Sunday, December 8, 2013

Weekly Market Commentary - Dec 2 - Dec 6, 2013

Indian investors are a happy lot this week. Though tapering sword is still hanging over bullish investor sentiments, it seems investors have lot to rejoice over the coming days. Not just exit polls have sounded a victory for their favorite PM candidate, but it has also forced the govt. to increase the pace of their reforms as a last ditch effort to thwart the current anti-incumbency wave in the country. Govt. is back to its disinvestment ways to fill the deficit gap and is likely to make some reform announcements benefitting power and sugar industries.

Sensex gained 1.0%; Nifty gained 1.4% while CNX Midcap was up by 1.1% this week.

Monday – Sensex up by 0.5%, Nifty up by 0.7%, Midcap up by 0.7%
Markets cheered the 2QFY14 GDP growth of 4.8% vs. 4.4% in previous quarter, according to data released by govt. The growth numbers were in-line with street estimates. Also, HSBC PMI index recorded improvement in manufacturing activity for the first time since July. The Index for the manufacturing industry climbed to 51.3 in November from 49.6 in previous month.

Tuesday - Sensex down by 0.2%, Nifty down by 0.3%, Midcap flat
Markets ended up lower as investors resorted to profit booking and cautiousness ahead of Fed’s job report expected at the end of the week. Any improvement in the job recovery may lead to decision in favour of tapering of QE by Federal Reserve. Investors also stayed cautious as India’s capital, New Delhi prepares for polls next day. Even a good announcement from RBI was unable to lift the mood of the market. RBI announced that India’s current account deficit (CAD) narrowed sharply to $5.2bn or 1.2% of GDP in 2Q, from $21bn or 5% last year.

Wednesday – Sensex down by 0.7%, Nifty down by 0.7%, Midcap down by 1.0%
Market sentiments were weak as rise in crude prices added to inflationary concerns. Investors raised concerns that this may lead RBI to raise rates again raising the cost of doing business in the country.

Thursday – Sensex up by 1.2%, Nifty up by 1.3%, Midcap up by 0.8%
Markets went up and regained 21,000 levels as exit polls showed BJP coming to power in at least 4 out of 5 states that had elections recently. BJP is widely viewed as business friendly party among the host of other parties contesting the elections. Any success in state elections will be a testimony of BJP Prime Ministerial candidate Narendra Modi’s popularity and acceptance.

Friday – Sensex up by 0.2%, Nifty up by 0.3%, Midcap up by 0.5%
Exit polls results kept markets up and gave boost to the idea that congress might try to get more reform measures passed in the run up to the main elections in May 2014.

Sunday, December 1, 2013

Weekly Market Commentary - Nov 25 - Nov 29, 2013

All eyes on Delhi election results on December 8th. These results may act as a precursor to what is in store for Indian investors. As DII turned buyers during the end of November, it seems that street is expecting a rally in December, which may only happen if BJP wins.

Sensex gained 2.8%; Nifty gained 3.0% while CNX Midcap was up by 3.1% this week.

Monday – Sensex up by 1.9%, Nifty up by 2.0%, Midcap up by 1.5%
Indian markets went up in tandem with global markets as Iran nuclear deal led to easing of crude prices. The deal is good for India in more than one way. It helps in removing the hindrances from importing crude from Iran, and lower prices benefits in reduced inflation expectations and deficits.

Tuesday - Sensex down by 0.9%, Nifty down by 0.9%, Midcap down by 0.5%
Markets gave back some of gains it made yesterday as crude prices rebounded and investors booked profits ahead of GDP data release.

Wednesday – Sensex, Nifty and Midcap flat
Markets ended flat as November derivative expiry arrives and investors stay cautious ahead of GDP and fiscal data release expected on Friday.

Thursday – Sensex up by 0.6%, Nifty up by 0.6%, Midcap up by 0.9%
Markets went up on the day of derivative expiry as traders cover their shorts and domestic institutional investors (DIIs) turned net buyers for first time in November, in addition to FIIs who continued stake building in Indian markets.

Friday – Sensex up by 1.3%, Nifty up by 1.4%, Midcap up by 1.1%
Markets showed optimism ahead of 2Q GDP data release expected during after-market hours. Consensus on the street is 4.6% of GDP growth. Anything below that will be indicator of adverse impact of recent repo rate hikes initiated by Governor Raghuram Rajan.

Sunday, November 24, 2013

Weekly Market Commentary - Nov 18 - Nov 22, 2013

Fed’s tapering stayed the talk of the town as markets look exhausted due to lack of any domestic or global cues. The question of will they cut or will not and when continues to linger over the market’s direction.

Sensex lost 0.9%, Nifty lost 1.0% and CNX Midcap was down by 0.9% this week.

Monday – Sensex up by 2.2%, Nifty up by 2.2%, Midcap up by 1.3%
Market continued to rally after Janet Yellen new chair of Fed Reserve allayed fears over QE tapering. Also, RBI governor Rajan’s statement to have an accommodative liquidity stand strengthened the rupee and boosted the investor sentiment.

Tuesday - Sensex up by 0.2%, Nifty up by 0.2%, Midcap flat
Lack of catalysts in the domestic markets makes sure that any rally or euphoria is short lived. Markets were flat as investors stayed cautious and booked profits.

Wednesday – Sensex down by 1.2%, Nifty down by 1.3%, Midcap down by 0.6%
Sensex floundered due to lack of any domestic or global cues. Investors booked profits in banking, IT and capital goods as market sees no new investment and project been announced till the elections are concluded in May.

Thursday – Sensex down by 2.0%, Nifty down by 2.0%, Midcap down by 1.7%
Release of minutes of Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meet spooked the investors globally as it indicated tapering might began in next few months, if economy improves. Fed’s doublespeak is confusing the markets as previous week they indicated any tapering is still far away.

Friday – Sensex down by 0.1%, Nifty down by 0.1%, Midcap up by 0.1%
Markets continued to stay cautious as Fed’s comments on tapering confused the investors.

Two charts that says it all

Well, the conclusion of the charts below is crystal clear. The Fed tapering talk in May, which led to sharp depreciation in rupee value, has clearly benefited the firms with significant dollar earnings while domestic environment continues to remain a hurdle. So, the investors should not be overly complacent if Sept quarter results were not as bad as everyone was expecting them out to be. We need to cover a lot of ground on domestic front to substantiate the India fundamental story.

The first chart is from my first weekly commentary in November. It speaks of the divergence in the market performance of different sectors. IT and Pharma with their export earnings have dominated the returns this year.


While the other one from the house of Motilal Oswal speaks of the divergence in the companies with dollar earnings and domestic earnings.

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

Saturday, November 9, 2013

Weekly Market Commentary - Nov 4 - Nov 8, 2013

Markets struggled to find ground as Diwali euphoria dies out. In addition, returning of oil companies to source their dollar requirements from market got the rupee falling again, which worried the investors.

Global investors remained nervous over what continues to be their single most important concern: Will there be talks of Fed tapering or not in the next meeting.

Markets lost all the gains they made previous week. Sensex lost 2.5%, Nifty lost 2.6% and CNX Midcap was down by 0.3% this week.

Monday – Markets closed on occasion of Balipratipada

Tuesday - Sensex down by 1.2%, Nifty down by 1.0%, Midcap up by 0.6%
Markets closed down as India’s service sector activity, as measured by HSBC / Markit purchasing managers index, contracted for fourth successive month as economic uncertainty continues. The index improved to 47.1 in October from 44.6 in September but continued to stay below 50, which indicates contraction.

Wednesday – Sensex down by 0.4%, Nifty down by 0.6%, Midcap down by 0.1%
Investors are treading cautiously as S&P warned that it might downgrade India’s credit rating if next government fails to chart out a path to bring back the country to high growth. S&P currently has 'BBB-/A-3' sovereign credit rating on India with negative outlook. The rating major will conduct its next review after the general elections, which are due by May 2014; unless the country's fiscal or external standing deteriorates.

Thursday – Sensex down by 0.3%, Nifty down by 0.4%, Midcap down by 1.4%
Markets continued to stay range bound as oil companies return to market for their dollar requirements, which had got investors worried over depreciation in rupee. Any further depreciation in rupee may affect FIIs inflow in the domestic markets.

Friday – Sensex down by 0.8%, Nifty down by 0.8%, Midcap down by 0.1%
Markets continued to stay under pressure, as recent depreciation in rupee value brings back the inflation worries. Rise in inflation or inflation expectations may prompt RBI governor to hike rates again raising the cost of doing business in already reeling economy.

Investors were also cautious ahead of Fed meeting as improving US economic conditions fuelled the talks of tapering by US Federal Reserve.

Sunday, November 3, 2013

Weekly Market Commentary - Oct 28 - Nov 1, 2013

Growing inflation, rising NPAs, deteriorating governance and still here we are at record high Sensex. As we all know, this rally is liquidity driven and this liquidity will not stop flowing until March next year. At least that is what street was expecting. I feel unless the rally spreads to midcaps and small caps (as the chart below suggests it hasn’t) it can’t be relied upon and can fizzle out anytime in next two quarters. It is advisable that investors book profits in the names, which have rallied beyond what their fundamentals would suggest.
Sensex gained 2.5%, Nifty gained 2.6% and CNX Midcap was up by 3.5% this week.

Monday – Sensex down by 0.5%, Nifty down by 0.7%, Midcap down by 0.8%
Markets were little jittery ahead of RBI monetary policy review meeting on Tuesday. A 25 bps repo rate hike is widely expected on the street. Fed is also scheduled to meet on Tuesday to discuss their tapering plans.

Tuesday - Sensex up by 1.7%, Nifty up by 2.0%, Midcap up by 1.5%
Markets went up as RBI actions were in line with what street was expecting. RBI raised the repo rate by 25 bps while cutting down the MSF rate by the same amount, thereby bringing the difference between them back to normal 100 bps. Mood was also bullish due to Fed’s decision of keeping their liquidity taps open and short coverings ahead of derivative expiry on Thursday.

Wednesday – Sensex up by 0.5%, Nifty up by 0.5%, Midcap up by 0.1%
Markets continued their momentum from previous day but were largely volatile ahead of F&O expiry next day.

Thursday – Sensex up by 0.6%, Nifty up by 0.8%, Midcap up by 1.5%
Sensex rose to its all time high amidst the sustained buying from institutional investors who ignored the latest Fed pronouncement of stopping the QE sooner than expected. As of now, market is factoring tapering to begin in March next year.

Friday – Sensex up by 0.2%, Nifty up by 0.1%, Midcap up by 1.2%
Strong support from FIIs and Fed’s decision to continue its QE program for now continued to take Sensex to a new high.

Sunday, October 27, 2013

Weekly Market Commentary - Oct 21 - Oct 25, 2013

What might appear to be a dull week was actually quite interesting. Sensex tried to regain its old glory by rising within a handshake distance of all time high. In early 2008, when Sensex was at its peak, everybody (almost) believed India could do no wrong. Today investors are more cautious than ever.

Some bulls reason that current rally is sustainable due to good corporate results. This is not true. Markets are rallying as US Fed decided to defer its QE tapering decision and India benefits as it gets its share of global portfolio allocation.

Better than expectations result (was expectations low or results were actually better) helped the bulls find a fundamental story in the yarn they were already weaving.

Anyways, not all sectors have posted good results. Most of the cement stocks, the sector that should be the early riser in case of recovery, posted 50-80% decline in their quarterly profits.

We believe we want to believe.

Sensex lost 1.0%, Nifty lost 0.7% and CNX Midcap was up by 0.3% this week.

Monday – Sensex up by 0.1%, Nifty up by 0.3%, Midcap up by 1.0%
Markets are range bound, as investors get concerned about valuation levels. Easy liquidity flow continued to prop up the market levels.

Tuesday - Sensex down by 0.1%, Nifty flat, Midcap up by 0.4%
Investors continued to stay cautious as global markets wait for release of US jobs data later in the day. Jobs numbers are one of the critical figures, which US Fed looks out for to decide on its tapering plans.

Wednesday – Sensex down by 0.5%, Nifty down by 0.4%, Midcap down by 0.2%
Weak US jobs data firmly pushed expectations for the tapering of Federal Reserve stimulus into next year. Markets opened higher earlier in the day but lost all gains as interest rate sensitive stocks see selling pressure ahead of RBI meeting on Oct 29.

Thursday – Sensex down by 0.2%, Nifty down by 0.2%, Midcap flat
Sensex continues to see resistance as most of the stocks stayed in high valuation range while investor’s fear of another rate hike of 25 bps by RBI led to selling in rate sensitive stocks.

Friday – Sensex down by 0.2%, Nifty down by 0.3%, Midcap down by 1.0%
Sensex ended the day in negative after a brief rally during the day. India’s economic fundamentals do not support the current market levels. Investors continued to book profits in IT companies.

Saturday, October 19, 2013

Weekly Market Commentary - Oct 14 - Oct 18, 2013

So far, earnings season continues to surprise Indian investors to the upside. As Sensex continues to hover around its all time high, most investors will do well to realize that expectation investing can come as an handy tool a bit before earnings season is about to start. Most investors do not use DCF while analyzing a stock/company. I do though. With so many assumptions and complexities built into it, DCF does not act as a quick tool to help investors/speculators make money. In such a scenario, they can resort to what Michael J. Mauboussin calls Expectation Investing.

Expectation Investing is also knows as Reverse DCF. In this method, instead of trying to value a company (stock) by forecasting free cash flows into the future and then discounting them to current period, you do it the other way round.

You look at the current stock price and then try to find out what assumptions market is building into the price. The analyst can review these assumptions and see whether expectations are excessively high or too low to arrive at the decision of investing in that particular company or not.

The biggest advantage of this method, is as you can see, is it eliminated the need of forecasting. However, this method does not provide a quick way to analyse stocks but when formalized into a framework it can help an investor to make a quick decision.

Finally, as a noted statistician George Box said “All models are wrong; some are useful.”

I urge my readers to share with us their experience with Reverse DCF process, if they have tried it in the past.

Sensex gained 3.1%, Nifty gained 3.2% and CNX Midcap was up by 2.3% this week.

Monday – Sensex up by 0.4%, Nifty up by 0.3%, Midcap up by 0.6%
Market party over good Infosys results (guidance) ended early as inflation played spoilsport. September WPI was 6.46% against 6.1% in August and 46 bps above the street estimate of 6%. Surge in inflation has put RBI in a fix and investors on back foot as RBI now will find it difficult to lower interest rates and even may lead to rate hikes to contain the inflationary pressure.

Tuesday - Sensex down by 0.3%, Nifty down by 0.4%, Midcap down by 1.2%
Yesterday’s high inflation numbers led to selling in banking and other rate sensitive stocks. HDFC lost some ground as bank reported its slowest growth quarter in a decade. HDFC earnings increased 27% y-o-y against its record 30% growth in every quarter in last decade.

Wednesday – Markets closed on Eid.

Thursday – Sensex down by 0.6%, Nifty down by 0.7%, Midcap down by 0.4%
Markets were down as investors resorted to profit booking as Infosys and TCS good results quickly became the story of the past. The market did not move much on the news of deal on US shutdown and debt ceiling. Most talked about event of recent times continued to be ignored by investors in the Indian markets.

Friday – Sensex up by 2.3%, Nifty up by 2.4%, Midcap up by 1.4%
A good close to a rather mute week. Markets went up as corporate earnings continued to surprise. L&T, the capital goods major, reported a 7% rise in quarterly profit beating the analyst estimates. Market sentiment was also boosted by the news that LIC will invest Rs. 40,000 crores ($1.28 billion) into the markets in FY14.

Sunday, October 13, 2013

Weekly Market Commentary - Oct 7 - Oct 11, 2013

Infosys results started the Indian earnings season in style, with markets welcoming the raising of lower limit of FY14 revenue guidance. Meanwhile economic slowdown, falling capex spending and low consumer confidence is leading to muted expectations from 2QFY14 earnings. Sensex companies are expected to grow their earnings by 5-7% led by export-oriented sectors that are going to benefit from rupee depreciation.

Sensex gained 3.1%, Nifty gained 3.2% and CNX Midcap was up by 2.3% this week.

Monday – Sensex down by 0.1%, Nifty down by 0.0%, Midcap up by 0.7%
Concerns over US shutdown led to muted trading in global markets. If fighting political parties did not reach the solution soon, it may considerably dent the ongoing recovery in US economy.

Tuesday - Sensex up by 0.4%, Nifty up by 0.4%, Midcap up by 0.1%
RBI tried to undo its liquidity tightening measures it introduced when US tapering announcement led to crash in rupee value against major currencies. RBI reduced the MSF rates by another 50 bps to 9% in addition to increasing the duration of lending to the banks from current one day to 7 and 14 days.

Wednesday – Sensex up by 1.3%, Nifty up by 1.3%, Midcap up by 1.0%
Indian markets struggled in early sessions as IMF reduced the country’s growth projection to 3.8% in FY14. IMF also sees global growth falling to lowest since financial crisis. Markets recouped all its losses when data showed that trade gap narrowed to the lowest level in 30 months. The trade deficit narrowed to $6.76 billion in September from $10.9 billion in August. Main reason for the fall was govt. moves on tightening gold import which has led to decline in gold and silver imports to just $0.8 billion vs. $4.6 billion a year ago.

Thursday – Sensex up by 0.1%, Nifty up by 0.2%, Midcap up by 0.4%
Investors stayed cautious head of the beginning of earnings season on Friday with IT bellwether Infosys results announcement. Street is not expecting any surprises this earning season and is choosing to be selectively bullish this season.

Friday – Sensex up by 1.3%, Nifty up by 1.2%, Midcap flat
Most of the Asian markets closed in green as US political leaders showed some signs of compromise on US shutdown crisis. Infosys results cheered the market as company increased its FY14 guidance to 9-10% from 6-10% guidance previous quarter. Investors also cheered the new draft regulations allowing the establishment of real estate investment trusts in India.

Sunday, October 6, 2013

Weekly Market Commentary - Sept 30 - Oct 4, 2013

Indian markets gained this week primarily due to US shutdown, which inadvertently threw FIIs dollars in its direction. Nothing much has changed in Indian fundamentals though: CAD is still high; cost of funds has not gone down; consumer and business sentiment as reflected by weak PMI data. Even then, market is trading near its highs; is expensive and is very volatile. Though I continue to seek out the reasons to explain these anomalies, and I focus on most important ones, the economy and markets have too many moving parts. Every now and then, in order to explain the movements, I give in to recency effect and attentional bias.

Recency effect is nothing but one’s inclination to explain the process/event occurred, by whatever fresh news/story/event comes to mind. For e.g. markets went up as new RBI governor sworn in.

Attentional bias, on the other hand, is using your current subject under study: one you are most closely paying attention to, to explain every event occurring. For e.g. US shutdown is leading to global market rally as dollar investors have nowhere to go.

However, both examples used above may explain the market movements or state of the economy to some extent but the point is they are not the only ones.

Sensex gained 1.0%, Nifty gained 1.3% and CNX Midcap was up by 1.5% this week.

Monday – Sensex down by 1.8%, Nifty down by 1.7%, Midcap down by 0.8%
Indian markets were under pressure ahead of current account data release expected later in the day. An ET poll is estimating CAD to average $23 billion for Apr-Jun quarter vs. $18.1 billion a quarter earlier. Investors are worried that bad CAD data may force RBI to intervene in the market again and may escalate the cost of doing business in the near term.

Tuesday - Sensex up by 0.7%, Nifty up by 0.8%, Midcap up by 0.6%
Markets went up as RBI promised to infuse liquidity into the system via Rs. 10,000 crores purchase of government securities. Also, CAD figures released previous day came out to be little lower than what market participants were expecting. Gold and oil imports pushed 1Q14 CAD to $21.8 billion i.e. 4.9% of GDP. Indian govt plans to reduce the current account deficit to 3.7% of the GDP in FY14 to meet its $70 billion target.

Wednesday – Markets closed on occasion of Gandhi Jayanti

Thursday – Sensex up by 2.0%, Nifty up by 2.2%, Midcap up by 1.6%
Indian markets rose, as they became the target of FIIs dollars as current political crisis in United States has led to a shutdown of non-essential govt functionaries. Investors are worried that shutdown may prolong and will jeopardize any recovery of US economy.

Friday – Sensex up by 0.1%, Nifty flat, Midcap up by 0.2%
Markets ended flat as US dollars continued to flow in leading to increase in the value of Indian currency. The gain was capped as investors were disappointed by weak HSBC PMI data, which fell to 46.1 vs. 47.6 in August indicating contraction in private economy. Realty, auto and consumers gained as govt. decided to infuse funds into PSU banks to help them offer cheaper loans to public and industry.


Sunday, September 29, 2013

Weekly Market Commentary - Sept 23 - Sept 27, 2013

Overall, trades seeking to play the Fed-RBI announcement continued to unwind this week and took markets down with them. As second quarter results are upon us and street is not too excited with business environment and expects the results to be boring, indices are failing to find new catalyst to hold their ground. Sensex lost 2.6%, Nifty lost 3.0% and CNX Midcap was down by 0.5% this week.

Monday – Sensex down by 1.8%, Nifty down by 2.0%, Midcap down by 1.0%
Markets crumbled as investors’ sky-high expectations from the newly appointed RBI governor meets the realities on the ground. As Raghuram Rajan went on making inflation fighting his topmost priority and tightened liquidity, rate sensitives stocks such as banks took a heavy beating.

Tuesday - Sensex up by 0.1%, Nifty up by 0.0%, Midcap up by 0.2%
Banks continued to see heavy selling as Moody cut the SBI’s local currency and senior unsecured debt rating to lowest investment grade to Baa3 while changing the financial strength outlook to negative. Moody blamed the current weak financial position of bank’s promoter, Indian government as the reason for decline in asset quality, profitability and capital of public sector banks such as SBI.

Wednesday - Sensex down by 0.3%, Nifty down by 0.3%, Midcap up by 0.4%
Investors continue to square off the trades set up in the wake of Fed-RBI meetings previous week, ahead of derivative expiry on Thursday. Financial Technologies stock plunged as its auditor Deloitte Haskins bailed out on the firm and withdrew their audit report after claiming that firm’s financial statements are not reliable.

Thursday – Sensex up by 0.2%, Nifty up by 0.1%, Midcap down by 0.1%
Markets continued to stay volatile as investors unwind their positions on F&O expiry day but ended up little higher as RBI tried to give the market a reprieve by announcing a possibility of conducting OMO to ensure sufficient liquidity in the system.

Friday – Sensex down by 0.8%, Nifty down by 0.8%, Midcap flat
October F&O series started on a mute note with markets now turning to corporate earnings announcements expected in October to be low to modest, at best. Banks stayed under pressure as Raghuram went on questioning the strategy of central bankers around the world to keep the interest rates low to stimulate growth.


Sunday, September 22, 2013

Weekly Market Commentary - Sept 16 - Sept 20, 2013

India, since Fed announced its tapering plans, got its act together and has done quite well in pushing some key reforms in parliament. RBI on its part took some controversial, but crucial steps to stem the decline in rupee that followed the Fed announcement. Now, when Fed has put a halt on its tapering plans, we all can just keep our fingers crossed and hope that Indian govt. does not become complacent and let go off this lifeline. We hope that reform momentum continues and we get our house in order before the next shitstorm hit us.

Sensex gained 2.7%, Nifty gained 2.8% and CNX Midcap was up by 1.3% this week.

Monday – Sensex flat at 0.0%, Nifty down by 0.2%, Midcap down by 0.5%
Investors were disappointed on Monday as RBI released its WPI inflation figures. RBI while formulating its policies uses WPI data along with CPI as an anchor. According to data released on Friday, retail inflation dropped in August. However unlike retail inflation, WPI rose to six month high to 6.1% in August (July – 5.79%). Market is anticipating that upturn in WPI will make it difficult for newly appointed RBI governor to cut rates.

Tuesday - Sensex up by 0.3%, Nifty up by 0.2%, Midcap down by 0.3%
Investors remain cautious ahead of two key events this week. On Sept 18, Fed will take decision on whether to continue to taper and by how much. Street is expecting tapering of $5-$10 billion every month. Anything above or below that range can cause sharp movements in the indices. Raghuram Rajan has decided to unveil its maiden policy on Sept 20 after getting a handle on Fed announcements. These two events together may hold key to future movements of Indian indices.

Wednesday - Sensex up by 0.8%, Nifty up by 0.8%, Midcap up by 0.5%
Expectations from Fed meeting continue to weigh on the markets. Markets closed higher as FIIs continue to build positions in the Indian markets.

Thursday – Sensex up by 3.4%, Nifty up by 3.7%, Midcap up by 2.9%
Fed surprised the market with announcement of deferring its tapering plans and instead decided to continue with its stimulus amid weak economic growth in US. I already highlighted in June that how the timing of tapering is suspicious as US economy, and with it global economy, continues to struggle. Markets celebrated the decision as day of reckoning for many of emerging economies like India, has deferred to some unknown date in the future.

Friday – Sensex down by 1.9%, Nifty down by 1.7%, Midcap down by 1.3%
In his maiden policy, Raghuram Rajan stumped the investors with a repo rate hike. Repo rate is now 7.25%. Rajan made it clear that fighting the inflation and exchange rate management is his top priority, so there is a need of liquidity tightening. RBI, in a bid to lower the cost of capital of banks, reduced the MSF by 75 bps from 10.25% to 9.5% and slashed the minimum daily CRR requirement from 99% to 95%.


Sunday, September 15, 2013

Weekly Market Commentary - Sept 9 - Sept 13, 2013

Receding fears of war with Syria led to cooling of oil prices that in turn led to strengthening of rupee against the global currencies. Rupee also gained strength as FIIs continued to buy Indian shares after newly appointed RBI governor Raghuram Rajan charted out plans to get the country out of its current mess. Sensex gained 2.4%, Nifty gained 3.0% and CNX Midcap was up by 3.4% this week.

Monday – Markets closed on occasion of Ganesh Chaturthi

Tuesday - Sensex up by 3.8%, Nifty up by 3.8%, Midcap up by 1.8%
Markets remained buoyant from last week sentiment boost they received from Raghuram Rajan appointment and his maiden speech as RBI governor. Global markets also took respite from the news that Russia has persuaded Syria to put its chemical weapons under international inspection, which worked to shelve the fears of US strike on Syria and led to global rally in stocks.

Telecoms were the major gainers today as TRAI reduced the base price by 37%, from Rs. 2,379cr to Rs. 1,496cr per MHz of pan India spectrum. TRAI also recommended that a flat spectrum usage (SUC) of 3% of gross revenue from 2-8% earlier. Telecom companies are expected to save around 60-80,000cr over a 20-year period.

Wednesday - Sensex up by 0.0%, Nifty up by 0.3%, Midcap up by 1.6%
Markets opened lower as some investors rushed to book profits after previous day’s rally, which was biggest gain in Sensex in four years. Market recouped its losses as day progressed as tension over Syria eased leading to cooling of oil price momentum. Also, consistent recovery in rupee is helping boost the Indian investor sentiment.

Thursday – Sensex down by 1.1%, Nifty down by 1.1%, Midcap down by 0.7%
Investors turned a little cautious and booked profits ahead of IIP and CPI inflation data release expected on Friday.

Friday – Sensex down by 0.2%, Nifty down by 0.0%, Midcap up by 0.7%
Stocks tumbled after PM’s economic panel raised its doubt over Govt. achieving its fiscal deficit target of 4.8% of GDP in current year. Investors also continued to cut positions ahead of US Fed meeting and RBI first meeting under Rajan next week. Market is keenly awaiting Fed’s decision on tapering and RBI’s response to it.

Bulls did get some respite in form of better-than-expected July 2013 IIP data (+2.6% yoy) and fall in retail inflation to 9.52% in August from 9.64% in July. August WPI data, an anchor used by RBI to decide on its policy decisions, will release on Monday.


Tuesday, September 10, 2013

Word Cloud

I stumbled upon this nice website, http://www.wordle.net/ which can help you create a word cloud of your blog. You should all give it a try!
 
 




Saturday, September 7, 2013

Weekly Market Commentary - Sept 2 - Sept 6, 2013

Raghuram Rajan joined at a time when India is reeling under worsening deficit situation, falling forex reserves (lowest in three years) and deteriorating investment climate. Markets gave a warm welcome to his taking charge as it expects liberal policies and easing of monetary policies. Sensex zoomed 3.5% while Nifty gained 3.8% and CNX Midcap was up by 2.7% this week.

Monday - Sensex up by 1.4%, Nifty up by 1.4%, Midcap up by 1.7%
Markets continued their positive momentum as global stocks rose amid Chinese PMI data increase. Recent spate of reforms introduced in the economy by Finance Minister has buoyed the investor sentiment.

Tuesday - Sensex down by 3.4%, Nifty down by 3.8%, Midcap down by 2.3%
Ongoing crisis in Syria reached a new low as Russia reported missile firing by Israel on its ally. The news led to oil zooming, rupee falling and bloodbath in domestic markets. Indian market was also impacted by S&P credit downgrade warning of Indian economy owing to rising deficits and weaker currency, which again crossed 68 levels against the dollar. The rating agency said there is one in three chances of rating downgrade. To add to India’s misery, Goldman Sachs also cut India’s growth forecast to 4% from 6% earlier and predicted fall of rupee to 72 against the USD.

Wednesday - Sensex up by 1.8%, Nifty up by 2.0%, Midcap up by 1.0%
Markets recovered after previous day’s carnage with some value buying across the industries. The missile firing reports also turned out to be tests rather than war cry as Russian media reported. Realty stocks fell as RBI asks banks not to disburse the full loan amount for an under construction property. It said loan disbursal should be linked to construction schedule of the property.

Thursday – Sensex up by 2.2%, Nifty up by 2.7%, Midcap up by 1.7%
Markets gave a big welcome to Raghuram Rajan as he took charge of RBI. Rajan hit the ground running and announced steps to defend the falling value of Indian currency and measures to unshackle the overall economy. You can read his full speech here.

Friday – Sensex up by 1.5%, Nifty up by 1.6%, Midcap up by 0.6%
Overall market sentiment remained positive as RBI announcements indicated strengthening rupee and easing monetary tightening introduced by RBI recently.


Friday, August 30, 2013

Weekly Market Commentary - Aug 23 - Aug 30, 2013

This week witnessed the most productive parliament in recent history (pardon the oxymoron) where Govt was able to pass two landmark bills viz. Food Security Bill and Land Acquisition Bill. While the jury is still out on whether these bills will be able to help the poor and farmers of the nation or are simple vote fetching attempts of ruling party and will forever drown our poor under behemoth of Indian bureaucracy and corruption, we can be sure of one thing: Rising cost of living.

Sensex gained a little 0.5%, Nifty was flat and Midcap lost 0.8% this week.

Monday - Sensex up by 0.2%, Nifty up by 0.1%, Midcap up by 0.7%
Markets went up as FM tried to convince investors to expect some good decisions in next one week to attract capital flows to finance our rising current account deficit. In addition, a slump in US home sales allayed the fears of tapering in Fed stimulus spending which boosted the investor sentiment.

Tuesday - Sensex down by 3.2%, Nifty down by 3.5%, Midcap down by 2.4%
Mayhem in the markets as Govt was successful in passing Food Security Bill in Lok Sabha (Lower House of the Parliament). Food subsidy is now expected to cost around 1% of GDP to the exchequer, according to Govt calculations but analysts estimates it to be 3% of the GDP. See my recent post on subsidy bill calculation here. Rupee made all-time low of 68.80 against the dollar as FIIs scrambled for exit.

Wednesday - Sensex up by 0.2%, Nifty flat, Midcap down by 1.1%
Markets recovered a bit from yesterday’s crash as investors hunt for bargains in IT, Capital Goods and Healthcare sector. India’s largest insurer Life Insurance Corporation of India did some buying and provided support to the falling indices. Stocks remained under pressure as sabre rattling in Syria sent the crude price higher and rise in credit risks across the emerging markets.

Thursday - Sensex up by 2.2%, Nifty up by 2.3%, Midcap up by 1.5%
Benchmark index rose dramatically as investors cover their shorts on the last Thursday of the month. Also, RBI’s move to start a forex swap facility to help PSU oil companies meet their daily dollar demand provided support to rupee which gained by 2.5% against the dollar.

Friday - Sensex up by 1.2%, Nifty up by 1.2%, Midcap up by 0.6%
Markets continued their previous day’s upside momentum as Prime Minister Manmohan Singh clearly stated in his speech in parliament that he will take all measures to fight country’s deficit without bringing in capital controls and reversal of reforms. He also made clear that his Govt is going ahead with reforms including subsidy reduction and implementation of GST.


Friday, August 23, 2013

Weekly Market Commentary - Aug 19 - Aug 23, 2013

To say that markets were volatile would be an understatement this week. Sensex lost around 700 points in first three days and gained 600 in last two. This week highlights were new lows made by rupee and RBI turning dovish (throwing in the towel?) and attempting easing liquidity in the market after a spell of tightening measures to fight the currency decline (which didn’t work of course, but RBI did claim victory!). Sensex and Nifty ended this week down 0.4% and 0.7% respectively, while CNX Midcap was down 1.6%.

Monday - Sensex down by 1.6%, Nifty down by 1.7%, Midcap down by 1.9%
Markets continue to plunge as investors voted with their feet as currency fell to its new all-time low of 62.81 vs. USD. Govt’s move of clearing few investment projects worth Rs.1,100bn was unable to provide any support to the market.

Tuesday - Sensex down by 0.3%, Nifty down by 0.2%, Midcap down by 0.6%
Investors’ worries seem not to be abating as any of the RBI measures have failed to stem rupee declines. So far, Indian IT and Pharma stocks have been able to save investors from full scale carnage in the markets.

Wednesday - Sensex down by 1.9%, Nifty down by 1.8%, Midcap down by 1.5%
A fresh low of 64.55 a dollar made by rupee prompted investors to even exit and book profits on their IT and Pharma stocks. RBI, in a bid to ease liquidity in the system and reduce long-term cost of borrowing announced purchase of Rs80bn worth of bonds in the market on Aug 23 and may buy more if required. This RBI action came as a breather to banks and banking stocks rallied amid the falling market.

Thursday - Sensex up by 2.3%, Nifty up by 2.0%, Midcap up by 1.1%
Tape turned green for the first time this week as RBI signaled change in its monetary stance. RBI also stated that its measures on short-term policy rates have stained their objectives, which send a positive signal to the market indicating no more tightening in short term. Bullish sentiment in the market overcame the Fed announcement on continuing tapering of its QE and new low made by rupee against the dollar.

Friday - Sensex up by 1.1%, Nifty up by 1.2%, Midcap up by 1.2%
Markets continued their previous day’s upside momentum as investors rushed to bargain hunting especially in capital goods sector, which has been facing lot of bearishness owing to delay in large scale projects in the country and abroad and increase in cost of borrowings.


Sunday, August 18, 2013

Weekly Market Commentary - Aug 12 - Aug 16, 2013

This independence day, RBI took away some of the freedom from its citizens and corporate as it introduced measures to cap dollar movement outside the country. While RBI and govt did their best to allay the fears of capital control, it is everybody’s guess what other bad policy decision lies ahead for the market and for how long this drama will continue. Sensex and Nifty went down by 1% each, while CNX Midcap gained 0.4% this week.

Monday - Sensex up by 0.8%, Nifty up by 0.8%, Midcap up by 1.6%
Markets went up as investors bought stocks amid govt and RBI interventions to prop up rupee. Although the measure adopted by RBI has failed to curb any decline in the rupee value, trade date brought good news as exports grew by ~12% to $26bn in July. SBI’s latest quarterly release indicating worsening asset quality, which is putting a dent on its profitability, capped the investor confidence.

Tuesday - Sensex up by 1.5%, Nifty up by 1.5%, Midcap up by 1.5%
Markets rallied as investors rushed to cover their shorts after recent sharp corrections ignoring the poor IIP data. The index of industrial production (IIP) declined by 2.2% in June while industrial output was 1.1% lower y-o-y. Govt move to hike import duty on gold and silver to curb CAD also cheered the bulls.

Wednesday - Sensex up by 0.7%, Nifty up by 0.8%, Midcap up by 0.4%
Tata group companies saved the day as markets ignored the impact of rise in WPI to 5.79% in July from 4.86% in June. Tata Motors surged around 10% after its unit Jaguar Land Rover reported 21% higher sales in July globally. Tata Steel also beat the street expectations with consolidating net profit surging by 90%.

Thursday – Independence Day Holiday

Friday – Sensex down by 4.0%, Nifty down by 4.1%, Midcap down by 3.1%
RBI spooked the investors as they bring back capital controls and restricted the movement of USD outside the country. RBI on late Wednesday brought back controls on fund flows limiting the investment citizens and domestic companies can do abroad. It also banned the import of gold coins and medallions while introducing fresh measures to attract NRI money. Recent positive developments in US and other developed markets also instilled fresh fears of stimulus tapering from Fed, which added to the bearish sentiment.


Saturday, August 3, 2013

Weekly Market Commentary - Jul 29 - Aug 2, 2013

Markets continued to weigh down by RBI policy actions, which have raised the cost of doing business on the country. Banks, realty, metals, all rates sensitive stocks, were badly hit this week. RBI’s battle against the falling rupee has been futile as currency is back at 61 against the dollar. Sensex was down 3%, Nifty was down 3.5% and CNX Midcap 5.9% this week.

Monday - Sensex down by 0.8%, Nifty down by 0.9%, Midcap down by 1.3%
Markets continued their downward trend with investors acing cautious ahead of RBI meeting on Tuesday. RBI has tightened liquidity environment in a bid to save rupee from falling further. Many investors are nervous wondering whether RBI will continue its stance and increase the rates to make rupee investment attractive for FIIs, as SBI chairman suggested. Investors are also anticipating announcement related to sovereign debt offering country might plan to plug the deficit gap.

Tuesday - Sensex down by 1.3%, Nifty down by 1.3%, Midcap down by 2.4%
In its policy announcement, RBI kept all key rates unchanged (repo rate at 7.25%, CRR at 4%), but revised the country’s GDP growth projection for FY14 downwards from 5.5% to 5.7%. RBI also indicated its reservation about issuing of sovereign debt, calling the timing now not right. Markets plunged after the policy announcement and rupee tumbled down to 61 mark.

Wednesday - Sensex down by 0.0%, Nifty down by 0.2%, Midcap up by 0.2%
Sensex ended up flat after falling almost 220 points in its initial sessions. FM who indicated more liberalization policies are under consideration and encouraged PSUs to borrow from abroad saved the markets. Govt is also considering raising import duty on non-essential luxury items to contain CAD.

Bharti Airtel was among the top gainer, with the company showing growth signs in its ARPUs, which increased, to INR200 for 1Q14, +16 y-o-y, EBITDA margin increased to 32.3% from 29.6% a year back.

Thursday - Sensex down by 0.1%, Nifty down by 0.2%, Midcap down by 1.4%
Indian markets rallied during their early sessions with their Asian peers as China reported better than expected PMI data while US GDP growth also beating street estimates. However, later in the day, weaker manufacturing data put the brakes on the rally and drag down the markets back in the red zone.

Financial Technologies, promoter of MCX, leading commodity exchange of the country, tanked by 65% today as govt asked its National Spot Exchange to not to launch new products, following with firm (NSEL) decided to suspend trading and postponed settlement of all 1 day forward contracts.

Friday - Sensex down by 0.8%, Nifty down by 0.9%, Midcap down by 1.1%
Markets saw heavy selling across metals, power, realty and PSUs as concerns over rise in cost of operations in tight monetary environment has made investors bearish over these counters.

Financial Technologies fell another 23% as crisis over National Spot Exchange has dealt to commodity investors sentiments. Power Grid Corp fell 11% after firm announced plans to dilute equity to fund its investment plans.