MARKET SUMMARY FOR 20 JULY 2015

Sensex fell 43.19 points to 28420. Nifty managed to hold the 8600 level, down 6.40 points to 8603. However, the broader markets outperformed benchmarks with the BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices rising 0.3-0.4 percent. The market breadth was positive as 1543 advanced against 1285 shares declined on the Bombay Stock Exchange. There is a degree of indecision among the bulls, and the last session being a Friday there had been some profit taking as well. it is still a one-sided game between the bulls and the bears, with the former still comfortable control over the turf.Our view is that so long the bulls are able to hold the Nifty above 8593 – 8589 range, there would not even be any minor threat for them. Only when you see it falling below 8575 on high volume expect lower levels of 8550 through 8540 getting retested. Till such time, the Nifty breaks 8540 decisively, the bulls would retain their advantage and we could expect renewed buying at lower levels once the selling is through. A fall below 8520 would signal that 8540 has been taken out the bears; however, as of now that looks like a tall order! Indian markets continue to trade weak in the noon session, though there is not much selling pressure and the major indices are moving in a tight range but there is also no trigger to let the markets move higher. Sensex traded 67 down at 28,395. Nifty traded 12.00 points down at 8,597 Benchmark shares indices ended lower on profit taking after sharp gains last week as investors turned cautious ahead of the monsoon session of parliament which starts tomorrow with focus on key bills including GST and land acquisition bill. Meanwhile, investors will be keenly awaiting first quarter earnings from IT major Infosys tomorrow.

SECTORS & STOCKS

Realty index was the top loser among the sectoral indices down 1.9% followed by Metal and Bankex among others. Oil &Gas, Healthcare and IT indices were among the top losers.

Bank shares weakened after some of them announced weak April-June earnings and rise in non-performing assets. In the banking space, ICICI Bank, Axis Bank and SBI ended down 0.3-1.4% each. Karnataka Bank ended nearly 9% down after the bank reported 10% decline in net profit at Rs 109 crore for the quarter ended June 30, 2015 compared with Rs 122 crore in the same quarter last fiscal. Federal Bank slipped nearly 7% after the bank reported a 36% year-on-year (YoY) decline in its standalone net profit at Rs 141 crore due to higher provisions for non-performing assets of a large customer.

HDFC ended down nearly 1%. The mortgage lender is planning to raise up to Rs 85,000 crore this fiscal and for the same the company will be seeking shareholders nod in the Annual General Meeting (AGM) to be held later this month.

Tata Motors ended down 1.9% on concerns of demand slowdown for Jaguar Land Rover cars in China amid slowdown in the world's second largest economy.

HUL ended down 1.2% ahead of its April-June earnings while ITC was down 0.6%.

Infosys ended flat with negative bias ahead of its results tomorrow.

Bharti Airtel gained 0.7%. The company is in talks to launch 4G smartphones, the battle has begun between the country’s major telecom operators.

ACC ended down 2.5% after the company reported a 45% year-on-year (YoY) decline in its consolidated net profit at Rs 133 crore for the second quarter ended June 30 (Q2), on account of subdued demand. The company had posted a profit of Rs 243 crore in the same quarter a year ago.