Market opens lower

Key benchmark indices edged lower in early trade tracking weakness in most Asian stocks. The barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was down 77.53 points or 0.34%, off close to 95 points from the day's high and up about 15 points from the day's low. The market breadth, indicating the overall health of the market, was positive.

NMDC rose after the company said that for the first time in history it has produced more than 30 million tonnes in a single year.

Most Asian stocks declined on Friday as investors await data on US jobs growth later in the global day today, 4 April 2014.

 

Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) bought shares worth a net Rs 717.39 crore on Thursday, 3 April 2014, as per provisional data from the stock exchanges.

At 9:32 IST, the S&P BSE Sensex was down 77.53 points or 0.34% to 22,431.54. The index rose 16.14 points at the day's high of 22,525.21 in early trade. The index declined 91.47 points at the day's low of 22,417.60 in early trade.

The CNX Nifty was down 20.05 points or 0.3% to 6,716.05. The index hit a high of 6,741.85 in intraday trade. The index hit a low of 6,709.40 in intraday trade.

The BSE Mid-Cap index was unchanged at 7,170.43. The BSE Small-Cap index rose 3.19 points or 0.04% to 7,210.64. Both these indices outperformed the Sensex.

The market breadth, indicating the overall health of the market, was positive. On BSE, 505 shares gained and 475 shares fell. A total of 54 shares were unchanged.

Among the 30-share Sensex pack, 22 stocks declined and rest of them rose. GAIL (India) (down 1.79%), Coal India (down 1.64%) and Bharat Heavy Electricals (Bhel) (down 1.36%) edged lower from the Sensex pack.

NMDC rose 0.78% after the company said after market hours on Thursday, 3 April 2014 that for the first time in history it has produced more than 30 million tonnes in a single year. NMDC has registered iron ore production of around 30.18 million tonnes which is approximately 11% more than last year. The iron ore sales of the company stood at 30.50 million tonnes which is approximately 16% more than last year.

The production of diamonds from India's only Diamond Mine being operated by NMDC in Panna, Madhya Pradesh also registered a remarkable growth of 17% at 37,047 carats compared to 31,533 carats during CPLY.

Pursuing its capital investment schemes, as against an envisaged target of Rs 2720 crore for the year ended 31 March 2014 (FY 2014), the company has incurred Rs 2518 crore for its various expansion and diversification projects which is 57% more than FY 2013. The projects of development of two new mines viz. Deposit-11B Iron Ore Project and Kumaraswamy Iron Ore Mine, as part of its expansion programme and the installation of 3 million tonnes per annum (MTPA) steel plant at Nagarnar in Chhattisgarh, as part of NMDC's forward integration programme and value addition, are in various stages of execution.

Incidentally, Chairman, NMDC Mr. C.S.Verma received the Most Efficient Navratna award for the company from Mr. T.K.A.Nair, Advisor to the Hon'ble Prime Minister of India on 2nd April 2014. It is pertinent to mention that NMDC is one of the lowest cost producers of iron ore in the world with very high EBITDA margins, company said.

Shri C.S. Verma, CMD commended the performance of the company and congratulated the employees for surpassing the 30 MT mark in iron ore production and sales and urged them to grow exponentially to cope up with demand of the steel industry. NMDC collective deserves appreciation for the commendable results inspite of evacuation and other problems

On the political front, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Thursday, 3 April 2014, said that the party will release its poll manifesto on 7 April 2014, the day the 9-phase Lok Sabha election begins. The party on Thursday, 3 April 2014, issued its manifesto for the North East region, wherein it stated that it will develop the area as a BPO hub if voted to power. The BJP has already released a Delhi-specific manifesto wherein it has made an array of promises like granting full statehood, reducing power tariff by 30% and controlling price rise within one month if BJP is voted to power. The party, which had lost all the seats in the national capital to Congress in 2009 Lok Sabha polls, said it will set up a helpline for the national capital to receive complaints of corruption. It also promised to bring police, DDA and other land-owning agencies under one roof to streamline governance in the national capital.

On economic front, 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 Tuesday, 1 April 2014.

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. The result 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. Lok Sabha elections will be held between 7 April 2014 and 12 May 2014 in nine phases. The counting of votes will take place on 16 May 2014. The term of the current Lok Sabha expires on June 1 and the new House has to be constituted by May 31. Along with the Lok Sabha election, Andhra Pradesh (AP), including the regions comprising Telangana, Odisha and Sikkim will go to polls to elect new assemblies. AP, Odisha and Sikkim assemblies come to end on June 2, June 7 and May 7 respectively.

Business activity across emerging markets fell for the fourth straight month in March, with output contracting in three of the four biggest economies, a survey showed on Friday. HSBC's composite emerging markets index of manufacturing and services purchasing managers' surveys slipped to 50.3 from 51.1 in February, teetering on the 50 threshold that marks the difference between expansion and contraction.

Most Asian stocks declined on Friday as investors await data on US jobs growth later in the global day today. Key benchmark indices in South Korea, Taiwan Hong Kong, Indonesia, and Singapore were down 0.14% to 0.56%. Key benchmark indices in China and Japan were up 0.13% to 0.36%.

US stocks slipped on Thursday, as investors turned cautious ahead of Friday's monthly jobs report.

On the economic front, the US trade deficit unexpectedly widened in February to $42.3 billion as exports hit a five-month low, suggesting that first-quarter growth could be much weaker than initially expected.

A bright spot came from the services sector, where growth accelerated in March after being hampered by unusually cold weather, according to the Institute for Supply Management's services-sector index.

The influential US non-farms payroll data for March 2014 will be released today, 4 April 2014.

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 said after the conclusion of a monetary policy review that it will trim its monthly bond purchases by $10 billion to $55 billion. The Federal Reserve will end its bond-buying program before the end of the year with an interest-rate increase likely to follow in "around six months," Chair Janet Yellen said on 19 March 2014. Quarterly Fed forecasts on 19 March 2014 showed more officials predicting that the benchmark interest rate, now close to zero, will rise to at least 1% by the end of 2015 and 2.25% a year later.

In Europe, the Governing Council of the European Central Bank (ECB) decided that the interest rate on the main refinancing operations and the interest rates on the marginal lending facility and the deposit facility will remain unchanged at 0.25%, 0.75% and 0.00% respectively.

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