A divergent trend was witnessed on the bourses, with the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, trading slightly lower for the day and the 50-unit CNX Nifty trading a tad higher for the day. The Sensex was down 2.99 points or 0.01%, off close to 150 points from the day's high and up about 25 points from the day's low. The market breadth, indicating the overall health of the market, was positive. The BSE Mid-Cap index was up more than 1%.
Capital goods pivotals edged lower. Realty stocks edged higher as the Reserve Bank of India is widely expected to keep its main lending rate viz. the repo rate unchanged after a monetary policy review on 1 April 2014 as inflation has eased.
High volatility was witnessed at the onset of the trading session as key benchmark indices trimmed an initial rally triggered by firm Asian stocks. The barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, and the 50-unit CNX Nifty, both, hit record high. Volatility ruled the roost in morning trade as the key benchmark indices recovered from lower level after erasing almost entire gains after an initial surge. Volatility continued as the Sensex regained positive zone after reversing intraday gains in mid-morning trade. The Sensex slipped into negative zone from positive zone in early afternoon trade. The Sensex alternatively swung between positive and negative zone nearly the flat line in afternoon trade.
Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) bought shares worth a net Rs 2191.93 crore on Thursday, 27 March 2014, as per provisional data from the stock exchanges.
At 13:20 IST, the S&P BSE Sensex was down 2.99 points or 0.01% to 22,211.38. The index jumped 149.60 points at the day's high of 22,363.97 in early trade, a record high for the barometer index. The index fell 29.26 points at the day's low of 22,185.11 in early afternoon trade.
The CNX Nifty was up 10.60 points or 0.16% to 6,652.35. The index hit a high of 6,684.95 in intraday trade, a record high for the index. The index hit a low of 6,643.80 in intraday trade.
The market breadth, indicating the overall health of the market, was positive. On BSE, 1,469 shares gained and 1,097 shares fell. A total of 159 shares were unchanged.
The BSE Mid-Cap index was up 72.95 points or 1.06% at 6,982.62. The BSE Small-Cap index was up 54.59 points or 0.79% at 6,971.09. Both these indices outperformed the Sensex.
Among the 30-share Sensex pack, 20 stocks gained and rest of them declined.
HDFC (down 1.82%), Hindustan Unilever (down 1.28%) and HDFC Bank (down 1.16%) edged lower from the Sensex pack.
Capital goods stocks edged lower. Bharat Heavy Electricals (Bhel) declined 0.1%.
Engineering and construction major L&T dropped 1.34% to Rs 1,266.20 on profit booking. The stock had hit a 52-week high of Rs 1,295 in intraday trade on Thursday, 27 March 2014. Shares of L&T had rallied 5.49% in five trading sessions to settle at Rs 1283.35 on Thursday, 27 March 2014, from a recent low of Rs 1216.55 on 21 March 2014.
Realty stocks edged higher as the Reserve Bank of India is widely expected to keep its main lending rate viz. the repo rate unchanged after a monetary policy review on 1 April 2014 as inflation has eased. Purchases of both residential and commercial property are largely driven by finance. DLF (up 0.4%), D B Realty (up 3.04%), Sobha Developers (up 0.76%), Unitech (up 3.61%), Kolte Patil Developers (up 7.9%), Indiabulls Real Estate (up 6.6%), Brigade Enterprises (up 6.5%) and Anant Raj Industries (up 4.1%), edged higher.
Godrej Properties rose 3.34% after the company said it has entered into a partnership to develop a residential project at Old Mahabalipuram Road in Chennai. The company made the announcement after trading hours on Thursday, 27 March 2014.
Godrej Properties announced that it has entered into a partnership with SSPDL Green Acres LLP to develop a residential project at Padur, Old Mahabalipuram Road (OMR), near Siruseri IT Park, in Chennai.
The proposed project, spread over 7 acres, will offer approximately 93,000 square meters (1 million sq. ft.) of saleable area and will be developed as a modern group housing residential development comprising 1, 2 & 3 BHK apartments, the company said in a statement.
Like most Godrej Properties' projects, this project is being developed through the profit sharing model, it added.
The location offers excellent connectivity to all key areas in Chennai including the East Coast Road (ECR) and Grand Southern Trunk (GST) road. The project will also benefit from the rapidly developing social infrastructure and Information Technology zones surrounding it. Furthermore, proposed infrastructure developments like the expressway from Taramani and improved train connectivity are expected to provide impetus to the growing real estate environment of OMR, the company said.
Mr. Pirojsha Godrej, MD & CEO, Godrej Properties said, "We are happy to add our second project in Chennai. This new deal fits well with our strategy of adding quality residential projects across India's leading real estate markets."
Shares of most two wheeler makers gained. TVS Motor Company (up 0.37%) and Bajaj Auto (up 0.38%) gained.
Hero MotoCorp dropped 0.39% to Rs 2,235.75. The stock reversed direction after hitting a 52-week high of Rs 2,260 in intraday trade.
In the foreign exchange market, the rupee edged higher against the dollar after provisional data released by the stock exchanges after trading hours on Thursday, 27 March 2014, showed that foreign institutional investors (FIIs) made massive purchases of Indian stocks on that day. The partially convertible rupee was hovering at 60.105, compared with its close of 60.31/32 on Thursday, 27 March 2014.
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Thursday, 27 March 2014, relaxed some of the forex hedging rules for importers and exporters, to allow greater operational flexibility. Importers and exporters can cancel up to 75% of their hedged forex exposures, as against 25% earlier, the RBI said. In addition, the profit or loss from these cancellations will be borne by the importer/exporter instead of passing it on to the customers as was mandated earlier.
The Reserve Bank of India will announce the First Bi-monthly Monetary Policy Statement, 2014-15 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 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 stocks edged higher on Friday, 28 March 2014, as recent weaker economic data from China has raised expectations that China will take steps to stimulate its sagging economy. Key benchmark indices in Hong Kong, Singapore, Japan, Indonesia and South Korea were up 0.15% to 1.15%. In Taiwan, the Taiwan Weighted index was off 0.06%. China's Shanghai Composite index shed 0.24%.
Chinese Premier Li Keqiang said the country has policies in reserve to deal with any economic volatility this year and can't ignore "difficulties and risks" from a slowdown, according to a central-government website statement.
Japan's consumer price index stripped of perishables and energy rose 0.8% in February 2014, the most since 1998, a report showed. Household spending fell 2.5% in February from a year earlier, the first drop in six months.
Trading in US index futures indicated that the Dow could advance 17 points at the opening bell on Friday, 28 March 2014. US stock market extended losses for the second day and finished lower Thursday, amid concerns that improving economic indicators might force the Fed to start raising rates sooner than anticipated.
US government data showed that the economy's growth in the fourth quarter was bumped up to 2.6%, mainly because of higher health-care spending, while weekly unemployment benefits fell to the lowest level in four months, offering further evidence that US layoffs have slowed sharply and perhaps a hint that hiring is about to pick up.
Slumping for an eighth month, a guage of pending home sales fell 0.8% in February to the lowest level in more than two years, signaling that upcoming activity may slow, the National Association of Realtors reported.
Separately, the Labor Department said the number of individuals filing for initial jobless benefits in the US last week declined by 10,000 to a 311,000 from the previous week's revised total of 321,000.
Chicago Federal Reserve Bank President Charles Evans today, 28 March 2014, said in Hong Kong that he expected the benchmark US policy interest rate to remain near zero well into 2015, given low inflation and still-high unemployment. Evans said the current 1% inflation situation calls for extended policy accommodation. "While low interest rates could lead to financial exuberance in principle, monetary policy is not the best tool to mitigate this risk," he said at an investment conference organized by Credit Suisse. Instead, macroprudential tools available to policy makers are "better suited safeguards" to addressing financial risks directly. Evans said he thinks that the first rate hike will occur in the second half of 2015 and that, given the state of economy the appropriate monetary policy would be to hold off into early 2016 for the funds rate increase. He projected the federal funds rate to reach 1.25% by the end of 2016, a quarter-point higher than his previous prediction. He also noted the harsh weather earlier this year might take a bite out of US economy in the first quarter, with the GDP growth based on "some private-sector estimates" possibly dipping to as low as 1.5%. However, "in the second quarter, we'll pass that weather effect on GDP ... (as) business prospects are still good," he said. He expected about 3% growth for the remainder of this year.
Cleveland Fed president Sandra Pianalto on Thursday, 27 March 2014, said "no single data point will determine how long the Federal Reserve can keep short-term interest rates low." "We will be watching labor market conditions, indicators of inflation pressures and inflation expectations, and readings on financial developments. It is a complicated world out there," Pianalto said.
The Federal Reserve seems to be doing a better job communicating with markets now than it did last summer, according to William Dudley, president of the central bank's New York branch, on Thursday, 27 March 2014.
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 said after the conclusion of a monetary policy review that it will trim its monthly bond purchases by $10 billion to $55 billion. The Federal Reserve will end its bond-buying program before the end of the year with an interest-rate increase likely to follow in "around six months," Chair Janet Yellen said on 19 March 2014. Quarterly Fed forecasts on 19 March 2014 showed more officials predicting that the benchmark interest rate, now close to zero, will rise to at least 1% by the end of 2015 and 2.25% a year later.
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