Sunday, July 27, 2014

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.

Sunday, July 20, 2014

Weekly Market Commentary - July 14, 2014 - July 18, 2014

Markets started off the week low as absence of any big bang reform from the budget continues to irk some investors. Now that the budget euphoria is over and reality has kicked in, many investors are realizing the strong undercurrents in the economy. The macro environment is improving, the trade esp. exports numbers are picking up, inflation showed a decline and RBI in tandem with the govt. came to the rescue of ailing infrastructure sector with its exemption on reserve requirements.

The best part is that the govt. knows its task and is very devoted to achieve it. Next month it is going to take a call on the sale of $3.0bn worth of PSU stake.

I’ll say that the budget was just a starting point not the ending. Picture abhi baaki hai mere dost!

Sensex ended this week up by 2.5% while Nifty was up by 2.7% and Midcap up by 4.8%

Monday - Sensex down by 0.1%, Nifty down by 0.1%, Midcap up by 0.2%

Benchmark indices continued to trade on weak momentum, falling for the fifth consecutive session. FIIs have turned sellers and have disposed $120.6mn worth of stock on Friday, after been continuously buying $1.6bn worth stocks for previous six sessions into the budget.

There was a major setback for drug industry after India's drug pricing regulator cut and capped the prices of more than 100 drugs used to treat diseases. Sanofi India, with the largest basket of anti-diabetes and heart disease medicine lost more than 10% as its revenue is expected to hit by Rs.139 crores in this fiscal year alone.

Tuesday - Sensex up by 0.9%, Nifty up by 1.0%, Midcap up by 2.3%
Sensex and Nifty took a break from falling and rose about 1% each after June inflation data showed consumer inflation slowing to the lowest since January 2012. CPI eased to 7.31% after Modi govt. curbed farm exports.

Wednesday - Sensex up by 1.3%, Nifty up by 1.3%, Midcap up by 1.5%
Infrastructure and related stocks went up as RBI exempted long term bonds raised for lending to the sector from reserve requirements. Investors are happy as banks, and hence the infra companies would now have access to more funds at lower costs. India also released its trade data, which showed 10.22% y-o-y rise in exports in June as external demand picked up amid weaker currency environment.

Thursday - Sensex flat, Nifty up by 0.2%, Midcap up by 1.2%
Sensex and Nifty continued to trade in green led by infra related stocks which remained buoyed on previous day’s news. Improved rain prospects also led to some sentiment improvement. The focus has now moved to corporate earnings with TCS set to release its numbers later in the day.

Friday - Sensex up by 0.3%, Nifty up by 0.3%, Midcap down by 0.5%
IT stocks rallied on the great set of numbers from TCS, which reported a 45% growth in its bottomline. Lenders continued to gain after the reserve requirement relied from RBI. Shares of NBFCs which take gold as collateral, surged after RBI issued draft guidelines for those seeking a license to set up a payments banks or a small bank.

Saturday, April 19, 2014

Weekly Market Commentary - Apr 14, 2014 - Apr 18, 2014

Two steps back and one forward. That is pretty much how I will describe the action on Dalal Street this (short) week. IT stalwarts - Infosys and TCS reported better earnings but gave contrasting guidance, hence making sure the sector stayed volatile during the week. Throw in a bit of inflation and you have investors in every sector running for the corners. The thing about rallies built on hope and hype is that they don’t need much to fizzle. Remember, no matter how big the bubble is, you only need one small pin to burst it.

Sensex and Nifty ended the week at pretty much the same level as last week while Midcap down by meagre 0.2%

Monday – Markets closed on occasion of Baisakhi / Ambedkar Jayanti

Tuesday - Sensex down by 0.6%, Nifty down by 0.6%, Midcap down by 0.9%
Markets were down as inflation raised its head again and soared to three-month high figure of 5.7% in March - dashing hopes of any rate reprieve from central bank. Almost all interest rate sensitive stocks fell while IT stocks surged on the back of good earnings reported by Infosys.

Wednesday - Sensex down by 0.9%, Nifty down by 0.9%, Midcap down by 0.8%
BSE Sensex corrected another 200 points as fear of rising inflation was stoked by the predictions of below normal rainfall this year. IT stocks fell as Infosys guidance pointed to weak outlook for the sector. Retail inflation also rose in tandem with WPI to 8.31% in March, largely driven by higher food prices also made investors cautious.

Thursday - Sensex up by 1.6%, Nifty up by 1.6%, Midcap up by 1.5%
Benchmark indices roared back as banks surged on value buying and hopes of bond portfolio gain as RBI fully sold the Rs.200bn debt it had on offer. IT stocks also rose as TCS and HCL reported better than expected earnings with positive future revenue guidance.

Friday - Markets closed on occasion of Good Friday