Domestic stocks corrected sharply after Brent crude oil on Thursday rose above $75 per barrel for the first time in 2019. Higher crude oil prices could increase fiscal deficit, current account deficit and stoke fuel price inflation. The Sensex dropped below the psychological 39,000 level. The Nifty settled below 11,700 mark. Negative global stocks also impacted sentiment.
Trading was highly volatile as traders rolled over positions in the F&O segment from the near month April 2019 series to May 2019 series. The April 2019 F&O contracts expired today, 25 April 2019.
The Sensex fell 323.82 points or 0.83% to settle at 38,730.86. The index rose 207.54 points, or 0.53% at the day's high of 39,262.22. The index fell 390.70 points, or 1% at the day's low of 38,663.98.
The Nifty 50 index fell 84.35 points or 0.72% to settle at 11,641.80. The index rose 70.60 points, or 0.60% at the day's high of 11,796.75. The index fell 101.85 points, or 0.87% at the day's low of 11,624.30.
Key indices nudged higher in early trade on buying demand in index pivotals. Stocks hovered in positive zone after an initial upmove. The market extended gains in mid-morning trade. Indices pared gains in afternoon trade. A divergent trend was witnessed in mid-afternoon trade as the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was trading with small losses while the Nifty 50 index was trading with small gains. Steep selling pressure dragged key indices in late trade.
The S&P BSE Mid-Cap index fell 0.58%. The S&P BSE Small-Cap index fell 0.05%.
The market breadth, indicating the overall health of the market, was negative. On the BSE, 1104 shares rose and 1399 shares fell. A total of 155 shares were unchanged.
Among the sectoral indices on BSE, the S&P BSE Telecom index (down 2.26%), the S&P BSE Metal index (down 1.91%) and the S&P BSE Bankex (down 1.02%), underperformed the Sensex. The S&P BSE Basic Materials index (up 0.34%), the S&P BSE Oil & Gas index (up 0.11%) and the S&P BSE Realty index (up 0.10%), outperformed the Sensex.
Tata Motors (down 1.34%), Sun Pharmaceutical Industries (down 1.31%), Hindustan Unilever (down 1.23%), IndusInd Bank (down 1.19%) and Reliance Industries (down 1.11%), were the major Sensex losers.
Bharti Airtel (up 1.06%), TCS (up 0.54%) and Bajaj Auto (up 0.41%), were the major Sensex gainers.
Metal shares tumbled. Jindal Steel & Power (down 3.05%), Vedanta (down 2.26%), JSW Steel (down 2.09%), NMDC (down 2%), Hindalco Industries (down 1.94%), Hindustan Copper (down 1.64%), Hindustan Zinc (down 0.49%) and National Aluminium Company (down 0.09%), edged lower. Steel Authority of India rose 0.09%.
Tata Steel lost 2.74% ahead of its January-March 2019 quarterly earnings today, 25 April 2019.
Vodafone Idea fell 2.03% to Rs 16.85. The company announced during trading hours that its rights issue closed for subscription yesterday, 24 April 2019. There are some incorrect media reports which mention that the rights issue is undersubscribed based only on ASBA application data available on the stock exchanges and ignoring the non-ASBA applications. The company clarified that based on preliminary information received the total applications from ASBA and non-ASBA have exceeded the total issue amount of Rs 25,000 crore. The data pertaining to the applications is preliminary and is subject to verification and clearing of cheques, as applicable and finalization of the basis of allotment.
Maruti Suzuki India fell 1.73% after net profit fell 4.6% to Rs 1795.60 crore on 0.7% increase in net sales to Rs 20737.50 crore in Q4 March 2019 over Q4 March 2018. This quarter was marked by adverse foreign exchange rates and commodity prices, higher depreciation and higher sales promotion expenses partially offset by cost reduction efforts, the company said. The result was announced during trading hours today, 25 April 2019.
In a separate statement issued during trading hours today, 25 April 2019, Maruti Suzuki India announced that the ex-showroom price of Baleno RS Petrol variant and Diesel variants will be hiked with immediate effect.
Axis Bank fell 1.08% ahead of its January-March 2019 quarterly earnings today, 25 April 2019.
State Bank of India (SBI) fell 1.37%. SBI announced that the executive committee of the central board in its meeting held on 24th April 2019 has approved long term fund raising in single/multiple tranches upto $2.5 billion, through a public offer and/or private placement of senior unsecured notes in US Dollar or any other convertible currency during FY 2019-2020. The announcement was made after market hours yesterday, 24 April 2019.
Bharti Infratel lost 10.33%. The company's consolidated net profit rose 0.26% to Rs 607.60 crore on 0.18% increase in net sales to Rs 1,675.80 crore in Q4 March 2019 over Q4 March 2018. The result was announced after market hours yesterday, 24 April 2019.
Consolidated EBITDA fell 4% to Rs 1,534 crore in Q4 March 2019 over Q4 March 2018. The company's tower base increased by 826 year-on-year but fell by 24 sequentially to 92,277 in Q4 March 2019.
In the foreign exchange market, the rupee edged lower against the dollar. The partially convertible rupee was hovering at 70.2375, compared with its close of 69.8675 during the previous trading session.
In the global commodities markets, Brent for June 2019 settlement was up 99 cents at $75.56 a barrel amid a halt of Russian oil exports to Poland and Germany via a pipeline due to quality concerns. Moreover, the United States this week said it would end all exemptions for sanctions against Iran, demanding countries halt oil imports from Tehran from May or face punitive action from Washington. The contract rose 6 cents, or 0.08% to settle at $74.57 a barrel during the previous trading session.
Overseas, shares in Europe and Asia declined Thursday, after data showing a surprise deterioration in German business morale stoked fears of slowing global growth.
The Bank of Japan kept policy unchanged at a review on Thursday but pledged to keep interest rates very low at least until early 2020. The Bank of Japan also said it would explore lending exchange traded funds to the market. Japan's central bank also lowered growth and price projections for 2020.
US stocks closed lower Wednesday, a day after the S&P 500 and Nasdaq carved out their first records in months, following earnings from high-profile companies, including Dow components Boeing Co. and Caterpillar Inc., that offered a mixed picture of American corporations.
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