The last trading session of India's financial year (March 31) spelt disaster for the bulls. The Sensex posted a record fiscal fourth quarter loss: It declined 23% in the January-March quarter. Not only did the Sensex and Nifty close lower on Monday, but all the BSE sectoral indices too fell. The mid- and small-cap indices also slipped. Among the 30 Sensex stocks, only 4 (Cipla, M&M, Bharti, ITC) closed in the green. ICICI Bank, Reliance Industries, HDFC and Infosys were the major laggards.
US stocks closed marginally higher on Monday as falling commodity prices, coupled with an improved reading on regional manufacturing and a government plan to help avert future financial crises boosted the sentiment. But all was not well. Key US equity indices chalked up their worst quarter in more than five years.
Thanks to overnight gains in the US and the Asian markets, Indian bourses opened on Tuesday with a promising start hitting an intra-day high of 15,834. But profit booking resulted in the indices closing flat on Tuesday. The Sensex closed in negative territory and the Nifty, positive.
European Bank UBS announced an additional 19billion in writedowns related to the meltdown in the US subprime mortgages. But U.S. stocks surged as Lehman Brothers' equity offering coupled with UBS' fresh capital raising plan raised hopes that banks and brokerages are able to weather the turbulence in credit markets.
Overnight gains in the U.S. market coupled with strong cues from the Asian markets lifted the Sensex above the 16,200 mark on Wednesday. But the market then reversed and started gradually erasing its early gains. The Sensex and Nifty closed marginally higher.
U.S. stocks fell after Fed Chairman Bernanke acknowledged that the world's biggest economy may be in a recession. Though he didn't say the word “recession”, he said that the situation in the U.S. has deteriorated since the last official forecast in January and spoke of it being a “very difficult period”.
On Thursday, the market once again ended flat but in positive territory. Buying interest was seen in technology, oil, telecom, metal and FMCG while selling pressure continued in power and capital goods. Top gainers were Wipro, Satyam, TCS and Dr Reddy's Labs while BHEL, Maruti, Reliance Energy, Suzlon and ABB were the losers. The mid- and small-cap indices ended lower.
The week ended on a depressing note. Concerns over the rising inflation and slowing economic growth spooked the market. RIL, L&T, BHEL all slumped. Capital Goods, power, banks, telecom and auto stocks were hit. All sectoral indices closed in negative territory.
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