Saturday, August 16, 2014

Weekly Market Commentary - Aug 11, 2014 - Aug 15, 2014

A very good week for the markets. Sensex went up by more than 770 points in the span of four trading days. Nomura raised BSE Sensex target to 30,310 by August 2015 citing the cyclical pick-up in growth. UBS maintained its 12-month Nifty target of 8,000 putting a premium on growth potential of the Indian economy especially when it comes out of ruts.

Narendra Modi's decision to do away with Planning Commission has unshackled the Indian states economy from the clutches of last remaining Soviet style institution. I couldn't think of a better way to say Happy Independence Day.

Sensex ended this week up by 3.1% while Nifty was up by 2.9% and Midcap up by 1.6%

Monday - Sensex up by 0.8%, Nifty up by 0.8%, Midcap up by 0.9%

Sensex and Nifty snapped their losing streak and rose nearly 1% on good numbers from stocks such as Mahindra & Mahindra and cooling-off in tensions between Russia and Ukraine. Realty stocks gained after SEBI put its stamp on FM’s decision of setting up of REITs, a widely acclaimed move that will offer a new source of financing to India's cash-strapped property developers and new investment vehicle to the nation.

Tuesday - Sensex up by 1.4%, Nifty up by 1.3%, Midcap up by 0.7%
Investors cheered the Tata Motors results – the firm tripled its quarterly net profit on back of strong JLR sales. Analysts are also upbeat about the overall health of the economy and expect July CPI to rise marginally to 7.40% from 7.31% in June, as per a Reuters’ poll. Also, a poll of 27 economists expects factory output in June to rise by 5.4% y-o-y in comparison with the 4.7% growth in May.

Wednesday - Sensex up by 0.1%, Nifty up by 0.2%, Midcap down by 1.1%
Sensex and Nifty ended the day marginally higher as gains in IT stocks due to weak rupee were offset by decline in capital goods stocks as BHEL’s earnings disappointed the street. Gains were also capped as lenders fell after govt. released July CPI data at 7.96% vs. 7.46% in June.

Thursday - Sensex up by 0.7%, Nifty up by 0.7%, Midcap up by 1.0% 
 Benchmark indices went up as WPI inflation dropped to five-month low level due to moderation in fuel costs and investors prepare for maiden Independence Day speech of PM Narendra Modi. Investors are expecting some key reform related announcements on Friday.

Friday – Exchanges closed on account of Independence Day

Sunday, December 15, 2013

Weekly Market Commentary - Dec 9 - Dec 13, 2013

As political events have turned very exciting in the country, it is the boring economics that made investors realize that it cannot remain sidelined for long. This week as investors’ sentiment over exit polls reached a climax in the state election results, markets touch their all time high on first trading session of the week. However, as the reality of the day set in, inflation blew out all the air out of the election bubble.

Sensex fell 1.3%; Nifty lost 1.5% while CNX Midcap was down by 2.1% this week.

Monday – Sensex up by 1.6%, Nifty up by 1.7%, Midcap up by 1.0%
Sensex touched a new high as market momentum built up by the exit polls continued. The main opposition and business friendly party BJP win a clear mandate in three out of four state elections strengthening its electoral prospects and chances of forming a government in the centre in May.

Tuesday - Sensex down by 0.3%, Nifty down by 0.5%, Midcap down by 0.5%
Markets saw some profit booking while new draft regulation from CERC led a major blow to NTPC earnings. NTPC went down by 11% as under new guidelines that are going to implement from April 2014, has kept RoE as the method of calculating incentives but has done some tightening on taxation and expenses front making it difficult for players like NTPC and PGCIL to maintain their current profitability.

Wednesday – Sensex down by 0.4%, Nifty down by 0.4%, Midcap down by 0.6%
Markets opened lower as weak global sentiment weighed heavily on domestic trading, but good news on CAD front led indices recoup some of their losses. India managed to lower its current account deficit as exports grew by 5.86% in November while imports dip to their two and a half year low following steep decline in gold imports. India’s CAD now stands at $9.22bn as against $17.2bn previous month.

Thursday – Sensex down by 1.2%, Nifty down by 1.1%, Midcap down by 0.6%
Markets were under selling pressure ahead of release of CPI and IIP numbers. Street estimates IIP numbers are going to signal contraction in the economy while CPI numbers will stick in 10% range prompting RBI governor to raise rates.

Friday – Sensex down by 1.0%, Nifty down by 1.1%, Midcap down by 1.4%
Worse than expected CPI numbers took its toll on the Indian markets when it recorded its biggest weekly fall. CPI for November came at 11.24% vs. street estimates of 10% range raising the fear of increase in interest rates. Street is now estimating a 25bps hike in interest rates on Dec 18. The market has pared all gains made on Monday after state elections results announcement.

Sunday, November 17, 2013

Weekly Market Commentary - Nov 11 - Nov 15, 2013

Global markets continue to anchor on central governors’ announcements for directions. This anchoring is making many market participants nervous. As results season nears its end in India, market is struggling to find any catalyst to move up. And as we know, when indices are not moving up, they are moving down. Can’t stay confused/range bound/flat or in inaction for long.

Sensex lost 1.3%, Nifty lost 1.4% and CNX Midcap was down by 1.1% this week.

Monday – Sensex down by 0.8%, Nifty down by 1.0%, Midcap down by 0.9%
Continuing weakness in rupee had its effect on investors. Investors continue to stay cautious as September IIP and October retail inflation numbers are due for release tomorrow.

Tuesday - Sensex down by 1.0%, Nifty down by 1.0%, Midcap down by 1.0%
Although market consensus indicates a recovery in IIP at 3.6% in September vs. 0.6% in August, it is the retail inflation, which is causing nervousness among the participants. Street expects CPI for October to be at 10% vs. 9.84% previous month. Also, car sales, considered by investors as a signal of consumer sentiment, provided little cheer with domestic sales declining 3.9% in October.

Wednesday – Sensex down by 0.4%, Nifty down by 0.5%, Midcap down by 0.7%
Street was little disappointed as IIP numbers came in lower at 2% for September vs 3.6% consensus while CPI was on higher side with rise of 10.09% in October. Investors have again started speculating a rate hike in coming December 18 meeting of the RBI.

Thursday – Sensex up by 1.0%, Nifty up by 1.1%, Midcap up by 1.5%
Markets cheered the Janet Yellen’s statement that US economy is still underperforming and Fed will continue its liquidity support for some more time. Janet Yellen is set to replace Ben Bernanke as Federal Reserve Governor soon.

On domestic front, Raghuram Rajan again sprung back to action and soothes the nerves of the investors with announcement of 8,000 crores of bond buying program to infuse liquidity in the system.

Friday – Markets closed on occasion of Muharram