. Adani Power (APL) announced before market hours the completion of the acquisition of 100% of the shares of Udupi Power Corporation (UPCL) from Hyderabad based - Lanco Infratech. Deal valued at Rs 6300 crore Udupi Power Corporation (UPCL) is a 1200 megawatts (MW) power plant based on imported coal and includes a captive jetty for coal imports. This is the largest acquisition in the thermal power space in recent times. The transaction was announced earlier last year in August 2014. UPCL has long term power sale agreements with the Discoms of the states of Karnataka and Punjab. APL is India's largest private sector power generation company with installed capacity of 9240 MW. With acquisition of the UPCL, the capacity of APL increases to 10,440 MW.
Havells India rose 1.08%. Havells India said after market hours yesterday, 20 April 2015, that its board unanimously approved the proposal to acquire 51% stake in Promptec Renewable Energy Solutions, a Bangalore-based company engaged in marketing and manufacturing of LED products including street lighting, office lighting and solar lighting.
Asian stocks were firm today as China's latest step to prop up its faltering economy lifted global equities. Key benchmark indices in China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, Singapore and South Korea were up by 0.03% to 2.15%. Taiwan's Taiwan Weighted index was down 0.30%.
The People's Bank of China (PBOC) on Sunday, 19 April 2015, announced reduction in reserve requirement ratio (RRR) for all banks by 100 basis points to 18.5% to be effective from 20 April 2015. Meanwhile, China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) on Saturday, 18 April 2015, stressed that there was no desire to suppress the hot stock market after unveiling a raft of measures on Friday, 17 April 2015, to curb margin trading. Meanwhile, the Shanghai and Shenzhen stock exchanges on Friday, 17 April 2015, issued rules that would make it easier for investors to short, or bet against, stocks. To short a stock, an investor borrows shares and sells them, hoping the price will fall and so allow them to repay with cheaper shares. It has been difficult to short stocks in China even as valuations soared because it has been virtually impossible to borrow shares.
US stocks rallied yesterday, 20 April 2015, posting their biggest advance in three weeks, as better-than-expected earnings from companies helped deliver a dollop of confidence to global-equity markets after a rout in stocks on Friday, 17 April 2015.
Meanwhile, global markets are closely monitoring developments with regard to Greece. Eurozone finance ministers are scheduled to hold a meeting on Friday, 24 April 2015, to discuss the state of negotiations between Greece and its international creditors. The country's Syriza-led government has been locked in negotiations with its international creditors since coming to power in late January, with progress slow. Greece needs to strike a deal within the next few months to secure billions of euros in bailout aid to avoid defaulting on its debts and potentially exiting the euro.
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