Key benchmark indices edged higher in a choppy trading session. The barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was provisionally up 69.47 points or 0.34%, off close to 70 points from the day's high and up about 100 points from the day's low. Gains in Asian and European stocks and rally in US stocks overnight aided the upmove on the domestic bourses on the last trading session of the week. The market breadth, indicating the overall health of the market, was positive.
The Sensex edged higher for the fourth day in a row today, 7 February 2014.
Ambuja Cements rose after announcing its year ending December 2013 results. Steel stocks rose after ArcelorMittal, the world's biggest steelmaker, announced strong Q4 December 2013 results and said earnings will continue to climb in 2014. Index heavyweight and cigarette maker ITC edged lower. Index heavyweight Reliance Industries also declined. Tata Power Company rose in choppy trade after announcing Q3 result.
The market edged higher in early trade on firm Asian stocks. The 50-unit CNX Nifty hit one-week high. Firmness continued on the bourses in morning trade. Key benchmark indices trimmed initial gains in mid-morning trade. Key benchmark indices moved in a narrow range in positive zone in afternoon trade. Volatility ruled the roost as key benchmark indices regained positive zone soon after a sudden steep slide pushed them to negative zone from positive zone for a brief period in afternoon trade. The Sensex retained positive zone in mid-afternoon trade. The Sensex regained positive zone after slipping into the red for a brief period in late trade.
As per provisional figures, the S&P BSE Sensex was up 69.47 points or 0.34% to 20,380.21. The index jumped 139.77 points at the day's high of 20,450.51 in early trade, its highest level since 3 February 2014. The index fell 28.44 points at the day's low of 20,282.30 in late trade.
The CNX Nifty was up 28.10 points or 0.47% to 6,064.40, as per provisional figures. The index hit a high of 6,079.95 in intraday trade, its highest level since 31 January 2014. The index hit a low of 6,030.90 in intraday trade.
The BSE Mid-Cap index was up 38.65 points or 0.61% at 6,338.24. The BSE Mid-Cap index outperformed the Sensex.
The BSE Small-Cap index was up 19.75 points or 0.31% at 6,330.89. The BSE Small-Cap index underperformed the Sensex.
The total turnover on BSE amounted to Rs 1821 crore, lower than Rs 2026.57 crore on Thursday, 6 February 2014.
The market breadth, indicating the overall health of the market, was positive. On BSE, 1,371 shares rose and 1,194 shares fell. A total of 164 shares were unchanged.
AXIS Bank (up 2.19%), Bajaj Auto (up 2.14%) and Sun Pharmaceutical Industries (up 2.84%), edged higher from the Sensex pack.
Index heavyweight and cigarette maker ITC fell 0.34% to Rs 323.50. The stock hit high of Rs 326.65 and low of Rs 320.20.
Index heavyweight Reliance Industries was fell 0.47% to Rs 812.05. The stock hit high of Rs 824.60 and low of Rs 811.40.
Steel stocks rose after ArcelorMittal, the world's biggest steelmaker, announced strong Q4 December 2013 results and said earnings will continue to climb in 2014. Tata Steel (up 6.82%), Steel Authority of India (Sail) (up 2.26%), JSW Steel (up 3.05%) and Jindal Steel and Power (JSPL) (up 0.37%) gained.
ArcelorMittal said its earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) rose to $1.91 billion in Q4 December 2013, from $1.56 billion in Q4 December 2012. The result was announced today, 7 February 2014. The company said earnings will continue to climb in 2014, forecasting full-year EBITDA of about $8 billion.
Among metal stocks, Sesa Sterlite (up 3.68%), National Aluminum Company (up 0.15%) and Hindalco Industries (up 0.52%) gained.
Hindustan Copper (down 0.81%), and Hindustan Zinc (down 0.44%) declined.
Ambuja Cements rose 4.97% after announcing its year ended 31 December 2013 results. The company's consolidated net profit fell 1.13% to Rs 1278.57 crore on 5.52% fall in total income to Rs 9583.05 crore for the year ending 31 December 2013 (FY 2013) over FY 2012. The result was announced after market hours on Thursday, 6 February 2014.
The company said that the outlook continuous to remain challenging due to difficult macro-economic condition and resultant subdued cement demand. The company said it has been able to keep its production cost flat year-on-year and would continue to work on improving operational efficiencies, cost optimisation and continued focus on customer and commercial excellence.
Ambuja Cements said that the board of directors of the company at its meeting held on 6 February 2014, inter alia, has recommended a final dividend on shares at the rate of Rs 2.20 per share. With the interim dividend of Rs 1.40 per share paid during the year, the total dividend for the year 2013 works out to Rs 3.60 per share. The company in the previous year also had paid the same amount of dividend. The final dividend will be paid on and from 15 April 2014 subject to the approval of the shareholders at the Annual General Meeting.
Tata Power Company rose in choppy trade after announcing Q3 result. The stock was up 0.33% at Rs 75.50. The scrip hit high of Rs 76.65 and low of Rs 73.75. The company reported consolidated net loss of Rs 74.91 crore for Q3 December 2013, lower than net loss of Rs 328.92 crore in Q3 December 2012. Total income fell 4.91% to Rs 8605.93 crore in Q3 December 2013 over Q3 December 2012. The result was announced during market hours.
Reliance Infrastructure rose 2.16%. NTPC gained 1.5%. The Supreme Court reportedly ordered state-run power producer NTPC on Friday not to disconnect power supplies to distribution companies in the capital New Delhi until March 26, averting a potential blackout next week. NTPC had said BSES Yamuna Power, which sells electricity in the central and eastern parts of the city of about 16 million people, must pay its bills or be cut off from February 11. The court asked BSES, part of Reliance Infrastructure to pay Rs 50 crore to NTPC as part of its outstanding dues.
The government will announce the advance estimate of GDP for 2013-14 at around 17.30 IST today, 7 February 2014. The GDP grew 4.6% annually in the first half of the current fiscal year, down from 5.3% in the corresponding period a year ago. Growth slowed in almost all sectors, including services such as tourism, transport and telecoms.
Last week, the Statistics Ministry revised down GDP growth for the previous fiscal year to 4.5%, from an earlier estimate of 5%.
Finance Minister P Chidambaram will present the Vote-on-Account or interim budget on 17 February 2014. The objective of a Vote-on-Account is to get Parliament's nod for expenditure to be incurred in the months prior to elections. The next full-fledged budget will be presented by the new government which comes to power after the Lok Sabha polls in April-May 2014.
The Reserve Bank of India next undertakes monetary policy review on 1 April 2014. Sighting elevated consumer price inflation, 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.
European stocks edged higher in choppy trade on Friday, 7 February 2014, as Germany's top court set a date for its ruling on the euro zone's permanent rescue fund. Key benchmark indices in France and Germany were up 0.07% to 0.08%. UK's FTSE 100 was off 0.03%.
Germany's top court questioned the European Central Bank's bond-buying plan and asked the European Union's highest tribunal to rule on the legality of the program.
Germany's Federal Constitutional Court put the fate of the ECB initiative, credited with easing the euro debt crisis, partly in the hands of the European Court of Justice in Luxembourg. Judges at the German court expressed doubts about the legality of the measure in a six to two vote.
Subject to the interpretation by the Court of Justice of the European Union, the Federal Constitutional Court considers the OMT Decision incompatible with primary law, the court said in a statement, in reference to the ECB's Outright Monetary Transactions program. Another assessment could, however, be warranted if the OMT Decision could be interpreted in conformity with primary law.
The European Central Bank kept interest rates unchanged on Thursday as officials chose to set aside concerns that inflation may stay low for too long. The 24-member Governing Council, convening in Frankfurt Thursday, left the main refinancing rate at 0.25%. The ECB also held the deposit rate at zero and the marginal lending rate at 0.75%. ECB President Mario Draghi said at a news conference that medium- and long-term inflation expectations remain well-anchored, with no real deflation risk.
The Bank of England kept its benchmark rate at a record-low 0.5%, while its bond-purchase plan stayed unchanged at 375 billion pounds ($611 billion) on Thursday.
Asian stocks rose on Friday, 7 February 2014, as US jobless claims fell and investors weighed company earnings. Key benchmark indices in Indonesia, South Korea, Japan, Hong Kong, Singapore and Taiwan rose 0.77% to 2.17%.
China's Shanghai Composite Index rose 0.56%, reversing intraday losses as China's markets opened after Lunar New Year holidays. China's services sector grew at its slowest pace in almost 2-1/2 years in January after firms secured a smaller volume of new business, a private survey showed, adding to growing signs of slackening in the Chinese economy. The HSBC/Markit Services Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) retreated to 50.7 in January, a low last seen in August 2011 though still above the 50-point level that demarcates growth and contraction. December's PMI was 50.9.
Trading in US index futures indicated that the Dow could advance 32 points at the opening bell on Friday, 7 February 2014. US stocks surged on Thursday, 6 February 2014, as investors welcomed a larger-than-expected drop in weekly jobless claims and upbeat earnings from companies including Walt Disney Co.
Initial jobless claims dropped for the first time in three weeks, falling 20,000 to 331,000 in the period ended Feb. 1, according to the Labor Department.
The influential monthly US jobs data for January 2014 will be released today, 7 February 2014.
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. The Fed also signaled that it is likely to keep reducing bond purchases in the coming months, citing a pickup in US economic activity and improvement in the US labor market.
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