Nifty has to maintain itself above 5,670 for the upmove to continue
The market recorded minor gains on the first trading day of the fiscal 2013-14, making it the third positive close in a row. The Nifty has to maintain itself above 5,670 for the upmove to continue. The National Stock Exchange (NSE) reported a volume of 50.47 crore shares and advance-decline ratio of 1152:376.
The market opened on a positive note tracking its Asian peers most of which were in the green in morning trade on firm economic indicators from China and Japan. Indian indicators to be released today were HSBC Factory PMI for March and core infrastructure output for February.
The Nifty opened 14 points higher at 5,697 and the Sensex resumed trade at 18,891, up 55 points over its previous close. Gains in realty and capital goods sectors saw the benchmarks hitting their intraday highs in the first hour. The Nifty rose to 5,721 and the Sensex climbed to 18,959 at their respective highs.
However, profit taking at higher levels soon saw the benchmarks paring their gains. News of a slowdown in manufacturing activity in March 2013 put pressure on the market in mid-morning trade.
The HSBC India Manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI)—a measure of factory production—stood at 52 in March, down from 54.2 in the previous month. The March expansion, which was at the slowest rate of expansion in 16 months, was on account of power outages hampered production activity and decline in new business orders.
The benchmarks slipped into the negative in noon trade on selling in auto and metal shares. The output of eight core infrastructure industries for February plunging 2.5% also weighed on the market, pushing it to the day’s low. At the lows, the Nifty fell to 5,676 and the Sensex went back to 18,797.
Select buying in the post-noon session helped the indices recover from the lows. The gains kept the indices firm in the positive terrain. The market closed with minor gains as domestic indicators lagged expectations, putting a question on the pace of economic growth.
The Nifty closed 22 points (0.38%) up at 5,704 and the Sensex rose 29 points (0.15%) to 18,865.
The broader indices outperformed Sensex today. The BSE Mid-cap index surged 1.28% and the BSE Small-cap index jumped 2.30%.
Barring the BSE Metal (down 1.22%), BSE Auto (down 0.75%) and BSE Fast Moving Consumer Goods (down 0.04%). all other sectoral gauges settled higher. The top gainers were BSE Realty (up 5.37%); BSE Capital Goods (up 1.68%); BSE Power (up 1.09%); BSE Healthcare (up 0.97%) and BSE Bankex (up 0.63%).
Fifteen of the 30 stocks on the Sensex closed in the positive. The major gainers were Dr Reddy’s Laboratories (up 3.34%); BHEL (up 2.83%); Larsen & Toubro (up 2.18%); Infosys (up 1.85%) and Cipla (up 1.20%). The chief losers were Sterlite Industries (down 4.37%); Jindal Steel & Power (down 1.51%); Tata Motors (down 1.41%); Coal India (down 1.33%) and Wipro (down 1.22%).
The top two A Group gainers on the BSE were—Core Projects (up 23.91%) and Hindustan Copper (up 14.72%).
The top two A Group losers on the BSE were—Sterlite Ind (down 4.37%) and Motherson Sumi Systems (down 3.99%).
The top two B Group gainers on the BSE were—Vulcan Engineers (up 20%) and Gopala Polyplast (up 20%).
The top two B Group losers on the BSE were—Shimoga Technologies (down 16.67%) and GS Auto International (down 14.25%).
Of the 50 stocks on the Nifty, 28 ended in the green. The key gainers were DLF (up 7.80%); Cairn India (up 5.08%); Reliance Infrastructure (up 4.22%); Dr Reddy’s (up 3.42%) and Jaiprakash Associates (up 3.36%). The major losers were Sesa Goa (down 2.77%); Tata Motors (down 1.69%); JSPL (down 1.60%); TCS (down 1.50%) and Bajaj Auto (down 1.50%).
Markets across Asia closed mostly lower as economic indicators released earlier in the day fell short of expectations. The Bank of Japan’s quarterly Tankan survey came in at -8, up from -12 in the previous quarter. Besides, China’s official manufacturing PMI stood at 50.9 in March, bet fell short of analysts’ expectations.
The Shanghai Composite shed 0.09%; the Jakarta Composite lost 0.07%; the KLSE Composite fell 0.24%; the Nikkei 225 plunged 2.12% and the Straits Times settled 0.02% lower. On the other hand, the Seoul Composite gained 0.12% and the Taiwan Weighted advanced 0.41%. The Hang Seng was closed for trade today.
At the time of writing, US stock futures were marginally in the red. Markets across Europe are closed today for the Easter holiday.
Back home, foreign institutional investors were net buyers of shares totalling Rs573.87 crore on Thursday whereas domestic institutional investors were net sellers of equities amounting to Rs346.12 crore.
Engineering and construction firm KEC International today said it has bagged orders worth Rs914 crore in transmission, power system and cables businesses in domestic and international markets. The RPG Group company has bagged Rs800 crore worth contracts in transmission business, Rs40 crore order in power systems business and Rs74 crore worth contract in cables business, a company statement said. The stock declined 3.22% to close at Rs57.15 on the NSE.
Engineering major Larsen & Toubro today said it has bagged a Rs5,689 crore order from state-owned Rajasthan Rajya Vidyut Utpadan Nigam for setting up a supercritical thermal power project. The order involves design, engineering, manufacture, supply, erection and commissioning of two coal-fired thermal units of 660 MW each with supercritical parameters at Chhabra in Rajasthan. The stock advanced 2.215 to close at Rs1,396.45 on the NSE.
Marking its presence in the renewable energy generation space, state-run NTPC has commissioned 10 MW solar power capacity, while its overall generation portfolio has crossed 41,000 MW.
NTPC, which has ambitious renewable energy plans, has commissioned two solar projects—each having 5 MW capacity—in Maharashtra and Andaman & Nicobar Islands. The stock gained 0.67% to close at Rs142.90 on the NSE.
