The market will remain volatile ahead of 3rd May when the RBI will announce its monetary policy for 2013-14. A weekly close below 5,800 will see Nifty head lower again
The Indian market closed the holiday-shortened week on a firm note on mixed earnings reports and hopes that the Reserve Bank of India, in its annual monetary policy to be announced on 3rd May, will reduce key rates on the back of a fall in headline inflation numbers. The coming week is expected to be an event-heavy week with continuation of corporate results, fiscal deficit data for March to be announced on Tuesday, RBI’s macro-economic review on Thursday and release of the annual monetary policy on Friday.
The Sensex settled 270 points (1.42%) higher at 19,287 and the Nifty closed the week at 5,871, a gain of 88 points (1.53%). The market will remain volatile ahead of 3rd May when the RBI will announce its monetary policy for 2013-14. A weekly close below 5,800 will see Nifty head lower again.
The market closed in the green on three of the four trading days in the week. The market closed with decent gains on Monday despite a fair deal of choppiness that was seen in the first half of the trading session. The market managed to close with a positive bias helped by a late recovery on Tuesday. The stock exchanges were closed Wednesday for a local holiday.
The benchmarks settled in the green on Thursday on gains in auto and healthcare stocks. Profit-taking in rate-sensitive sectors led the market lower on Friday.
BSE Auto (up 4%) and BSE Capital Goods (up 3%) were the top sectoral gainers while BSE IT (down 5%) and BSE TECk (down 2%) were the losers.
The top performers on the Sensex were Maruti Suzuki (up 10%), Coal India, HDFC (up 7% each), Bharti Airtel and Hero MotoCorp (up 6% each). The losers were led by Wipro (down 10%), Jindal Steel & Power (down 7%), TCS (down 6%), Hindustan Unilever and Infosys (down 4% each).
The key gainers on the Nifty were Maruti Suzuki (up 10%), HDFC, Kotak Mahindra Bank (up 7% each), Coal India and Bharti Airtel (up 6% each). HCL Technologies, JSPL (down 7% each), TCS (down 6%), DLF and HUL (down 4% each) were the major losers on the benchmark.
India is expected to have normal monsoon this year with overall rainfall of 98%, news that will bring smiles to millions of faces of farmers who depend on good rains for a bumper harvest, earth sciences and science and technology minister S Jaipal Reddy said on Friday. The minister added that there was 46% probability of a normal monsoon as against 27% probability of below normal rains this season.
Among corporates, UltraTech Cement disappointed the market with its fourth quarter net profit slipping 16% to Rs726 crore. Cairn India’s numbers lagged estimates as its Jan-March net profit rose 17.1% to Rs2,564 crore versus Rs 2,186 crore in the same quarter last year.
Non-banking finance company M&M Financial Services’ consolidated net profit grew by 42.9% year-on-year to Rs 346.4 crore in fourth quarter FY13, helped by exceptional gain. Foundry major Foseco India reported disappointing results as its Q4 net profit declined 16% to Rs5.81 crore.
HDFC Bank reported a 30% year-on-year rise in its fourth quarter net profit at Rs1,890 crore, aided by robust interest and other income. Axis Bank’s net profit for the quarter ended March 2013 grew 22% y-o-y to Rs1,555 crore, driven by the strong growth of its retail franchise.
Hero MotoCorp disappointed the market as its net profit net profit of Rs574.23 crore for the March quarter grew a meagre 5% y-o-y compared to Rs603.59 crore for the previous corresponding quarter. ICICI Bank on Friday reported a 21% year-on-year rise in its fourth quarter net profit at Rs2,304 crore on a standalone basis, driven by robust growth in net interest income.
In international news, US GDP (gross domestic product) rose at a 2.5% annual rate in the first quarter of 2013, lower than forecast, after a 0.4% fourth-quarter advance, according to government data. Besides, the Thomson Reuters/University of Michigan index of consumer sentiment slid to 76.4 in April from 78.6 in a previous month.
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