Key benchmark indices edged lower in early trade on weak Asian stocks. Index heavyweight Reliance Industries (RIL) declined. Another index heavyweight and cigarette maker ITC also fell. The S&P BSE Sensex was down 111.55 points or 0.59%, off 51.37 points from the day's high and up 52.51 points from the day's low. The market breadth, indicating the overall health of the market, was negative.
The market may remain volatile this week as traders roll over positions in the futures & options (F&O) segment from the near month June 2013 series to July 2013 series. The June 2013 F&O contracts expire on Thursday, 27 June 2013.
Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) sold shares worth a net Rs 1768.60 crore on Friday, 21 June 2013, as per provisional data from the stock exchanges.
At 9:30 IST, the S&P BSE Sensex was down 111.55 points or 0.59% to 18,662.69. The index declined 164.06 points at the day's low of 18,610.18 in early trade. The index fell 60.18 points at the day's high of 18,714.06 in opening trade.
The CNX Nifty was down 36.90 points or 0.65% to 5,630.75. The index hit a low of 5,624.35 in intraday trade. The index hit a high of 5,640 in intraday trade.
The market breadth, indicating the overall health of the market, was negative. On BSE, 437 shares declined and 321 shares rose. A total of 40 shares were unchanged.
Hindalco Industries was the lone gainer from the 30-share Sensex pack. Shares of Hindalco Industries gained 2.24% to Rs 95.70. GAIL (India) (down 1.84%), Jindal Steel & Power (down 1.88%) and Wipro (down 1.53%) edged lower from the Sensex pack.
Reliance Industries (RIL) fell 0.87% to Rs 787. The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) on Friday, 21 June 2013, deferred a decision on a proposal to hike natural gas prices by a steep 60%. Oil Minister M Veerappa Moily who was away on an official tour had proposed to raise gas prices to $6.775 million British thermal unit (mbtu) from current $4.2 mbtu. The Oil Ministry has proposed raising gas price for state-run firms immediately and that for Reliance Industries (RIL) from April 2014 when it is contractually due.
Index heavyweight and cigarette major ITC shed 0.82% to Rs 320.20.
HCL Technologies rose 0.66%. The company after market hours on Friday, 21 June 2013, said it entered into a multi-year engagement with Vestas Wind Systems A/S as the latter's strategic partner. Vestas is a global leader in manufacturing, selling, installing, and servicing of wind turbine power-plants.
HCL will provide application development and management and IT-consultancy services to applications run by Vestas as part of this engagement. The services will be delivered to Vestas primarily from India, but also from the Philippines and across locations in Denmark. Besides cost reduction, Vestas IT expects to gain increased flexibility in terms of skills, scale, knowledge and experience and achieve higher quality by using the HCL's best in class processes and services.
NHPC fell 1.65%. The company on Friday, 21 June 2013 intimated that due to cloud burst and unprecedented high flood in Uttarakhand, the water has entered into Dhauliganga Power Station (280 megawatt) of NHPC and submerged all the system on the early hours of 17 June 2013. The generation from the plant has been stopped and efforts are being made to restore the generation at the earliest, the company said. NHPC added that the project is covered under all risk insurance policy and necessary intimation has been given to insurance company.
Alstom T&D India rose 0.76%. The stock turned ex-dividend today, 24 June 2013, for dividend of Rs 1.80 per share for the year ended 31 March 2013.
Indian Bank dropped 5.3%. The stock turned ex-dividend today, 24 June 2013, for dividend of Rs 6.60 per share for the year ended 31 March 2013.
Indian Overseas Bank (IOB) shed 0.86%. The state-run bank after market hours on Friday, 21 June 2013 clarified that a news item published in a leading news paper on 20 June 2013 stating that the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) officials had conducted a surprise search at the bank's headquarters in Chennai on 19 June 2013 in connection to a job scam was incorrect and the CBI officials did not carry out any search at the bank.
Apollo Tyres gained 2.53%. Credit rating agency CRISIL has downgraded its rating on the bank facilities and other debt programmes of Apollo Tyres to 'CRISIL A' from 'CRISIL AA' and revised the rating outlook to negative from stable. CRISIL has also downgraded the company's short-term rating to 'CRISIL A1' from 'CRISIL A1+'. The rating downgrade follows Apollo Tyres' announcement of acquiring Cooper Tire and Rubber in an all-cash-transaction of $2.5 billion. CRISIL in its report said it believes that the fully debt-funded acquisition, which is much larger than Apollo Tyres' existing consolidated balance sheet, will deteriorate its financial risk profile. Post-acquisition the consolidated entity will have a net gearing of around 4 times. The entity's debt protection metrics are also likely to weaken significantly from current levels, CRISIL said.
CRISIL in its report said it believes that the susceptibility of Apollo Tyres' debt servicing ability to the cyclical nature of the tyre industry and volatility in raw material prices is magnified post this acquisition. Moreover, Apollo Tyres could face issues with integrating the combined entity and exploiting the benefits of synergies in initial years, CRISIL added. The rating could be downgraded if there is a sharp decline in the operating cash flows of any of the company's key operations/geographies resulting in a further deterioration of its debt protection metrics, CRISIL said. The outlook may be revised to stable if there is a significant augmentation in the operating cash flows of Apollo Tyres benefitting from the synergies resulting in an earlier-than-expected improvement in capital structure and/or timely and adequate deleveraging through fresh equity infusion, CRISIL said.
Orchid Chemicals & Pharmaceuticals rose 3.46% to Rs 52.30. The company today, 24 June 2013, said that due to continuing liquidity constraints and pressure on operations, the company has initiated the process of restructuring its debt and accordingly the company has made reference to the Corporate Debt Restructuring Cell (CDR Cell) through State Bank of India.
Asian stocks were trading lower on Monday, 24 June 2013, on mounting concerns that the US Federal Reserve may start scaling back its huge monthly bond-buying plan which was aimed at keeping bond yields down and provide support to its faltering economy. Key benchmark indices in Japan, Singapore, Taiwan, Indonesia and South Korea were off 0.18% to 0.71%.
Chinese stocks edged lower as a recent spike in Shanghai interbank interest rates fueled worries about the world's second-largest economy. In mainland China, the Shanghai Composite was off 3.01% and Hong Kong's Hang Seng was down 1.67%. Short-term interbank interest rates in Shanghai, which hit record highs on Thursday, 20 June 2013, extended their drop from levels seen on Friday, 21 June 2013, but remained above the 6%-level on Monday, 24 June 2013. This fed worries that the People's Bank of China may keep those rates at a high level.
US stocks ended mixed on Friday, 21 June 2013, as investors picked up beaten down stocks. While the Dow Junes Industrial Average and S&P 500 score small gains the tech laden Nasdaq Composite index registered small losses.
Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said last week the central bank may start dialing down its stimulus effort if the economy achieves sustainable growth.
Powered by Capital Market - Live News
