Weekly Market Commentary - July 21, 2014 - July 25, 2014

The earnings season is here. Investors have now moved on from the rhetoric generated from budget session and have now put their noses back to where they should belong – corporate earnings numbers. So far, the government has been playing to the FII gallery and moving fast on their reform agenda – tweaking laws, creating more enabling environment, removing confusions over controversial policies and implementing steps to allow more foreign capital.

In the near term, investors are going to focus on earnings numbers – L&T, Maruti Suzuki, Bharti Airtel and HLL are lined up for next week. RBI policy review on August 5 will also be keenly watched for any macroeconomic commentary and inflation/interest rate signals.

Sensex ended this week up by 1.9% while Nifty was up by 1.7% and Midcap down by 1.9%

Monday - Sensex up by 0.3%, Nifty up by 0.3%, Midcap down by 0.1%
Markets went up led by rally in Reliance Industries after it reported quarterly earnings better than street estimates. In near term, markets will remain driven by corporate earnings as no new trigger is in sight.

Tuesday - Sensex up by 1.2%, Nifty up by 1.1%, Midcap up by 0.1%
Sensex and Nifty surged more than 1% and traded near their all-time highs led by telecom stocks following Idea Cellular's better-than-expected earnings. Bharti Airtel and Idea Cellular both rallied more than 5% as sentiment around telecom stocks improved.

Wednesday - Sensex up by 0.5%, Nifty up by 0.4%, Midcap down by 0.4%
Benchmark Indices continued on their winning run bolstered by gains in IT and banking leaders on upbeat earnings, higher capital inflows and positive global cues. TCS attained a market valuation of over Rs. 5 lakh crores (or about $84bn) for the first time. Bank of Baroda gained around 3% after RBI removed the stock from its caution list, allowing FIIs to invest in it. Jet Airways also rose around 4% after its chairman discussed its restructuring plan involving selling planes and renegotiating debt.

Thursday - Sensex up by 0.5%, Nifty up by 0.4%, Midcap down by 0.2%
Sensex and Nifty rose to their record highs after decision to raise FDI limit in insurance got cabinet approval. Modi government is doing its best to revive foreign interest in India and raising the FDI limit from 26% to 49% in capital starved insurance sector highlights its reform agenda. Cairn India slumped by 7% as company disclosed a related party transaction worth $1.25bn in the form of loan facility to parent Vedanta Group. Analysts have always been wary of this move where the new promoter group might take advantage of cash pile of Cairn India to fund their other projects – a step widely considered detrimental to minority shareholders’ interest.

Friday - Sensex down by 0.6%, Nifty down by 0.5%, Midcap down by 1.3%
Markets took a breather on Friday after continuously rising for nine sessions. Tata Motors declined most in six months after JLR price cuts in China raised concerns on margins in a key market.

Weekly Market Commentary - Feb 10, 2014 - Feb 14, 2014

Highlights of this week will be the growing contrast between US economy, which has shown some strong signs of recovery in their economy, and Indian story, whose biggest facilitator public sector banks have started crumbling under the weight of increasing NPAs. The chance of some bank going under or requiring state assistance or bail-out have become very strong since United Bank of India story went out. State Bank of India’s weak results is indicator of how deep the mess is.

It is India’s worst kept secret that our public sector banks (and their investors) are suffering under crony capitalism –which reached its zenith under UPA regime. It is a high time now when our banking regulator – RBI may take a leaf out of its Governor Raghuram Rajan’s widely read book “Saving Capitalism from the Capitalist”- rolls up its sleeve and gets our banks out of clutches of this govt-crony nexus.

Sensex ended this week flat, Nifty was slightly down by 0.2% while CNX Midcap was down by 1.3%.

Monday – Sensex down by 0.2%, Nifty down by 0.2%, Midcap down by 0.3%
Markets continued their lackadaisical performance as earnings season continues without any major surprise. Investors continued to book profits on IT and banking sectors. Beginning of two-day nationwide strike by public sector bank staff also affected the trading on banking counters.

Tuesday - Sensex up by 0.1%, Nifty up by 0.2%, Midcap up by 0.1%
Indices rose slightly led by two Tata group companies. Tata motors rose the most in two months after its quarterly profit tripled. Tata Steel Ltd gained to its highest level in three weeks before its earnings report. The gains in Sensex were offset by fall in RIL shares after Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal filed an FIR against Mukesh Ambani.

Wednesday – Sensex up by 0.4%, Nifty up by 0.4%, Midcap flat
Markets rallied after US Congress agreed to advance legislation extending US borrowing authority. Also, newly appointed Fed Chairman Janet Yellen held off from making any changes to tapering schedule set the Asian shares soaring.

Thursday – Sensex down by 1.2%, Nifty down by 1.4%, Midcap down by 1.3%
Earnings disappointment in Cipla and Coal India stocks dragged the benchmark indices down. Also, govt released data indicated that industrial output contracted by 0.6% in December meaning all is still not well with the economy although retail inflation did ease to its two year low of 8.79%.

Friday – Sensex up by 0.9%, Nifty up by 0.8%, Midcap up by 0.3%
Sensex rose on last day of the week as some traders rushed to cover their shorts ahead of presentation of interim union budget next week. Meanwhile, January WPI numbers came at 5.05% vs. 6.2% in December, lower than ET-Now poll estimate of 5.5%.

Weekly Market Commentary - Jan 20, 2014 - Jan 24, 2014

Investors were a cheerful lot for most of this week. So far, result season has been good, has been largely without any negative surprises. Dollar earning sectors seems to have picked up steam on hope of strengthening US recovery. Falling inflation levels have also brought back the rate cut clamour. Everything was good and normal until two important events happened. One, Urijit Patel tabled a report on strengthening monetary framework, which among other things recommended changing the inflation targeting benchmark to CPI from WPI. If this happens, it may lead to higher interest rates in near to medium term and may put a dampener on India’s growth plans (for short term). Two, RBI governor made statements to the effect of inflation fighting would be the main focus of RBI, which dashed hopes of rate cut in RBI review meeting on Jan 28.

Sensex and Nifty ended this week with small gains of 0.3% and 0.1% respectively while CNX Midcap fell 0.9%.

Monday – Sensex up by 0.7%, Nifty up by 0.7%, Midcap up by 1.0%
Market’s mood was cheerful as index heavyweights Reliance Industries and Wipro managed to beat consensus and post healthy results. Reliance fared better than street forecasts as its refinery earned $7.6 per barrel of crude refined, significantly better than Singapore GRMs (Gross Refining Margin) of $4.3. Shares went up initially but lost all its gains in the latter half of the day. Wipro ended the day up as its results showed that business continued to improve as signs of turnaround and margin expansions are growing.

Tuesday - Sensex up by 0.2%, Nifty up by 0.2%, Midcap up by 0.2%
Market continued its uptrend amid some profit booking seen on the bourses. Govt decision to sell stake in Hindustan Zinc to cover some of its fiscal deficit also helped to improve the sentiment.

Wednesday – Sensex up by 0.4%, Nifty up by 0.4%, Midcap up by 0.1%
Indices spurted to all time highs in latter half of the day as investors flocked to buy pharma, metal and banking stocks on expectations of strong corporate earnings and rate cut by the Reserve Bank.

Thursday – Sensex up by 0.2%, Nifty up by 0.1%, Midcap down by 0.4%
Markets continued their rally and closed at another record high as industry bellwether, L&T, which is widely considered the barometer of Indian economy, rose as much as 4% after reporting a 22% jump in standalone net profit for 3Q.

Friday – Sensex down by 1.1%, Nifty down by 1.2%, Midcap down by 1.8%
Indices snapped on last day of the week as RBI governor Raghuram Rajan calling inflation a “destructive disease” dashed hopes of investors expecting a rate cut in the review meeting. These comments bring RBI’s priorities to tackle inflation first before focusing on growth to the fore again. In another event, Ranbaxy’s stocks crashed 20% after US FSA banned the firm from shipping drugs from its Toansa plant. Weak global trend following poor economic data in the US and China dampened the market sentiment.

Weekly Market Commentary - Dec 16 - Dec 20, 2013

Quite a week for Indian markets. With Fed’s tapering decision out of the way and uncertainty related to Indian govt’s stand on KG D6 gas price revision cleared, investors and business got another major sentiment boost from RBI governor who decided not to raise rates even in the midst of rising inflation. Therefore, what resulted is Sensex regaining 21,000 level while focus now shifted to food inflation data, which, if strengthened, may warrant a rate hike from RBI.

Sensex gained 1.8%; Nifty gained 1.7% while CNX Midcap was up by 3.1% this week.

Monday – Sensex down by 0.3%, Nifty down by 0.2%, Midcap up by 0.4%
Sensex failed to gain ground as impending rate hike concerns, post high inflation numbers, have kept the street nervous. Street is widely expecting a repo rate hike of 25bps to 8.00% in Dec 18 policy review. Recent govt data shows that costly vegetables, particularly potato and onion has pushed the November WPI to 7.52% from 7% previous month while CPI has jumped to 11.24% warranting inflation controlling measures from central bank.

Tuesday - Sensex down by 0.2%, Nifty down by 0.3%, Midcap down by 0.1%
Markets traded in the narrow range as investors stayed cautious ahead of RBI policy review meet on Wednesday.

Wednesday – Sensex up by 1.2%, Nifty up by 1.3%, Midcap up by 1.5%
RBI sprung a surprise as it decided to maintain the status quo and left the rates unchanged. Investors’ sentiments turned bullish as RBI governor Raghuram Rajan indicated lowering of inflation in near term due to falling vegetable prices but promised to act if inflation did not subside as expected.

Thursday – Sensex down by 0.7%, Nifty down by 0.8%, Midcap down by 0.4%
There was some selloff as Fed announced $10bn of tapering every month. Neither the selloff nor the tapering decision came as a surprise. Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) expects that with appropriate policy accommodation, economic growth will pick up from its recent pace and the unemployment rate will gradually decline.

Friday – Sensex up by 1.8%, Nifty up by 1.7%, Midcap up by 1.7%
Markets went up as Fed’s QE tapering decision is finally out of its way and as expected did not have major impact on either stocks or currency. Sensex got a major boost as govt. finally cleared Reliance Industries’ demand of higher gas prices while asking them to deposit a guarantee equivalent to any incremental revenue. With this decision, govt has cleared lot of uncertainties in the oil and gas industry and made easier for foreign companies to invest in India.

Notes on Indian Gas Policy framework and KG-D6

I have been trying to keep up with developments happening on oil and gas industry front in India for quite some time now. Here, for the benefit of my readers, I am posting copy of my notes on the Indian gas policy and KG-D6 controversy. Although these notes are not comprehensive (I have to work harder), but may give a beginner some headway in the Indian oil and gas industry policy and development space.

 

Brief summary of evolution of Gas Policy in India 

Gas received policymakers’ attention after the discovery of the offshore Bombay High fields by ONGC, from which production began in 1974. 

• By 1984, the government realized the need for a gas distribution network, and set up a separate state-owned company, the Gas Authority of India Limited (GAIL), to develop one.
• In the 1990s, as public sector exploration companies failed to make further gas discoveries, the government auctioned off fields that had been ‘discovered’ but not fully developed by NOCs, to joint ventures between private companies and NOCs under production sharing agreements.
• An upstream regulator, the Directorate General of Hydrocarbons (DGH), was set up in 1993.
• In 1998, the government launched a new regime, the New Exploration Licensing Policy or NELP which was based on PSAs, pitched at greater private and international participation.
• Under the first eight rounds, 234 contracts were signed.
• The ninth round was launched in October 2010. However, bidders have predominantly been domestic private sector companies, and not international companies.
• India also began importing LNG in 2004; it should be noted that, particularly in fertilizers, there was a demand for LNG despite high prices, as prices of the competing input, naphtha were very high.
• In May 2010, the price of ‘administered’ gas was more than doubled from its previously subsidized level; from US$ 1.8 per mmbtu to US$ 4.2 per mmbtu.
• Between 2005 and 2010, APM gas prices remained frozen, with state-owned companies and the Federal government taking on the burden of subsidies. 

 

Gas Pricing Framework

There are three kinds of gas pricing regimes existing in India:

1. Gas prices based on Administered Pricing Mechanism (APM) for those gas reserves before NELP. This was around $2.50/mmbtu and was raised later to $4.2/mmbtu.
2. Import prices paid to LNG imports which depend on international prices which were as high as $16/mmbtu and 
3. Arm’s length price based on market for those gas reserves discovered after NELP. For Krishna Godavari basin the government has fixed gas price at a level of $4.20/mmbtu.

 

KG-D6 Controversy

• The $4.2 price was fixed by Empowered Group of Ministers (EGoM) led by then finance minister Pranab Mukherjee (now President of India) in 2007 and was fixed for 5 years (till Mar 31, 2014).
• RIL’s position is that gas produced from KG-D6 was priced competitively in 2007 but does not reflect the market conditions in 2012. So, RIL is seeking a revision to this price
• Govt invoked the PSC to deny the RIL- BP approvals for 2012-13 budget and recovery of around $1 billion from sale of gas from KG-D6
• PSC Allows govt to conduct audit either through its own representatives or through chartered accountants.
• Petroleum Ministry says approval for budget and work programmes will come after CAG is given the access to records
• RIL maintains that nothing in the PSC permits an audit of operational, commercial and technical decisions of the operator
• The company also maintains that PSC contains no provision that restricts cost recovery through reference to factors like the production level or the extent to which field facilities are utilised.
• RIL attributed the fall in production to the unexpected geology of the area, adding data had established drilling more wells would not have helped.
• RIL says the next stage of its exploration plan for enhancing production is dependent on government approvals. And, it would take four to five years after the approvals for production to rise.
• R S Sharma, former chairman and MD of ONGC (state owned E&P), said it is unfair to withhold approvals, adding RIL does not fall under the purview of CAG. “Decisions in E&P are taken in stages. Characteristics of each block are different, and decisions have to be taken on a case-to-case basis. It is a complex business. It is not like processing, or even the mining industry”.
• Gas output from KG-D6, which peaked to 61.5 mscmd in March 2010 and was set to rise to 80 mscmd by April 2012, has been declining.
• Many believe production is being allowed to fall, as RIL is stuck with a gas price of $4.2 a million British thermal unit till 2014.
• Govt constitutes Rangarajan Committee to resolve gas pricing, profit sharing issues. .
• Rangarajan committee recommends average global prices for domestic gas
• Expected gas price revision is unlikely to benefit Reliance Industries. The clauses in the Cabinet note will not make RIL eligible for any price hike before April 2014.

You can find a compehensive list of all news items that appeared in several newspapers on KG-D6 controversy here.

KG-D6 dispute timeline

In case, a link went dead, you can easily search using the news headline text. 

• April 12, 2000 – RIL signs the PSC with government to develop the KG-D6 basin. (Link)
• Nov 1, 2006 – RIL files amended development plan for KG-D6 with DGH. Production rate to be enhanced to 80 mmcmd from 40 mmcmd. (Link)
• Sept 21, 2008 – RIL has commenced production of hydrocarbons in its KG D6 block of KG basin with crude oil production on Sept 17, 2008. (Link)
• April 1, 2009 – RIL starts natural gas production from KG-D6 fields. (Link)
• Oct 29, 2009 – Production ramped up to about 40 mmscmd. (Link)
• Jan 22, 2010 – Production ramped up to about 60 mmscmd. (Link)
• Feb 21, 2011 – RIL-BP deal announced. (Link)
• June 2011 – CAG report leaked in the media. (Link)
• October 2011 – RIL asks for explanation from ministry preventing cost recovery. (Link)
• November 2011 – RIL seeks arbitration on the matter. (Link)
• April 17, 2012 – RIL and Niko petitioned the Supreme Court asking that the Govt. should nominate an arbitrator. (Link)
• May 3, 2012 – Govt. asked RIL to refund $1.25 bn in production costs. (Link)
• May 30, 2012 – Govt constitutes Rangarajan Committee to resolve gas pricing, profit sharing issues. Committee to submit report by Aug 30, 2012. (Link)
• June 21, 2012 – Niko announced Indian govt. is considering increase in KG-D6 gas prices. (Link)
• Jan 2, 2013 – Rangarajan committee recommends average global prices for domestic gas. (Link)
• Jan 7, 2013 – CAG to begin its audit on Jan 9. (Link)
• Jan 14, 2013 - Gas output from RIL's KG-D6 fields drops to 22 mmscmd. (Link)
• Jan 21, 2013 - Government wants to resolve RIL row over KG-D6 block via talks: Veerappa Moily (Link)
• Jan 22, 2013 - Gas output from RIL's KG-D6 fields drops to all time low of 20 mmscmd. (Link)
• Jan 23, 2013 - Expected gas price revision is unlikely to benefit Reliance Industries. The clauses in the Cabinet note will not make RIL eligible for any price hike before April 2014. (Link)
• Feb 4, 2013 - DGH refused to issue approval letters for the block's work plans and budget since 2010-11. (Link)
• Mar 5, 2013 - Natural gas supplies to power plants has completely stopped after output from the eastern offshore fields dropped to an all-time low of 17.3 mmscmd. (Link)
• Apr 11, 2013 - RIL has shut its ninth well at the main gas fields in the KG-D6 block, leading to output plummeting to an all-time low of 15.5 mmscmd. (Link)
• May 11, 2013 - RIL announced a major gas find more than 4 kms below the sea bed and 2 kms directly underneath the currently producing D1&D3 field in the KG-D6 block off the east coast. (Link)
• June 16, 2013 - In a relief to RIL, Oil Minister has indicated that he may not fully accept DGH's recommendation for taking away 86% of the company's KG-D6 gas block area. (Link)
• July 19, 2013 - The government has given the go-ahead for RIL’s $1.5 billion field development programme for the KG-D6 block. (Link)
• July 22, 2013 - RIL plans to invest $6.5 billion in its KG-D6 gas fields to re-attain natural gas production of up to 60 mmscmd by 2019-20 and regain the lost glory of the prolific block. (Link)
• Aug 7, 2013 - DGH has recommended additional penalty of $781 million (taking the total to $1.786 bn) on RIL for producing less than projected natural gas. (Link)
• Aug 15, 2013 - RIL plans to invest $3.18 billion in R-Series gas field to produce 13-15 mmscmd of gas for 13 years from the D-34 (Dhirubhai-34) discovery in the KG-DWN-98/3 or KG-D6 block. (Link)
• Aug 22, 2013 - 12 power plants solely dependent on KG-D6 gas lying idle. (Link)
• Aug 22, 2013 - ONGC may share KG-D6 infrastructure. (Link)
• Sept 03, 2013 - Government not honouring contracts on KG-D6 gas block, says Reliance. (Link)
• Sept 15, 2013 - Reliance Industries slams oil regulator's move to snatch KG-D6 area.(Link)
• Sept 25, 2013 - If you find more gas in KG-D6, keep it: Angry RIL to govt.(Link)
• Sept 25, 2013 - Govt may hire consultant to end KG-D6 gas row with RIL.(Link)
• Oct 13, 2013 - RIL trashes expert report on KG-D6 output fall.(Link)
• Oct 18, 2013 - RIL, BP to invest up to $10 bn in KG-D6 block: Moily.(Link)
• Oct 22, 2013 - Govt says no to fresh evaluation of whether RIL hoarded KG-D6 gas.(Link)
• Oct 29, 2013 - Oil ministry to ask RIL to surrender 5 KG-D6 gas finds.(Link)
• Nov 12, 2013 - Reliance Industries to furnish bank guarantee (Link)
• Nov 17, 2013 - Non-adherance to KG-D6 plan be taken as default: Panel (Link)
• Nov 18, 2013 - RIL plans to increase KG-D6 gas output (Link)
• Nov 21, 2013 - Govt disallows another $792 mn RIL investment in KG-D6 block (Link)
• Nov 26, 2013 - Reliance Industries' new gas discovery likely biggest ever (Link)
• Nov 26, 2013 - No going back on gas price hikes; notification soon: Moily (Link)
• Nov 27, 2013 - KG output drops to record low (Link)
• Dec 5, 2013 - Reliance Industries's KG-D6 output slips to 10 mmscmd (Link)

Weekly Market Commentary - Jun 3 - Jun 7, 2013

This week may seem to be a non-event for the markets on the onset but one major step taken by the Govt recently will go a long way in consolidating its fiscal position. Govt launched inflation indexed bonds. IIBs, as they are called, in an attempt to wean off local investors from gold. Gold, one of the crucial components of our trade deficit has been touching new highs as markets turned volatile, giving the establishment new headache every passing day. How far will IIB go in reducing the country's gold import bill, only time will tell. You can read about IIB here.

Monsoon is here. On June 1, it arrived in Kerala, two days ahead of its time. It is a well known fact that the monsoon rains are very crucial for India, one of the world's largest producers and consumers of food.

Sensex ended this week with a loss of 1.7%, while Nifty and CNX Midcap lost 1.8% and 0.2% respectively.

Monday - Sensex down by 0.8%, Nifty down by 0.8%, Midcap down by 0.1%
Markets continued its downward movement taking the cues from sub 5% GDP growth announced previous week, weakening in rupee and from the fact that FIIs were net sellers on Friday. The sentiment were further dampened by the results of private survey, PMI, conducted by HSBC which indicated slowdown in manufacturing activity. The survey, which measures the business activity in Indian factories excluding utilities, indicated that index eased to 50.1 in May 2013 from 51 in April 2013, due to fall in output and less new orders. The survey also suggested that employment rose at a slightly faster pace; input prices deflated and output prices declined for the first time since the global financial crisis.

In data released by govt after trading hours on Friday, fiscal deficit for FY13 came in lower at 4.9% of GDP against 5.2% budgeted (revised) in Feb 2013. Fiscal deficit for FY14 is budgeted at 4.8% of GDP.

Tuesday - Sensex down by 0.3%, Nifty down by 0.3%, Midcap up by 0.4%
Markets lost initial gains made earlier in the day as rupee strengthened a bit and ended slightly negative amidst the choppy trade marked by profit booking.

Wednesday - Sensex up by 0.1%, Nifty up by 0.1%, Midcap up by 0.3%
No strong movements occur during the day. Markets ended slightly up as investors turn to bottom fishing, bargain hunting as markets in other parts of Asia see heavy selling due to fear of reduction in stimulus spending from Fed.

Thursday - Sensex down by 0.2%, Nifty down by 0.0%, Midcap down by 0.1%
Absence of any big news flow kept the sensex rangebound. RIL's AGM previous day, was a dull affair with no big bang announcements. Mukesh Ambani made familiar noises about E&P and 4G business.

Friday - Sensex down by 0.5%, Nifty down by 0.7%, Midcap down by 0.8%
Markets are trading nervous as rupee seems to be heading southward. Global environment has turned cautious after Fed's indication of tapering of its stimulus spending in case US economy gains upward momentum.

Weekly Market Commentary - May 27 - May 31, 2013

We started the week with big bang news of another potentially huge discovery in KG-D6 by RIL and ended the week with weak, but expected sub 5% 4Q GDP numbers.

In the context of current Indian market performance, you can safely say that current volatility is the by-product of easy liquidity and uncertain economic environment. Every new economic data brings with it the question everyone is asking, whether this is the last of the bad news we are receiving. With every data release, we hear experts talking about Indian market bottoming out. But have we?

Current GDP figures are at decade low, consumption is showing decline, rupee is falling, RBI is dithering on rate cuts and Indian investor is choosing to stay away from stocks making our markets even more vulnerable to sudden FII outflow which could prove disastrous to the economy. This week sensex made a small gain of 0.3% while Nifty and CNX Midcap ended flat.

Monday - Sensex up by 1.7%, Nifty up by 1.7%, Midcap up by 1.2%
Sensex zoomed past 20K mark, gaining more than 350 points in the process. Main catalyst was Reliance Industries late Friday announcement of big gas discovery in KG D6 basin. Company is planning to start appraisal drilling soon to ascertain the amount of gas discovered. It remains to be seen how much of this gas, Reliance, can actually drill out commercially. Discovery also gives Reliance an additional weapon to strongly pursue market pricing of gas with govt. RIL, along with its partner BP are currently negotiating for higher price for their KG-D6 gas which is strongly contested by Petroleum Ministry and Fertilizer Ministry. There was also some short covering seen in the market, as current F&O contract expires this week.

Tuesday - Sensex up by 0.6%, Nifty up by 0.5%, Midcap up by 0.6%
Markets remained cautious ahead of GDP data announcement on Friday. Coal India, country's largest coal supplier, which reported earnings post market hours previous day, reported a jump of 35%, beating the consensus estimates, on the back of higher supplies and lower employee expenses. Company also announced its decision to hike prices by 10%.

Wednesday - Sensex down by 0.1%, Nifty down by 0.1%, Midcap down by 0.6%
No major movements in Sensex, as markets focus on Friday GDP data announcement and F&O expiry. Sun Pharma, country's top drugmaker by market value, reported 23% rise in 4Q profits and announced a bonus share issue.

Thursday - Sensex up by 0.3%, Nifty up by 0.3%, Midcap down by 0.1%
Sensex made small gain as investors cover up their position on the day of F&O expiry. Tata Motors and Mahindra & Mahindra beat the consensus estimates while ONGC reported a decline in 4Q profit on the back of lower sales and higher payment on statutory levies.

Friday - Sensex down by 2.3%, Nifty down by 2.3%, Midcap down by 1.0%
Markets went downhill as GDP grew at mere 4.8% in 4Q and 5% for full fiscal year 2013. Though, the street was expecting sub 5% GDP figure for 4Q, it was the comments from RBI which set the bearish tone pushing the investors towards the exit. RBI governor maintained it cautious stance suggesting that inflation data still has upward risk while current account position stays out of comfortable range. These comments deprived the market of any rate cut hopes in June meeting and led to selling across the board. Rupee also took the hit and is trading now at close proximity of 57 to a dollar.