Amid a divergent trend among various index constituents, key benchmark indices registered small losses. Index heavyweight and housing finance major HDFC edged lower. The market breadth indicating the overall health of the market was positive. The Sensex was provisionally off 72.60 points or 0.26% to 27,614.70.
Index heavyweight Reliance Industries (RIL) edged higher in volatile trade after the company announced the pricing of its Regulation S offering of $200 million 5% Senior Unsecured Callable Notes due 2035. IT stocks rose.
A bout of volatility was witnessed during the second half of the trading session as key benchmark indices reversed direction after extending intraday gains in mid-afternoon trade. The Sensex and the 50-unit CNX Nifty reversed direction after both these key benchmark indices surged to their highest level in almost four weeks in mid-afternoon trade on the back of a rally in European stocks.
Foreign portfolio investors sold shares worth a net Rs 202.12 crore yesterday, 18 May 2015, as per provisional data released by the stock exchanges. Domestic institutional investors (DIIs) bought shares worth a net Rs 618.54 crore yesterday, 18 May 2015, as per provisional data released by the stock exchanges.
In overseas markets, European stocks edged higher after European Central Bank (ECB) Executive Board member Beno Coeursaid that the central bank would moderately front-load its purchases in its bond-buying program because of less market liquidity in the summer and that this move wasn't due to market conditions. Earlier during the global day, Chinese shares rose on signs of fresh investment from Beijing. US stocks edged higher yesterday, 18 May 2015, as both the Dow industrials and the S&P 500 reached all-time highs.
As per provisional closing, the S&P BSE Sensex was down 72.60 points or 0.26% to 27,614.70. The index jumped 184.93 points at the day's high of 27,872.23 in mid-afternoon trade, its highest level since 23 April 2015. The index fell 113.23 points at the day's low of 27,574.07 in mid-afternoon trade.
The Nifty was down 8 points or 0.1% at 8,365.65, as per provisional closing. The index hit a high of 8,427.80 in intraday trade, its highest level since 23 April 2015. The index hit a low of 8,335.20 in intraday trade.
The BSE Mid-Cap index was down 16.05 points or 0.15% at 10,651.02. The decline in the index was lower than the Sensex's decline in percentage terms. The BSE Small-Cap index was up 39.81 points or 0.36% at 11,187.73, outperforming the Sensex.
The market breadth indicating the overall health of the market was positive. On BSE, 1,452 shares rose and 1,297 shares fell. A total of 108 shares were unchanged.
The total turnover on BSE amounted to Rs 3434 crore, higher than turnover of Rs 3193.52 crore registered during the previous trading session.
Tata Motors was off 2.1% at Rs 509.35. The company today, 19 May 2015, announced the launch of all-new GenX Nano range, a new compact, feature-rich hatchback. The new GenX Nano comes with advanced technological features, making it the perfect city car, Tata Motors said in a statement. The GenX Nano will be available for sale, across the country in over 450 Tata Motors sales outlets from today, 19 May 2015.
The GenX Nano has five variants viz. XE, XM, XT with Manual Transmission and XMA and XTA with Easy Shift Automated Manual Transmission (AMT). The GenX Nano comes with a starting price of Rs 1.99 lakh for the XE variant and goes up to Rs 2.49 lakh for the XT variant in manual transmission. The XMA variant with 'Easy Shift' Automated Manual Transmission will be made-to-order and will be available for sales from August 2015. The XMA variant is priced at Rs 2.69 lakh and the top-end XTA variant is priced at Rs 2.89 lakh and is available post the national launch. All prices are Ex-showroom, Delhi.
Index heavyweight Larsen & Toubro was up 0.16% at Rs 1,613.15. The stock hit a high of Rs 1,633.70 and a low of Rs 1,609.25.
Another index heavyweight Reliance Industries (RIL) was up 0.51% at Rs 895. The stock hit a high of Rs 904.95 and a low of Rs 887.10. RIL today, 19 May 2015, announced that it has priced its Regulation S offering of $200 million 5% Senior Unsecured Callable Notes due 2035. The company made the announcement during market hours today, 19 May 2015. These notes, denominated in US dollars, have been issued primarily to Taiwanese life insurance companies and are proposed to be listed on Taipei Exchange (formerly known as GreTai Securities Market). Such notes are commonly known as Formosa Bonds. It is the first ever Formosa Bond issuance by an energy company globally and also the longest tenor Formosa Bond issuance by a corporate out of Asia. It is the first ever Formosa Bond issuance out of India. The notes are being issued at par and will bear a fixed interest rate of 5% per annum, with interest payable semi-annually in arrears and shall rank pari passu with all other unsecured and unsubordinated obligations of the company. The notes will also have an annual call option at par starting 5 June 2020. The funds will be utilized for the company's ongoing capital expenditure, the company said in a statement.
IT stocks edged higher. Tech Mahindra (up 1%), Hexaware Technologies (up 0.78%), Oracle Financial Services Software (up 0.72%), HCL Technologies (up 0.59%) and Persistent Systems (up 0.23%), edged higher. CMC (down 0.03%), TCS (down 0.33%), MindTree (down 0.61%) and MphasiS (down 2.45%) edged lower.
Wipro was up 1.65%. With respect to media reports titled "Wipro faces class action complaint in US," Wipro after market hours yesterday, 18 May 2015, clarified that the company complies with the laws of all of the countries in which it does business, but it is not immune to being sued. The company would not like to comment on this specific litigation, except to say it will vigorously defend itself against these allegations, Wipro said.
Infosys was up 1.29%. The company announced after market hours yesterday, 18 May 2015, that it has become the first Indian company to join RE100 -- a global platform for major companies committed to 100% renewable power. Infosys has taken great strides during the past seven years to become sustainable in its operations. As part of its commitment to RE100, Infosys aims to become carbon neutral by 2018. The company is already working to reduce its per capita electricity consumption by 50 per cent from its 2007-2008 levels and source all its electricity from renewable resources by 2018. During fiscal year 2015, Infosys met 29% of its electricity needs -- about 72.08 million units -- for its locations across India through green power. During the same period, Infosys generated over 2911 MWh of electricity through its onsite solar PV installations across India.
In overseas markets, European stocks edged higher today, 19 May 2015, after European Central Bank (ECB) Executive Board member Beno Coeursaid that the central bank would moderately front-load its purchases in its bond-buying program because of less market liquidity in the summer and that this move wasn't due to market conditions. Key benchmark indices in UK, France and Germany were up 0.33% to 1.84%.
The text from the speech that Coeurdelivered in London yesterday, 18 May 2015, was released today, 19 May 2015. Coeursaid because of low liquidity levels usually seen during the summer period, the ECB will modestly raise purchases of euro-area assets in May and June.
Separately, ECB governing council member Christian Noyer today, 19 May 2015, said that the European Central Bank is ready to take additional steps to boost inflation if its current quantitative-easing program proves insufficient.
Meanwhile, German economic sentiment hit a five-month low in May, a survey of financial analysts and institutional investors showed today, 19 May 2015, suggesting the economic upswing in Europe's largest economy is losing momentum. The ZEW indicator of economic expectations dropped for the second straight month, to a reading of 41.9 in May from 53.3 in April and was the lowest since December 2014.
Consumer prices in the UK fell in April compared with a year earlier for the first time in more than half a century, underscoring the weakness of inflation throughout much of the developed world. Britain's Office for National Statistics said Tuesday that annual inflation in the U.K. was -0.1% in April, compared with zero a month earlier. That is the first time consumer prices have fallen on an annual basis since 1960, according to ONS estimates.
Chinese stocks led gains in Asian stocks today, 19 May 2015. Key benchmark indices in Japan, Indonesia, South Korea and Taiwan were up by 0.34% to 1.15%. Singapore's Straits Times was off 0.16%.
Chinese shares edged higher on signs of fresh investment from Beijing. In mainland China, the Shanghai Composite index jumped 3.13%. Hong Kong's Hang Seng index rose 0.37%. China yesterday, 18 May 2015, approved a batch of railway projects and said it would speed up reform in the finance sector. China's state-planning agency approved six rail projects with a total investment of 243.8 billion yuan ($39.3 billion).
Meanwhile, China's State Council yesterday, 18 May 2015, released guidelines on capital-market reform priorities, touching on areas such as the Shenzhen-Hong Kong Stock Connect and further liberalizing interest rate and boosting the yuan's global status.
Further, China unveiled an ambitious plan to enhance the competitiveness of its manufacturing sector by encouraging innovation and raising efficiency in an effort to boost economic growth. The blueprint, titled "Made in China 2025," comes as China's factories are struggling with sluggish demand, increasing competition from other developing economies and a slowing domestic economy.
The manufacturing sector is facing new challenges: bigger constraints from the environment and resources, rising labor costs and a notable slowdown in investment and exports, the State Council, or cabinet, said on the main government website today, 19 May 2015.
The plan didn't give details of how Beijing would achieve these objectives but it shows the government's determination to revitalize a sector that was once a major growth engine.
US stocks edged higher yesterday, 18 May 2015, as both the Dow industrials and the S&P 500 reached all-time highs. At the closing bell, the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 26 points, or 0.1%, to 18,299, a new closing peak. The S&P 500 index rose 6 points, or 0.3%, to 2,129, its ninth record close of the year. The Nasdaq Composite Index gained 30 points, or 0.6%, to 5,078, still shy of its 24 April record of 5,092.
Investors will get a closer look at the US Federal Reserve's thoughts about interest rates and economic data when the minutes of the Federal Open Market Committee meeting from its meeting held in late April 2015 are released tomorrow, 20 May 2015.
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