Key benchmark indices edged lower in choppy trade after provisional data showed that India's merchandise exports fell 3.67% year-on-year in February 2014. The barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was provisionally down 89.65 points or 0.41%, off close to 170 points from the day's high and up about 75 points from the day's low. The market breadth, indicating the overall health of the market was negative.
Indian stocks snapped 5-day winning streak today, 11 March 2014.
Metal stocks edged lower after data released by China recently showed China's exports slumped in February. Shares of state-run iron ore miner NMDC fell after the company unveiled its iron ore production and despatches data for the 11 months period ended February 2014.
The market edged higher in early trade on firm Asian stocks. The Sensex fell below the psychological 22,000 mark after regaining that level in early trade. Volatility ruled the roost as key benchmark indices regained positive terrain in morning trade. The Sensex regained the psychological 22,000 mark. The 50-unit CNX Nifty scaled a record high. High intraday volatility was witnessed as key benchmark indices once again slipped into the red in mid-morning trade. The Sensex fell below the psychological 22,000 mark. Key benchmark indices languished in the negative terrain in early afternoon trade. A bout of volatility was witnessed as key benchmark indices trimmed losses after hitting fresh intraday low in afternoon trade. Key benchmark indices languished in the negative terrain in mid-afternoon trade. The Sensex trimmed losses in late trade.
As per provisional figures, the S&P BSE Sensex was down 89.65 points or 0.41% to 21,845.18. The index lost 162.72 points at the day's low of 21,772.11 in late trade, its lowest level since 7 March 2014. The index jumped 83.69 points at the day's high of 22,018.52 in morning trade.
The CNX Nifty was down 17.15 points or 0.26% to 6,520.10, as per provisional figures. The index hit a low of 6,494.25 in intraday trade. The index hit a high of 6,562.85 in intraday trade, a record high.
The BSE Small-Cap index was up 1.41 points or 0.02% at 6,664.51. The BSE Mid-Cap index was off 15.83 points or 0.24% at 6,706.91. Both these indices outperformed the Sensex.
The total turnover on BSE amounted to Rs 2684 crore, lower than Rs 3008.67 crore on Monday, 10 March 2014.
The market breadth, indicating the overall health of the market was negative. On BSE, 1,549 shares dropped and 1,238 shares rose. A total of 177 shares were unchanged.
Maruti Suzuki India (down 2.67%), GAIL (India) (down 2.24%), and M&M (down 2.12%), edged lower from the Sensex pack.
Metal stocks edged lower after Monday's data showed China's exports slumped in February. China is the world's largest consumer of copper and aluminum. Sesa Sterlite (down 3.39%), JSW Steel (down 3.67%), Hindalco Industries (down 4.14%), Hindustan Zinc (down 3.35%), Bhushan Steel (down 0.21%), National Aluminum Company (down 0.86%), Sail (down 4.02%), and Jindal Steel & Power (down 2.77%) declined.
Tata Steel dropped 5.64%, with the stock extending Monday's losses. The company said after market hours on Monday, 10 March 2014, that since the announcement dated 10 April 2013 regarding amalgamation of Kalimati with the company under the Scheme of Amalgamation, the company has taken various steps to complete the amalgamation of Kalimati with the company. Currently, the Scheme of Amalgamation is pending for final hearing before the Bombay High Court.
Clause 15.C of the Scheme of Amalgamation reads that "In the event of this Scheme failing to take effect by 31 March 2014 or such later date as may be agreed by the respective boards of directors of the Transferor company and the Transferee company, this Scheme shall stand revoked, cancelled and be of no effect and become null and void, and in that event, no rights and liabilities shall accrue to or be incurred inter se between the parties or their shareholders or creditors or employees or any other person. In such case, each of the Transferor Company and the Transferee Company shall bear its own costs and expenses or as may be otherwise mutually agreed."
Pursuant to the aforesaid clause, the board of directors of the company and Kalimati have at their respective board meetings held on 10 March 2014, passed the resolutions extending the long-stop date of the Scheme by one year, i.e. from 31 March 2014 to 31 March 2015.
NMDC fell 2.57% after the company said its total iron ore production rose 2.90% to 26.42 million tonnes (provisional) for the 11-month period ended February 2014 over corresponding previous year period. The company's iron ore despatches rose 4% to 27.43 million tonnes (provisional) for the 11-month period ended February 2014 over corresponding previous year period.
NMDC said it rolled over the February 2014 prices of lump ore (lumps - Rs 4,500 per wet metric tonne) and fines (Rs 2,910 per wet metric tonne) to the month of March 2014. The announcement was made during trading hours today, 11 March 2014.
Pharma stocks dropped. Cadila Healthcare (down 0.44%), Dr. Reddy's Laboratories (down 0.47%) and Ranbaxy Laboratories (down 0.48%) declined.
Sun Pharmaceutical Industries fell 2.63% to Rs 580.35, with the stock extending its recent decline. Reports on Monday, 10 March 2014 indicated that the company has recalled thousands of bottles of generic diabetes medication after some bottles contained epilepsy medicine. The stock fell 2.64% to Rs 596 on Monday, 10 March 2014.
As per recent reports, Sun Pharmaceutical Industries' Detroit-based subsidiary Caraco Pharmaceutical Laboratories has recalled 2,528 bottles of Metformin HCL, a drug meant to treat Type 2 diabetes, after a customer complained of finding tablets of Gabapentin, an epilepsy drug, in a bottle. A notice of the recall, which began in late January, was posted on the US Food and Drug Administration website last week, the report added.
The US Food and Drug Administration (USFDA) classified the recall as a "Class II," which signifies a remote chance of severe adverse consequences or death due to the product flaw, reports added.
India's trade deficit narrowed to $8.13 billion in February 2014, from $14.12 billion in February 2013. Total imports declined 17.09% year-on-year at $33.81 billion in February 2014. Merchandise exports fell 3.67% year-on-year at $25.68 billion in February 2014. The trade deficit for the 11-month period April 2013 to February 2014 narrowed to $128.08 billion, from $179.92 billion during the period from April 2012 to February 2013. The government unveiled the trade data for February 2014 during trading hours today, 11 March 2014.
Industrial production is expected to remain in contraction mode in January 2014. Industrial production is seen contracting 0.5% in January 2014, as per the median estimate of a poll of economists carried out by Capital Market. Industrial output fell 0.6% in December 2013, after contracting a revised 1.3% in November 2013. The government will unveil industrial production data for January 2014 after market hours tomorrow, 12 March 2014.
Inflation based on the combined consumer price index (CPI) of urban and rural India is projected at 8.2% in February 2014, further easing from 8.79% in January 2014, as per the median estimate of a poll of economists carried out by Capital Market. The government will unveil data on inflation based on the combined consumer price index (CPI) for urban and rural India for February 2014 after market hours tomorrow, 12 March 2014.
Inflation based on the wholesale price index (WPI) is seen easing at 4.9% in February 2014, from 5.05% in January 2014, as per the median estimate of a poll of economists carried out by Capital Market. The data on inflation based on the wholesale price index (WPI) for February 2014 is due at 12:00 IST on Friday, 14 March 2014.
The Reserve Bank of India next undertakes monetary policy review 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 be 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.
With the election code of conduct coming into force, government authorities will not be able to announce any major policy initiatives. However, they can announce routine or unavoidable policy measures after taking the approval of the election commission.
The Dravida Munnettra Kazhagam (DMK) in its Lok Sabha election manifesto released in Chennai today, 11 March 2014, said that the party is opposed to foreign direction investment (FDI) in retail and education. The manifesto also talks about the Tamils in Sri Lanka. Abolition of death sentence, statehood to Puducherry, implementation of Sethusamudhram project and making Tamil the local official language are some of the other promises made by the DMK in its Lok Sabha election manifesto. The M Karunanidhi-led DMK has been opposed to the death sentence to the killers of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi. The DMK has also been backing the demand for the killers to be released from jail.
European stocks reversed initial gains on Tuesday, 11 March 2014, as investors weighed corporate earnings and watched developments in Ukraine. Key benchmark indices in France and UK were off 0.13% to 0.15%. Germany's DAX index was up 0.18%.
Data today showed German exports rose 2.2% in January 2014. That was the biggest month-on-month growth since May 2012. Imports jumped 4.1% in the period, also exceeding estimates.
European Union finance ministers resume talks today, 11 March 2014, as they search to break a deadlock on a bank-failure law for the euro area. Officials are searching for a compromise on the Single Resolution Mechanism and a common fund to cover the cost of saving or closing banks. European Central Bank President Mario Draghi last week said that failure to reach a deal before May's parliament elections would have severe consequences for the euro-area and its banking union.
Russia showed no signs of yielding in the Crimean standoff as Ukraine bolstered its defenses before its prime minister meets US President Barack Obama tomorrow, 12 March 2014. In addition to testing its military's combat readiness, Ukraine may mobilize 20,000 people to protect borders, Interior Minister Arsen Avakov said. Russia has vowed to defend the ethnic Russian majority in Crimea after an uprising unseated Ukraine's Moscow-backed leader. It rejects the legitimacy of the new cabinet in Kiev.
Asian stocks edged higher on Tuesday, 11 March 2014, after the Bank of Japan kept monetary policy unchanged. Key benchmark indices in China, Indonesia, South Korea, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore and Japan were up 0.02% to 0.69%.
The Bank of Japan (BoJ) maintained record easing, keeping ammunition as an April sales-tax bump threatens to trigger the deepest one-quarter contraction since the March 2011 earthquake. The BoJ kept a pledge to expand the monetary base at a pace of 60 trillion to 70 trillion yen ($677 billion) per year, the central bank said in a statement in Tokyo today, 11 March 2014, after a monetary policy review. The BoJ said that Japan's economy has continued to recover moderately and a front-loaded increase in demand prior to the consumption tax hike (scheduled in April) has recently been observed.
A report yesterday, 10 March 2014, showed aggregate financing in China dropped to 938.7 billion yuan ($153 billion) last month amid a crackdown on shadow lending, down from January's record 2.58 trillion yuan. Central Bank Governor Zhou Xiaochuan said today, 11 March 2014, that China's deposit rates will be liberalized in one to two years. Zhou commented at a press briefing in Beijing as part of sessions of the annual meeting of the National People's Congress. He also said that interest rates will initially rise as controls are removed.
Trading in US index futures indicated that the Dow could drop 10 points at the opening bell on Tuesday, 11 March 2014. US stocks slid on Monday, pulling the Standard & Poor's 500 Index down from a record, as a slowdown in Chinese exports fueled concern about global economic growth.
The Federal Reserve will continue to trim its monthly asset purchases at a $10 billion pace, Charles Evans, president of the Chicago Fed and among the most dovish US policymakers said on Monday as he also detailed how the US central bank might rewrite its plan for keeping interest rates low. "We're at a point now where we're, moving away from purchasing assets, we're tapering, and our balance sheet continues to be very large but we're not going to add to it as much," Evans told a gathering at Columbus State University. "The last two meetings we reduced the purchase flow rate by $10 billion and we're going to continue to do that," he said flatly.
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.
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