Indian stocks fail to maintain mid-week gains

The BSE benchmark Sensex failed to maintain midweek gains, slipping by 72 points due to fag-end selling pressure mainly in Capital Goods, Refinery, Metal and Power sectors as investors worried about the 'fiscal cliff' after the Barack Obama was re-elected as a US President, and about the eurozone economy. Obama's reelection brought cheer to Indian stock market, pushing Sensex to a one-month high of 18,973.43 on hopes of revival of global economy. However, the euphoria later petered out and the global markets got a blow over the future concerns over the global economy as well as European debt problems, resulting in domestic investors opting to book profits. Disappointing performance from SBI, Tata Steel and ONGC pulled down the Sensex to a low of 18,656.41 before ending the week at 18,683.68, disclosing a loss of 71.77 points. The NSE 50-share Nifty also declined by 11.45 points or 0.20 per cent to finish at 5,686.25. Weakness in global markets on fiscal worries and earnings concerns also kept buyers on the sidelines, said brokers. State-owned SBI reported a rise of over 30 per cent in the second quarter net profit but its non-performing assets ratio jumped to 5.15 per cent from 4.19 per cent a year ago period, which mainly dampened the market sentiment at the fag end. Tata Steel reported consolidated loss of Rs363.90 crore for the July-September quarter, as against Rs212.40 crore net profit in the year-ago period. The US is set to undergo sharp rise in taxes and massive spending cut from this Jan 01, 2013 which shall reduce the demand in the largest economy of the world. A slowdown in growth due to impending spending cuts weighed on global markets which eased sharply from their highs,- Pramit Brahmbhatt, chief executive, Alpari Financial Services (India) said. The share of Cipla shot up by 4.34 per cent as company posted a 61.8 per cent rise in consolidated net profit at Rs500 crore for the second quarter ended September 30. Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) continued their buying spree during the week by investing net Rs1,493.95 crore, including the provisional figure of November 9. Twenty-one scrips out of the 30-share Sensex family ended in red while nine finished with gains. Major losers from the Sensex pack were Tata Power (4.98 per cent), Hindalco (3.74 per cent), ONGC (3.24 per cent), Larsen (3.22 per cent), Tata Steel (2.75 per cent), Bajaj Auto (2.45 per cent), Reliance Industries (2.38 per cent), Hero Motocorp (1.95 per cent), Infosys (1.67 per cent) and Jindal Steel (1.65 per cent). However, other gainers were Tata Motors 3.93 per cent and HDFC 3.48 per cent. However, the BSE-Realty shot up by 5.11 pct followed by the BSE-IPO 1.80 per cent and the BSE-FMCG by 1.79 per cent. The total turnover and BSE and NSE rose to Rs11,383.56 crore and Rs50,308.36 crore respectively from the last weekend's level of Rs10,264.31 crore and Rs49,461.21 crore. The Indian rupee tumbled by another 94 paise to settle the week at two-month low of 54.75 against the Greenback following late weakness in the local equities amid sustained dollar demand from importers and some banks. Mid-week recovery in the dollar overseas also weighed on the rupee while continued capital inflows could not able to stem the fall in the rupee, a forex dealer said. At the Interbank Foreign Exchange (Forex) market, the rupee commenced remarkably lower at 54.10 and on the same day it logged second biggest loss in current calender year in absolute term of 80 paise on Monday to settle at 54.61. The rupee's biggest daily loss was on June 22 when it fell 85 paise. On October 8, it had lost 79 paise. Later, it recover for the next two days on firm domestic equities amid dollar selling by exporters and some banks on hopes of further fall in dollar value. The rupee moved in a wide range of 53.90 and 54.7850 during the week before concluding at two-month low of 54.75, showing a fall of 94 paise or 1.75 pct over its last week's loss of 25 paise or 0.47 per cent. Previously, the rupee had last ended at 55.43 per dollar on September 13, 2012. The Indian rupee, which traded firm on first three day's of the week, surrended all of its gains on the last two days and closed lower by 71.77 points or 0.38 per cent.