Market drops for the fifth straight session; breadth weak

Key benchmark indices fell for the fifth straight trading session to reach their lowest closing level in 17-weeks as latest data showing acceleration of inflation in April 2012 and weak global stocks hurt sentiment adversely. The market breadth was weak. The barometer index, BSE Sensex, lost 77.14 points or 0.47%, up about 90 points from the day's low and off close to 175 points from the day's high. From a recent high of 16,912.71 on 7 May 2012 the BSE Sensex has declined 696.87 points or 4.12% in five straight trading sessions. The Sensex has declined 1,102.97 points or 6.36% in May 2012 so far (till 14 May 2012). The Sensex has gained 760.92 points or 4.92% in calendar 2012 so far (till 14 May 2012). From a 52-week low of 15,135.86 on 20 December 2011, the Sensex has risen 1,079.98 points or 7.13%. From a 52-week high of 19,131.70 on 8 July 2011, the Sensex has lost 2,915.86 points or 15.24%. Coming back to today's trade, index heavyweight Reliance Industries (RIL) declined over 2%. Oil exploration stocks fell as crude oil prices declined. Some defensive stocks gained in weak market. Interest rate sensitive bank and realty shares reversed initial gains after the latest data showed inflation accelerated in April 2012. India's largest engineering & construction firm by sales L&T rose after good Q4 results. Adani Power tumbled as company the reported reverse turnaround in Q4 March 2012. Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone fell after Q4 results. JSW Steel declined on weak Q4 results. The market edged higher in early trade. A bout of volatility was witnessed in morning trade as key benchmark indices regained strength after trimming initial gains. The market moved in a narrow range in mid-morning trade. Key benchmark indices reversed intraday gains as the latest data showed inflation accelerated in April 2012. The market extended losses in afternoon trade. Volatility ruled the roost as key benchmark indices trimmed losses after hitting fresh intraday lows in mid-afternoon trade. Intense volatility was witnessed as key benchmark indices weakened once again after recovering sharply after hitting 17-week lows in late trade. The National Stock Exchange (NSE) reportedly resolved a technical snag in its futures & options (F&O) segment which affected trading in F&O segment during mid-afternoon trade. The BSE Sensex lost 77.14 points or 0.47% to settle at 16,215.84, its lowest closing level since 16 January 2012. The index declined 168.16 points at the day's low of 16,124.82 in late trade. The index rose 97.35 points at the day's high of 16,390.33 in morning trade. The S&P CNX Nifty lost 21.10 points or 0.43% to settle at 4,907.80, its lowest closing level since 16 January 2012. The index hit a low of 4,874.50 in intraday trade. The Nifty hit a high of 4,957.20 in intraday trade. The BSE Mid-Cap index fell 1% and the BSE Small-Cap index declined 1.26%. Both these indices underperformed the Sensex. BSE clocked turnover of Rs 1823 crore, lower than Rs 19233.53 crore on Friday, 11 May 2012. The market breadth, indicating the overall health of the market, was weak. On BSE, 1,657 shares fell and 1,047 shares rose. A total of 117 shares were unchanged. Among the 30-share Sensex pack, 15 fell while the rest rose. Index heavyweight Reliance Industries (RIL) fell 2.32% to Rs 681.15, off the day's high of Rs 702.45. RIL, last week, said it has signed a $2 billion equivalent loan with nine banks covered by Euler Hermes Deutschland AG ("Euler Hermes") on 7 May 2012 at Berlin, Germany. The loan will be primarily used to finance goods and services procured from German suppliers as part of RIL's petrochemicals expansion projects at Jamnagar, Hazira, Silvassa and Dahej in India. The facility is among the largest underwriting by Euler Hermes in recent years, RIL said. Euler Hermes has for the first time accorded 'Better than Sovereign' rating to a corporate, RIL said. Despite the challenging financial markets, the deal witnessed 50% over subscription, RIL. The facility has a door-to-door maturity of 13 years. This deal help diversify RIL's funding sources and extends the maturity profile of its long term debt in a cost effective manner, RIL said. Essar Oil (EOL) fell 3.85% after company reported a net loss of Rs 515 crore in Q4 March 2012, compared with a net profit of Rs 321 crore in Q4 March 2011. Net sales jumped 31.5% to Rs 17514 crore in Q4 March 2012 over Q4 March 2011. The company said earnings before interest taxation, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) plunged 51% to Rs 444 crore in Q4 March 2012 over Q4 March 2011. The current price gross refining margin (GRM) declined to $4.60 per barrel from $5.29 per barrel in Q4 March 2011. Throughput at 4.03 MMT in Q4 March 2012 was up 10.4% against 3.65 MMT in Q4 March 2011 due to increase in the refinery capacity, Essar Oil said. LK Gupta, EOL's Managing Director and CEO said: "We have completed a very challenging yet satisfying year at Essar Oil. During the year, we completed our refinery expansion programme, making us the second largest single location refinery in India and one of the most complex refineries in the world. This has opened up new markets for our products and provides flexibility for sourcing of crude. With our optimization programme now nearing completion, we have reached the closure of our major capex programme. With this we have significantly moved up in the refining value chain and are now fully focused on delivering the value of our investments to our stakeholders." Suresh Jain, Chief Financial Officer, EOL, said, "With our capex funding requirement coming to an end, ensuing Corporate Debt Restructuring (CDR) exit, and benefits of higher capacity and complexity will soon be visible in terms of incremental operational cash flows, which will be utilised to deleverage the balance sheet and boost our valuation." Some defensive stocks gained in weak market. Sun Pharmaceutical Industries gained 1.26%. FMCG giant Hindustan Unilever (HUL) rose 0.36%. Interest rate sensitive bank shares reversed initial gains after the latest data showed inflation accelerated in April 2012. India's largest bank by branch network State Bank of India (SBI) declined 0.65%. India's largest private sector bank by net profit ICICI Bank fell 1.7%. India's second largest private sector bank by net profit HDFC Bank shed 2.02%. Axis Bank fell 0.69%. Moody's Investors Service has downgraded the standalone bank financial strength rating (BFSR) of three Indian banks -- Axis Bank, HDFC Bank and ICICI Bank -- to D+ from C-, which now maps to a baseline credit assessment (BCA) of baa3 from baa2 on the long-term scale. The rating actions took place in the context of an ongoing global review affecting all banks whose standalone ratings are higher than the rating of the government where they are domiciled, and they conclude the review that was initiated on 30 April 2012, Moody's said. At the same time, the rating agency has downgraded the hybrid ratings of Axis Bank and ICICI Bank to Ba3 (hyb) from Ba2 (hyb). All revised ratings carry stable outlooks, Moody's said. The downward revision to the three Indian banks' standalone ratings reflects Moody's assessment that their creditworthiness are highly correlated with that of the Indian government's credit strength taking into account the extent to which their business depend on the domestic macroeconomic and financial environment, the degree of their reliance on market-based, and therefore more confidence-sensitive, funding and their direct or indirect exposures to domestic sovereign debt, compared with their capital bases, Moody's said. For all three banks, the key drivers for the rating action included the relatively low level of cross-border diversification of their operations, the high level of balance-sheet exposure to domestic sovereign debt compared with their capital bases and franchise resilience and intrinsic strength within the operating environment and the absence of ongoing support from foreign ownership, Moody's said. Bank of Baroda fell 3.72% to Rs 624.95. The stock hit a 52-week low of Rs 619 today. Punjab National Bank fell 3.05% to Rs 722.95, with the stock extending recent slide as the state-run bank has negatively surprised the market on margins and asset quality front in Q4 March 2012. The stock hit a 52 week low of Rs 722 today. The bank has negatively surprised the market on margins and asset quality front in Q4 March 2012. While the fresh slippages were around Rs 2650 crore, the restructured assets were Rs 3500 crore during the quarter under review. Higher slippages coupled with spike in the cost of deposits have taken a toll on margins for the quarter. Oil exploration stocks fell as crude oil prices declined. India's biggest state-run oil exploration firm by revenue Oil & Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) fell 1.3%. Cairn India dropped 4%. India's second biggest state-run oil and gas exploration firm by revenue, Oil India, slipped 0.66%. Lower crude oil prices will result in lower realizations from crude sales for oil exploration firms. Oil fell sharply on Monday as mounting political uncertainty in Greece and worries about the prospects for growth in China added to a sense that the demand outlook is worsening. PSU OMCs rose on reports oil marketing companies plan to raise petrol prices after the end of the budget session of Parliament this month and revise them every fortnight to recover Rs 5000 crore past revenue losses as they haven't increased rates since December due to political pressure. Indian Oil Corporation (IOCL), HPCL and BPCL rose by between 0.52% to 1.89%. A fall in crude oil prices also supported shares of PSU OMCs. Lower crude oil prices could reduce under-recoveries of state-run oil marketing companies (PSU OMCs) on domestic sale of diesel, LPG and kerosene at controlled prices. The government has already freed pricing of petrol. India's largest engineering & construction firm by sales L&T rose 1.84% after the company announced during market hours today its recurring profit after tax, adjusted for exceptional items, jumped 24.8% to Rs 1877 crore on 21.1% growth in gross revenue to Rs 18646 crore in Q4 March 2012 over Q4 March 2011. The order inflow for the year ended 31 March 2012 (FY 2012) stood at Rs 70574 crore which took the company's order book to Rs 145723 crore as on 31 March 2012. The order inflow and order book include proportionate share in the Integrated Joint Ventures. Decelerating growth momentum across the sectors during 2011-12 led to deferment of capital expenditure and fresh investment decisions, L&T said. Still the company was able to garner sizable new orders mainly from Building & Factories, Infrastructure, Power Transmission & Distribution and Minerals & Metals sectors, L&T said. With regard to the future outlook, L&T said that the performance of the company has strong linkage with the economic environment in India as well as the key markets such as Middle East. While strengthening its domestic presence, the company is accelerating forays into its major international markets, L&T said. Given its large order book, the company is well positioned to sustain revenue growth momentum in the medium term, L&T said in a statement. India's largest capital goods maker by sales Bhel lost 1.99% to Rs 216.75. The stock had hit a 52-week low of Rs 208.50 in intraday trade on 7 May 2012. Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone fell 5.41% after the company announced during market hours today that net profit rose 1.23% to Rs 338.87 crore on 0.36% rise in total income to Rs 650.23 crore in Q4 March 2012 over Q4 March 2011. The company said net profit adjusted for exceptional items jumped 31.62% to Rs 338.87 crore on 22.4% growth in income from operations to Rs 641.88 crore in Q4 March 2012 over Q4 March 2011. Adani Power tumbled 3.86% after the company reported net loss of Rs 290.16 crore in Q4 March 2011, compared with net profit of Rs 174.32 crore in Q4 March 2011. Total income rose 28.05% to Rs 1112.05 crore in Q4 March 2012 over Q4 March 2011 IT stocks were mixed. India's largest software services exporter by revenues Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) fell 0.32%. India's third largest software services exporter by revenue, Wipro rose 0.42%. India's second largest software services exporter by revenue, Infosys gained 1.13%. Oracle Financial Services Software declined 2.69% after consolidated net profit fell 48% to Rs 194 crore in Q4 March 2012 over Q4 March 2011. Revenues were flat at Rs 863 crore in Q4 March 2012. Consolidated net profit fell 18% to Rs 909 crore on 5% increase in revenues to Rs 3147 crore in year ended March 2012 (FY 2012) over the year ended March FY 2011 (FY 2011). Chet Kamat, managing director and chief executive officer for Oracle Financial Services Software, said, "We witnessed strong license signing momentum in the quarter and booked new licenses of $ 29 million. The customer wins represent a wide spectrum of usage and in particular we are pleased with tier-one customer signings especially in the United States. Overall, I am also pleased with the top line growth of 14% in the products business on a full year basis. We delivered strong business metrics and have a healthy pipeline for next fiscal year." Makarand Padalkar, chief financial officer for Oracle Financial Services Software, said, "We posted an operating margin of 34% for the full year ended March 2012, representing a drop of 3% principally arising out of higher investments in the Product Business. With a strong operating discipline, we maintained/improved the margins in our services and BPO business. While the income before provision of taxes for the full year ended March 2012 increased 14% over previous year, the net income for the full year ended March 2012 dropped by 18% due to higher provisions for tax." Interest rate sensitive auto shares were mostly higher. India's largest car maker by sales Maruti Suzuki India gained 0.81%. As per recent reports, the company has raised the prices of the new diesel variants of its sedan DZire by up to Rs 12,000 with effect from 1 May 2012, citing input costs pressure. India's largest tractor and sports utility vehicles maker Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M) rose 0.47%. The company announced last week that a fire broke out on Wednesday, 9 May 2012 morning at one of the storage areas pertaining to manufacturing of Scorpio/Xylo TCF lines of Nasik Plant 1. The plant assets are adequately covered by insurance. M&M had announced on that day that the management expects to restart the Bolero and Verito lines fully and the Scorpio line partially from the second shift onwards on Wednesday, 9 May 2012. Bajaj Auto rose 1.8%, with the stock extending Friday's 3.48% gains. The company recently said its total sales rose 4% to 3.81 lakh units in April 2012 over April 2011. Exports rose 7% to a record 1.69 lakh units in April 2012 over April 2011. India's largest motorcycle maker by sales Hero MotoCorp gained 0.04%. The company on 2 May 2012 said that its net profit rose 20.33% to Rs 603.59 crore on 12.22% growth in total income to Rs 6139.90 crore in Q4 March 2012 over Q4 March 2011. The core operating profit margin (OPM) fell by 10 basis points to 15.3% in Q4 March 2012 on account of increase in raw material costs. The company said early this month it has raised prices of most of its products by Rs 500 to Rs 1000 per unit with immediate effect, in order to partially offset rising input costs. India's largest commercial vehicle makers by sales Tata Motors fell 2.42%. Tata Motors' Jaguar Land Rover unit on Friday, 11 May 2012, said it will source additional auto parts worth £1 billion from its UK-based suppliers over four years to meet rising demand for its sport-utility vehicle, the Range Rover Evoque. The company said the Evoque order book remains healthy and that the additional auto parts contracts will support the model's increased production at its factory in Halewood, Merseyside. Divi's Laboratories surged 7.31% after company announced on Saturday, 12 May 2012 that its consolidated net profit rose 23.81% to Rs 216.91 crore on 47.5% growth in total income to Rs 722.53 crore in Q4 March 2012 over Q4 March 2011. Metal stocks declined as LMEX, a gauge of six metals traded on the London Metal Exchange dropped 0.73% on Friday, 11 May 2012. Sterlite Industries, Tata Steel, Sail, Jindal Steel & Power and Hindalco Industries shed by between 0.32% to 2.64%. Bhushan Steel was flat after net profit rose 14.9% to Rs 330.89 crore on 44.6% growth in net sales to Rs 2743.43 crore in Q4 March 2012 over Q4 March 2011. Bhushan Steel said the company's board has approved further issue of securities not exceeding $1 billion through the process of Postal Ballot. JSW Steel fell 1.2%, after the company announced during market hours today that consolidated net profit fell 3.01% to Rs 769.73 crore on 41.87% growth in total income to Rs 10385.28 crore in Q4 March 2012 over Q4 March 2011. Shares of JSW Steel had plunged 5.19% on Friday after the Supreme Court ordered a CBI probe into JSW Steel's role in procuring iron-ore from illegal mines in Karnataka. During market hours on Friday, 11 May 2012, JSW Steel said it has not done any illegal activity nor is it connected with any wrong doing. The company said it has full faith in the judicial process and its books are open and it will fully co-operate with the investigating agencies. The company said it has issued this statement as the Supreme Court accepted the recommendations made by Central Empowered Committee and ordered CBI investigation in relation to various allegations some of which pertain to JSW Steel and its group companies. JSW Steel said it follows the highest standards of corporate governance and added that it is in fact the victim of alleged illegal mining in Karnataka. Mahanagar Telephone Nigam (MTNL) lost 2.86% after the company reported net loss of Rs 1374.45 crore in Q4 March 2012, higher than net loss of Rs 1099.58 crore in Q4 March 2011. The company's net sales rose 4.4% to Rs 840.73 crore in Q4 March 2012 over Q4 March 2011. Interest rate sensitive realty stocks edged lower after the latest data showed inflation accelerated in April 2012. Purchases of both residential and commercial property are largely driven by finance. Unitech, HDIL, DLF and D B Realty dropped by between 0.29% to 3.65%. Cals Refineries clocked highest volume of 1.28 crore shares on BSE. Sybly Industries (50.72 lakh shares), IRB Infrastructure Developers (48.14 lakh shares), Manappuram Finance (36.89 lakh shares) and HDIL (34.33 lakh shares) were the other volume toppers in that order. L&T clocked highest turnover of Rs 186.45 crore on BSE. SBI (Rs 172.81 crore), JSW Steel (Rs 65.96 crore), IRB Infrastructure Developers (Rs 52.45 crore) and Shriram Transport Finance (Rs 51.23 crore) were the other turnover toppers in that order. Moody's Investors Service has downgraded to Baa3 from Baa2 the foreign currency insurance financial strength rating of the Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) -- India's biggest domestic institutional investor. The rating outlook is now stable. This revision takes place in the context of an ongoing global review affecting financial institutions whose ratings are higher than the rating of the government where they are domiciled, Moody's said. This rating action concludes the review for possible downgrade initiated on 30 April 2012, it said. The downgrade of LIC's rating reflects Moody's assessment that its creditworthiness is highly correlated with that of the Indian government's credit strength, considering the extent to which its business depends on the domestic economy, the limited degree of cross-border diversification within its operation, its significant level of balance-sheet exposure to domestic sovereign debt relative to its capitalization and the absence of strong foreign ownership. LIC is 100% owned by the Indian government. LIC generates almost all its premium income in India, reflecting its concentration in one market, its high reliance on the domestic economy, and its exposure to an evolving operating environment, Moody's said. Moody's review concludes that there is little, if any, reason to believe that LIC would be insulated from any government debt crisis, if it were to occur. LIC has meaningful and rapidly increasing direct or indirect exposures to the government through its holdings of government securities and its equity investments in government-related entities, including banks and corporations. Consequently, Moody's views the lower rating -- which is now positioned at the rating of the Indian government -- as more appropriate to capture the credit profile of LIC. The government guarantees all of LIC's policy liabilities, including associated declared bonuses, as prescribed in the LIC Act. Thus, Moody's views that LIC's credit strength is very much closely linked to the Indian's sovereign -- which justifies the insurer's current rating, Moody's said. Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) bought shares worth Rs 158.57 crore on Friday, 11 May 2012, as per provisional figures. FIIs had bought shares worth Rs 317.42 crore on Thursday, 10 May 2012. On the macro front, inflation accelerated in April as prices of most commodities rose, squeezing the amount of room the central bank has to ease monetary policy and support faltering growth. The Wholesale Price Index (WPI) rose a faster-than-expected 7.23% in April from a year earlier, mainly driven by higher food prices and manufactured items, data released by the government today, 14 May 2012, showed. The annual reading for February was upwardly revised to 7.36% from 6.95% reported earlier. Reserve Bank of India (RBI) deputy governor Subir Gokarn late last week said that inflation remains the RBI's main focus, but it has to be sensitive to various other risks and pressures facing the economy. His comments come in the backdrop of a surprise decline in industrial production in March 2012. The data was announced during trading hours on Friday, 11 May 2012. Mr. Gokarn also said that interest rates are likely to be headed downwards, but the pace and magnitude of the fall would depend on trends in growth and inflation. Industrial production contracted 3.5% from a year earlier in March as manufacturing output shrank, deepening worries of a slowdown in the economy. The last time industrial output contracted was in October 2011, when production fell 5%. Manufacturing output, which has a 75.5% weight in the index of industrial production, contracted 4.4% from a year earlier in March. It had risen 3.9% on year in February. Capital goods output shrank 21.3%. However, electricity production increased 2.7% from a year earlier in March. For the year ended March 31, industrial output grew a muted 2.8%, against an 8.2% increase in the previous year, government data showed. Investors are closely watching India Inc's Q4 March 2012 and year ending March 2012 (FY 2012) earnings. Focus is on the guidance provided by the management for the year ending March 2013 (FY 2013) to gauge the earnings outlook. Bajaj Auto announces FY 2012 results on Thursday, 17 May 2012. State Bank of India, Tata Steel and Coal India unveil FY 2012 results on Friday, 18 May 2012. Tata Power Company announces FY 2012 results on 22 May 2012. Bharat Heavy Electricals (Bhel) unveils Q4 results on 23 May 2012. BPCL unveils FY 2012 results on 25 May 2012. Tata Motors announces FY 2012 results on 29 May 2012. Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M) unveils FY 2012 results on 30 May 2012. European stocks declined sharply on Monday as the Greece political crisis showed no signs of abating over the weekend. Key benchmark indices in UK, Germany and France were down by 1.93% to 2.45%. Greek anti-bailout party Syriza said over the weekend it would not take part in a coalition government to help put in place austerity measures. If President Karolos Papoulias can't put a coalition together by Thursday, 17 May 2011, new elections will be held in June 2012, and concerns are building Greece could exit the euro zone. Asian shares were mostly lower Monday as Greece's inability to form a government fueled worries over euro stability. Key benchmark indices in Hong Kong, Singapore, China, Indonesia, South Korea and Taiwan were down by 0.18% to 1.48%. Japan's Nikkei 225 rose 0.23%. China has cut the amount of cash that banks must set aside as reserves for the third time in six months, pumping money into the financial system to support lending. Reserve ratios will fall 50 basis points, effective May 18, the People's Bank of China said over the weekend. Asian shares had slumped last week after Europe's problems took a turn for the worse, as elections in France and Greece became a stage for voters to express discontent over austerity measures. The election in Greece left the country without the leadership needed for the cost-cutting it is undertaking to conform with the lending terms imposed by international creditors, with the nation now likely headed back to the polls. Trading in US index futures indicated that the Dow could fall 103 points at the opening bell on Monday, 14 May 2012. J.P. Morgan Chase & Co., the biggest US bank by asset, said on Thursday, 10 May 2012, it incurred a $2 billion trading loss.