Sensex ends 115-pt down; autos outperform, NHPC disappoints

The Sensex continued its downtrend for the second consecutive session on the back of weak European cues. Selling in capital goods, power, oil & gas exploration, realty, metal, pharma and banking companies' shares pressurised the Nifty to close just 25 points above the 4600 mark. However, auto stocks outperformed other indices due to their strong August sales numbers. Equity benchmarks started on a positive note due to good Asian cues and recovered all Monday's losses. Buying had seen across the sectors. Asian markets ended higher; Taiwan Weighted and Kospi gained 2-2.8%. Nikkei, Hang Seng and Shanghai were up 0.4-0.8%. However, around 13:45 hours IST, indices gave up all their morning trade gains on the back of weak European cues; wherein banking shares hammered the most. UK manufacturing fell to 49.7 in August from 50.2 in July, first fall since February which was another reason. At the time of closing of Indian equities, European markets were down about 0.8-1.5%. US index futures fell 0.5-0.8%, which also put more pressure on the markets and gave indication of negative opening of US markets. The 50-share NSE Nifty touched a day's low of 4600.65, before closing the day at 4625.35, down 0.79% or 36.75 points. The 30-share BSE Sensex fell 115.45 points or 0.74%, to settle at 15,551.19, after seeing an intraday low of 15,475.28. Both indices slipped 2.3% from day's high 4735.90 and 15,923.09, respectively. Motilal Oswal, CMD, Motilal Oswal Financial Services, does not see markets hitting new highs this year. “I would remain cautious, although optimistic, in the longer term on various macro economic indicators.” The broader indices underperformed the benchmark indices, down 1.5% each. The market breadth also turned negative in the last couple of hours; about 1,192 shares advanced while 1,704 shares declined on the BSE. Nearly 290 shares remained unchanged. NHPC, India's largest hydro power generator, disappointed the street on its debut. It started at Rs 39 on the BSE and traded around Rs 37 for majority of the session. It was good that it held its issue price of Rs 36 and closed at Rs 36.7, a premium of 1.94%. Analysts expected listing around Rs 40-42. Commenting on NHPC's listing today, Oswal says the NHPC pricing was aggressive but the listing was disappointing. "What we saw the listing today is disappointment from the investor perspective and investors have not made money and unfortunately that will set the trend for the next few IPOs, but in any case there was a lot of talk in the market that the issue pricing was very aggressive as compared to a lot of other listed stocks benchmarks", he said. This story will be updated soon. Please check it in a while... Continued on the next page.... _PAGEBREAK_ Nifty trades lower; realty, metal, power, pharma down At 15.09 hrs IST, the Nifty was trading weak and was slipping towards 4600. Heavy selling pressure was seen in realty, metal, power, pharma, oil & gas and capital goods stocks. Stocks like Reliance, Infosys, ICICI Bank, L&T and HDFC were the negative contributors to the Sensex. The Sensex was down 153.20 points or 0.98% at 15513.44, and the Nifty was down 45.05 points or 0.97% at 4617.05. About 1095 shares advanced, 1786 shares declined, and 305 shares were unchanged. Top losers on the Sensex were ACC at Rs 776 down 4.04%, Sterlite Ind at Rs 654 down 3.15%, M&M at Rs 836.10 down 2.78%, Jaiprakash Asso at Rs 221.30 down 2.58% and Hindalco at Rs 103.15 down 2.55%. Top gainers on the Sensex were Maruti Suzuki at Rs 1,529.10 up 6.44%, Tata Motors at Rs 508.10 up 3.83%, Wipro at Rs 556.55 up 1.05%, Hero Honda at Rs 1,522.60 up 0.74% and Reliance Comm at Rs 261.90 up 0.54%. The BSE midcap and smallcap indices were down 1.5% each. Top losers on the BSE Midcap - Peninsula Land, Guj Mineral, Godrej Ind, Thomas Cook and IFCI were down 6-7%. Top losers on the BSE Smallcap - Sunflag Iron, Dalmia Cement, Jindal Drilling, Brigade Enterp and Guj Ind Power were down 8-11%. Continued on the next page.... _PAGEBREAK_ Sensex erases early gains, down over 2% from day's high At 13:45 hours IST - the Sensex gave up its early gains and was trading lower. European markets also turned negative post its positive trading in early trade; FTSE and DAX lost 1% each and CAC fell 0.6%. Banking and insurance companies were the losers. Capital goods, power, private financials and select metal stocks were under pressure. Bharti Airtel, NTPC, BHEL, HDFC, HDFC Bank and ITC were dragging the indices. ONGC, Cairn, TCS, Unitech, Idea, Tata Power, Sun Pharma, Ranbaxy Labs and Reliance Industries also lost ground. The Nifty lost 38 points, to 4,624 and the Sensex fell 115 points, to 15,551. The broader indices were also turned flat in trade. The market breadth was mixed; about 598 shares advanced while 660 shares declined on the NSE.  However, buying in auto stocks along with DLF, HUL, Reliance Communication, Wipro, Suzlon, BPCL and PNB capped the losses to some exent. Newly listed NHPC still holds issue price and was trading at Rs 37 as against issue price of Rs 36. Sugar stocks like Bajaj Hindusthan and Balrampur Chini were up 0.8% each. Dhampur Sugar, Dharani Sugars, Dwarikesh Sugar, KCP Sugar, Oudh Sugar Mill, Ponni Sugars (E), Sakthi Sugars, Simbhaoli Sugar and Uttam Sugar lost 1.5-5%. Bombay Rayon Fashions' board approved raising up to Rs 500 crore via ADR/ GDR/ QIP. The stock was up 1%. Nagarjuna Construction bagged 2 orders worth Rs 481 crore and Kalpataru Power Transmission received orders worth Rs 1,400 crore. Both were up 0.5-1%. Gujarat Fluorochemicals surged 10%, as sources said the company got 23 lakh carbon credits worth Rs 241 crore. Continued on the next page.... _PAGEBREAK_ Nifty hovers around 4700; RIL, Maruti, Infy, ICICI Bk lead At 13:25 hours IST - the Nifty was hovering around 4700 level, after giving up some of its gains. European markets also gave up their early trade gains and were trading marginally lower. Realty, banking, metal, auto, oil & gas and cement stocks were supporting the markets to stay on the higher side. However, a bit of selling at higher levels due to BHEL, Idea, HCL Tech, Sun Pharma and Tata Power capped some gains. The Nifty went up 56 points, to 4,718 and the Sensex rose 200 points, to 15,867. The Nifty September future was trading with 11 points premium. The market breadth was positive; about 1997 shares advanced while 864 shares declined on the BSE. Nearly 325 shares were unchanged. The BSE Midcap index was up 1.1% and Smallcap Index up 1.6%. Sensex maintains uptrend; auto, realty outperform At 12:16 hours IST, the Sensex maintained its uptrend on the back of buying across all the sectors; only 1/10th of shares were trading in the red. Auto and realty were the biggest gainers; respective indices up 2.3-3.5%. Technology, banking, telecom and FMCG stocks were also supportive. The broader indices were up 1.2-1.4%, as about 2011 shares advanced while 815 shares declined on the BSE. Nearly 360 shares were unchanged. The Nifty gained 56 points at 4,718 and the Sensex rose 196 points, to 15,863. The Nifty September future was trading with 7 points premium. Realty stocks were witnessing buying interest for the second straight day. DLF, Ackruti City, HDIL, Unitech and Omaxe were up 1.5-3.5%. In the auto space, Amtek Auto, Maruti Suzuki, Tata Motors, M&M, Ashok Leyland, Escorts, Hero Honda, Bajaj Auto and Bharat Forge were up 2-6.5%. TVS Motor sold 1.27 lakh 2-wheelers in the month of August versus 1.14 lakh 2-wheelers in the same period last year. The stock jumped 7%. Maruti Suzuki's August sales went up 8.6% at 84,808 units from 78,074 units (MoM) and up 41.6% versus 59,908 units (YoY). Exports jumped 40% (MoM). In the midcap space, Berger Paints locked at 20% upper circuit. Gujarat Flourochem, Amtek Auto, HCL Info and Phoenix Mills were up 6-13%. However, Jagran Prakashan, Exide Industries, Gujarat NRE Coke, GE Shipping and Pantaloon Retail lost 1.5-3%. In the smallcap space, Aegis Logistics shot up 20%. Sanghi Industries, Bajaj Auto Finance, Genus Power and Navin Fluorine gained 9-14.7%. However, JMD Telefilms, Gujarat Industries Power, Modern India, Dalmia Cement and Indo Rama Synthetics fell 4-5%. Nifty trades above 4700; all sectoral indices in green At 10:56 hours IST - the Nifty extended gains and recovered nearly all yesterday's losses. Buying in telecom, banking, FMCG, auto, realty, power, select capital goods and technology stocks was helping the Nifty stay above the 4700 level. Asian markets also gained further; Taiwan Weighted went up 2.6% and Shanghai rose 1.8%. Kospi was up 1.5% and Straits Times up 1%. Nikkei, Jakarta and Hang Seng gained 0.5% each. The Sensex rose 212 points, to 15,879 and the Nifty up 61 points, to 4,723. The broader indices were trading in line with benchmark indices, were up 1.4% each. The market breadth was strong; about 994 shares shares advanced while 194 shares declined on the NSE. Today's new listing - NHPC was trading at Rs 37.85, up 1.54% over its issue price of Rs 36. All sectoral indices were in the green; the BSE Auto and Realty indices gained 2.2-2.5%. Bank, TECk, IT, FMCG, Capital Goods, Oil & Gas and Metal indices went up 1-1.6%. Top gainers - Maruti Suzuki, Hero Honda, Reliance Communication, Jaiprakash Associates, Tata Motors, Suzlon Energy and Reliance Capital went up 2.5-4.5%. NHPC, Mahindra Satyam, Suzlon Energy, Unitech, Reliance Capital and Aban Offshore were most active shares on the bourses. Sensex bounces back on +ve Asian cues; NHPC disappoints The Sensex bounced back following positive Asian cues. The Nifty was hovering around the 4700 mark. Capital Goods, FMCG, realty, select telecom and banking stocks were witnessing buying interest. At 9:56 am, the Sensex rose 126 points, to 15,792 and the Nifty gained 34 points at 4,696. The CNX Midcap Index went up 52 points, to 6,170. About 764 shares advanced while 117 shares declined on the NSE.  Among the frontliners, Bharti, ITC, DLF, Wipro, HCL Tech, L&T, Reliance Capital, Jindal Steel & Power and Tata Steel were gainers. However, Sterlite Industries lost 2.5% as US Bankruptcy Judge recommended Grupo Mexico bid for Asarco over Sterlite. Tata Motors was down 1% post its consolidated numbers. NHPC listed today at Rs 39.50 as against its issue price of Rs 36 a share. Immediately it started drifting below the opening price as well and was trading just above the issue price at Rs 36.9. Midcap space: Sugar stocks like Dhampur Sugar, Balrampur Chini and Bajaj Hindusthan were up 2% each. Matyas Infra locked at 5% upper circuit today as well. HOEC gained nearly 4%. Global cues: Asian markets were trading higher. Taiwan Weighted rose over 2%; Straits Times and Kospi went up 1% each. Shanghai, Hang Seng, Jakarta and Nikkei were up 0.4-0.7%. The US markets ended lower following a sell-off in Chinese equities; commodities slipped and crude was down nearly 4%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 0.5% at 9,496; was up 3.5% for August and up 8.2% YTD (year-to-date). The S&P 500 Index fell 0.8% to 1,021; was up 3.3% for August and up 13% YTD. The Nasdaq Composite lost 1% at 2,009; was up 1.5% for August and up 27.4% YTD. US markets were flooded with M&A news of nearly $10 billion. Commodities CRB Commodity Index was down 1.6%. Crude oil was down nearly 4% to $69.9/bbl. Gold lost 0.5% at $953.5/ounce. Copper fell 4% and Zinc down 2.5%. Sugar made fresh 30-year high and was up 3.7% to 24.39. Market cues: -FIIs net buy USD 224 million in cash on August 28 -MFs net buy Rs 65 crore in cash on August 28 -Total F&O Open Int up by Rs 3554 crore at Rs 72,418 crore on August 28 -FIIs net sell Rs 271 crore in cash on August 31 (prov) -DIIs net buy Rs 19 crore in cash on August 31 (prov) -FIIs net buy Rs 284 crore in F&O on August 31 F&O cues: -Total Futures Open Int up by Rs 836 crore -Total Options Open Int up by Rs 2718 crore -Nifty down 1.5%, Futures Open Int up 5% -Nifty September Futures trading at 11-pt premium versus 6-pt prem -Stock Futures add 2 crore shares in Open Int -Nifty Open Int Put Call Ratio up from 1.2 to 1.24 -Nifty Puts add 32.2 lakh shares -Nity Calls add 15.5 lakh shares -Nifty IVs at 32-35% levels -Nifty September 4600 Put Adds 8.8 lakh shrs in Open Int -Nifty September 4700 Call Adds 4.5 lakh shares in Open Int -Nifty September 4900 Call Adds 3.7 lakh shares in Open Int -Nifty September 4300 Put Adds 3.2 lakh shares in Open Int -Nifty December 3500 Put Adds 5 lakh shares in Open Int -Note: Highest outstanding Nifty Open Int at 4600 Put