Sensex extends losses

Key benchmark indices extended losses and hit fresh intraday low in early afternoon trade. The barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was down 175.54 points or 0.77%, off close to 100 points from the day's high and up about 10 points from the day's low. Weakness in Asian stocks and overnight steep slide in US stocks hit sentiment on the domestic bourses adversely.

Auto stocks dropped. Some realty stocks edged higher.

The market breadth, indicating the overall health of the market was positive.

The Sensex edged lower in early trade as Asian stocks fell after overnight steep slide in US stocks. The Sensex languished in negative terrain in morning trade. Weakness continued on the bourses in mid-morning trade. The Sensex extended losses and hit fresh intraday low in early afternoon trade.

Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) bought shares worth a net Rs 342.75 crore on Thursday, 10 April 2014, as per provisional data from the stock exchanges.

The stock market remains closed on Monday, 14 April 2014, on account of Dr. Baba Saheb Ambedkar Jayanti.

Asian stocks edged lower on Friday, 11 April 2014, as a selloff in US biotech, Internet and other high-growth stocks on Thursday, 10 April 2014, cut demand for riskier assets.

At 12:20 IST, the S&P BSE Sensex was down 175.54 points or 0.77% to 22,539.79. The index declined 187.52 points at the day's low of 22,527.81 in early afternoon trade, its lowest level since 9 April 2014. The index fell 73.28 points at the day's high of 22,642.05 in opening trade.

The CNX Nifty was down 47.15 points or 0.69% to 6,749.25. The index hit a low of 6,743.15 in intraday trade, its lowest level since 9 April 2014. The index hit a high of 6,773.55 in intraday trade.

The BSE Mid-Cap index was up 10.78 points or 0.15% at 7,342.06. The BSE Small-Cap index was up 38.67 points or 0.52% at 7,512.55. Both these indices outperformed the Sensex.

The market breadth, indicating the overall health of the market was positive. On BSE, 1,235 shares rose and 1,168 shares fell. A total of 115 shares were unchanged.

GAIL (India) (down 1.4%), ICICI Bank (down 1.3%) and HDFC (down 2.4%) edged lower from the Sensex pack.

Auto stocks dropped. Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M) (down 1.54%), Maruti Suzuki India (down 1.71%), Hero MotoCorp (down 1.21%) TVS Motor Company (down 0.8%) and Bajaj Auto (down 1.1%), declined. Ashok Leyland rose 1.45%.

Tata Motors fell 0.12% to Rs 430.30. The stock reversed direction after hitting record high of Rs 437.70 in intraday trade. The company's British luxury car unit Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) on Thursday, 10 April 2014, said its sales rose 3% to 55,183 units in March 2014 over March 2013. Jaguar sales jumped 19% to 11,731 units in March 2014 over March 2013. In March, Land Rover sold 43,452 vehicles, in line with prior year, with strong performances across the range, JLR said in a statement.

JLR's sales rose 8% to 124,776 vehicles in Q1 March 2014 over Q1 March 2013. Jaguar sales rose 19% to 24,031 vehicles in the Q1 March 2014 over Q1 March 2013. Land Rover sales rose 6% to 100,745 vehicles in Q1 March 2014 over Q1 March 2013.

Commenting on the quarterly performance, Andy Goss, Jaguar Land Rover Group Sales Operations Director said: "This has been a strong start to the year for both brands thanks to continued global demand for our latest model offerings. The F-TYPE Coupe has just been launched to the world's media to critical acclaim and Land Rover is set to reveal a Discovery Vision Concept car at the New York International Auto Show, to showcase Land Rover's design vision for a new family of Discovery vehicles".

Some realty stocks edged higher. D B Realty (up 0.95%), Anant Raj (up 1.7%), Unitech (up 1.83%), Parsvnath Developers (up 0.76%) and Housing Development & Infrastructure (HDIL) (up 3.97%) gained. DLF fell 0.27%.

Infosys fell 0.87%. The company today, 11 April 2014, said that the Nomination Committee of the company's board of directors has begun the search to select the successor to Mr. S. D. Shibulal, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and Managing Director. Mr. Shibulal has expressed his desire to retire as the CEO and MD of the company and as a member of the board of directors either on the date of the last board meeting before his superannuation 9 January 2015 or when his successor is ready to assume office, whichever is earlier.

The Nominations Committee will short list and evaluate an internal slate of candidates with the assistance of Development Dimensions International (DDI), a company specializing in corporate executive evaluations. The board has also appointed Egon Zehnder, an executive search firm, to assist the Nominations Committee in identifying an external slate of candidates.

Piramal Enterprises rose 3.16%, with the stock extending Thursday's gains triggered by the company's announcement that it has agreed to divest its entire equity stake in Vodafone India. The company during trading hours on Thursday, 10 April 2014, said it has agreed to divest its entire equity stake in Vodafone India to Prime Metals, an indirect subsidiary of Vodafone Group Plc, for total consideration of Rs 8900 crore. The stock had risen 3.73% to settle at Rs 556.15 on Thursday, 10 April 2014.

Piramal Enterprises said it has agreed to divest its entire equity stake, comprising 4.54 crore shares in Vodafone India to Prime Metals, an indirect subsidiary of Vodafone Group Plc, for a total consideration of Rs 8900 crore, valuing the shares of Vodafone India at Rs 1,960 per share.

Piramal had acquired these shares at an average price of Rs 1,290 per share for a total consideration of Rs 5864 crore in two tranches during FY 2012.

In the foreign exchange market, the rupee edged lower against the dollar on global risk-off sentiment. The partially convertible rupee was hovering at 60.2875, compared with its close of 60.07/08 on Thursday, 10 April 2014.

On the macro front, industrial production growth is seen inching up to 0.9% in February 2014, from 0.1% in January 2014, as per the median estimate of a poll of economists carried out by Capital Market. The government unveils industrial production data for February 2014 at 17:30 IST today, 11 April 2014.

The rate of inflation based on the wholesale price index (WPI) is seen edging up to 5.3% in March 2014, from 4.7% in February 2014, as per the median estimate of a poll of economists carried out by Capital Market. The government is scheduled to announce WPI inflation data for March 2014 at 12 noon on Tuesday, 15 April 2014.

The rate of inflation based on the consumer price index (CPI) is seen inching up to 8.2% in March 2014, from 8.1% in February 2014, as per the median estimate of a poll of economists carried out by Capital Market. The government is scheduled to announce CPI inflation data for March 2014 at 17:00 IST on Tuesday, 15 April 2014.

Reserve Bank of India Governor Raghuram Rajan on Thursday, 10 April 2014, said in a media interview in Washington that India is prepared for potential financial fallout if the US Federal Reserve increases interest rates before April 2015. "Nobody is prepared for every eventuality, but for most eventualities, we are prepared. For us, the specific timing matters less than that it should happen when US growth is strong," Rajan said. The Fed is "mostly" right in how it is managing monetary policy, Rajan said during a panel discussion at George Washington University, adding the central bank needs to improve communications because measures it is taking now will affect what emerging markets do in the future. Still, he said he doesn't expect a US rate increase by April 2015.

Rajan, in Washington to attend the spring meetings of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, also said the IMF needs to play a larger role in promoting global stability and offering liquidity to emerging markets, which often face "substantial stigma" when they approach the lender. If emerging markets are again pushed to a sustained bout of exchange-rate intervention and reserve accumulation, that will be detrimental to global demand, said Rajan, a former chief economist of the IMF.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) next undertakes monetary policy review on 3 June 2014. The RBI left its main lending rate viz. the repo rate unchanged at 8% after a monetary policy review on 1 April 2014, as consumer-price inflation eased to a two-year low and as the rupee firmed up against the dollar.

The next major trigger for the stock market is Q4 March 2014 and year ended 31 March 2014 (FY 2014) corporate earnings. Investors and analysts will closely watch the management commentary that would accompany the results to see if there is any revision in their future earnings forecast of the company for the year ending 31 March 2015 (FY 2015) and/or for the year ending 31 March 2016 (FY 2016). Indian companies will start reporting their Q4 and full year results from mid-April 2014, with Infosys announcing its results on 15 April 2014. The results season will conclude in end-May 2014.

A major near term trigger for the stock market is the outcome of the upcoming Lok Sabha elections. Voting for the lone Lok Sabha constituency and an Assembly by-poll in Mizoram began today, 11 April 2014. The 36 days long voting process began on 7 April 2014 and will conclude on 12 May 2014. The results will be declared on 16 May 2014 after which India will get a new government. The term of the current Lok Sabha expires on 1 June and the new House has to be constituted by 31 May.

Asian stocks edged lower on Friday, 11 April 2014, as a selloff in US biotech, Internet and other high-growth stocks on Thursday, 10 April 2014, cut demand for riskier assets. Key benchmark indices in Hong Kong, Japan, Singapore, South Korea and Taiwan were off 0.07% to 2.41%. In Indonesia, the Jakarta Composite index was up 0.44%. China's Shanghai Composite rose 0.18%.

A report today, 11 April 2014, showed Chinese consumer prices rose 2.4% in March from a year earlier, after gaining 2% in February. The nation's producer price index retreated 2.3% following the previous month's 2% drop.

China will ease restrictions on overseas investments by local firms and deals below $1 billion will no longer need approval, the country's economic planner said in another step to cut red-tape and facilitate the growth of private investment. Starting from May 8, Chinese firms planning to invest less than $1 billion will only need to register with authorities rather than seek approvals from the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), the commission said in a statement late on Thursday. 10 April 2014.

The NDRC said the new rules do not apply to investment projects in "sensitive countries, regions or sectors."

Currently, overseas resource-related investments above $300 million are subject to approvals by the NDRC, while the threshold for deals in other sectors is capped at $100 million.

Deals of above $1 billion will still need the approval by the NDRC, while those valued at $2 billion and above will need the approval of the State Council, China's cabinet, according to the new regulations.

Trading in US index futures indicated that the Dow could advance 11 points at the opening bell on Friday, 11 April 2014. US stocks tumbled on Thursday, 10 April 2014, with the Nasdaq Composite Index falling the most since 2011, as a technology selloff resumed amid concern valuations may be too high at the start of earnings season.

A government report on Thursday showed the fewest number of Americans since before the last recession filed applications for unemployment benefits last week, pointing to more progress in the labor market.

The Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) next undertakes monetary policy review at a two-day meeting on 29-30 April 2014. The Federal Reserve on 19 March 2014 decided after the conclusion of a monetary policy review to trim its monthly bond purchases by $10 billion to $55 billion.

In Europe, the Bank of England kept its key interest rate at a record low after a monetary policy review on Thursday, 10 April 2014, as policy makers try to gauge the amount of spare capacity in the economy. The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) also kept its asset-purchase program on hold at 375 billion pounds ($629 billion), according to a statement released in London by the central bank.

Fitch Ratings today, 11 April 2014, raised its outlook for Portugal to 'positive' from 'negative,' citing the bailed-out euro-zone nation's strong economic recovery and falling budget deficit. Fitch affirmed the country's BB+ rating and said its fiscal financing conditions have improved substantially since October 2013, the date of its last Portugal ratings review. The ratings agency raised its economic forecasts and now sees gross domestic product growth of 1.3% this year and 1.5% in 2015, sharply up from 0.2% and 1% previously. It noted that the economy grew on an annual basis for the first time in three years in the last quarter of 2013, by 1.6%.

Fitch Ratings said if Portugal's deficit reduction remained on track, with "continued economic recovery and evidence that private debt peaks and starts to gradually decline," the nation could see an upgrade to investment grade.

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