RIL AGM - Undertone in the Markets of Reliance AGM
The domestic equity markets continued to hover near the neutral line in late-afternoon trades as the annual general meeting (AGM) of Mukesh Ambani led Reliance Industries (RIL) failed to bring any major surprises for the street. The undertone in the markets turned cautious following conclusion of the AGM. The Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group (ADAG) companies were the worst hit at this point of time. RIL was also trading with a cut of more than half a percent in trade. High beta — metal, realty and banking — shares were also witnessing some profit booking from marketmen. Meanwhile, positive European stocks and sustained value picking in capital goods, consumer durables and auto stocks was keeping the downside in check on the local bourses. The market breadth on the BSE turned negative; the losers outpaced the gainers in a ratio of 1591:1149 while 92 shares remained unchanged.
The BSE Sensex shed 1.10 points or 0.01% to 17,615.59. The index touched a high and a low of 17,721.99 and 17,557.54, respectively.
The BSE Mid-cap index dropped 0.15% while the Small-cap index rose 0.01%.
The main gainers in the BSE sectoral space were Capital Goods (CG) up 0.76%, Consumer Durables (CD) up 0.60%, Auto up 0.42%, Information Technology (IT) up 0.39% and Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) up 0.24%.
On the flip side, Metal down 0.64%, Realty down 0.60%, Oil & Gas down 0.57%, Bankex down 0.27% and Power down 0.14% were the main losers in the BSE sectoral space.
Meanwhile, cement manufacturers are finally feeling the heat of the heavy capacity addition that has run ahead of the demand scenario, and is resulting in sharp decline in prices in most of the regional markets.
The talk of oversupply in cement industry is not new. In fact, immediately after the global slowdown surfaced and the growth in the Indian economy too decelerated sharply, cement industry was believed to have worst prospects on account of large capex projects to be commissioned in the coming two years.
However, riding on the fiscal stimulus and rapid recovery in Indian economy, the industry somehow managed to keep the oversupply ghost at bay and prices never saw the kind of fall that was expected in any region during the fiscal 2009-10. A part of the reason was buoyant growth in demand as construction activity picked up, while the delay in planned capex projects also helped keep supply under control.
Hero Honda up 1.90%, L&T up 1.50%, M&M up 1.24%, BHEL up 1.10% and Jindal Steel up 1.07% were the major gainers on the Sensex.
On the other hand, RCom down 1.80%, Reliance Infra down 1.59%, ICICI Bank down 1.54%, Sterlite Inds down 1.45% and Maruti Suzuki down 1.31% were the major losers on the index.
A leading economic think-tank, Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE), has maintained its earlier projection of Indian economy growing at the rate of 9.2% in the current fiscal year. CMIE???s projection is a full one percentage point higher than the RBI???s (Reserve Bank of India) projection as well as 0.7% higher than the government forecast.
‘We expect gross domestic product to grow by 9.2% in 2010-11 compared to a 7.4% in 2009-10,’ the CMIE said today in its report on the state of the domestic economy. The CMIE has been maintaining this growth forecast since March this year.
The S&P CNX Nifty slid 2.65 points or 0.05% to 5,272.20. The index touched a high and a low of 5,302.30 and 5,254.20, respectively.
HCL Tech up 2.63%, Hero Honda up 2.07%, L&T up 1.41%, Jindal Steel up 1.34% and M&M up 1.21% were the top gainers on the Nifty.
On the flip side, BPCL down 2.49%, RCom down 1.98%, ICICI Bank down 1.70%, Sterlite Inds down 1.67% and Rel Cap down 1.66% were the top losers on the index.
Among other Asian indices, Shanghai Composite trimmed 1.84%, Nikkei 225 slid 0.04%, Straits Times slipped 0.01% and Taiwan Weighted dipped 0.30% while Hang Seng increased 0.56%, Jakarta Composite advanced 1.12%, KLSE Composite gained 0.47% and Seoul Composite rose 0.24%.
European markets were trading in the green after a flat-to-negative start. CAC-40 added 0.44%, DAX rose 0.38% and FTSE 100 gained 0.60%.
