Strong market breadth

Key benchmark indices were trading near flat line in early trade. At 9:20 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was up 1.67 points or 0.01% at 25,839.81. The Nifty 50 index was down 2.65 points or 0.03% at 7,896.65. Broader market was trading higher.

The broad market depicted strength. There were more than two gainers against every loser on BSE. 729 shares rose and 345 shares rose. A total of 61 shares were unchanged. The BSE Mid-Cap index was currently up 0.25%. The BSE Small-Cap index was currently up 0.15%. Both these indices outperformed the Sensex.

In the overseas market, Asian shares edged lower today, 25 April 2016, as investors awaited central bank meetings in the United States and Japan this week that are expected to hold clues to future policy moves. US stocks finished mixed Friday, 22 April 2016, as earnings misses in the previous session from Microsoft and Google parent Alphabet slackened optimism on Wall Street.

US Federal Reserve will hold its next two-day policy meeting on Tuesday, 26 April 2016 and Wednesday, 27 April 2016. As per market expectations, the Fed is likely to hold rates steady at its policy meeting later in April and instead will opt to raise the federal funds rate by 25 basis points in its June meeting to 0.5-0.75% in what will be the second in its first series of rate rises in nearly a decade.

Metal shares were mixed. Bhushan Steel (down 0.94%), Hindustan Zinc (down 0.52%), Vedanta (down 0.38%), Tata Steel (down 0.37%), JSW Steel (down 0.33%) and Jindal Steel & Power (down 0.27%), edged lower. Hindalco Industries (up 0.10%), NMDC (up 0.15%), National Aluminium Company (up 0.34%), Steel Authority of India (up 0.43%) and Hindustan Copper (up 0.62%), edged higher.

Reliance Industries (RIL) was down 0.96%. The company consolidated net profit rose 15.93% to Rs 7398 crore on 10.95% fall in total income to Rs 62010 crore in Q4 March 2016 over Q4 March 2015. Profit before interest, depreciation and tax (PBDIT) rose 16.9% to Rs 13994 crore in Q4 March 2016 over Q4 March 2015. Earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) margin increased by 3.22% to 12.1% in Q4 March 2016 as compared with Q4 March 2015. The result was announced after market hours on Friday, 22 April 2016. Decline in revenue was led by the 41.4% decline in benchmark oil price which averaged at $30.4 per barrel in Q4 March 2016 as compared to $51.9 per barrel in Q4 March 2015. Gross refining margin (GRM) per barrel increased to $10.80 per barrel in Q4 March 2016 compared with $10.10 per barrel in Q4 March 2015.

Cairn India was down 3.57%. On consolidated basis, Cairn India reported net loss of Rs 10948.22 crore in Q4 March 2016, higher than net loss of Rs 240.82 crore in Q4 March 2015. Net total income from operations declined 35.87% to Rs 1716.83 crore in Q4 March 2016 over Q4 March 2015. The result was announced after market hours on Friday, 22 April 2016. Cairn India's bottom line during the quarter was dragged down due to impairment charges. Due to decline in crude oil prices in the international market, the company has recorded an impairment on the carrying value of goodwill and some of its non-producing oil and gas assets aggregating to Rs 11389.63 crore and Rs 284.17 crore respectively in Q4 March 2016.

Cairn India said it is committed to the company's merger with Vedanta and continue to work towards its completion. The merger would generate value for the shareholders and de-risks Cairn India by providing access to a portfolio of diversified assets in a volatile market and deliver significant near term growth, the company said in a statement.

With regard to its business outlook for the current financial year (FY 2017), Cairn India said it aims to maintain production from Rajasthan asset broadly at FY 2016 level. With an estimated net capex of $100 million, the company plans to invest 80% in development (primarily RDG Gas and Mangala EOR completion activities) and 20% in exploration. Cairn India said it will continue investing in pre-development activities of its key projects in Core MBA fields, Barmer Hills and Satellite fields, to ensure project readiness for development with rebound in oil prices and grant of extension of Production Sharing Contract (PSC). Cairn India said it maintains the flexibility to raise its capital investment as oil prices improve and aim to generate a healthy cash flow post capex so as to retain the ability to pay dividends.

Bharti Airtel was up 1.20%. The company announced on Saturday, 23 April 2016, that its board of directors will consider a proposal for buyback of equity shares on 27 April 2016 when it is announcing Q4 March 2016 results. The board will also consider payment of final dividend for the year ended 31 March 2016.

Wipro was up 0.37%. The company announced that it has fixed 6 May 2016 as the record date for the purpose of buyback of equity shares. The announcement was made after market hours on Friday, 22 April 2016.

TCS was up 0.81%. The company announced that to aid the growing demand for network services due to rise of smart devices and increasing mobile data traffic it has launched Mobile Network Function Virtualization (NFV) Management framework for anytime-anywhere NFV monitoring and management for Red Hat OpenStack Platform. NFV enables operators to monetize their cloud infrastructure more effectively by providing capabilities to start new services quickly and seamlessly meet changing network demands. It also provide them with the ability to monitor their cloud environment and make critical business decisions in near real time is crucial to fully realize the benefits of NFV. The TCS framework enables the Network administrators to securely and flawlessly monitor and manage critical operations with Red Hat OpenStack Platform. The announcement was made after market hours on Friday, 22 April 2016.

On political front, the second part of the budget session of Parliament will commence today, 25 April 2016, after a month long recess and will conclude on 13 May 2016, during which government hopes to receive support of opposition parties in passage of key legislations including the Goods & Services Tax (GST) Bill.

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