The key indices moved in a narrow range this week, but closed at a 22-month high largely due to gains on the first trading day of the year. Volumes were low as index stocks struggled for direction in a listless market, as investors chose to remain cautious ahead of results. Finally, the BSE Sensex rose 0.4% and the NSE Nifty gained 0.8% over the week. The BSE Sensex hit an intra-week high of 17,790 and low of 17,378 while the NSE Nifty hit an intra-week high of 5,310 and low of 5,167.
The top gainers: The top gainers in the Sensex were Grasim Inds (up 11.4%), DLF (up 7.9%), Hindalco (up 7.7%), Tata Power (up 7.2%) and Reliance Capital (up 5.5%).
The Top Losers: The top losers in the Sensex were Maruti Suzuki (down 8.1%), TCS (down 6.7%), Infosys (down 5.3%), Hero Honda (down 4.2%) and HDFC (down 2.8%).
The BSE IT Index (down 4.4%): The top losers in the IT sector were TCS (down 6.7%), HCL Tech (down 5.3%), Infosys (down 5.3%), Sasken Communication (down 4.1%) and Mphasis (down 2.8%).The top gainers were Financial Tech (up 17%), Mahindra Satyam (up 14.9%), Patni Computer (up 1.8%) and Oracle Financial (up 0.2%).Despite 3QFY10 having fewer billing days, we expect the top-tier vendors to report US$ revenue growth of 3.5–4% QoQ (better than 2QFY10 for Wipro and Infosys). Wage hikes and an appreciating rupee would, however, put pressure on margins; we expect top-tier vendors to report declines of up to 150bps in EBITDA margins. We also expect Infosys to upgrade its FY10 EPS (INR) guidance by 3-5% on likely guidance-beating revenue growth and better EBITDA margins (our FY10 INR EPS estimate for the company is 8% above guidance). Wipro, TCS and HCL Tech remain our preferred picks among large-cap vendors.
The BSE Consumer Index: The top gainers in the consumer durables sector were Titan Industries (up 5.2%), Videocon Industries (up 3.9%), Mirc Electronics (up 3.3%), Samtel Color (up 2.9%) and Blue Star (up 1.1%).
The BSE Healthcare Index (up 2.3%): The top gainers in the Pharma space were Panacea Biotec (up 8.5%), Cadila Healthcare (up 6.3%), Wockhardt (up 5%) and Strides Arcolab (up 5%). Dr Reddy’a Labs surged 4% during the week the top losers were Zandu Pharma (down 4.7%), Astrazeneca Pharma (down 3.8%), Lupin (down 2.4%), Dishman Pharma (down 1.8%) and Aurobindo Pharma (down 1.7%).
The BSE Banking Index (up 1.2%): The top gainers in the banking space were Federal Bank (up 3.6%), Karnataka Bank (up 2.2%), Kotak Mahindra Bank (up 1.7%), Bank of Baroda (up 1.6%) and HDFC Bank (up 0.5%)Top losers in the banking space were Yes Bank (down 3.5%), Punjab National Bank (down 1.7%), Oriental Bank of Commerce (down 1.2%) and Union Bank of India (down 1.2%).ICICI Bank ended lower by 1.6% during the week. The bank reportedly cut interest rates on car loans from 10.5-11.5% to 9.75-10.5%.
The BSE Auto Index (down 0.5%): The top losers in the auto space were Maruti Suzuki (down 8.1%), Bajaj Auto (down 5.7%), Hero Honda (down 4.2%), Eicher Motors (down 1.2%) and Swaraj Mazda (down 0.2%), The top gainer in the auto space was Ashok Leyland. The stock accelerated 7.8% during the week. The company's total sales jumped 164% to 6,099 units in December 2009 over December 2008.Among the other notable gainers were Hindustan Motors (up 7.4%) and M&M (up 6.9%).
BSE Oil & Gas Index (up 2.4%): The top gainers in the oil & gas space were Cairn India (up 8.5%), Chennai Petroleum (up 7.7%), Gujarat NRE Coke (up 7.3%) and MRPL (up 7.3%). ONGC gained 3% during the week Essar Oil surged over 12.5% during the week. The company announced that its second product jetty for exporting refined petroleum products from its refinery was commissioned in Jamnagar district at Vadinar.
The BSE Capital Goods Index (up 1.2%): The top gainers in the Capital Goods space were LMW (up 21%), Usha Martin (up 14.6%), Carborundum Universal (up 11.5%) and Siemens India (up 8.4%).The top losers were Crompton Greaves (down 2.5%), Kirloskar Bros (down 2.3%), SKF India (down 1.9%) and BEL (down 0.5%).
The Cement Sector: The top gainers in the cement sector were Binani Industries (up 17.8%), Shree Cement (up 14.9%), Dalmia Cement (up 14.6%), Grasim (up 11.4%) and JK Cements (up 10.9%).
The Telecom Sector: The top gainer in the telecom space was MTNL. The stock soared over 13% during the week after reports stated that the merger talks between BSNL and MTNL could be back on the agenda. But, later on the Government denied that it was considering the merger.Among the other notable gainers were Gemini Comm (up 9.3%), Tata Communication (up 7.8%), Himachal Futuristic (up 5%) and RCom (up 4.9%).Bharti Airtel fell 1.4% during the week. Bangladesh's telecom regulator approved the company’s proposed US$300mn investment for buying a 70% stake in Abu Dhabi Group's Warid.
The Realty Sector (up 5.6%): The top gainers in the real estate space were Peninsula Land (up 17%), Sobha Developers (up 11.9%), Omaxe (up 10.6%), DLF (up 7.9%) and Ansal Property (up 7.8%) The Metals sector (up 4%): The top gainer in the metals sector was Adhunik Metaliks. The stock rose over 13% during the week after the stock witnessed foreign fund buying. Merrill Lynch Capital Market acquired 6.78 lakh shares in the company at an average price of Rs109 per share in a bulk deal on the BSE on 6th January.JSW Steel surged over 10% during the week after the company announced that its production rose 88% to 14.69 lakh tons in the third quarter of the current fiscal year. Tata Sponge (up 12.7%), JSW Steel (up 10.3%), Bhushan Steel (up 10%) and Lloyd Metals (up 9.1%) were among the other major gainers.The top loser among the metal stocks was Bhuwalka Steel (down 2.1%).SAIL was down 1.1% during the week amid reports of concerns being expressed by the Ministry of Steel regarding the sudden hike in steel prices. The company may cut prices of some of its products in the near future, reports