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Sensex Ends 230 Points Lower; Metal and Energy Stocks Witness Selling
Thu, 9 May Closing

India share markets witnessed selling pressure during closing hours and ended their trading session in the red. Most of the losses were seen on the back of weak global cues. The Sensex was down for the seventh consecutive session and hit 2-month low today.

At the closing bell, the BSE Sensex stood lower by 230 points (down 0.6%) and the NSE Nifty closed down by 58 points (down 0.5%).

The BSE Mid Cap index ended the day down 0.2%, while the BSE Small Cap index ended the day down 0.4%.

Sectoral indices ended in the red with stocks in the metal sector and energy sector witnessing most of the selling pressure.

The rupee was trading at 69.92 against the US$.

Asian stock markets finished deep in the red. As of the most recent closing prices, the Hang Seng was down by 2.4% and the Shanghai Composite was down by 1.5%. The Nikkei 225 was down 0.9%.

European markets were also trading on a negative note. The FTSE 100 was down by 0.4%. The DAX was trading down by 0.9%, while the CAC 40 was down by 1.3%.

Speaking of the general mood in Indian stock markets these days, a lot of market participants are playing the prediction game amid the election mood.

A common theme is to sit on cash to escape the volatility ahead of the upcoming elections. In case there is an unexpected event, you can then get in post the correction.

But does timing the market work?

Not really, if you see the market performance in the year of the past three national elections (2004,2009 and 2014).

Looking at the returns during the above periods, staying out of the market to escape volatility would have been a costly affair every time.

The market gave above average returns in all three of those years.

This does not mean one can expect the same in the future.

But there's one thing for sure. Predicting short-term directions of the market is a futile and many a times a costly affair.

That's why we believe in picking safe stocks when they are actually 'safe' i.e. during such times of high pessimism and uncertainty.

In the news from paints sector, Asian Paints share price was in focus today as the company reported a 1.6% year-on-year (YoY) fall in consolidated profit after minority interest at Rs 4.7 billion.

Consolidated revenue from operations during the quarter rose 11.7% to Rs 50.1 billion from Rs 44.9 billion in the year-ago quarter.

The company said its decorative business segment registered double-digit volume growth during the quarter and the Industrial Coatings JV (AP-PPG) witnessed good growth in the dealer channel for both, powder and protective coatings.

It further said the Automotive coatings JV (PPG-AP) growth was impacted as a result of the slowdown in the Auto OEM segment and high raw material prices and marketing spends in the fourth Quarter affected the margins.

The board of the company recommended a final dividend of Rs 7.65 per equity share for the financial year ended March 31. The dividend, if approved by the shareholders will be paid on or after June 28.

Commenting on the performance during the quarter, Managing Director & CEO KBS Anand said that challenging business conditions affected operations in some of the key markets in the company's International business portfolio, especially Egypt, Ethiopia, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. The Kitchen (Sleek) and Bath business in the Home Improvement portfolio grew well and the company continues to work on scaling up these operations further.

In the news from the banking sector, Yes Bank share price was in focus today. The stock of the company ended its downtrend seen during the past few days and was witnessing buying interest today.

Market participants were also tracking the stock as India Ratings lowered the lender's long-term ratings on concerns of some of its loan exposure turning into bad loans.

The bank in its latest filing said that India Ratings has downgraded the bank's long-term rating to 'IND AA-' with negative outlook, while reaffirming short-term rating.

Note that Yes Bank share price has been in the negative territory since Monday, May 6, 2019 after domestic rating agency ICRA downgraded the bank's long-term bond ratings and gave a guidance with a negative outlook.

Speaking of the banking sector, if there is any private sector bank that has severely underperformed in the last two years, it has to be Lakshmi Vilas Bank (LVB).

Look at the chart below.

Lakshmi Vilas Bank Down 60% from Its 2017 High


Here's what Sarvajeet Bodas wrote about this in the recent edition of The 5 Minute WrapUp...

  • LVB declined by more than 50% in the last 2 years compared to the overall BSE Bankex showing gains of about 30%.

    Here's another interesting data.

    If you look at the shareholding pattern of LVB during this 2-year time frame, retail investors (Individual share capital up to Rs. 2 Lacs) have increased by 15%. The number of shares owned by them increased by 24%.

This is a typical example of retail investors catching a falling knife!

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