Sunday, April 6, 2014

Weekly Market Commentary - Mar 31, 2014 - Apr 4, 2014

Elections are coming. This week was a crucial week for the market as it recorded the all time highs our benchmark indices have achieved. This week was also crucial, as its performance will be benchmarked against for comparison in near to medium term to analyze the hope rally. This week also marks the end of wait for the biggest exercise in world’s biggest democracy to begin. The results of this exercise will probably tell the investors – and rest of the country that whether optimism and hope rally did really have any strong legs or was it just another bubble based on euphoria around Narendra Modi.

Sensex and Nifty ended this week flat while Midcap was up by 1.5%

Monday - Sensex up by 0.2%, Nifty up by 0.1%, Midcap up by 1.1%
Indian stocks benchmark indices went up slightly and closed the fiscal year 2014 close to 20% higher than 2013 as strong foreign buying sparked a rally in stocks leveraged to domestic story. Market also expects RBI governor to hold interest rates on coming review meeting on Apr 1.

Tuesday - Sensex up by 0.3%, Nifty up by 0.3%, Midcap down by 0.3%
Sensex and Nifty continued to record new highs as RBI left interest rates unchanged and brought a relief to investors by saying that it may avoid any more policy tightening in near term.

Wednesday - Sensex up by 0.5%, Nifty up by 0.5%, Midcap up by 1.5%
BSE Sensex touched another high on the back of heavy FII buying and election commission allowing RBI to grant new bank licenses. Potential bank license candidates led the gainers with IDFC and LIC Housing Finance surging 4% and 5% respectively.

Thursday - Sensex down by 0.2%, Nifty down by 0.2%, Midcap down by 0.8%
Benchmark indices retreated from their all time highs as caution eclipse the optimism in the market as five-week election process draws closer. Investors booked profits as earnings season is also about to kick off with Infosys announcing its results on Apr 15.

Friday - Sensex down by 0.7%, Nifty down by 0.6%, Midcap flat
Market turned to profit booking on the last day of trading before election process begins (on Monday). IMF released a report saying that India’s economic mess is due to internal issues, strongly refuting the UPA govt’s claims blaming external macroeconomic environment for India’s problems.

Saturday, March 29, 2014

Weekly Market Commentary - Mar 24, 2014 - Mar 28, 2014

Indian markets continued to zoom ahead as its peers in BRIC group faltered. Global investors – in search of better yields, seems to have gone full throttle on India in 2014 due to lack of other potential investment candidates.

Indian rupee has turned around dramatically in past eight months from being the worst performer among emerging market currencies to be the best performer. Strong fund inflows, positive economic data, shrinking current account deficit as well as easing inflation has helped the rupee and equities to move up with vengeance.


Problem with Russian equities is quite well known as investors continue to avoid them as global powers call for economic sanctions on the country in aftermath of Crimea annexation.

Brazil is facing somewhat similar political situation as India where current government has disappointed investors with their reforms pace and structure and market is preparing for a potential transition in October elections.

China, on the other hand, is facing prospects of recording its weakest growth since global financial crisis as manufacturing continues to disappoint. China released preliminary March factory survey data on Monday, which showed that manufacturing shrank for the third straight month. This release followed weaker-than-expected industrial output figures for January and February and a shocking fall in exports. Chinese Premier has asked investors to prepare for a wave of bankruptcies in the country.

Sensex ended this week up 2.7% while Nifty was up by 3.1% and Midcap up by 4.4%

Monday - Sensex up by 1.4%, Nifty up by 1.4%, Midcap up by 0.7%
Benchmark indices opened the week in positive territory with banking sector leading the pack. Hope rally continued in the last week of March as investors bet on 3Rs: Reforms, Recovery and RBI.

Tuesday - Sensex and Nifty flat, Midcap up by 0.8%
Markets broadly continued their upward momentum as benchmark indices touch all time highs during the day. Oil and gas stocks corrected a bit as Election Commission took cognizance of issue of gas price hike and asked Centre to defer it.

Wednesday - Sensex up by 0.2%, Nifty up by 0.2%, Midcap up by 0.6%
BSE Sensex continued its record-breaking steak and closed the day at all time high on the back of strong FIIs inflow. Rupee declined a bit as US recovery strengthens and PSU buy USD on behalf of RBI to prop up the reserve levels. However, sustained FII inflow restricted the decline in rupee value. Rupee is trading at its seven month ahead against the dollar.

Thursday - Sensex up by 0.5%, Nifty up by 0.6%, Midcap up by 0.3%
BSE Sensex rose to another record high as banking stocks gain ahead of expected favorable RBI rate policy review on April 1 and expected decision on Base III norm. Street expects RBI to keep the interest rates unchanged in this meeting as inflation and deficit data is in RBI’s comfortable range.

Friday - Sensex up by 0.6%, Nifty up by 0.8%, Midcap up by 1.9%
Key benchmark indices finished the week at record high – fifth consecutive day of record close. Markets continued moving upwards as RBI extended the deadline by another year for banks to implement Basel III capital-raising rules. RBI extended the deadline to Mar 31, 2019 as banks raised concerns on potential stress to asset quality.