Key benchmark indices -- the barometer index, S&P BSE Sensex, and the 50-unit CNX Nifty -- provisionally settled a tad higher for the day after strong initial gains took them to new record high. The market was volatile. The Sensex was provisionally up 12.22 points or 0.06%, off close to 220 points from the day's high and up about 35 points from the day's low. The market breadth, indicating the overall health of the market, was positive.
Indian stocks edged higher for the second day in a row today, 18 March 2014.
Index heavyweight and cigarette major ITC gained. Most metal and mining stocks edged higher. Shares of Maruti Suzuki India surged after the company and its Japanese parent Suzuki Motor Corporation modified terms of the Gujarat manufacturing plant to address Maruti shareholders' concerns. Index heavyweight Reliance Industries (RIL) edged higher in choppy trade after the company said that its telecom unit -- Reliance Jio Infocomm -- (Reliance Jio) will launch its services across India using telecom-tower infrastructure provided by Viom Networks.
The market edged higher in early trade on firm Asian stocks. The Sensex and the 50-unit CNX Nifty, both, hit new record high. Key benchmark indices trimmed gains in morning trade. The Sensex fell below the psychological 22,000 mark after hitting record high above that level in early trade. The Sensex further trimmed gains in mid-morning trade. The Sensex retained positive zone in early afternoon trade. A bout of volatility was witnessed as key benchmark indices regained positive terrain after slipping into the red in mid-afternoon trade.
As per provisional figures, the S&P BSE Sensex was up 12.22 points or 0.06% to 21,822.02. The index jumped 230.92 points at the day's high of 22,040.72 in early trade, a new record high for the barometer index. The index lost 24.42 points at the day's low of 21,785.38 in mid-afternoon trade.
The CNX Nifty was up 10.05 points or 0.15% to 6,514.25, as per provisional figures. The index hit a high of 6,574.95 in intraday trade, a new record high. The index hit a low of 6,497.65 in intraday trade.
The BSE Mid-Cap index was up 63.19 points or 0.95% at 6,719.37. The BSE Small-Cap index was up 64 points or 0.97% at 6,691.68. Both these indices outperformed the Sensex.
The total turnover on BSE amounted to Rs 2545 crore, higher than Rs 2252.51 crore on Friday, 14 March 2014.
The market breadth, indicating the overall health of the market, was positive. On BSE, 1,550 shares rose and 1,253 shares fell. A total of 173 shares were unchanged.
State Bank of India (up 2.63%), Coal India (up 2.48%) and Tata Power Company (up 1.5%) edged higher from the Sensex pack.
Index heavyweight Reliance Industries (RIL) rose 0.82% to Rs 893.40. The stock hit high of Rs 908.80 and low of Rs 888.80. The company today, 18 March 2014, said that its telecom unit -- Reliance Jio Infocomm (Reliance Jio) -- will launch its services across India using telecom-tower infrastructure provided by Viom Networks. Under the Master Services Agreement, Reliance Jio will use Viom Networks' Pan India passive telecom infrastructure having a footprint of over 42,000 telecom towers. Reliance Jio holds a pan-India unified license and is currently building a network to offer next generation high speed data services. The company believes that the Indian market is highly underserviced. There's thus a deep demand undercurrent for reliable (4th generation) high speed internet connectivity, rich communication services, and various digital services on pan India basis in key domain such as education, healthcare, security, financial services, government citizen interfaces and entertainment, Reliance Jio said in a statement. The mission therefore is to provide anytime, anywhere access to innovative and empowering digital content, applications and services, thereby propelling India into a global leadership league in the digital economy, the company said.
Index heavyweight and cigarette major ITC advanced 2.48% to Rs 355.60. The stock hit high of Rs 356.50 and low of Rs 348.
Shares of Maruti Suzuki India surged after the company and its Japanese parent Suzuki Motor Corporation modified the terms of the Gujarat manufacturing plant to address Maruti shareholders' concerns. The stock jumped 7.65% at Rs 1,869.95. The scrip hit record high of Rs 1,899.90 in intraday trade. Maruti announced on Saturday, 15 March 2014, that the board of directors of the company reviewed the Gujarat project in the context of the views and opinions expressed and decided that the entire capex for the Gujarat project would be funded by depreciation and equity brought in by Suzuki Motor Corporation. In the event that both parties mutually agree to terminate the contract manufacturing agreement, the facilities of Suzuki's Gujarat subsidiary would be transferred to Maruti Suzuki India at book value. The impact of any direct or indirect taxes on account of the contract manufacturing agreement would be assessed before finalizing the agreement, Maruti said in a statement. As earlier stated, the Gujarat subsidiary would function on the basis that it would neither generate surpluses nor make losses, Maruti said. Further, the board of Maruti has decided to seek minority shareholders' approval as stipulated in Section 188 of the Companies Act 2013 for implementing the Gujarat project through a 100% subsidiary of Suzuki Motor Corporation.
Most metal and mining stocks edged higher. Sesa Sterlite (up 0.28%), Hindustan Zinc (up 1.03%), Bhushan Steel (up 0.55%), National Aluminum Company (up 0.86%), JSW Steel (up 0.33%), NMDC (up 0.23%), and Jindal Steel & Power (up 2.13%) gained. Hindalco Industries (down 0.86%), Hindustan Copper (down 0.08%), Tata Steel (down 0.31%), and Steel Authority of India (SAIL) (down 0.63%) declined.
Tech Mahindra gained 0.53%. The company today, 18 March 2014, announced that Volvo Car Group has selected it to provide end to end IT infrastructure support and services in key countries globally including Sweden, China and Belgium. The scope of the partnership which was signed in February covers 2,800 servers across Volvo Cars' regional offices, global factories, global datacenter, R&D and manufacturing IT. The service also covers 4,000 factory devices in Sweden, Belgium, China and 30,000 end users and their work devices, including parts of the Volvo Cars dealer network. The partnership also encompasses application maintenance and development, including the introduction and management of a hybrid cloud strategy, viewed as transformational by those close to the project, Tech Mahindra said. Key business objectives for Volvo Cars include operational excellence, delivering key products successfully to support growth and business value realization.
Crompton Greaves surged 3.98% to Rs 154 after hitting a 52-week high of Rs 159.25 in intraday trade. The stock edged higher for the second day in a row. Shares of Crompton Greaves had gained 4.62% to settle at Rs 148.10 on Friday, 14 March 2014.
The government has extended the last date for payment of final installment of advance tax for financial year 2013-14 to 18 March from 15 March earlier. "To facilitate payment of final installment of advance tax for the financial year 2013-14, the Central Board of Direct taxes (CBDT) has issued an order to extend the time limit to make such payments of advance tax, from 15 March to 18 March," the finance ministry said in a statement.
The Reserve Bank of India on Friday, 14 March 2014, said it has completed a switch operation of Government of India securities, wherein swapping of securities from 2014-15 and 2015-16 maturity buckets for a face value of about Rs 4400 crore to a longer tenor security, was conducted with an institutional investor on 13 March 2014. It may be recalled that a similar switch operation for a face value of about Rs 27000 crore was conducted with another institutional investor in the last week of January 2014 and hence, the aggregate face value of securities swapped to a longer tenor security in these two operations amounted to about Rs 31000 crore in 2013-14 so far, the RBI said. The Union Budget 2013-14 has provided Rs 50000 crore for buyback/switching.
The Reserve Bank of India next undertakes monetary policy review on 1 April 2014. Citing price pressures, 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.
The next major 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 be 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.
European stocks edged lower on Tuesday, 18 March 2014, as investors watched the developments of the situation in Ukraine. Key benchmark indices in France, Germany and UK shed 0.22% to 0.71%.
In Germany, a report showed that investor confidence fell for a third month in March. The ZEW Center for European Economic Research's index of investor and analyst expectations, which aims to predict economic developments six months in advance, dropped to 46.6 from 55.7 in February.
UK Foreign Secretary William Hague urged Russia to begin talks with Ukraine to resolve the issue over Crimea and said "continuing to ignore those calls will bring serious consequences for Russia." The EU and the US on Monday, 17 March 2014, imposed visa bans and asset freezes on Russian and Crimean officials linked to the unrest in the region.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said he supported a request from Ukraine's Crimean region to join Russia. He will address Russian lawmakers and regional leaders at 3 p.m. in Moscow today, 18 March 2014. Crimea voted on 16 March 2014 to join Russia.
Asian stocks edged higher on Tuesday, 18 March 2014, as an improvement in US factory output boosted optimism for the world's biggest economy. Key benchmark indices in South Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore, Japan and China rose 0.05% to 0.94%. Indonesia's Jakarta Composite fell 1.45%.
New-home price growth in China slowed last month, led by the four Chinese cities the government defines as first tier, amid tighter credit to rein in excessive borrowing and individual city measures to curb property prices.
Trading in US index futures indicated that the Dow could drop 12 points at the opening bell on Tuesday, 18 March 2014. US stocks surged on Monday, 17 March 2014, as investors shrugged off the narrow scope of EU and US sanctions following the vote in Crimea in favor of leaving Ukraine. Industrials and technology stocks lead broad-based gains after better-than-expected economic data, including industrial production and manufacturing activity in the New York region. However, stocks rose amid the lowest trading volumes this year.
Factory production in the US rose in February by the most in six months, indicating the industry started to recover from severe winter weather. The 0.8% gain at manufacturers followed a revised 0.9% slump in the prior month that was the biggest since May 2009, figures from the Federal Reserve showed. A separate gauge of manufacturing in the New York area rose less than forecast last month, climbing to 5.61 from 4.48. Separately, a gauge of confidence among home builders ticked up in March, but remained close to the lowest level since May and signaled that builders, generally, are pessimistic about sales trends.
A two-day meeting of the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) for monetary policy review begins today, 18 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.
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