Sunday, August 24, 2014

Weekly Market Commentary - Aug 18, 2014 - Aug 22, 2014

PM Narendra Modi’s maiden Independence Day speech did well to excite Indian citizens with prospects of wonderful days ahead and enthuse investors to pour money into the Indian markets.

One thing is for sure, India is no longer business as usual. Things are changing, albeit at a slower pace than some expected, but it is changing. More and more projects are been given green light – without losing the focus on environmental issues, societal changes have been signaled without ruffling the opposition’s feathers and efforts are been made to drastically cut down the red tape and make India one of the world’s favored business destination (WB ranks us at 134 out of 189 economies ranked).

Modi also send the last reminiscent of India’s attempt of mimicking Soviet’s command economy – Planning Commission packing. With Planning Commission gone, the focus turns back to decentralization of Indian economy with states getting even more financing powers and autonomy going forward.

Sensex ended this week up by 1.2% while Nifty was up by 1.6% and Midcap up by 3.6%

Monday - Sensex up by 1.1%, Nifty up by 1.1%, Midcap up by 1.7%
Investors cheered as PM Narendra Modi delivered his maiden Independence Day speech where he vowed to make radical changes in the way country is run especially the bureaucratic setup. The news of declining WPI to five- month low and easing of tensions over Ukraine also boosted the positive sentiment.

Tuesday - Sensex up by 0.1%, Nifty up by 0.3%, Midcap up by 1.0%

Both Sensex and Nifty continued their journey upwards as oil retailers surged after Brent hit its 14-month low. FII sentiment is buoyed by positive noises made by Modi govt. on reforms and strong trust on RBI governor Raghuram Rajan’s ability to tackle exchange rate crises and inflation. Falling crude prices have also added to the bullish sentiment as India’s import burden eased.

Wednesday - Sensex down by 0.4%, Nifty down by 0.3%, Midcap up by 0.3%

Benchmark indices corrected after rallying continuously for six days as investors booked profits ahead of scheduled US Fed meeting on Thursday.

Thursday - Sensex up by 0.2%, Nifty up by 0.2%, Midcap up by 0.4%
Both Sensex and Nifty edged higher as FIIs continued to pour money in Indian markets, especially in blue-chips reflecting continued optimism about corporate earnings and a recovery in the domestic economy. Slipping in crude oil prices as China reported slowdown in its huge factory sector also helped the sentiment.

Friday - Sensex up by 0.2%, Nifty up by 0.3%, Midcap up by 0.2%
Nifty closed at its all-time high of 7,913.20 points led by IT stocks - which rallied on the news of improving prospects of US economy, and banks rose as RBI looks into reviewing lending caps to align them with global standards set by Basel committee.

Sunday, August 3, 2014

Weekly Market Commentary - Jul 28, 2014 - Aug 1, 2014




Sensex ended this week down by 2.5% while Nifty was down by 2.4% and Midcap down by 0.2%

Monday - Sensex down by 0.5%, Nifty down by 0.5%, Midcap down by 0.3% 
Investors continued to book profits in the blue chips names ahead of the derivative expiry this week. RBI monetary policy review on next Tuesday will be the next catalyst for Indian stocks.

Tuesday – Markets closed on Id-Ul-Fitr (Ramzan Id)

Wednesday - Sensex up by 0.4%, Nifty up by 0.6%, Midcap up by 0.7% Markets went up slightly after Bharti Airtel, Lupin Ltd and Dr Reddy's Laboratories Ltd posted results better than street expectations. The gains were capped ahead of derivative expiry, expected Fed statement later in the day and lower than consensus L&T results.

Thursday - Sensex down by 0.7%, Nifty down by 0.9%, Midcap up by 0.1% Markets fell on the derivative expiry day weighed down by FII sales after not so impressive numbers from Maruti Suzuki and HCL Technologies. Cadila Healthcare also slumped 4.5% USFDA made certain observations after conducting a "product specific" inspection of its Moraiya manufacturing plant.

Friday - Sensex down by 1.6%, Nifty down by 1.5%, Midcap down by 0.7% 
Sensex and Nifty declined nearly by 1.5%, marking their biggest single-day fall in nearly 3-1/2 weeks in tandem with global market peers ahead of U.S. jobs data. Some analysts are anticipating that a strong US job report will prompt Fed towards interest rate hike, effectively slowing down the interest rates fueled rally across the globe.

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.

Sunday, July 6, 2014

Weekly Market Commentary - June 30, 2014 - July 04, 2014


Sensex ended this week up by 3.4% while Nifty was up by 3.2% and Midcap up by 5.2%

Monday - Sensex up by 1.3%, Nifty up by 1.4%, Midcap up by 2.2%
Markets closed the first quarter of fiscal year 2015 with a 13.5% gain, recording the best quarterly gain for Sensex since second quarter of FY2010. All recent gains made by the stock markets are attributed to Narendra Modi led BJP govt with its economic reform agenda coming into power.

Tuesday - Sensex up by 0.4%, Nifty up by 0.3%, Midcap up by 0.6%
Sensex and Nifty rose again as auto companies such as Maruti Suzuki India surged after reporting stronger monthly sales. HSBC also released its PMI index data that indicated slight gain to 51.5 in June from 51.4 in May.

Wednesday - Sensex up by 1.3%, Nifty up by 1.2%, Midcap up by 1.6%
Both Sensex and Nifty surged again after FM called for more fiscal prudence and warned against mindless populism. FM tried to reinstall the confidence in his govt with a reminder that inflation and high fiscal deficits are his main targets and challenges.

Thursday - Sensex down by 0.1%, Nifty down by 0.1%, Midcap up by 0.1%
Markets took a breather after four consecutive closing in green. Both Sensex and Nifty declined slightly with a technical snag on BSE halting the trading for three hours.

Friday - Sensex up by 0.5%, Nifty up by 0.5%, Midcap up by 0.5%
Markets ended this week in positive territory as investors brace for budget session on July 10. Lot of money – both domestic and foreign is riding on the expectations that PM and FM will deliver a credible and fiscally prudent budget and will have catalysts to revive the Indian economy.

Sunday, June 8, 2014

Weekly Market Commentary - June 2, 2014 - June 6, 2014

Another week of record highs on Indian bourses. Sensex and Nifty are moving up as bears struggle to find any negative catalyst to put a brake on upward journey.

Modi govt has taken the complete charge of New Delhi and is urgently seeking to reboot the economy. It has initiated and publicly announced its intentions to completely overhaul the existing structure of subsidies and doles and get fiscal house in order.

All eyes on budget session now; which will begin in first week of July.

Sensex ended this week up by 4.9% while Nifty was up by 4.9% and Midcap up by 8.0%

Monday - Sensex up by 1.9%, Nifty up by 1.8%, Midcap up by 2.2%
Sensex and Nifty gained as PSU banks rallied on hopes the govt will rationalize the shareholding structure by selling some of its holdings. Investors seems to have shrugged off release of another sub-5% GDP growth numbers as they keenly await RBI’s policy review meeting on Tuesday.

Tuesday - Sensex up by 0.7%, Nifty up by 0.7%, Midcap up by 0.9%
Key benchmark indices gained as RBI held rates steady and toned down its hawkish stance hinting at a rate cut in coming review meeting. RBI also allowed more funds into the system for lending by cutting down on SLR by 50bps. Sugar stocks rallied on expectations that govt might push blending ethanol in petrol and increase the import duty to support local prices.

Wednesday - Sensex down by 0.2%, Nifty down by 0.2%, Midcap up by 1.6%
Sensex and Nifty retreated from their record closing highs as IT companies fell on concerns of stronger rupee. Rupee has gained around 4% so far this year and is among the best performers among the Asian currencies. Fertilizer stocks rallied on hopes that the govt will soon clear outstanding subsidy payments. Insurance companies also some rally on the expectations that govt will raise FDI limit to 49% from 26%.

Thursday - Sensex up by 0.9%, Nifty up by 1.0%, Midcap up by 1.4%
Sensex and Nifty made another record closing high as resource stocks led by Sesa Sterlite gained on positive momentum based on revival of Indian economy.

Friday - Sensex up by 1.5%, Nifty up by 1.5%, Midcap up by 1.7%
Another day of record close high of both Sensex and Nifty. Investors continued to stay bullish over the policy reforms (about to be) initiated by govt. FIIs continue to invest heavily in Indian markets with total purchase so far being $8.3bn this year.

Sunday, May 25, 2014

Weekly Market Commentary - May 19, 2014 - May 23, 2014

As dust settles on election results, investors now keenly wait for the formation of new government structure, which PM elect Narendra Modi has indicated would be small and compact. Investors are all excited and the sentiment on the street is quite bullish – midcap gained more than 10% this week, largely due to strong performance from domestics. Also, see this chart.

Modi will take the oath of PM office on Monday along with his cabinet (hopefully) and we may see return of Arun Shourie to mainstream politics. He was widely known for his portfolio of disinvestment minister – when he ushered in slashing govt stakes from key companies in a bid to make them less bureaucratic, less corrupt and more competitive and efficient.

There are huge expectations with new govt, which has won this election on the agenda of development and reforms. A Reuters report cited this week that finance ministry is working on a proposal to cut welfare spending and reining in fiscal deficit to 3.8-3.9% of GDP in its first budget – hopefully will be presented in July. In my view, it is a prudent step – not only it will make govt. more fiscally responsible, it will also have a long-term impact on inflation.

Sensex ended this week up by 2.4% while Nifty was up by 2.3% and Midcap up by 10.2%

Monday - Sensex up by 1.0%, Nifty up by 0.8%, Midcap up by 4.4%
Markets continued their journey upwards, with Sensex and Nifty on their record-breaking spree. The domestics remained the central attraction to investors and sustained their rally. Gains were capped with exporters such as IT majors and pharma falling as rupee strengthened against the dollar.

Tuesday - Sensex up by 0.1%, Nifty up by 0.2%, Midcap up by 1.0%
Strong performance by domestics and midcaps continued as cabinet formation days draws nearer.

Wednesday - Sensex down by 0.3%, Nifty down by 0.3%, Midcap up by 0.7%
Finally, benchmark indices took some breather as blue chips such as L&T retreated from recent strong gains a day after foreign investors turned net sellers for the first time in about a month.

Thursday - Sensex up by 0.3%, Nifty up by 0.3%, Midcap up by 1.7%
Expectations that Coal India might get split into smaller companies, led to a rally in the stock. The Nifty closed at a record high as investors resumed buying stocks of companies expected to benefit from an economic recovery. Titan surged after RBI allowed banks to provide gold loans to jewellery makers.

Friday - Sensex up by 1.3%, Nifty up by 1.2%, Midcap up by 2.0%
Markets rallied after SBI surged 10% after reporting decline in bad loans indicating worse may be over for banking sector in terms of asset quality. There was some rally in power stocks in expectations of reform measure from incoming government.

Sunday, May 18, 2014

Weekly Market Commentary - May 12, 2014 - May 16, 2014

This week there was only one thing that moved the markets: Modi wave.  This chart below will tells us the performance of domestic stories vis-Ć -vis external ones since Narendra Modi was declared PM candidate from BJP. Nifty has surged 23% with domestics gaining 38% vs 9% gain in externals since that fateful day in September 2013.



Sensex ended this week up by 4.9% while Nifty was up by 5.0% and Midcap up by 5.8%

Monday - Sensex up by 2.4%, Nifty up by 2.3%, Midcap up by 1.0%
Markets continued to roll over as exit polls results indicated strong performance of BJP led coalition. Rally in stocks with domestic story speaks about the confidence in BJP led govt to revive investment climate. Rupee also hits its one-month high against the dollar as FIIs consolidated their position in expectation of a strong rally on the result day Friday.

Tuesday - Sensex up by 1.4%, Nifty up by 1.3%, Midcap up by 2.1%
BSE Sensex soared and touched its lifetime high of 24,068.94 as euphoria over expected BJP govt win continued. Domestic growth oriented stocks such as BHEL and ONGC rallied 10% and 4% respectively. Bank Nifty hit its record high.

Wednesday - Sensex down by 0.2%, Nifty flat, Midcap up by 1.6%
Market took a breather after rallying in three consecutive sessions as investors resort to book some profits ahead of result announcement on Friday. There was a brief rally in PSU banks after RBI appointed committee proposed that govt should divest its stake below 50%.

Thursday - Sensex up by 0.4%, Nifty up by 0.2%, Midcap down by 1.0%
Market saw some bullish momentum as investors took position ahead of result announcement day. Market is widely expecting NDA to get majority tomorrow and any tally less than 240 may spark some sell-off.

Friday - Sensex up by 0.9%, Nifty up by 1.1%, Midcap up by 2.1%
BSE Sensex and Nifty surged to record highs of 25,375.63 and 7,563.50 respectively as BJP delivered its best ever performance and recorded a win on 282 seats alone. As trends became clear, rupee also rallied against the dollar and touched its 11-month high. Sensex had a wild day with a swing of more than 1,500 points between high and low.

Sunday, May 11, 2014

Weekly Market Commentary - May 5, 2014 - May 9, 2014

And Sensex does it again. Indian markets driven by huge expectations from the coming (hopefully) BJP govt got a major spurt when PM candidate Narendra Modi declared on prime time that his party will form the most stable and strong govt in Indian history after Rajiv Gandhi. You can watch the full interview here. Any party to get a clean majority needs to score atleast 272 seats in general elections. Many exit polls and election survey predicts that there are chances that BJP (or current form of NDA) will do better than that.

A stable and decisive govt at the centre will certainly raise hopes of Indian investors, as trillions of rupees worth of projects are gathering dust in various govt departments waiting for approvals. Any govt formation that will expedite project approvals, unshackle the invested capital and get new (or better) jobs for our aspiring citizens is certainly welcome by public and businesses alike.

Sensex ended this week up by 2.6% while Nifty was up by 2.4% and Midcap up by 1.6%

Monday - Sensex up by 0.2%, Nifty slightly up by 0.1%, Midcap flat
Markets recovered a little after continuously falling over past five sessions. Sentiment although remains bearish as regional shares falls on news that China's April PMI has contracted for fourth consecutive month.

Tuesday - Sensex up by 0.3%, Nifty up by 0.2%, Midcap up by 0.2%
Investors showed some confidence in Indian stocks as key benchmark indices rose to touch its week high. HSBC PMI index showed some improvement (48.5 in Apr vs. 47.5 in Mar) but still languished below 50 mark indicating contraction, not growth, keeping hopes of expansion in hiring activities at bay.

Wednesday - Sensex down by 0.8%, Nifty down by 0.9%, Midcap down by 0.2%
Sensex and Nifty plunged due to heavy selling in IT counters amid weak global cues and rupee hitting a month high against US dollar. Investors are keeping an eye on US Fed testimony in congress related to continuous decline in value of USD while continuously hoping that tensions in Ukraine do not escalate into a full-fledged war.

Thursday - Sensex up by 0.1%, Nifty up by 0.1%, Midcap down by 0.2%
Investors continued to stay cautious as Indian general elections entered its last phase. BSE Sensex and Nifty recovered slightly from their recent lows as investors picked up some of the battered stocks. Indian market also got some sentiment uplift from dovish comments by US Fed Chair and upbeat Chinese trade data that suggested some signs of recovery in the world's second-largest economy.

Friday - Sensex up by 2.9%, Nifty up by 3.0%, Midcap up by 1.9%
Sensex and Nifty surprised all watchers as indices soared to touch their all time highs amidst weak trading sentiment ahead of election results. BJP’s PM candidate Narendra Modi’s interview previous night – where he declared that his party is getting clear majority probably lifted the mood of investors. Investors bought stocks in droves as country nears the closing of more bitterly contested general elections in its history on Monday.

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 8, 2014

Bubble Trouble

The best way to spot a bubble is when everyone and his uncle start trading investment tips and predicting the next sensex or nifty level. We faced such times during late 2007-early 2008 duration. It seems everyone was on the bandwagon and was busy discussing Reliance Power IPO.

I present a chart below which shows that Indian markets are still far away from attracting volumes and interests they generated during 2007 bubble phase.

When indices makes new highs on the back of lower volumes, it is generally due to more institutional investment in high value stocks. Maybe that's why CNX Midcap is still far away from its record highs.

Time will only tell whether this rally has more legs.