Nifty registers higher losses than Sensex in percentage terms

Disappointing Q4 results from IT major TCS triggered losses for Indian stocks on the last trading session of the week. The 50-unit CNX Nifty dropped 1.16% for the day which was higher than a decline of 0.78% for the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex. The Sensex and the Nifty, both, hit their lowest closing level in more than two weeks. After languishing in red almost throughout the trading session, the key benchmark indices extended losses in late trade as worries mounted that Greece's debt troubles could trigger an exit for the country from the eurozone and possibly financial contagion.

The Sensex fell 223.94 points or 0.78% to settle at 28,442.10. The Nifty fell 100.70 points or 1.16% to settle at 8,606. The fall in the Nifty in percentage terms was higher than the decline in the Sensex because a number of Nifty constituents which are not part of the Sensex declined. Lupin, IndusInd Bank, Idea Cellular, Yes Bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Tech Mahindra, Cairn India and Zee Entertainment dropped. All these are Nifty constituents which are not part of the Sensex. Shares of all the three cement makers - ACC, Ambuja Cements and UltraTech Cement - which are Nifty constituents but are not part of the Sensex also dropped.

The market breadth indicating the overall health of the market was negative. The BSE Mid-Cap index declined 2.01%. The BSE Small-Cap index declined 1.45%. The fall in both these indices was higher than the Sensex's decline in percentage terms. Losses ranged from 2% to about 13% for quite a few stocks which are the constituents of the BSE Small-Cap index.

Sun Pharmaceutical Industries fell as shares allotted by the company to shareholders of Ranbaxy Laboratories on merger of the company with Sun Pharma were admitted for trading on the bourses today, 17 April 2015. Lupin lost after a foreign brokerage reportedly downgraded the stock to neutral, citing slower US sales growth.

Hindalco Industries rose after Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) hiked its stake in the company. Shares of public sector banks rose. Shares of private sector banks declined. Realty stocks declined. Metal and mining stocks edged higher on renewed buying. Telecom stocks dropped.

Meanwhile, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley yesterday, 16 April 2015, signaled that the government is unlikely to intervene with regard to income tax notices directing payment of Minimum Alternate Taxation (MAT) by foreign institutional investors (FIIs) for past years.

Separately, Prime Minister Narendra Modi assured investors of a predictable and stable tax regime while interacting with major pension fund managers of Canada yesterday, 16 April 2015.

Meanwhile, Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor Raghuram Rajan was quoted as saying in a newspaper interview that talks between RBI and the government have not yet focused on the composition of a planned monetary policy committee.

Foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) sold shares worth a net Rs 214.47 crore into the secondary equity market yesterday, 16 April 2015, as per data from Central Depository Services (India). Domestic institutional investors (DIIs) bought shares worth a net Rs 432.27 crore yesterday, 16 April 2015, as per provisional data released by the stock exchanges.

Key benchmark indices edged lower for third day in a row today, 17 April 2015.

In overseas markets, European stocks edged lower today, 17 April 2015, as worries mounted that Greece's debt troubles could trigger an exit for the country from the eurozone and possibly financial contagion. Earlier during the global day, Asian stocks dropped. US stocks closed slightly lower yesterday, 16 April 2015, as investors digested a mixed batch of economic reports.

In the foreign exchange market, the rupee edged lower against the dollar.

Brent crude oil futures edged lower as data showing increase in oil production from the Organization of the Petroleum Importing Countries last month tempered some of the bullishness among investors.

The S&P BSE Sensex fell 223.94 points or 0.78% to settle at 28,442.10, its lowest closing level since 1 April 2015. The index lost 262.28 points at the day's low of 28,403.76 in late trade. The index gained 30.15 points at the day's high of 28,696.19 at onset of the day's trading session.

The CNX Nifty fell 100.70 points or 1.16% to settle at 8,606, its lowest closing level since 1 April 2015. The index hit a low of 8,596.70 in intraday trade. The index hit a high of 8,699.85 in intraday trade.

The market breadth indicating the overall health of the market was negative. On BSE, 1,665 shares fell and 1,162 shares rose. A total of 107 shares were unchanged.

The total turnover on BSE amounted to Rs 3435 crore, higher than turnover of Rs 3085.13 crore registered during the previous trading session.

The BSE Mid-Cap index fell 221.25 points or 2.01% to settle at 10,771.77. The BSE Small-Cap index fell 170.51 points or 1.45% to settle at 11,622.23. The fall in both these indices was higher than the Sensex's decline in percentage terms.

Index heavyweight Reliance Industries (RIL) slipped 0.16% to Rs 925.95. The stock was volatile. The stock hit high of Rs 943.80 and low of Rs 923.15. On consolidated basis, RIL's net profit rose 8.5% to Rs 6381 crore on 33.3% drop in turnover to Rs 70863 crore in Q4 March 2015 over Q4 March 2014. The result was announced after market hours today, 17 April 2015. The net profit of Rs 6381 crore in Q4 March 2015 was a record quarterly net profit for RIL on consolidated basis.

RIL attributed the sharp fall in turnover in Q4 March 2015 to a sharp fall in benchmark crude oil price. RIL's gross refining margins (GRM) edged up to $10.1 per barrel in Q4 March 2015, from $9.3 per barrel in Q4 March 2014. On sequential basis, the GRM rose sharply from $7.3 a barrel in Q3 December 2014. RIL's GRM edged up to $8.6 a barrel in the year ended 31 March 2015 (FY 2015) from $8.1 a barrel in the year ended 31 March 2014 (FY 2014).

RIL's non-operational income rose 3.57% to Rs 2172 crore in Q4 March 2015 over Q4 March 2014. RIL said the increase in non-operational income was primarily on account of higher profit on sale of investments.

With regard to the company's US shale gas business, RIL said that the challenging market outlook would most likely curtail near-term growth for the shale gas business. Given the current weak commodity price environment, the company is focusing on capital preservation by moderating activity levels, reducing service costs and improving efficiencies in the shale gas business, RIL said. Ensuring profitable development and retaining optionality through high grading acreages and improving netbacks will be the key challenges going forward, RIL said. RIL said that the long term outlook for its US shale gas business remains promising.

RIL's total capital expenditure stood at a little over Rs 1 lakh crore in FY 2015, including exchange rate difference capitalization. Capital expenditure was principally on account of ongoing expansions projects in the petrochemicals and refining business at Jamnagar, Dahej and Hazira, Broad band Access and US shale gas projects.

Shares of IT major TCS fell after announcing disappointing Q4 results after trading hours yesterday, 16 April 2015. The stock was off 4.07% at Rs 2,480.05. The stock hit high of Rs 2,561 and low of Rs 2,471. TCS' consolidated net profit excluding one time special employee reward rose 8.35% to Rs 5773 crore on 1.14% decline in income from operations to Rs 24220 crore in Q4 March 2015 over Q3 December 2014. TCS' bottom line during the quarter was boosted by 76.39% surge in other income to Rs 1136 crore in Q4 March 2015 over Q3 December 2014. The result was announced after market hours yesterday, 16 April 2015.

TCS' reported net profit during the quarter fell sharply due to one time special employee reward of Rs 2628 crore in Q4 March 2015. Consolidated net profit dropped 30.31% to Rs 3713 crore in Q4 March 2015 over Q3 December 2014. TCS said that it will pay employees a special reward or one-time bonus to mark the 10th anniversary of the company's initial public offering in 2004. For the company, the total consideration for this special reward to employees will be Rs 2628 crore.

Looking forward to financial year (FY) 2015-16, CEO and MD of TCS N. Chandrasekaran said that the company's investments in platforms, digital and automation are gaining traction with clients and together with its market investments in USA, Europe and Japan, the company is upbeat that the coming quarters will bring more opportunities for TCS to partner with customers across multiple industries.

TCS said that the board of directors of the company at its meeting held on 16 April 2015 has recommended a final dividend of Rs 24 per share for the year ended 31 March 2015 (FY 2015).

Shares of many other IT stocks fell after disappointing Q4 results from TCS. Infosys (down 0.47%), Wipro (down 2.23%), HCL Technologies (down 1.34%), Oracle Financial Services Software (down 2.08%), Tech Mahindra (down 1.99%), Hexaware Technologies (down 3.64%) and MphasiS (down 1.42%) declined.

MindTree slumped 7.32%. On a consolidated basis, the company's net profit rose 8.6% to Rs 128.70 crore on 0.7% rise in revenue to Rs 918.10 crore in Q4 March 2015 over Q3 December 2014. The result was announced after market hours yesterday, 16 April 2015. MindTree's net profit rose 19% to Rs 536.30 crore on 17.5% increase in revenue to Rs 3561.90 crore in the year ended March 2015 over the year ended March 2014.

Pharma shares declined. Cadila Healthcare (down 3.05%), Dr Reddy's Laboratories (down 0.6%), Glenmark Pharmaceuticals (down 1.44%), GlaxoSmithKline Pharmaceuticals (down 0.87%), Wockhardt (down 1.99%) and Aurobindo Pharma (down 6.05%) declined. Cipla rose 0.03%.

Sun Pharmaceutical Industries fell as shares allotted by the company to shareholders of Ranbaxy Laboratories on merger of the company with Sun Pharma were admitted for trading on the bourses today, 17 April 2015. The stock was off 4.54%. Sun Pharma had allotted 33.49 crore equity shares of Re 1 each to the shareholders of erstwhile Ranbaxy Laboratories in the ratio of eight equity shares of Re 1 each of the Sun Pharma for every ten equity shares of Rs 5 each held in erstwhile Ranbaxy Laboratories pursuant to merger of Ranbaxy with Sun Pharma.

Lupin lost 6.48% after a foreign brokerage reportedly downgraded the stock to 'neutral' from 'buy', citing slower US sales growth. According to the brokerage, slower US sales growth and high R&D spend will slowdown Lupin's earnings growth in FY 2016. The brokerage added that the earlier-than-expected generic competition for Suprax and Antara has been a negative surprise. Aurobindo Pharma recently announced that the company received final approvals from the US Food and Drug Administration (USFDA) to manufacture and market Cefixime (bioequivalent to Lupin's Suprax) for oral suspension USP, 100mg/5mL and 200mg/5mL.

Shares of public sector banks rose. Syndicate Bank (up 0.6%), Allahabad Bank (up 0.34%), Bank of Baroda (up 0.48%), Bank of India (up 1.89%) State Bank of India (SBI) (up 0.05%), Union Bank of India (up 0.12%), Canara Bank (up 1.06%) edged higher.

Punjab National Bank (PNB) rose 0.8%. The bank has reduced interest rate on rupee term deposits below Rs 1 crore in the maturity bucket of 1 to 5 years to 8.5% from 8.75%. The bank reduced interest rate on rupee term deposits below Rs 1 crore in the maturity bucket of over 5 years to 10 years to 8.25% from 8.5%. The bank reduced interest rate on rupee term deposits of Rs 1 crore to Rs 10 crore in the maturity bucket of 91 days to 179 days has been reduced to 7.25% from 7.5%. The bank reduced interest rate on rupee term deposits of Rs 1 crore to Rs 10 crore in the maturity bucket of 1 year to 8.5% from 8.75%. The bank reduced interest rate on rupee term deposits of Rs 1 crore to Rs 10 crore in the maturity bucket of 2 years to 5 years to 8.25% from 8.5%. The bank reduced interest rate on rupee term deposits of Rs 1 crore to Rs 10 crore in the maturity bucket of 5 years to 10 years to 8% from 8.5%. The revised interest rates will take effect from 23 April 2015, PNB said.

Shares of private sector banks declined. Axis Bank (down 3.08%), HDFC Bank (down 1.13%), ICICI Bank (down 0.64%), Kotak Mahindra Bank (down 2.21%), Yes Bank (down 4.96%) edged lower.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) said in a notification issued to commercial banks yesterday, 16 April 2015, that it has been decided by Government of India (GoI) to implement the Interest Subvention Scheme for 2015-16 for short-term crop loans until 30 June 2015 on the same terms and conditions approved for the scheme for 2014-15 as an interim measure. The RBI stated that GoI is examining various alternative approaches for improving the efficacy of the Interest Subvention Scheme for short-term crop loans and its finalization may take some time.

IndusInd Bank dropped 6.33%. IndusInd Bank during market hours today, 17 April 2015, announced that the bank's board of directors at its meeting held yesterday, 16 April 2015, approved the proposal for passing of Special Resolutions by postal ballot for seeking consent of the shareholders of the bank for augmentation of capital through further issue/private placement of securities.

ONGC rose 0.76%. Minister of State for Petroleum and Natural Gas, Dharmendra Pradhan during his visit of the Assam asset of ONGC recently reviewed the overall performance of the ONGC Assam asset to ascertain as to what should be done in order to increase the production of this one of the oldest assets of ONGC. Pradha said that ONGC should take measures to arrest the decline in production of the asset. The Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Gas said yesterday, 16 April 2015, that ONGC's management has assured the oil minister that no stone would be left unturned to achieve higher production from this asset.

Metal and mining stocks edged higher on renewed buying. Sesa Sterlite (up 3.14%), JSW Steel (up 1.76%), Tata Steel (up 2.7%), Steel Authority of India (Sail) (up 2.05%), National Aluminium Company (up 0.74%) and Jindal Steel & Power (up 1.18%) edged higher. Hindustan Copper (down 1.84%) and NMDC (down 0.82%) fell. Hindustan Zinc ended unchanged at Rs 171.95

Hindalco Industries rose 1.89%. Hindalco Industries issued a disclosure yesterday, 16 April 2015, that Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) has acquired 4.21 crore shares, or 2.041% equity of Hindalco through open market between 13 July 2010 and 15 April 2015. Consequently, LIC's stake in Hindalco has risen to 11.328% from 9.287% earlier. As per shareholding disclosure issued by Hindalco on Wednesday, 15 April 2015, LIC and its associates held 22.80 crore shares, or 11.05% stake in Hindalco as on 31 March 2015.

Cement stocks declined. Ambuja Cements (down 1.47%), ACC (down 3.18%), UltraTech Cement (down 3.32%) and Shree Cement (down 3.94%) declined.

Grasim Industries was off 2.27% at Rs 3,640. Grasim has exposure to the cement sector through its subsidiary UltraTech Cement.

Bharat Heavy Electricals (Bhel) rose 1.25%. With respect to news article titled "Bhel, Russian firm INTMA ink pact for power plant in Kazakhstan, Bhel clarified after market hours yesterday, 16 April 2015, that the subject matter is at a proposal stage only and as such is not price sensitive information.

Telecom stocks dropped. Bharti Airtel (down 3.38%), Idea Cellular (down 2.98%), and Reliance Communications (down 0.64%) declined. and Tata Teleservices (Maharashtra) rose 0.96%. MTNL was unchanged at Rs 20.20

BPCL shed 0.2%. Videocon Industries slipped 0.19%. Bharat PetroResources (BPRL), a wholly owned subsidiary of BPCL, today, 17 April 2015, announced that Petrobras, the operator of the block SEAL-M-426 in Brazil has successfully completed the formation test (assessing the potential of a petroleum deposit) in the block which in located in ultra-deep waters of the Sergipe-Alagoas Basin. The announcement was made during market hours today, 17 April 2015. The results of the formation test confirmed the presence of light oil and good productivity of the reservoirs. The consortium plans to continue with the Discovery Assessment Plan, as approved by the Brazilian upstream regulatory agency ANP. Petrobras is the operator of the concession with 60% interest, in partnership with IBV Brazil (a 50:50 joint venture company formed by wholly owned subsidiaries of Bharat PetroResources and Videocon Industries) holding the remaining 40%.

Realty stocks declined. Indiabulls Real Estate (down 2.11%), Sobha (down 1.6%), D B Realty (down 2.72%), Oberoi Realty (down 1.14%), Unitech (down 1.17%), DLF (down 1.9%) and Godrej Properties (down 1.41%) edged lower. Housing Development & Infrastructure (HDIL) rose 1.33%.

In the foreign exchange market, the rupee edged lower against the dollar. The partially convertible rupee was hovering at 62.345, compared with closing of 62.30 during the previous trading session.

Brent crude oil futures edged lower as data showing increase in oil production from the Organization of the Petroleum Importing Countries last month tempered some of the bullishness among investors. Brent for June settlement was off 60 cents at $63.38 a barrel. The contract had gained 66 cents or 1.04% to settle at $63.98 a barrel during previous trading session.

Key benchmark indices edged lower for third day in a row today, 17 April 2015. The Sensex has lost 602.34 points or 2.07% in three trading session from a recent high of 29,044.44 on 13 April 2015.

Meanwhile, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley yesterday, 16 April 2015, signaled in his speech at a seminar in Washington that the government is unlikely to intervene with regard to income tax notices directing payment of Minimum Alternate Taxation (MAT) by foreign institutional investors (FIIs) for past years. Many foreign investors have been receiving notices requesting their MAT calculations for financial year 2011-2012. This has also sparked worries among FIIs that the income tax department will raise MAT demand on FIIs for earlier years. In the Union Budget 2015-16 presented in parliament on 28 February 2015, Jaitley had announced that capital gains on sale of shares by foreign institutional investors (FIIs) will not be subject to the provisions of the minimum alternate tax (MAT) from 1 April 2015. Jaitley yesterday, 16 April 2015, reportedly said that with regard to applicability of MAT for previous years, FIIs had gone to a judicial tribunal and lost. He suggested that if they want relief, they should appeal rather than asking for him to step in.

Separately, Prime Minister Narendra Modi assured investors of a predictable and stable tax regime while interacting with major pension fund managers of Canada yesterday, 16 April 2015. Modi is currently in Canada for an official visit.

Meanwhile, Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor Raghuram Rajan was quoted as saying in a newspaper interview that talks between RBI and the government have not yet focused on the composition of a planned monetary policy committee.

In overseas markets, European stocks edged lower today, 17 April 2015, as worries mounted that Greece's debt troubles could trigger an exit for the country from the eurozone and possibly financial contagion. Key indices in Germany, France and UK were off 0.75% to 1.66%.

There has been speculation of a likely debt default from Greece. The country's Syriza-led government has been locked in negotiations with its international creditors since coming to power in late January, with progress slow. Greece needs to strike a deal within the next few months to secure billions of euros in bailout aid to avoid defaulting on its debts and potentially exiting the euro.

Asian stocks edged lower today, 17 April 2015 on fears that Greece may run out of money as debt repayments loom. Key benchmark indices in Indonesia, Singapore, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Japan fell by 0.18% to 1.17%. Key benchmark indices in China and South Korea were up 0.17% to 2.2%.

Singapore's key non-oil domestic exports unexpectedly surged in March due to growth in both electronics and non-electronic shipments. Exports of goods made in Singapore rose 18.5% in March compared with a year earlier, after falling 9.7% in February, trade promotion agency International Enterprise Singapore said today, 17 April 2015.

Trading in US index futures indicated that the Dow could fall 131 points at the opening bell today, 17 April 2015. US stocks closed slightly lower yesterday, 16 April 2015 as investors digested a mixed batch of economic reports.

US economic data released yesterday, 16 April 2015 showed housing starts rose far less than expected in March and factory activity in the mid-Atlantic region grew modestly this month, suggesting the economic momentum will probably not be strong enough for the Federal Reserve to decide to start raising interest rates as early as June.

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