Key benchmark indices moved in a narrow range in positive zone in early afternoon trade. The barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was up 25.14 points or 0.11%, off 63.06 points from the day's high and up 35.46 points from the day's low. The market breadth, indicating the overall health of the market, was positive.
Shares of upstream and downstream oil and gas companies gained on renewed buying with BPCL hitting record high and HPCL hitting 52-week high. Coal India edged higher in volatile trade. Metal and mining stocks were mostly lower.
Key benchmark indices edged higher amid initial volatility. The barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, and the 50-unit CNX Nifty, both, hit record high. Key benchmark indices extended initial gains and hit fresh intraday high in morning trade. Key benchmark indices trimmed intraday gains in mid-morning trade. Key benchmark indices moved in a narrow range in positive zone in early afternoon trade
Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) bought shares worth a net Rs 212.85 crore on Monday, 21 April 2014, as per provisional data from the stock exchanges.
Indian stocks may remain volatile in the near future as traders roll over positions in the futures & options (F&O) segment from the near month April 2014 series to May 2014 series. The April 2014 F&O contracts expire tomorrow, 23 April 2014. The stock market remains closed on Thursday, 24 April 2014, on account of Parliamentary elections in Mumbai constituency.
At 12:15 IST, the S&P BSE Sensex was up 25.14 points or 0.11% to 22,789.97. The index gained 88.20 points at the day's high of 22,853.03 in morning trade, a lifetime high for the barometer index. The index fell 10.32 points at the day's low of 22,754.51 in early trade.
The CNX Nifty was up 3.80 points or 0.06% to 6,821.45. The index hit a high of 6,838 in intraday trade, a lifetime high for the index. The index hit a low of 6,813 in intraday trade.
The market breadth, indicating the overall health of the market, was positive. On BSE, 1,329 shares gained and 1,108 shares fell. A total of 123 shares were unchanged.
The BSE Mid-Cap index was up 23.02 points or 0.31% at 7,420.43. The BSE Small-Cap index was up 37.43 points or 0.49% at 7,665.40. Both these indices outperformed the Sensex.
The total turnover on BSE amounted to Rs 1224 crore by 12:15 IST, compared with Rs 926 crore by 11:15 IST.
Shares of upstream and downstream oil and gas companies gained on renewed buying. Among state-run upstream oil firms, Oil India (up 2.31%), ONGC (up 1.41%) and GAIL (India) (up 2.18%) edged higher.
Index heavyweight Reliance Industries (RIL) gained 1.31% to Rs 972. The stock hit a 52-week high of Rs 988.90 in intraday trade. The stock hit a low of Rs 956.90 so far during the day. RIL on 18 April 2014 said its net profit rose 0.8% to Rs 5631 crore on 12.9% growth in turnover to Rs 97807 crore in Q4 March 2014 over Q4 March 2013. RIL's non-operational income dropped 9.22% to Rs 2036 crore in Q4 March 2014 over Q4 March 2013.
RIL's net profit rose 2.2% to Rs 5631 crore on 8.1% decline in turnover to Rs 97807 crore in Q4 March 2014 over Q3 December 2013. RIL's non-operational income dropped 11.67% to Rs 2036 crore in Q4 March 2014 over Q3 December 2013.
RIL's gross refining margin (GRM) dropped to $9.3 a barrel in Q4 March 2014, from $10.1 a barrel in Q4 March 2013. The GRM, however, rose on sequential basis from $7.6 a barrel in Q3 December 2013.
Cairn India was off 0.14% at Rs 363.05.
PSU OMCs gained on renewed buying. Indian Oil Corporation rose 3.7%.
BPCL gained 3.85% to Rs 481.60 after hitting a record high of Rs 486.80 in intraday trade.
HPCL advanced 3.18% to Rs 328.85 after hitting a 52-week high of Rs 333.35 in intraday trade.
Gujarat Gas Company dropped 5.83% after the company said its board has approved consolidation of its entities. The company made the announcement after market hours on 21 April 2014.
Gujarat Gas Company announced that its board approved the amalgamation and arrangement between the company, Gujarat Gas Financial Services (GFSL), Gujarat Gas Trading Company (GTCL), GSPC Gas Company (GSPC Gas) and GSPC Distribution Networks (GDNI).
As per the scheme, the company, GFSL, GTCL, and GSPC Gas would be amalgamated with GDNL. All assets and liabilities of the company, GFSL, GTCL and GSPC Gas would be transferred to GDNL. The appointed date of the scheme would be 1 April 2013.
In consideration of the amalgamation, GDNL will allot 1 equity share for every 1 equity share of GGCL. Similarly, it will allot 1 equity share for every 1 equity share of GFSL.
GDNL will allot 81 equity shares for every 76 equity shares of GSPC Gas. GSPC Gas holds 44.45% of the total issued, subscribed and paid-up share capital of GDNL, which shall get extinguished.
The company holds 69.88% and 100% of the total issued, subscribed and paid-up share capital of GFSL and GTCL respectively. Since the company, GFSL and GTCL are the transferor companies, the shares held by the company in GFSL and GTCL shall get extinguished. Accordingly, no new shares of GDNL shall be issued in lieu of such shares getting extinguished, the company said.
Currently, GSPC Gas, GSPL and GSFC holds 44.45%, 38.89% and 16.66% paid up capital of GDNL respectively. Further, the existing Issued, Subscribed and Paid up Capital of GDNL will be reduced.
The scheme will be filed with the stock exchanges where the shares of the company are listed as per Sebi circular dated 4 February 2013 and 21 May 2013 for receiving their comments to the scheme. The scheme is subject to other necessary statutory approvals, including sanction of the High Court of Gujarat.
Coal India was up 1.42% at Rs 300.45. The stock was volatile. The stock hit a high of Rs 300.70 and low of Rs 295.20 so far during the day.
Metal and mining stocks were mostly lower. Tata Steel (down 0.91%), Sesa Sterlite (down 3.15%), Steel Authority of India (Sail) (down 0.83%), Hindustan Zinc (down 0.83%), Jindal Steel & Power (down 1.44%), Hindalco Industries (down 1.85%) edged lower.
Hindustan Copper (up 1.29%), National Aluminium Company (up 0.62%), JSW Steel (up 0.48%), NMDC (up 0.23%) gained.
United Spirits shed 0.07%. United Spirits during market hours today, 22 April 2014, said that the lock-out has been lifted and operations resumed at the company's bottling unit of Palakkad in Kerala with effect from Monday, 21 April 2014. It may be recalled that United Spirits had declared lock out at the unit on 12 November 2013.
Sterlite Technologies rose 1.93% after the company announced a milestone technology development in telecommunication space. The announcement was made after market hours on Monday, 21 April 2014.
Sterlite Technologies said that as an extension of Sterlite's continuous endeavor to bridge the gap between bandwidth demands and transmission capacity in the country, Sterlite's Center of Excellence at Aurangabad, India has successfully established and tested multi-area bit transmission over long haul network.
While explaining the importance of this technology breakthrough, Dr. Badri Gomatam, CTO at Sterlite Technologies says, "In emerging economies, there is a need to plan infrastructure for accommodating faster transmission of huge volumes of data. Our Center of Excellence focuses on end-to-end development of this capacity improving the quality of the perform, developing next generation optical fibres, specialized cabling solution and enhancing network integration capability together contribute to a future proof infrastructure".
Pravin Agarwal, Director, Sterlite Technologies said, "This is a proud moment for us as it establishes India among a few countries globally who possess such an advanced data transmission network capacity. Sterlite is committed to building a high speed last mile broadband infrastructure capability in India to reach from urban to semi urban to the most remote rural areas".
HEG rose 1.01% after the company's net profit rose 32.6% to Rs 46.57 crore on 12.7% increase in net sales to Rs 499.49 crore in Q4 March 2014 over Q4 March 2013. The company made the announcement after market hours on Monday, 21 April 2014.
HEG's net profit fell 18.1% to Rs 86.62 crore on 9.8% decline in net sales to Rs 1458.91 crore in the year ended March 2014 over the year ended March 2013.
In the foreign exchange market, the rupee edged lower against the dollar on speculation importers stepped up dollar purchases to meet month-end payments. The partially convertible rupee was hovering at 60.7050, compared with its close of 60.59/60 on Monday, 21 April 2014.
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) next undertakes monetary policy review on 3 June 2014. The RBI left its main lending rate viz. the repo rate unchanged at 8% after a monetary policy review on 1 April 2014, as consumer-price inflation eased to a two-year low and as the rupee firmed up against the dollar.
A major near term trigger for the stock market is the outcome of the upcoming Lok Sabha elections. The 36 days long voting process began on 7 April 2014 and will conclude on 12 May 2014. The results will be declared on 16 May 2014 after which India will get a new government. The term of the current Lok Sabha expires on 1 June and the new House has to be constituted by 31 May.
Extended weakness in Chinese shares, driven by worries over liquidity and earnings, put a brake on other Asian stock markets on Tuesday, 22 April 2014, despite Wall Street stocks rallying into a fifth session overnight. Key benchmark indices in Indonesia, Japan, China and Hong Kong were off 0.34% to 0.85%. Key benchmark indices in Taiwan, Singapore, and South Korea were up 0.25% to 0.54%.
A provisional reading of HSBC Holdings Plc and Markit Economics Ltd.'s China manufacturing purchasing managers' index is due tomorrow, 23 April 2014.
Trading in US index futures indicated that the Dow could drop 21 points at the opening bell on Tuesday, 22 April 2014. US stocks closed modestly higher on Monday, 21 April 2014, helping the S&P 500 to extend its winning streak to the longest in six months. Estimate-beating results from a number of companies on Monday boosted sentiment amid thin volumes on Wall Street.
In economic news, the Chicago Fed National Activity Index decreased slightly in March. However, the Conference Board's leading economic index rose in March and February, signaling that growth could accelerate in coming months.
The Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) next undertakes monetary policy review at a two-day meeting on 29-30 April 2014. The Federal Reserve on 19 March 2014 decided after the conclusion of a monetary policy review to trim its monthly bond purchases by $10 billion to $55 billion.
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