Greece woes, monsoon forecast dent Sensex

Triggered by uncertainties over Greece, quarterly number of Infosys and prediction of below normal monsoon, the key benchmark index BSE Sensex pared its early gains in the first half of the trade and remained volatile throughout the day and ended the day 155 points lower to close at 27,735. Meanwhile, the index touched an intraday high and low of 28,087.78 and 27,621.18, respectively. Similarly, Nifty opened at 8,478, made an intraday high and low of 8,504 and 8,361 and finally closed at 8,398, down 31.40 points.

Overall, market breadth remained negative as there were seen 1,377 stocks advancing against 1434 stocks declining on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE). The Nifty volatility index, India VIX stood at 18.5000 up 7.49 per cent.
Among the sectoral indices on the BSE, the BSE Metal index gained the most 1.56 per cent to 10165.81. It was followed by the BSE Consumer Durable index (1.25 per cent to 10888.55) and BSE FMCG index (0.04 per cent to 8023.23). However, selling were seen in BSE Capital Goods index, BSE Healthcare index and BSE Realty index which ended the day down around 0.89 per cent, 0.86 per cent and 0.85 per cent, respectively.

Alex Mathews, head of research, Geojit BNP Paribas Financial Services, says, "After a positive opening, the markets turned to a volatile session and finally settled in the negative territory on concerns of below normal rains and its subsequent impacts on our economy. Quarterly number of Infosys and uncertainties over Greece kept the markets under pressure."

According to the India Meteorological Department, monsoon rainfall is likely to be 93 per cent of the long period average for the period June to September, indicating below normal rainfall during the period.

Hiren Dhakan, associate fund manager, Bonanza Portfolio, says, "With Saudi Arabia's troops withdrawing from Yemen, the crisis over the middle-east has tamed to a great extent. Biggest global fear for the market now being the rate hikes by developed economies like US and Europe which are widely expected in 2015. Markets currently are keenly watching the outcome of Greek crisis and developments in the Euro region and US economy."

Among the Sensex stocks, Tata Steel, Coal India and Maruti Suzuki stood the best performing stocks with an intraday gain of 5 per cent, 1.45 per cent and 0.92 per cent, respectively. Sun Pharmaceuticals, State Bank of India and Tata Motors stood at the bottom of the Sensex's performance charts with an correction of 2.55 per cent, 2.41 per cent and 2.24 per cent, respectively.
Foreign institutional investors stood net sellers in the capital markets segment, sold shares worth Rs 853.18 crore, according to the website of NSDL.

Among day's major market moving events, India's leading private sector bank HDFC Bank reported a Q4 net profit growth of 20.7 per cent year-on-year and the same were in line with market expectations. Net interest income of the bank rose by 21.4 per cent year on year. Yes Bank which had tumbled in the previous trading sessions, rallied more than 7 per cent on Thursday as its board decided to raise FII limit to 74 per cent, thereby allowing the company to raise upto $1 billion from overseas investors.
Asian peer markets Nikkei 225 and Shanghai were up by 0.27 per cent and 0.38 per cent, respectively, while Hang Seng was down by 0.38 per cent.

Tomorrow companies like Siemens, Infosys, Pitti Laminations and Cholamandalam Investment and Finance Company may announce their earnings.