Sensex, Nifty at almost one-week low

Key benchmark indices further weakened and hit fresh intraday low in early afternoon trade as weakness in Asian stocks dampened sentiment. The barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex and the 50-unit CNX Nifty, both, hit their lowest level in nearly a week. The Sensex was down 140.97 points or 0.69%, off close to 195 points from the day's high and up about 20 points from the day's low. The market breadth, indicating the overall health of the market, was negative.

Cipla slumped on weak Q3 results. Capital goods stocks edged lower. Telecom stocks were mixed.

The market edged higher in early trade. It slipped into the red and hit fresh intraday low in morning trade. It extended losses and hit fresh intraday low in mid-morning trade. It further weakened and hit fresh intraday low in early afternoon trade.

At 12:20 IST, the S&P BSE Sensex was down 140.97 points or 0.69% to 20,307.52. The index dropped 159.44 points at the day's low of 20,289.05 in early afternoon trade, its lowest level since 7 February 2014. The index gained 55.37 points at the day's high of 20,503.86 in early trade.

The CNX Nifty was down 48.65 points or 0.8% to 6,035.35. The index hit a low of 6,031.45 in intraday trade, its lowest level since 7 February 2014. The index hit a high of 6,094.40 in intraday trade.

The BSE Mid-Cap index was down 22.47 points or 0.35% to 6,335.28. The BSE Small-Cap index was down 35.49 points or 0.51% at 6,314.09. Both these indices outperformed the Sensex.

The market breadth, indicating the overall health of the market, was negative. On BSE, 1,286 shares fell and 887 shares rose. A total of 101 shares were unchanged.

Among the 30-share Sensex pack, 23 stocks fell and rest rose. Coal India (down 3.33%), HDFC (down 2%) and Tata Power Company (down 2.26%) edged lower from the Sensex pack.

Capital goods stocks edged lower. Crompton Greaves (down 0.16%), Bharat Electronics (down 0.91%), Larsen & Toubro (down 0.52%), ABB (down 0.34%) and Bhel (down 1.94%) dropped.

Telecom stocks were mixed. Bharti Airtel (down 1.17%), Idea Cellular (down 0.94%) and MTNL (down 1.02%) declined. Tata Teleservices (Maharashtra) (up 0.14%) and Reliance Communications (up 0.25%) gained.

The auction of spectrum in the 1800 MHz and 900 MHz band that began on 3rd February 2014, continued on Wednesday, 12 February 2014. It recommenced on Wednesday morning at 9:00 IST and during the day 7 rounds of bidding were completed. At the end of day nine, sixty three rounds of bidding have been completed. Bids have been received in all 22 Service Areas in 1800 MHz band and in all 3 Service Areas in 900 MHz band. Thus, bidding has taken place in all the Service Areas in both bands.

Cipla lost 5.66% on weak Q3 results. The company's consolidated net profit fell 17% to Rs 284 crore on 22% growth in income from operations to Rs 2581 crore in Q3 December 2013 over Q3 December 2012. The Q3 result was announced after market hours on Wednesday, 12 February 2014.

Cipla's EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortization) declined 10% to Rs 467 crore in Q3 December 2013 over Q3 December 2012.

Cipla said that the current year figures include the relevant results of Cipla's subsidiaries from the date they became subsidiary of the company and therefore the corresponding figures for the previous period are not comparable.

Domestic revenue rose 12.6% to Rs 1044 crore in Q3 December 2013 over Q3 December 2012. The growth in domestic revenues was largely on account of growth in respiratory, anti-infectives and cardiology.

Exports of formulations rose 34.4% to Rs 1352 crore in Q3 December 2013 in Q3 December 2012. Previous year's results include one-time profit share revenues from Escitalopram through the company's US partner, Cipla said. Exports of APIs rose 14% to Rs 157 crore in Q3 December 2013 over Q3 December 2012. The growth in export revenue was primarily due to growth in anti-retroviral, anti-cancer, anti-allergic and anti-biotic segments, Cipla said in a statement.

Eicher Motors spurted 6.33% after net profit jumped 117.9% to Rs 74.43 crore on 78% growth in net sales to Rs 525.44 crore in Q4 December 2013 over Q4 December 2012. The Q4 result was announced after market hours on Wednesday, 12 February 2014. Eicher Motors' net profit surged 92.5% to Rs 278.62 crore on 62.4% growth in net sales to Rs 1695.39 crore in the year ended 31 December 2013 over the year ended 31 December 2012.

Eicher Motors' board of directors at its meeting held on Wednesday, 12 February 2014, recommended dividend of Rs 30 per share for the year ended 31 December 2013, subject to the approval of shareholders.

In the foreign exchange market, the rupee edged lower against the dollar. The partially convertible rupee was hovering at 62.268, lower than its close of 62.10 on Wednesday, 12 February 2014.

Finance Minister P Chidambaram will present the Vote-on-Account or interim budget on 17 February 2014. The objective of a Vote-on-Account is to get Parliament's nod for expenditure to be incurred in the months prior to elections. The next full-fledged budget will be presented by the new government which comes to power after the Lok Sabha polls in April-May 2014.

Inflation based on the combined consumer price index (CPI) for urban and rural India for January 2014 eased to 24-month low level at 8.79% (y-o-y), marking an deceleration from 9.87% (y-o-y) seen in previous month. Moreover, the index for December decreased to 0.43% (m-o-m) from 1% (m-o-m) seen previous month. The fall in index of food category, especially vegetables helped the CPI inflation to ease. The falling vegetable prices helped the combined CPI to record single digit growth. The data was announced after market hours on Wednesday, 12 February 2014.

Industrial output fell 0.6% in December 2013 over December 2012 after contracting a revised 1.3% in November. The indices of industrial production for the Mining, Manufacturing and Electricity sectors for the month of December 2013 were 0.4%, - 1.6% and 7.5% respectively. The data was announced after market hours on Wednesday, 12 February 2014.

Inflation based on the wholesale price index (WPI) is also expected to ease in January 2014. WPI inflation is seen easing to 5.9% in January 2014 from 6.16% in December 2013, as per the median estimate of a poll of economists carried out by Capital Market. The government will unveil data on inflation based on the wholesale price index (WPI) for January 2014 at 12 noon tomorrow, 14 February 2014.

The Reserve Bank of India next undertakes monetary policy review on 1 April 2014. Sighting elevated consumer price inflation, the Reserve Bank of India raised its key lending rates by 25 basis points after Third Quarter Review of Monetary Policy for 2013-14 on 28 January 2014.

Asian stocks dropped on Thursday after the recent advances. Key benchmark indices in China, Japan, Hong Kong, South Korea, Indonesia and Taiwan fell by 0.03% to 1.79%. Singapore's Straits Times rose 0.25%.

Trading in US index futures indicated that the Dow could fall 81 points at the opening bell on Thursday, 13 February 2014. US stocks were mostly lower on Wednesday on weak earnings from tobacco company Lorillard and household products maker Procter & Gamble.

The Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) next undertakes monetary policy review on 18-19 March 2014. After a monetary policy review, the FOMC on 29 January 2014 announced it will reduce monthly bond purchases by another $10 billion to $65 billion. The Fed also signaled that it is likely to keep reducing bond purchases in the coming months, citing a pickup in US economic activity and improvement in the US labor market.

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