Sunday, August 18, 2013

Weekly Market Commentary - Aug 12 - Aug 16, 2013

This independence day, RBI took away some of the freedom from its citizens and corporate as it introduced measures to cap dollar movement outside the country. While RBI and govt did their best to allay the fears of capital control, it is everybody’s guess what other bad policy decision lies ahead for the market and for how long this drama will continue. Sensex and Nifty went down by 1% each, while CNX Midcap gained 0.4% this week.

Monday - Sensex up by 0.8%, Nifty up by 0.8%, Midcap up by 1.6%
Markets went up as investors bought stocks amid govt and RBI interventions to prop up rupee. Although the measure adopted by RBI has failed to curb any decline in the rupee value, trade date brought good news as exports grew by ~12% to $26bn in July. SBI’s latest quarterly release indicating worsening asset quality, which is putting a dent on its profitability, capped the investor confidence.

Tuesday - Sensex up by 1.5%, Nifty up by 1.5%, Midcap up by 1.5%
Markets rallied as investors rushed to cover their shorts after recent sharp corrections ignoring the poor IIP data. The index of industrial production (IIP) declined by 2.2% in June while industrial output was 1.1% lower y-o-y. Govt move to hike import duty on gold and silver to curb CAD also cheered the bulls.

Wednesday - Sensex up by 0.7%, Nifty up by 0.8%, Midcap up by 0.4%
Tata group companies saved the day as markets ignored the impact of rise in WPI to 5.79% in July from 4.86% in June. Tata Motors surged around 10% after its unit Jaguar Land Rover reported 21% higher sales in July globally. Tata Steel also beat the street expectations with consolidating net profit surging by 90%.

Thursday – Independence Day Holiday

Friday – Sensex down by 4.0%, Nifty down by 4.1%, Midcap down by 3.1%
RBI spooked the investors as they bring back capital controls and restricted the movement of USD outside the country. RBI on late Wednesday brought back controls on fund flows limiting the investment citizens and domestic companies can do abroad. It also banned the import of gold coins and medallions while introducing fresh measures to attract NRI money. Recent positive developments in US and other developed markets also instilled fresh fears of stimulus tapering from Fed, which added to the bearish sentiment.


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