The month of March was a great one for the Indian stock markets and the March futures series which ended on the 31st of March saw the series gain 767.80 points or 11.01%. Bulls pressed home the advantage and after the budget when FII’s turned positive and became buyers there was no looking back. The benchmark indices were a tad negative for the week with the BSESENSEX losing 0.27% and NIFTY a mere 0.04%. The broader indices were up and so were BSEMIDCAP and BSESMALLCAP where all the action seems to be.
There is plenty of action in the primary market as well. One issue Bharat Wire Ropes Limited listed on Friday and the detailed story is on the website and also as a separate article in the newsletter. The company had issued shares in a price band of Rs 40-45, allotted at Rs 45 and raised Rs 70 crs. The issue ‘managed’ to remain above the issue price on the first day of listing and closed at Rs 45.40 and Rs 45.55 on the BSE and NSE.
The issue from Infibeam Corporation which had raised Rs 450 crs in a price band of Rs 360-432 will list today. It would be India’s first e-commerce company to get listed on the bourses. The issue was technically subscribed with just enough bids from QIB’s at the top end of the price band. The response the issue receives on listing today will be keenly watched.
The IPO from Equitas , the microfinance company with vehicle finance and home loan verticals opens tomorrow. The issue consists of a fresh issue of Rs 720 crs and an offer for sale of approximately 1455 crs in a price band of Rs 109-110. The price band is probably the narrowest one has seen in recent times with a mere 0.9% difference. Eady nb
RBI meets on Tuesday for its monetary policy review and a 25 basis point cut has already been discounted. Fundamentals indicate that a further cut is possible but one can be sure that the Governor would like to wait for the progress of the monsoon before doing so. Unless there is a higher cut one should not expect any volatility on this count.
Markets would now wait for quarterly results for the January-March quarter and see if there are any visible signs of a turnaround. Let’s keep our fingers crossed on this front and hope that the turnaround is visible.