Nifty, Sensex delicately poised: Weekly Market Report

Moneylife Digital Team 16 March 2013

If Nifty goes below 5840, it may break the recent low of 5,664

The market settled lower as economic indicators released during the week pointed to a slowdown in growth and on nervousness ahead of the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) policy review, due on 19th March. Unsupportive global cues also weighed on the sentiments. Analysts expect the central bank to make marginal rate cut to soothe investors after the Union Budget last month disappointed corporates and investors.

The Sensex settled 256 points (1.30%) down at 19,428 and the Nifty ended the week at 5,873, a fall of 73 points (1.23%). If Nifty goes below 5840, it may break the recent low of 5,664.

The market settled lower on Monday on negative cues from Europe. The benchmarks ended in the red on Tuesday as retail inflation for February was in double digits at 10.91%, displaying an upward trend for the fourth month in a row. Disappointing global cues led the indices down on Wednesday.

The market settled in the positive on Thursday, snapping its three-day losing streak, on support from rate-sensitive sectors. A sell-off in realty, banking and oil & gas stocks after the government and the RBI said they would probe the money laundering charges in the top three private banks, dragged the market lower on Friday.

BSE Fast Moving Consumer Goods index (up 1%) was the lone gainer in the sectoral space. BSE Consumer Durables (down 4%) and BSE Bankex (down 3%) were the top losers.

Hindustan Unilever (up 5%), Tata Power, Mahindra & Mahindra, State Bank of India (up 3% each) and Sun Pharmaceutical Industries (up 2%) were the top gainers on the Sensex. The losers were led by Bajaj Auto (down 8%), ICICI Bank (down 6%), Hindalco Industries, GAIL India (down 5% each) and BHEL (down 4%).

The chief gainers on the Nifty were Ranbaxy Laboratories (up 9%), Siemens (up 8%), Asian Paints (up 7%), HUL (up 5%) and Tata Power (up 3%). The key losers on the index this week were Bajaj Auto (down 8%), ICICI Bank, Hindalco Ind (down 6% each), GAIL India and Axis Bank (down 5% each).

Retail inflation moved up to 10.91% in February—remaining in the double-digit terrain for the third month in a row—on account of higher prices of vegetables, edible oil, cereals and protein-based items.

Industrial production, as measured by the Index of Industrial Production (IIP), rose by 2.4% in January from 1% in the same month last year, mainly due to an uptick in manufacturing output and enhanced power generation.

The Wholesale Price Index (WPI) based inflation for February stood at 6.84%, higher than 6.62% recorded in the previous month.

India's exports rose by 4.25% to $26.26 billion in February, growing for the second month in a row. Imports went up by 2.6% to $41.1 billion in the month under review, leaving a trade deficit of $14.92 billion.

In corporate news, Sistema Shyam TeleServices (SSTL), which provides telecom services under the MTS brand, won spectrum in the 800 MHz (CDMA) band in eight circles where it was the lone bidder in the auction held on 11th March. The circles won by MTS India include Delhi, Kolkata, Gujarat, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Uttar Pradesh (West) & West Bengal.

Three top private banks—ICICI, HDFC and Axis—have been accused of running a nationwide money laundering racket by an online investigative news magazine, Cobrapost, based on a sting operation that they said spanned some five months.

In international news, Eurozone ministers approved a deal on Saturday to hand Cyprus a bailout worth 10 billion euros ($13 billion) to stave off bankruptcy. Cyprus is the fifth country after Greece, Ireland, Portugal and Spain to turn to the Eurozone for financial help in the wake of the sovereign debt crisis that started in 2010.

Meanwhile, the University of Michigan confidence index for early March fell to 71.8 from 77.6 in February, pointing to a slowdown household spending, data released on Friday showed. However, analysts brushed aside the lower figure saying that was a temporary reaction to recent news reports.

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