Rain gods, be kind to us

While numbers show an upward swing, bad result season and a dicey monsoon may just pull down markets again

Last week, saw markets gain further ground, but they were small in comparison to the week before. The BSESENSEX gained 211.39 points or 0.82 per cent to close at 25,838.14 points while NIFTY gained 48.85 points or 0.62 per cent to close at 7,899.30 points.

The broader indices saw the BSE100, BSE200 and BSE500 gain 0.83 per cent, 0.80 per cent and 0.83 per cent respectively. BSEMIDCAP gained 0.94 per cent while BSESMALLCAP was up 1.24 per cent.

In sectors, the top gainer was BSEMETAL up 4.76 per cent followed by BSEPSU 2.70 per cent, BSEBANKEX 2.66 per cent and BSEREALTY 2.08 per cent.

Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley with RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan, at IMF 2016 Spring Summit in Washington DC last week. The governor has promised more rate cuts if the monsoon is on track this year. Pic/PTI

The losers were led by BSEFMCG down 0.68 per cent followed by BSEAUTO 0.26 per cent. In individual stocks, the top gainer was Vedanta up 11.72 per cent followed by Axis Bank 7.69 per cent and Tata Steel 6.37 per cent. The losers were led by Hero Motocorp, down 4.79 per cent, Wipro 4.60 per cent and TCS 4.20 per cent.

Dow Jones gained 106.29 points or 0.59 per cent to close at 18,003.75 points. The Indian rupee gained 0.23 per cent to the US Dollar.

Listings galore
Shares of Equitas listed and as expected, made huge gains. Shares, which were issued at R 110, closed at R 137.65, a gain of 25.13 per cent. The buoyancy in the primary market continues with the secondary offering from Thyrocare Technologies Limited, which is having a secondary sale of 1.07 crore shares in a price band of R 420-446. The size of the offering is between R 451 and R 479 crore. The issue opens on Wednesday, April 27, and closes on Friday, April 29. There is another issue from Ujjivan Financial services, which is also into microfinance. The issue opens on Thursday, April 28 and closes on May 2.

Parliament begins its second leg of the budget session from Tuesday, April 25. The session is expected to be stormy with many issues like Uttarakhand, affidavits by the former home minister in the Ishrat Jahan case and also the issue of GST in Rajya Sabha. While the two issues will see the opposition and the ruling party at loggerheads, it appears the GST issue will be a quieter affair this time, and may see the light of day before the session ends.

Result season is on and Reliance Industries announced a good set of numbers. Whether the market would accept them as an indicator of future or not, is another question. India Inc. is still struggling and the turnaround is yet to happen.

Rate cut
RBI governor, Raghuram Rajan has assured of more rate cuts, only if the monsoon is on track. News from Parliament could be another driver and global cues, if any. Currently there is nothing on the global front, which is expected to drive markets.
On the negative side, China continues to be a mystery and one is not sure what news could hit the markets at what time. One needs to be cautious and careful about China as it struggles to cope with the significant slowdown that is it is currently witnessing.

Trade cautiously as the bad set of numbers from companies is yet to hit the market. Disclaimer: No financial information whatsoever published anywhere in this newspaper should be construed as an offer to buy or sell securities, or as advice to do so in any way whatsoever. All matter published here is for educational and information purposes only and under no circumstances should be used for actual trading or making investment decisions. Readers must consult a qualified financial advisor prior to making any actual investment or trading decisions, based on information published here. Any reader taking decisions based on any information published here does so entirely at his or her risk.

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