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Thursday, July 23, 2009

Choppy time, pluck some gains!


When the apple is ripe it will fall.

It was darkness after dawn as a thick cloud cover over India and China hid the sun when the eclipse began. The market too had its share of darkness and choppiness. The outlook remains hazy as investors search new reasons to justify their stand on equity investment.

After a flat start, the indices will swing mostly to global cues. A recovery may be always on the cards but avoid getting in stocks which appear ripe after the recent run. The dangerous mid-caps may be back on the shopping list even though the risk-reward ratio remains lower for now.

Asian markets are mixed just like the US indices. The Nasdaq managed to close in the green for the 11th straight session as Apple's profits nourished the bulls. But Boeing descended and Coca-Cola's profits lost its fizz. The Dow closed in the red while S&P 500 was flat.

Nouriel Roubini, who’s claim to fame is for predicting the current collapse, said the economy is turning a corner although he believes the recession is still far from over. Now whatever that means, back home in India, the results have been mostly on par or above expectations barring a few cement companies. Disinvestment (the buzzword for the bulls) may see action in mid-August as around 15 PSUs have been asked to give IPO feasibility report. On the flip side, a rise in refund payout has hurt the Centre’s net direct tax collections growth rate for the first quarter this fiscal.

While the spate of GDRs and QIPs have brought back India story in the limelight, there is the IDR (Indian Depository Receipts) option soon for foreign companies facing fund crunch globally to raise resources from Indian markets.

The dollar gained against the euro and fell versus the Japanese yen.

US. light crude oil for September delivery fell 21 cents to settle at $65.40 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

The telecom space is seeing action. RCom has bagged a Rs100bn Etisalat deal to provide tower and transmission infrastructure in 15 circles.

MTN team is likely to meet SEBI officials to discuss the ramifications of the Airtel deal.

Heavyweight Reliance Industries may get notice for production sharing contract violation.

SBI is back in the limelight on reports that government may allow stake to fall to 55%.

In the pharma space, Sun Pharma could face pressure as its arm faces class action suit in US. A clarification from the company is likely soon. Meanwhile, Ranbaxy has received a final approval in Canada to manufacture and market Ran-amlodipine tablets. Dr Reddy’s is eyeing Rs152bn revenues by FY13.

Yes Bank is looking to close four mandates in its US$100mn niche social investment bank initiatives in the next three to five weeks, says a report.

The Indian markets fell for the second consecutive trading session and this time the fall was accompanied by strong volume. The BSE Sensex slipped by over 500 points intra-day while the NSE Nifty erased nearly 160 points from the day’s high.

After starting off on a firm footing, the bulls were unable to hold on to the early gains, as the momentum fizzled out in the afternoon trades on the back of profit booking in the Capital Goods, Auto and Power stocks.

As the day progressed, the sentiment was further dampened on account of a weak trend in equity markets across Europe. Asian markets too closed mixed.

Finally, the Sensex slipped by 219 points or 1.4% to end at 14,843 after touching a high of 15,369 and a low of 14,786. The index had opened at 15,124 against the previous close of 15,062. The NSE Nifty lost by 70 points or 1.6% to shut shop at 4,398.

Asian markets ended mixed. The Nikkei in Japan gained 0.7% at 9,723, Australia's S&P/ASX edged higher by 0.4% at 4,068. The Hang Seng index slipped by 1.3% to 19,248.

In Europe, stocks were trading in the red. The FTSE in the UK was down 0.2% at 4,471. The DAX was down 0.4% at 5,072 and the CAC 40 slipped 0.8% at 3,278.

Coming back to India, among the BSE sectoral indices, the BSE Capital Goods index was the top loser, losing 2%, followed by the BSE IT index that was down 1.8%. The BSE Auto index slipped 1.7% and BSE Power index was down 1.5%.

The BSE Mid-Cap index slipped 0.8% and the BSE Small-Cap index rose 0.2%.

Within the Sensex, the major losers were HDFC, BHEL, Grasim, JP Associates, Tata Steel, TCS, Reliance Infra and Maruti. Among the major gainers were, ONGC, DLF, Sterlite and NTPC.

Outside the frontline indices, the top losers included India Cement, Lic Housing Finance, IDFC, United Spirits, Thermax and Exide Ind.

Among the big gainers in the broader market were Moser Baer, Lupin, Gujarat NRE, Welspun Guj and Asian Paints.

Wipro announced a consolidated net profit for the reporting quarter is at Rs10.15bn versus Rs10.10bn in the previous quarter. Consolidated net sales for the quarter are Rs62.89bn compared to Rs64.82bn in Q4 FY09.

The IT Services revenue for the Q1 of the current fiscal year stood at US$1,033mn, down 1.3% over the January-March quarter. Wipro sees Q2 IT Services revenues at US$1,035-1,053mn.

The stock was down by1.5% to Rs451 hitting an intra-day high of Rs470 and an intra-day low of Rs446 recording volumes of over 0.95mn shares.

Shares of India Cement slipped sharply by 8% to Rs139 after the company posted a net profit of Rs1442.80mn for the quarter ended June 30, 2009 as compared to Rs1421.40mn for the quarter ended June 30, 2008.

Total Income has increased from Rs8763.30mn for the quarter ended June 30, 2008 to Rs9602.50mn for the quarter ended June 30, 2009.

The stock opened at Rs153 and made an intra-day high of Rs154 and a low of Rs138. Total traded volumes stood at 1.1mn shares.

BHEL posted Q1 net profit of Rs4.71bn up 22.6% as against Rs3.84bn in the same period last year. Total income increased from Rs46.2bn for the quarter ended June 30, 2008 to Rs58.9bn for the quarter ended June 30, 2009.

The stock ended lower by 3% to Rs2150 it opened at Rs2220 and made an intra-day high of Rs2247 and a low of Rs2126. Total traded volumes stood at 3.3mn shares.

The Board of Directors of Jet Airways would meet on July 24, 2009 for considering un-audited result and propose to consider various options for raising of additional capital in the said Board Meeting.

Shares of Jet Airways slipped by 2.6% to Rs249. The stock opened at Rs257 and made an intra-day high of Rs265 and a low of Rs244. Total traded volumes stood at 89,000 shares.

Shares of Moser Baer gained by over 5% to Rs81 after the company announced settlement of its long-drawn licensing and patent dispute with Philips. The amicable settlement paves the way for Moser Baer to maintain and strengthen its market leadership position as the world's leading manufacturer of optical media storage products and will help the Company further cement its relationship as the preferred OEM for the world's leading optical media brands.

Shares of NMDC gained by 1% to Rs369 after reports stated that the government is working out details of a plan to sell shares in the company. The stock opened at Rs375 and made an intra-day high of Rs383.55 and a low of Rs366. Total traded volumes stood at 0.21mn shares.

Shares of Pfizer gained by 1.6% to Rs775 after reports stated that the parent company has increased its stake in Indian arm to 71%. The stock opened at Rs761 and made an intra-day high of Rs782 and a low of Rs761. Total traded volumes stood at 3,000 shares.