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Markets end lower for 4th straight session; HDFC, ICICI Bank slip

Last updated on: July 28, 2015 16:59 IST

Benchmark Indices ended lower for the fourth consecutive session on concerns of capital outflows after the special investigation team proposed stringent norms for P-notes.

Further, investors turned catious ahead of the US Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting that begins today, which could further give signals on whether the Fed will hike the rates.

The BSE Sensex ended 102 points or 0.3% down at 27,459 while the CNX Nifty ended below 8,350 at 8,337 levels, down by 24 points or 0.3%.

The broader markets are, however, outperformed their larger peers with BSE Midcap and Small indices down by 0.1% each.

The market breadth was flat with a slight negative bias with 1,388 declines against 1,361 advances on the BSE.

The tepid corporate results so far along with a washout of the first week of the monsoon session in Parliament have also played a dampener on D-Street.

Further, the derivatives expiry for the month of July due on July 30th, has kept the market participants on the edge.

The investors are jittery over the reports that the central bank might keep the interest rates unchanged during its next bi-monthly policy review meeting, which will be held on August 4.

The poor monsoon season so far is the reason cited for the dovish stand on the interest rates.

Meanwhile, Foreign Institutional Investors were net sellers in equities to the tune of Rs 860 crore, as per provisional stock exchange data. At closing, the Indian rupee was quoting at 63.95 to the US dollar, stronger by 21 paise.

Global markets

Among the Asian markets, China’s Shanghai Composite ended 1.7% down, continuing its downward trend while Japan’s Nikkei ended marginally lower at 0.1%.

Hang Seng however posted 0.6% gains. European markets edged higher in today’s trades, thus recovering from yesterday’s lows post rout in China’s equity markets.

FTSE 100 is up nearly 1%.

Sectors and stocks

Sectorally, BSE Healthcare and Metal indices were down between 0.7-0.8% while BSE Realty posted 2% losses.

Maruti Suzuki has posted 56% growth in its net profit at Rs 1,192 crore for the quarter ended June 30, 2015, as against Rs 762 crore posted for the same quarter last year.

The stock ended higher by 0.5% L&T ended with 0.7% gains ahead of its first quarter earnings on July 31 while BHEL is up 2.2% after the company recently announced order wins.

HDFC, India’s largest mortgage lender, has missed the street’s expectations and posted a mere 1.2% increase in its net profit to Rs 1,360.98 crore from Rs 1,344.66 crore year-on-year.

The loan book posted a 13.6% increase for the Q1 of FY16.

The stock ended in red, down by 2.6% Hero Motocorp has entered into settlement agreement to acquire the ownership of certain tangible and intangible assets of EBR Entities (Erik Buell Racing, Inc and Erik Buell LLC) its wholly owned subsidiaries.

The stock dipped nearly 3% on BSE.

Metal pack ended on a mixed note on the back of weak commodity prices coupled with weakness in the China shares. Hindalco ended up by 1%, while Vedanta ended with marginal gains and Tata Steel down 0.8% Tata Motors continued to reel under pressure on the back drop of weakness in the Chinese equities that could affect the sales of its luxury-arm JLR.

The stock is down 2%. NTPC might get up to 25% equity in Maharashtra government’s power generation utility MahaGenco after the utility finalises a financial restricting plan and a credit rating company CARE completes its analysis. The stock finished higher by 2%.

Among other shares, Bank of India (BoI) today reported 84% decline in net profit at Rs 129.72 crore in the April-June quarter of the current fiscal against Rs 805.69 crore year-on-year.

The stock is down 5.7% Punjab National Bank posted a decline of 48% in its net profit to Rs. 721 crore from Rs 1,405 crore year-on-year.

However, the gross level NPA declined slightly to 6.47% versus 6.54% year-on-year.

The stock jumped 5.3% Glenmark Pharma’s generic version of Bayer’s Finacea gel, which is used for treating skin diseases, has violated Bayer’s patent norms according to the US court. The stock ended 4% down.

Photograph: PTI

Purva Chitnis in Mumbai
Source: source image