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| Markets end cautious ahead of Budget Day |
| SI Reporter / Mumbai Feb 25, 2010, 15:32 IST |
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Caution was the buzzword ahead of Budget Day. The markets chose to remain oblivious to the glut of activity, ranging from the economic survey, 13th Finance Commission report, inflation data and derivatives expiry to close on a tentative note. The Sensex closed at 16254, down two points and the Nifty ended at 4860, up one point.
The Economic Survey was gung-ho on the medium-term prospects of the Indian economy, forecasting GDP growth of up to 8.75 per cent in the next financial year and a return to 9 per cent growth in 2011-12. It, however, warned against spiralling inflation and stagnancy in the agricultural space.
And the 13th Finance Commission favoured an increase in the share of states in central tax proceeds from 30.5 per cent to 32 per cent
and a calibrated strategy for withdrawing the stimulus measures that were introduced in wake of the global economic crisis.
Food inflation fell to 17.58 per cent for the week ended February 13 from 17.97 per cent in the previous week. Prices of pulses fell by one per cent and vegetables became cheaper by 5.7 per cent over the weak.
The Survey's optimism regarding the economy failed to rub onto the banking stocks. The banking stocks ended lower, with HDFC Bank shedding 0.8% at Rs 1687 and SBI losing 0.3% at Rs 1914.
Emphasis on additional stimulus measures for the exports sector gave a boost to textiles and leather stocks. In the textiles space, Mafatlal Industries, Provogue India and Gokaldas Exports ended higher between 1% and 2% each. In the leather space, Liberty Shoes and Bata India soared more than 9% each.
On the flip side, rail stocks saw a sell-off for the second day in a row on the lack of big-bang announcements in the Rilway Budget. Kalindee Rail and Kernex Microsystems hit the 5% lower circuits at Rs 174 and Rs 144 respectively, while Texmaco and Titagarh Wagons ended down between 1% and 3% each.
The new listing, Hathway Cable shed about 13% to end at Rs 207 compared to the issue price of Rs 240, while the previous day's debutants, DB Realty lost 1% at Rs 450 and Emmbi Polyarns gained 2% at Rs 29.
Given the apprehensions surrounding an excise duty hike in the forthcoming budget, the FMCG sector ended weak and the auto space closed marginally lower. Among the FMCG stocks, HUL lost nearly 3% and Godrej shed around 6%. In the auto space, Maruti added more than 2%, while Tata Motors weakened by a similar margin.
As far as other budget-sensitive sectors were concerned, realty and fertiliser stocks closed higher. HDIL and Sobha Developers constituted the major gainers in the realty space ; among the fertiliser stocks, Zuari Industries, Deepak Fertilisers and RCF gained 1%-3% each.
The market breadth was strong. Out of 2897 stocks traded on the BSE, there were 1290 advancing stocks as against 1521 declines.
RIL topped the value charts on the BSE with a total turnover of Rs 67.74 crore. This was followed by L&T (Rs 65.52 crore), SBI (Rs 55.16 crore), Tata Steel (Rs 54.70 crore) and ICICI Bank (Rs 53.68 crore).
DLF led the volume charts with trades of 1.61 million. It was followed by Hindalco (1.60 million), Jaiprakash Associates (1.52 million), Tata Steel (0.96 million) and Reliance Communication (0.90 million).
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