Sensex gains 2.39% in four sessions

Key benchmark indices gained for the fourth straight day to hit highest closing level in more than two weeks as firm European stocks supported domestic bourses. The BSE Sensex was up 111.32 points or 0.64%, up about 90 points from the day's low and off close to 25 points from the day's high. The market breadth was positive. Shares of HDFC Bank, Tata Motors and Sun Pharmaceutical Industries scaled record highs.

From a recent low of 17,094.51 on 13 April 2012, the BSE Sensex has gained 409.20 points or 2.39% in four trading sessions. The Sensex has risen 99.51 points or 0.57% so far in April 2012 (till 19 April 2012). The index has surged 2,048.79 points or 13.25% in calendar 2012 so far (till 19 April 2012). From a 52-week low of 15,135.86 on 20 December 2011, the Sensex has risen 2,367.85 points or 15.64%. From a 52-week high of 19,697.49 on 25 April 2011, the Sensex has lost 2,193.78 points or 11.13%.



Coming back to today's trade, capital goods pivotals declined. Interest rate sensitive banking pivotals were mixed. Realty stocks edged lower. Cement major, ACC tumbled on weak Q1 results. Index heavyweight Reliance Industries (RIL) declined ahead of its Q4 earnings tomorrow, 20 April 2012.

The BSE Sensex was up 111.32 points or 0.64% to 17,503.71, its highest closing level since 3 April 2012. The index gained 137.91 points at the day's high of 17,530.30 in late trade. The index lost 30.68 points at the day's low of 17,361.71 in mid-morning trade.

The S&P CNX Nifty was up 32.40 points or 0.61% to 5,332.40, its highest closing level since 3 April 2012. The Nifty hit a high of 5,342.45 and a low of 5,291.30 in intraday trade.

The BSE Mid-Cap index rose 0.25% and the BSE Small-Cap index gained 0.27%. Both these indices underperformed the Sensex.

The market breadth, indicating the overall health of the market, was positive. On BSE, 1,491 shares gained and 1,377 shares fell. A total of 117 shares were unchanged.

From the 30-share Sensex pack, 21 gained while the rest declined.

Index heavyweight Reliance Industries (RIL) shed 1.01% to Rs 741.75, off day's high of Rs 753.95. RIL unveils its Q4 earnings tomorrow, 20 April 2012. Marketmen doubt about how much natural gas can be extracted from RIL's KG D6 blocks, and worries over its refining margins, as well as its usage of cash.

Meanwhile, RIL reportedly bought back 52.61 lakh shares for Rs 396.04 crore as of 17 April 2012. The average buyback price per share works out to Rs 752.77. RIL's board had approved buyback of up to 12 crore shares or 7.22% on 20 January 2012. It had capped the buyback price at Rs 870 per share. RIL will pay out a maximum of Rs 10440 crore for this buyback. The buyback opened on 1 February 2012 and the last date is 19 January 2013.

Realty stocks edged lower in a firm market. D B Realty, HDIL and Unitech dropped by between 0.89% to 1.92%. DLF settled flat at Rs 200.80.

Shares of tea manufacturing companies rose on reports that UK-based Camellia Plc, which owns a 74% stake in tea major Goodricke Group, said it was 'very interested' in buying out tea gardens in Assam to expand its business of the brew in India. Goodricke Group, Assam Company, Tata Global Beverages, McLeod Russel India, Jay Shree Tea and Industries, Harrison Malayalam, and Warren Tea rose by between 0.93% to 8.28%.

Capital goods pivotals declined. India's largest power equipment maker by sales Bhel lost 3.66% and was the top loser from the Sensex pack.

India's largest engineering and construction firm by order book L&T shed 0.5%.

Coal India jumped 3.85% and was the top gainer from the Sensex pack.

NTPC gained 0.09% after company said during market hours today that the Unit-I of 500 megawatts (MW) of Mouda Super Thermal Power Project has been commissioned on April 19, 2012. With this, the total capacity of NTPC group has become 37,514 MW.

Banking pivotals were mixed. India's second largest private sector bank in terms of net profit HDFC Bank gained 3.22% to Rs 554.20 after hitting a fresh record high of Rs 555.45 today, 19 April 2012. The stock extended Wednesday's 1.14% gain after bank announced that its net profit rose 30.4% to Rs 1453.10 crore on 32.1% rise in total income to Rs 8880 crore in Q4 March 2012 over Q4 March 2011. The result was announced during market hours on Wednesday, 18 April 2012

India's largest bank by branch network State Bank of India (SBI) slipped 0.8%. The bank will cut lending rates on loans that have high interest rates, Chairman Pratip Chaudhuri said on Tuesday.

India's largest private sector bank in terms of net profit, ICICI Bank, fell 0.49%. The bank announced during market hours today that it has reduced bank's base rate by 0.25% with effect from 23 April 2012. The revised rate will be 9.75% from 10% earlier. The bank has also announced a reduction of 0.25% in its benchmark prime lending rate and floating reference rate (FRR) for consumer loans (including home loans) from 23 April 2012.

India's largest pharma company by market capitalisation Sun Pharmaceutical Industries rose 0.3% to Rs 598.35 after scaling a record high of Rs 607.30 today, 19 April 2012. The stock extended Wednesday's 2.11% gains triggered by the US Supreme Court ruling in favor of its subsidiary in a patent litigation against Novo-Nordisk.

Ranbaxy Laboratories rose 2% after the company said its Romanian subsidiary, Terapia Ranbaxy will launch Sevikar, a fixed dose combination of olmesartan medoxomil and amlodipine besylate tablets in Romania. The company made this announcement during trading hours today, 19 April 2012.

Among other pharma stocks, Dr Reddy's Laboratories, Cipla and Piramal HealthCare rose by between 1.51% to 3.96%.

Cement major, ACC fell 3.89% after consolidated net profit declined 56.57% to Rs 152 crore on 18.65% increase in sales turnover to Rs 3015 crore in Q1 March 2012 over Q1 March 2011. ACC said that its board has approved amalgamating the wholly-owned subsidiary, ACC Concrete, with the company.

Ambuja Cements declined 0.81% ahead of its Q1 results today.

Among other cement stocks, India Cements, Jaiprakash Associates and UltraTech Cements shed by between 0.81% to 2.56%.

Interest rate sensitive auto stocks extended recent gains after the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) cut repo rate by a sharper-than-expected 50 basis points in its monetary policy review on Tuesday, 17 April 2012. India's largest utility vehicles and tractors maker by sales Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M) gained 2.01%.

India's largest commercial vehicle maker by sales Tata Motors gained 3.15% to Rs 319.35. The stock scaled a record high of Rs 320 in intraday trade today, 19 April 2012. The stock extended five-day 9.65% gain after global vehicle sales rose 26% to 1.39 lakh units in March 2012 over March 2011. Global sales of all commercial vehicles were reported at 63,791 units in March 2012, a growth of 12% over March 2011.

Passenger cars sales stood at 75,864 vehicles, a rise of 41% from a year previously. Sales of its Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) brands stood at 36,471 vehicles in the month, an annual rise of 51%. Tata Motors sold 12.52 lakh vehicles globally in the fiscal year ended March 2012, a 16% increase on sales in the fiscal year ended March 2011.

India's largest small car maker by sales Maruti Suzuki India rose 2.92% on reports the company has received overwhelming response for its multi-purpose vehicle Ertiga launched on 12 April 2012. Reports suggest that since its launch, more than 11,000 units of the Ertiga have been booked. The company was reportedly targeting around 5,000 unit sales per month, when it was launched.

Looking at the kind of response Ertiga has received so far, media reports suggest that the car will be a key volume driver for Maruti in fiscal 2012-13.

The country's second largest two-wheeler maker Bajaj Auto rose 0.8%. The country's largest two-wheeler maker Hero MotoCorp gained 2.42%.

Auto firms stand to benefit from lower interest rates as purchases of automobiles, including that of cars, utility vehicles and commercial vehicles are substantially driven through financing.

IT stocks were mixed. India's second largest software services exporter by revenues Infosys rose 1.31% on bargain hunting. The stock logged declines in three of prior four trading sessions sliding 13.7% after setting a weak forecast in dollar terms for the current year ending 31 March 2013 before market hours on Friday, 13 April 2012. The company's consolidated net profit as per International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) fell 2.4% to Rs 2316 crore on 4.8% decline in revenue to Rs 8852 crore in Q4 March 2012 over Q3 December 2011. The result was declared

India's third largest software services exporter by revenues Wipro shed 1.35%. India's largest software services exporter by revenues TCS rose 0.49%.

HCL Technologies rose 1.6% with the stock extending Wednesday's 3.06% gains triggered after company's consolidated net income rose 5.2% to Rs 602.50 crore on 0.6% decline in revenues to Rs 5215.60 crore in Q3 March 2012 over Q2 December 2011. The result was announced before trading hours on Wednesday, 18 April 2012.

SpiceJet clocked highest volume of 86.38 lakh shares on BSE. Cals Refineries (68.14 lakh shares), Kingfisher Airlines (68.07 lakh shares), IVRCL (49.97 lakh shares) and Indraprastha Gas (48.68 lakh shares) were the other volume toppers in that order.

Indraprastha Gas clocked highest turnover of Rs 112.79 crore on BSE. SBI (Rs 101.75 crore), SML ISUZU (Rs 73.17 crore), Tata Motors (Rs 71.86 crore) and RIL (Rs 62.42 crore) were the other turnover toppers in that order.

India's exports grew by 21% to $303.7 billion in the year ended March 2012 over the year ended March 2011, while imports shot up by 32.1% to $488.6 billion, leaving a trade deficit of $184.9 billion. This is the highest trade deficit and is a serious concern, the report released today, 19 April 2012 said.

A report citing union coal minister Sriprakash Jaiswal on Wednesday reiterated that there was no irregularity in allotment of coal blocks and said the UPA government had followed the standard set by the previous NDA regime in making the allotments. Jaiswal said there were 54 blocks up for auction. Of them, 12 are for commercial mining, two for steel and 16 for power. Remaining 24 mines will be auctioned. The report added that the coal minister expects auction would be completed within two months to make the process of allotment more transparent and facilitating more producers in the field. He denied any scam in the allotment of coal blocks and said the irregularities were noticed in the past.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Wednesday, 18 April 2012, issued a notification to reduce the bank rate or the interest the banks and financial institutions pay to the central bank on borrowed funds to 9% from 9.5% with effect from 17 April 2012. The cut in bank rate follows the announcement made by RBI governor D Subbarao in the annual credit policy 2012-13 which was unveiled on Tuesday, 17 April 2012.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) in its annual monetary policy for 2012-13 on Tuesday, 17 April 2012 cut repo rate, by a sharper-than-expected 50 basis points to give a boost to flagging economic growth. The RBI, however, warned that there is limited scope for further rate cuts. The RBI left unchanged the cash reserve ratio (CRR), the share of deposits that banks must hold with the central bank, at 4.75%, in line with expectations, after cutting it by 125 basis points since January 2012 to ease tight market liquidity. The RBI said its baseline expectation for GDP growth in the fiscal year that ends in March 2013 is 7.3%, compared with an expected 6.9% in the year ended March 2012. It expects headline inflation to end the year at 6.5%, with little deviation expected during the year. The RBI had raised rates 13 times between March 2010 and October 2011 as it struggled to contain price pressures.

Retail inflation spurted to 9.47% in March 2012 because of higher prices of milk, vegetables, protein-based items and edible oil products, as per the government data released on Tuesday, 18 April 2012. Retail inflation, based on the Consumer Price Index (CPI), was 8.83% in February. Inflation rates for rural and urban areas were 8.79% and 10.30% respectively in March 2012. According to the revised data, the inflation rates for rural and urban areas were 8.36% and 9.45% respectively in February 2012.

Data released on Monday, 16 April 2012 showed wholesale price index (WPI) inflation eased to 6.89% in March 2012 compared to the previous month's 6.95% and 9.68% during the corresponding month of the previous year. The government also revised upwards the January inflation number to 6.89% from the earlier 6.55%.

Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) bought shares worth Rs 221.63 crore on Wednesday, 18 April 2012, as per provisional data from the stock exchanges.

Investors are closely watching India Inc's Q4 March 2012 and year ending March 2012 (FY 2012) earnings. Focus is on the guidance provided by the management for the year ending March 2013 (FY 2013) to gauge the earnings outlook.

Cairn India reports FY 2012 results on 20 April 2012. RIL announces Q4 results on 20 April 2012. TCS unveils FY 2012 results on 23 April 2012. Sesa Goa unveils Q4 results on 24 April 2012. Wipro and Sterlite Industries India unveil their Q4 results on 25 April 2012.

ICICI Bank unveils FY 2012 results on 27 April 2012. Axis Bank Jindal Steel & Power and Siemens unveil quarterly results on the same day. Maruti Suzuki India unveils FY 2012 results on 28 April 2012. FMCG giant Hindustan Unilever unveils FY 2012 results on 1 May 2012. Housing finance major HDFC announces FY 2012 results on 7 May 2012. Ranbaxy Laboratories will declare its Q1 March 2012 results on 9 May 2012. Dr Reddy's Laboratories announces FY 2012 results on 11 May 2012.

Finance minister Pranab Mukherjee was quoted by media on Tuesday as saying that the monetary policy announcement should help revive investment and strengthen business sentiment. He also promised that in coming weeks additional steps would be taken to reinforce the focus on growth. But, Mukherjee vowed there would be no slippage on the fiscal deficit front.

European stocks were firm Thursday. The key benchmark indices in UK and Germany were up by between 0.54% to 0.71%. France's CAC 40 was flat.

The Spanish Treasury on Thursday sold €2.54 billion ($3.33 billion) in bonds dated 2014 and 2022, which was more than expected, but its borrowing costs rose. The Treasury had been targeting a range of €1.5 billion to €2.5 billion for the auction. The yield on the 10-year auction rose to 5.74% from 5.403% at a prior auction of similar paper in January.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) offered a cautiously optimistic view on global growth and raised its 2012 global growth forecast to 3.5% from 3.3%, citing improved activity in the United States and receding worries about Europe's sovereign debt crisis. But it said on Tuesday, 17 April 2012 risks remain high and the situation is very fragile. The IMF also warned it did not see Spain meeting its deficit goals this year or next.

Asian markets were mixed on Thursday ahead of a key Spanish bond sale that would test the market's risk appetite. Key benchmark indices in China, Japan, Indonesia and South Korea were down by between 0.09% to 0.82%. Key benchmark indices in Singapore, Taiwan and Hong Kong rose by between 0.23% and 1.03%.

Trading in US index futures indicated that the Dow could gain 71 points at the opening bell on Thursday, 19 April 2012. US stocks declined on Wednesday after earnings from IBM and Intel failed to cheer the market. Risk appetite faded as concerns about the financial health of Spain pushed up demand for US treasuries. The Dow Jones Industrial Average declined 82.79 points, or 0.63%, at 13,032.75. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index fell 5.64 points, or 0.41%, at 1,385.14 and the Nasdaq Composite index lost 11.37 points, or 0.37%, at 3,031.45.