Nifty ends Apr series at 8181, Sensex falls 427 points in week

Equity benchmarks continued their slide on Thursday, with the Nifty breaching the psychological 8200-mark and the Sensex slipping below 27,000. Brokers said concerns over earnings growth, macro recovery are prompting foreign institutional investors to head for other emerging markets which are doing better at the moment. In addition, unwinding of long positions because of derivatives expiry today also added to the pressure, they said.

The Sensex shed 214.62 points to close at 27011.31 after touching a low of 26897.54 intra-day. The Nifty fell 58.25 points to close at 8181.50, after hitting a low of 8,144.75 intra-day. For the truncated week, the Sensex was down 426.63 points or 1.55 percent and the Nifty by 123.75 points or 1.5 percent.

The market will be closed for trading on Friday because of Labour Day.

The Sensex and Nifty have now fallen a little over 10 percent from their record high seen in early March.

But opinion is divided on whether this is a good time to start buying shares.

This is not a phase where you want to chase stocks, market expert Udayan Mukherjee said in an interview to CNBC-TV18.

You want to let stock prices come to you as they have over the last one month, he said.

FMCG, IT, auto and metal shares were the prominent losers today. Banking shares rallied after a sedate start and were the best performers of the day.

Samir Arora of Helios Capital feels, the correction offers a good opportunity, but investors will have to be careful of what they buy.

Some sectors are quite okay and you can say good but some sectors are very bad in terms of a stock market expected performance, Samir Arora of Helios Capital told CNBC-TV18.

Compared to 2014 which was a long only kind of environment this is a perfect long short kind of an environment, he said.

Lacklustre March quarter earnings has been a major reason for the ongoing correction, as it makes valuations expensive.

But weak earnings is not the big worry feels S Naren, Chief Investment Officer, ICICI Prudential Asset Management.

The fact that we dont have a capex or a growth pick up in the economy worries us more and maybe it was wrong on our part to estimate that growth will pick up overnight, capex cycle will pick up overnight, Naren said in an interview to CNBC-TV18 this morning.

03:30 pm Market check: After a volatile session, the market ended April F&O expiry below 8200-level. The 50-share index was down 58.25 points or 0.7 percent at 8181.50. The Sensex also slipped 214.62 points or 0.8 percent at 27011.31. About 1314 shares advanced, 1376 shares declined, and 193 shares were unchanged. Axis Bank, BHEL, Reliance, Cipla and Vedanta were top gainers in the Sensex. Among the losers, M&M, Tata Motors, Coal India, Tata Steel and ITC.

03:10 pm New kid in the block: Shares of Bosch jumped 6 percent intraday as it will be soon added on the National Stock Exchange's benchmark index Nifty. Infrastructure financing firm IDFC will move out of the Nifty and will be replaced by auto component major Bosch.

The changes will come into effect from May 29, according to the changes announced today by India Index Services & Products Ltd (IISL), an NSE group firm which manages Nifty and other indices.

A host of changes have also been made in various other NSE indices such as CNX Nifty Junior Index, CNX 100 Index, CNX 200 Index CNX 500 Index and CNX Service Sector Index by its Index Maintenance Sub-Committee during a periodic review. The stocks being excluded from Nifty Junior index are Adani Enterprises and Bosch while Britannia Industries and MRF would be included in the index.

02:40pm Interview: Biocon's March quarter revenues rose 15 percent versus estimate of 6 percent growth and profits surged 78 percent. The bottomline was boosted by an exceptional inflow of Rs 105 crore from sale of Syngene. Speaking to CNBC-TV18, Kiran Mazumdar Shaw, CMD, Biocon said the company delivered a robust earnings for Q4 and FY15.

The pharmaceutical company addressed all capacity constraints from last fiscal. It also got approvals from Mexican authorities for insulin drug. Biocons Malaysian facility has also commenced operations.

Shaw said the company deliberately took a hit on its topline in order to rationalize products. Biocon is focusing towards being a specialized products player.

Biocon strengthened its biopharma and contract research and manufacturing services (CRAMS) business and is seeing a lot of visibility in targets as the company advances in the biosimilar pipeline. The company has the largest potfolio of biosimilars globally, highlighted Shaw.

The company has increased its research and development (R&D) spends, which according to Shaw, is a positive signal for its growth. The R&D spend of the company is around 8-9 percent of its biopharma revenue and is sustainable. 

02:20pm Global markets: World stock markets and the dollar remained in a sharp sell-off mode today, having been jolted sharply lower by weak US growth data and cautious comments from the Federal Reserve.

Asian and European stocks continued a two-day decline for equity markets worldwide with Europe's FTSEurofirst 300 down 0.8 percent and heading for its worst week of the year.

The slide of more than 3.5 percent is being compounded by this week's jump in bond yields and a more than 2 percent surge in the euro to above USD 1.12, all of which are threatening to extinguish hopes for the region's recovery prospects.

Benchmark German Bund yields kept on climbing, having posted their biggest daily rise in two years on Wednesday on robust German inflation and a pick-up in ECB bank lending figures. Euro zone inflation data is due out at 0900 GMT.

02:00pm Market Check
The sell off continued on Dalal Street with the Sensex down more than 100 points in afternoon trade, though there was some recovery from day's low. The index lost 119.07 points to 27106.86 and the Nifty declined 31.60 points to 8208.15.

About 1213 shares have advanced, 1346 shares declined, and 164 shares are unchanged on the BSE.

S Naren of ICICI Pru said this correction is healthy for the market. There is a compelling case to invest into markets now. However, the capex cycle is not expected to pick up for next 6 months.

It has been a weak day for most global equities. Nikkei ended with a whopping 540-point loss while markets in Europe also fell significantly. Brent crude prices continued to inch higher, now at 6-month highs of USD 66 a barrel.

Shares of ITC, HDFC, Tata Motors, HUL, Bharti Airtel, M&M, Dr Reddy's Labs, Coal India, Tata Steel and Hero Motocorp lost 1-2 percent while Axis Bank remained firm, up 3 percent post Q4 earnings. Reliance Industries, Cipla and Vedanta gained 1-1.5 percent followed by ICICI Bank and ONGC with 0.5 percent gains.

It was a stellar debut for VRL Logistics, listing at a 40 percent premium to its issue price of Rs 205 per share despite a weak market sentiment. The management expects margins to be at historic levels of 18 percent going ahead.

1:30 pm Big bull: The Indian stock market has corrected enough over the past few weeks and the thesis remains that local equities are in a sustainable long-term run, as compared to countries like China where shares have seen a poor quality rally. Thats the view of Samir Arora of Singapore-based Helios Capital, who has upped the net exposure of his long-short hedge fund by 5-7 percent. (Aroras current net long exposure is not known but in February this year, he said his position then stood at 63-64 percent.)

As opposed to 2014, which was a long-only year, we expect this year to be long-short, he said, while maintaining that investors should expect 12-15-18 percent kind of returns from stocks this year.

On the issue that has had investors the most worried, Arora said that even if earnings were muted in the current fiscal year (at about 10-12 percent growth), they will likely make up for it in the following year and that on a 2016-17 basis, shares were priced at a reasonable 16-17 times earnings.

The market is slipping away, as the Sensex is down 295.90 points or 1 percent at 26930.03. The Nifty is down 85.35 points or 1 percent at 8154.40. About 1031 shares have advanced, 1369 shares declined, and 147 shares are unchanged.

Bharti, Tata Power, HDFC, Coal India and Dr Reddy's Labs are among major laggards while Axis Bank, Vedanta, Cipla, Reliance and ONGC are top gainers in the Sensex.

The rupee pared its initial losses, but was still down by 17 paise at 63.47 against the American currency in late morning trade on sustained bouts of month-end dollar demand from banks and importers amid weak equities.

The dollar was lower against its major rivals in early trade over the doubts about the strength of the US economic recovery.

12:58pm Market Update: The Sensex extended losses again, down 304.84 points or 1.12 percent to 26921.09 and the Nifty dropped 87.95 points or 1.07 percent to 8151.80 ahead of expiry of April derivative contracts. About 1071 shares have advanced, 1309 shares declined, and 149 shares are unchanged on the BSE.

12:45pm FII View: The Indian stock market has corrected enough over the past few weeks and the thesis remains that local equities are in a sustainable long-term run, as compared to countries like China where shares have seen a poor quality rally, said Samir Arora of Singapore-based Helios Capital.

Arora has upped the net exposure of his long-short hedge fund by 5-7 percent.

As opposed to 2014, which was a long-only year, we expect this year to be long-short, he said, while maintaining that investors should expect 12-15-18 percent kind of returns from stocks this year.

On the issue that has had investors the most worried, Arora said that even if earnings were muted in the current fiscal year (at about 10-12 percent growth), they will likely make up for it in the following year and that on a 2016-17 basis, shares were priced at a reasonable 16-17 times earnings.

The big picture story remains that India has witnessed a serious change in interest compared to the past five-seven years, he said.

12:30pm Exide falls ahead of earnings: Battery manufacturer Exide Industries will announce its fourth quarter earnings today. Profit after tax is expected to increase 18 percent year-on-year to Rs 156 crore, according to the average of estimates of analysts polled by CNBC-TV18.

Revenues is seen going up 13.7 percent to Rs 1,834 crore during January-March quarter compared to Rs 1,613 crore in the year-ago period as demand from OEMs has seen revival. Analysts said even growth in replacement market has seen marked improvement.

Operating profit (EBITDA) may increase 15 percent year-on-year to Rs 252 crore and margin may expand 20 basis points to 13.8 percent for the quarter ended March 2015.

12:00pm Market Check
The market continued to see selling pressure ahead of F&O expiry today. The Nifty struggled at 8,200, dragged lower by IT, FMCG and select financial stocks. However, the broader markets recouped lossed, trading flat.

The Sensex fell 167.67 points to 27058.26 and the Nifty declined 45.05 points to 8194.70. About 1114 shares have advanced, 1117 shares declined, and 146 shares are unchanged on the BSE.

Globally, Asia remained mixed in today's trade. Nikkei's losses widened as Bank of Japan kept policy steady, maintaining its massive stimulus program of purchasing 80 trillion yen worth of assets annually. In the currency space, euro held above the 1.1 to the dollar.

In result impact, Axis Bank topped the buying list on Nifty, down more than 4 percent. Credit Suisse has maintained its outperform rating on the stock with a target of Rs 654 per share. On the other hand, HDFC continued its decline, down over 2 percent.

IDFC and Bosch remained in focus. IDFC will be excluded from the Nifty effective May 29 and will be replaced by Bosch. Separately, IDFC will be reporting its results today. A CNBC-TV18 poll expects profit to jump 61 percent year-on-year due to low base impact.

JSPL slipped more than 3 percent as CBI filed cases against the company and Naveen Jindal in its chargesheet. The accused have been chargesheeted for alleged offences of criminal conspiracy, cheating and under the provision of Corruption Act. CBI Special Court will consider JSPL chargesheet on May 6.

VRL Logistics listed at a 40 percent premium to its issue price of Rs 205 per share today.

11:30 am Market outlook: The market could drift lower, cautions Udayan Mukherjee. According to him, a dangerous cocktail of poor earnings, steep valuations, sub-par monsoon forecast and waning of NDA's honeymoon period has contributed to the recent correction. On the technical side, he feels Minimum Alternate Tax demands on FIIs and India's underperformance relative to other markets, could be prompting further selling from foreign investors, and aggravating the weakness. However, he feels one should not chase stocks right now and should rather build a portfolio patiently. You want to let stock prices come to you as they have over the last one month. Many of the high quality names have corrected between 15 and 30 percent," he says.

Selling pressure mounts on Dalal Street as the Sensex is down 240.02 points or 0.9 percent at 26985.91. The Nifty is down 67.70 points or 0.8 percent at 8172.05. About 931 shares have advanced, 1091 shares declined, and 138 shares are unchanged.

Axis Bank, Reliance, ONGC and Sun Pharma are top gainers in the Sensex. Bharti Airtel, Coal India, HDFC, M&M and Dr Reddy's Labs are major laggards.

Oil prices were mixed in Asia on Thursday after first quarter US economic growth fell short of forecasts but a weaker dollar and easing US crude production provided support, analysts said.
The US Commerce Department said yesterday that the world's biggest economy and top oil consuming nation stalled in the first quarter this year, expanding at an annual pace of just 0.2 percent , much slower than the 1.0 percent growth expected by analysts.

Signs of cutbacks in US oil output, a key factor in the global supply glut that has driven prices to plunge by as much as 60 percent since June last year, were also supporting prices. Inventories at the key US oil terminal hub in Cushing, Oklahoma, reported its first decline since late November, US data showed.

10:40am Biocon reaction to Q4 nos: Biocon's fourth quarter profit after tax climbed 78 percent year-on-year to Rs 201 crore led by exceptional gains of Rs 105.06 crore (on account of sale of shares of Syngene). Overall it was a pleasant surprise on earnings as the street was expecting another dismal quarter but numbers were better than expectations. Though the profit was fueled by exceptional inflow, the topline indicated pure organic improved performance.

Revenue grew by 14.5 percent to Rs 854 crore during January-March quarter compared to Rs 746 crore in the year-ago period and expectations of Rs 791.1 crore.

"Biocon closed the year with a stronger performance in Q4 on the back of a record quarterly performance by our Research Services subsidiary, Syngene and an improved performance of our Biopharma business," said Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, chairman and managing director. 

10:25am FII View: Sakthi Siva, Credit Suisse said, "In our recent client visits in Singapore, a question that is coming up often is whether foreign investors are selling India/ASEAN to buy North Asia. For April, foreigners are now net sellers of India, Indonesia & Philippines, while they are net buyers of Korea & Taiwan."

"Year to date, foreigners are now net sellers of Indonesia, Thailand & Malaysia," she added.

10:00am Market Check
The market remained under pressure on the day of expiry of Nifty April derivative contracts. The Sensex fell 234.98 points to 26990.95 and the Nifty declined 69.05 points to 8170.70, dragged by FMCG, banking & financials and technology stocks.

The BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices outperformed benchmarks, down marginally. About 813 shares have advanced, 1045 shares declined, and 117 shares are unchanged on the BSE.

Shares of HDFC, TCS, HUL, Bharti Airtel, Mahindra & Mahindra, Dr Reddy's Labs and Coal India topped the selling list, down 2-3 percent. ITC, HDFC Bank, Infosys and L&T declined over 1 percent.

However, Axis Bank bucked the trend, up 5 percent following good set of numbers in Q4. CLSA, which has maintained buy rating on the stock, expects earnings to grow at 21 percent CAGR over FY15-17.

9:55 am Results: Biocon's fourth quarter profit after tax climbed 78 percent year-on-year to Rs 201 crore led by exceptional gains of Rs 105.06 crore (on account of sale of shares of Syngene). Overall it was a pleasant surprise on earnings as the street was expecting another dismal quarter but numbers were better than expectations.

Though the profit was fueled by exceptional inflow, the topline indicated pure organic improved performance. Revenue grew by 14.5 percent to Rs 854 crore during January-March quarter compared to Rs 746 crore in the year-ago period and expectations of Rs 791.1 crore.

9:45 am Addition in Nifty: Infrastructure financing firm IDFC will move out of the National Stock Exchange's benchmark index Nifty and will be replaced by auto component major Bosch . The changes will come into effect from May 29, according to the changes announced today by India Index Services & Products Ltd (IISL), an NSE group firm which manages Nifty and other indices. A host of changes have also been made in various other NSE indices such as CNX Nifty Junior Index, CNX 100 Index, CNX 200 Index CNX 500 Index and CNX Service Sector Index by its Index Maintenance Sub-Committee during a periodic review.

9:29 am Market slips: Selling pressure continues on Dalal Street. The Sensex has fallen below 27000, at down 227.58 points or 0.8 percent at 26998.35. The Nifty is down 69.85 points or 0.8 percent at 8169.90. About 468 shares have advanced, 751 shares declined, and 101 shares are unchanged.

Axis Bank is still up 3 percent while ONGC, SBI and Reliance are major gainers in the Sensex. Among the losers are HDFC, Dr Reddy's Labs, Bharti Airtel, HUL and BHEL.

9:20 am Market check: Weakness crawls in the market as the Nifty falls belows 8200. The 50-share index is at 8194, down 45.75 points or 0.6 percent. The Sensex is down 143.77 points or 0.5 percent at 27082.16. About 400 shares have advanced, 572 shares declined, and 79 shares are unchanged. 

The market has opened flat on April Futures & Options expiry day. The Nifty is down 15.25 points at 8224.50 and the Sensex is down 30.54 points at 27195.39. About 234 shares have advanced, 202 shares declined, and 77 shares are unchanged.

Axis Bank, HDFC, ONGC, ICICI Bank and L&T are top gainers in the Sensex. Among the losers are Vedanta, Tata Motors, Sun Pharma, ITC and Coal India. The new addition on Nifty, Bosch is up 2 percent.

Following through on indications in March, the Federal Open Market Committee offered no changes to its zero interest rate policy. Not only did it not hike rates, it also removed all hints for what may lie ahead. Calendar references were deleted completely from the post-meeting statement. The FOMC had indicated after its March meeting that a rate hike in April was unlikely.

Asian markets are trading with a negative bias with the Nikkei 225 touching a 1-week low as it played catch-up with the region after being closed Wednesday.

Japanese factory output dropped 0.3 percent in March, according to data from the ministry of economy, trade and industry. Bank of Japan is expected to maintain its massive stimulus program at its monthly policy meeting today. The central bank could lower its median inflation estimate for fiscal 2015 from the current 1 percent in its semi-annual report.

In the US, stocks closed lower as investors remained on edge amid earnings. Even the US Federal Reserve reaffirmed its data-dependent stance following a weak first-quarter GDP report.

European equities tumbled to close sharply lower as investors reacted to sharp gains in the euro against the dollar after weaker than forecast US GDP data. DAX witnessed its biggest one-day percentage drop since March 2014.

In commodities, Nymex crude prices rise above 58 dollars per barrel as crude inventories at Cushing, Oklahoma, declined for the first time since November, signaling the easing of a supply glut. Gold holds above 1200 dollars an ounce.