India Market Wrap

Ø INDICES: Sensex -130 at 17374 (-0.74%), NIFTY -42 at 5291 (-0.78%), CNXMIDCAP -71 at 7626 (-0.93%)

Ø SECTORAL PERFORMANCE: BANKEX -1.07%, AUTO 0.08%, CAPITAL GOODS -1.84%, HEALTHCARE -0.56%, Metal -0.65%, OIL & GAS -1.3%, IT -0.14%, FMCG 0.11%, PSU -1.02%, REALTY -1.68%, Consumer Durables -0.05%, POWER -1.72%

Ø MARKET BREADTH: 127 Advances, 368 Declines (BSE 500)

Ø VOLUMES: BSE $0.42bn (0.41%), NSE $1.91bn (-0.58%), F&O $27.74bn (31.91%)

Ø TODAY'S GAINERS: MM 2.82%, WPRO 0.99%, TATA 0.67%, CIPLA 0.64%, ITC 0.47%

Ø TODAY'S LOSERS: IDFC -3.27%, JPA -2.87%, HNDL -2.42%, SIEM -2.3%, TPWR -2.28%

MARKET COMMENTARY:

Indian equities continued its lackadaisical trade in red below neutral line in the late afternoon session as investors lacked conviction to pile up fresh positions amid uncertain market conditions. Sentiment turned bearish after the Prime Minister's Chief Economic Advisor, Kaushik Basu, said major economic reforms in India were unlikely to happen before the 2014 parliamentary elections. The rupee hit a three-month low against the dollar on concerns of domestic economic growth. The partially convertible rupee was at 52.01, down 12 paise against its previous close of 52.14. It touched a low of 52.20 in early trade. Foreign institutional investors have been on the sidelines ever since the finance ministry proposed to impose General Anti-Avoidance Rules (GAAR) in the budget. Though Finance secretary told that FII's and their concerns will be taken care of. The markets though traded on a subdued note through the session tracking the mixed cues from Asian peers after disappointing economic reports from world’s largest economy’s recovery and renewed concerns over the financial situation in Euro-zone, which offset the positive cues from encouraging earnings announcement by blue-chip firms. Traders were seen piling up position in Consumer Durables, FMCG and TECH sector while selling was witnessed in Capital Goods, Power and Realty sector. Besides, the sentiments were also grim ahead of the earnings announcement by Sensex’s heaviest component Reliance Industries, which plunged in red amid expectations that the company is likely to report quarterly figures that would disappoint the Street. On the home turf, the market breadth was neutral.

NEWS ON TODAYS MOVERS:

Ø Ambuja Cements fell close to 2.24% after the company during the announcement of Q1 March 2012 results said that cost push from higher energy cost and rail freight increase is expected to keep the profit margin under pressure

Ø Ranbaxy Laboratories traded flat today despite of weak markets with the stock gains triggered by the company's announcement that its Romanian subsidiary will launch Sevikar tablets in Romania.

Ø Strides Arcolab rose nearly 0.68%, with the stock extending Thursday's 3.38% gains triggered by the company's wholly owned subsidiary receiving approval from US Food and Drug Administration to market generic Cisplatin injection

Ø Essar Shipping rose close to 1.99%, with the stock extending Thursday's 12.03% rally triggered by the company receiving two contracts for land rigs with an estimated revenue from these two contracts to be around $25 million.

Ø ACC fell close to 1.66%, extending Thursday's 3.89% fall triggered by weak Q1 March 2012 results.

Ø Infosys rose to 0.08% on unveiling oracle project driven supply chain a Diamond level member of Oracle Partner Network (OPN) and Oracle will together introduce Oracle Project Driven Supply Chain for high technology companies to extend Oracle’s complete and integrated stack of software and hardware solutions for the technology industry.

CORPORATE NEWS:

Ø HSBC to shed 300 employees from banking across India

Ø KEC Inter bags orders worth Rs1,416 cr

Ø Hero MotoCorp aims to beat two wheeler industry

Ø PowerGrid to establish transmission line for IPPs

Ø Syndicate Bank decrease base rate and BPLR by 25 bps

Ø Piramal Realty and Famous Studios ink for property development

Ø Hero MotoCorp plans to cut input cost by 5% every yr

Ø Astra Microwave Products bags Rs310 cr order

Ø Hindustan Zinc Q4 net profit declines 20%

Ø Mah Satyam to invest $240 mn globally on infrastructure

Ø Religare gets R2 license from IRDA

Ø MRPL closes all units due to water scarcity

Ø CBI arrested 3 SBI officials for over Rs1 cr scam

Ø CBI raids BEML chairman residence

Ø Coromandel Intl ups stake in Sabero Organics

ECONOMIC NEWS:

Ø Govt allows aviation cos to borrow Rs5K cr from overseas

Ø Govt sets up a panel to help realty proj work faster

Ø IGL hearing in Delhi HC adjourned to May 3