Throughout the week we viewed the rally with suspicion. Today’s severe fall confirms a fresh downturn, which may take the Nifty to the level of 5,930 or to 5,880
 

The dismal GDP figures released mid-morning saw the market plunging over 2% today. Throughout the week we viewed the rally with suspicion. Today’s severe fall confirms a fresh downturn, which may take the Nifty to the level of 5,930 or to 5,880. The National Stock Exchange (NSE) reported a volume of 70.86 crore shares and advance-decline of 368:1051.

The market opened with a deep cut this morning after Reserve Bank of India (RBI) governor D Subbarao yesterday voiced concerns about high inflation and current account deficit. Meanwhile, markets in Asia were in the positive in morning trade as weak US indicators ignited fresh hopes of the Federal Reserve continuing with its bond-buying programme. Domestic investors were focussed on the release of GDP growth numbers for the fourth quarter and full fiscal 2012-13.

The Nifty opened 25 points down at 6,099 and the Sensex resumed trade at 20,187, a decline of 28 points from its previous close. The benchmarks hit their highs in initial trade with the Nifty at 6,106 and the Sensex crawling up to 20,191. However, selling in fast moving consumer goods (FMCG), oil & gas, banking and auto sectors led the indices lower.

News of India’s economic growth for FY’13 coming in at a decade low of 5% and 4.8% in the January-March quarter added to investors’ woes. The market remained in the negative with all sectoral gauges, barring the IT index, in the red.

The benchmarks extended their losses in noon trade on a lower opening of the key European indices. The indices continued their fall in the late session and touched their lows towards the end of trade. The Nifty fell to 5,976 and the Sensex declined to 19,731.

The market ended with a loss of over 2% as dismal GDP figures raised concerns about the economic growth. The Nifty dropped 138 points (2.26%) to 5,986 and the Sensex tumbled 455 points (2.25%) to settle at 19,730.

Among the broader indices, the BSE Mid-cap index declined 1.33% and the BSE Small-cap index dropped 1.56%.

BSE IT (up 0.87%) was the lone gainer in the sectoral pack. The losers were led by BSE Realty (down 3.38%); BSE Oil & Gas (down 2.71%); BSE Bankex (down 2.46%); BSE FMCG (down 2.21%) and BSE PSU (down 2.15%).

Out of the 30 stocks on the Sensex, three settled higher. Infosys (up 2.79%); Sterlite Industries (up 2.58%) and TCS (up 0.07%) were the gainers. The key losers were Bharti Airtel (down 4.86%); GAIL India (down 4.26%); Jindal Steel & Power (down 4.07%); ITC (down 4.06%) and Hindalco Industries (down 3.95%).

The top two A Group gainers on the BSE were—GlaxoSmithKline Consumer Healthcare (up 10.59%) and GlaxoSmithKline Pharmaceuticals (up 9%).

The top two A Group losers on the BSE were—Suzlon Energy (down 9.89%) and Corporation Bank (down 8.92%).

The top two B Group gainers on the BSE were—Tirupati Inks (up 20%) and TCI Developers (up 20%).

The top two B Group losers on the BSE were—Opto Circuits (down 37.87%) and Fourth Generation Information Systems (down 19.98%).

Of the 50 stocks on the Nifty, five ended in the in the green. The main gainers were Infosys (up 2.67%); Sesa Goa (up 2.44%); Ambuja Cement Company (up 0.85%); HCL Technologies (up 0.65%) and TCS (up 0.11%). The major losers were UltraTech Cement Company (down 5.18%); Reliance Infrastructure (down 4.92%); Punjab National Bank (down 4.64%); GAIL India and IDFC (down 4.57% each).

Markets in Asia closed mixed as the Japanese Nikkei recovered from yesterday’s decline and settled higher on news that industrial production rose 1.7% in April.

The Nikkei 225 surged 1.37%; the Seoul Composite added 0.05% and the Taiwan Weighted rose 0.14%. Among the losers, the Shanghai Composite declined 0.74%; the Hang Seng fell 1.41%; the Jakarta Composite dropped 1.19% and the KLSE Composite fell 0.32%.

At the time of writing, the key European indices were down between 0.53% and 0.89% and the US stock futures were in the negative, indicating a lower opening for US stocks later in the day.

Back home, foreign institutional investors were net buyers of shares amounting to Rs787.47 crore on Thursday whereas domestic institutional investors were net sellers of equities worth Rs315.86 crore.

Power Grid Corporation’s Q4 net profit rose by 7% to Rs1,109 crore against Rs1,032 crore in the corresponding period of last year while its total income increased to Rs3,616 crore against Rs3,409 crore, a rise of 6% during the same period. For the fiscal 2012-13, the company’s net increased 30.1% to Rs4,235 crore compared to Rs3,255 crore in 2011-12. The total income grew by 24% to Rs13,328 crore against Rs10,785 crore. The stock declined 0.92% to Rs113.35 on the NSE.

Gammon India today reported net loss of Rs124.98 crore for the fourth quarter ended 31 March against a net profit of Rs52.95 crore in the January-March period of 2011-12 fiscal. Net sales of were down 12% at Rs1,632.56 crore in Q4, 2012-13 vis-a-vis Rs1,856.21 crore of Q4 of 2011-12, the company said in a filing to the exchanges. The stock declined 2.94% to close at Rs9.80 on the NSE.