Market For You

GLOBAL INDICES

• At 9.00 am in the morning, Asian markets were trading mixed, with Hang Seng
trading 0.2% lower.
• Nikkei ended higher on Thursday, boosted by strong earnings from Advantest and
other technology companies.
• Hang Seng index fell on Thursday, reversing earlier gains, on renewed concerns
about further monetary tightening policy from Beijing.
• FTSE index ended almost flat on Thursday as gains in miners were cut short by
disappointing results from AstraZeneca PLC, Unilever PLC and Whitbread PLC.
• Dow Jones ended higher on Thursday despite modest US economic growth in the
first quarter.

INDIAN EQUITY MARKET

• At 9.00 am in the morning, the SGX Nifty was trading 0.1% higher.
• Indian stock indices slumped on Thursday on account of selling on the last day of
the April futures contract expiry and on fear of higher-than-expected interest rate
hike by the RBI in its annual policy statement.
• All indices ended in red with BSE Realty and BSE Metal leading the fall.
• Among realty stocks, Unitech fell nearly 8% and DB Realty fell more than 4%.
• Fertiliser shares like National Fertilizers rose 1.3% and Coromandel International
added 2.3% after the Cabinet approved revision in the nutrient-based subsidy rates
of phosphatic and potassic fertilisers for 2011-12 (Apr-Mar).
• ICICI Bank ended up 1% as the bank's Jan-Mar net profit was in line with market
expectations, while Vijaya Bank and Bank of Baroda ended nearly 6% and 5%
down respectively.
• Shares of Southern Petrochemical Industrial Corp gained 18% and Orient Paper
and Industries were up 3.7% on better than expected earning results.
• Cox & Kings India ended up nearly 4% after the board approved a two-for-one
stock split while Pipavav Shipyard closed over 1% higher after it signed a MoU
with UK's Babcock group to build aircraft carriers for the Indian Navy.

DOMESTIC NEWS

• India's primary articles inflation rate rose to 12.08% for the week ended April 16
from 11.96% a week ago; food articles inflation rate also increased slightly to
8.76% from 8.74% a week ago.
• Economic Affairs Secretary says that the threat of runaway inflation toppling
India's growth remains real, and while the government has done all it could on the
fiscal side, more measures to combat price rise are likely from the RBI.
• Economic Affairs Secretary informs that government will begin divestments in
FY12 with PFC's FPO in May; will also launch cooking gas, kerosene smart cards
in FY12.
• RBI, in a discussion paper says deregulation of savings bank deposit rate will
improve transmission of monetary policy, but warns that it could lead to unhealthy
competition among banks and hurt their profitability.
• EPFO to pay 9.5% interest rate on claims till new rate is decided for FY12.
• World Gold Council says that at the end of March, gold exchange-traded funds
held 2,110.3 tn gold worth $97.6 bn, compared with a high of 2,167.4 tn at
December end, indicating a net outflow during Jan-Mar.
• Pipavav Shipyard enters into a preliminary agreement with UK's Babcock Group to
jointly work on the possibility of building aircraft carriers for the Indian Navy.
• HCL Tech signs a new agreement with NASDAQ-listed JDA Software Group for
supply chain management.
• Bank of Baroda plans to increase the number of overseas branches to 100 in FY12
from 85 now.
• Japan International Co-operation Agency to extend a soft loan of Rs.14100 cr for
the third phase expansion of Delhi Metro Rail Corp.
• Monnet Ispat plans to raise around Rs.1300cr by selling up to 20% stake in its
power arm by June next year.
• Future Ventures’ issue gets subscribed 1.52 times with HNIs, bidding 7.8 times the
offer reserved for them.
• Welspun Infra Projects acquires a 35% stake for Rs.470cr in Leighton Contractors.
• Jyothy Labs says that it is still awaiting the outcome of its bid to acquire 50.97%
stake in Henkel India from its parent firm Henkel AG.
• Biocon to divest its entire 78% stake in German unit AxiCorp for $58.2 mn.

DERIVATIVES MARKET

• Nifty April futures (near future) expired slightly down against the spot index; it also
witnessed 3.05 mn decrease in open interest (OI).
• Put Call Ratio (OI) fell from 1.24 on April 27 to 1.09 on April 28.
• Nifty 6000 April Call strike continued to witness the highest OI.
• Nifty 5700 April Put strike continued to witness the highest OI.
• India VIX (volatility index based on the Nifty 50 Index Option prices) fell from
21.35% on April 27 to 20.92% on April 28.

INDIAN DEBT MARKET

• Call rates ended at 6.85-6.95% on Thursday against 6.85-6.90% on Wednesday on
strong demand from banks to meet cash reserve needs for the fortnight ending May 6
and also as view that RBI may raise key policy rates persisted.
• Banks borrowed Rs.30385 cr from RBI's repo tenders vs Rs.37035 cr on Wed.
• Gilt prices fell on Thursday as some selling took place on expectation that RBI will
hike key rates in its Monetary Policy Statement for 2011-12 on May 3.
• The 10-year 7.80%, 2021 paper ended at Rs.97.93, or 8.1057% yield compared with
Rs.98.04, or 8.0895% yield on Wednesday.
• Sentiment took a hit after Economic Affairs Secretary highlighted the problems
faced due to inflationary pressures and said that RBI is expected to take further steps
to contain inflation.
• Weekly primary articles inflation data did not affect gilt prices much.
• Intraday, large positions were avoided ahead of RBI’s policy statement, keeping
prices in a tight range.
• Meanwhile, RBI announced the auction of 77-day cash management bills worth
Rs.6000 cr on April 29.

Currency Overview

• The Indian rupee erased intraday gains and ended flat on Thursday due to persistent
dollar purchases by oil companies to meet their month-end requirements.

Commodity Overview

• Crude oil prices rose 10 cents to settle at $112.86 a barrel, a 31 month high, on the
NYMEX.
• Gold prices rose on signs of continuing accommodative monetary policy from the
US Federal Reserve.

INTERNATIONAL NEWS

• US economic growth slowed sharply in the first quarter to a rate of 1.8% after
growing at a 3.1% pace in the fourth quarter of 2010.
• IMF says that many Asian economies have been slow to raise interest rates and
clamp down on credit and they need to act promptly to avoid overheating; also says
that the Asian economy would grow 7% in 2011-12 even as it grapples with risks
including inflation, turmoil in the Middle East and the effects of Japan's tsunami.
• Bank of Japan expects the economy to expand 0.6% in the current business year
ending March 31, 2012, down from the rate of 1.6% the bank had forecast in
January; keeps its overnight call rate range at 0 to 0.1% by unanimous vote.
• World Bank projects China's real GDP growth at 9.3% this year, revising its
previous projection of 8.7%.