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It's a question of three Es -- economy, earnings and elections, not necessarily in the same order.
The heat is showing on Indian stocks as the market posted first weekly fall in eight.
This followed the IMF lowering India’s growth estimate for 2018-19 and the next two years as well.
Though corporate earnings for the March quarter kicked off on a strong note on Friday, thanks to TCS and Infosys, investors are wondering what lies ahead.
General elections, which got under way on Thursday and run till May 19, is adding to the this level of uncertainties though a win for Prime Minister Narendra Modi is largely being priced in.
The final results are due on May 23.
Despite all these unknowns, some buying over the last two days of the week kept the downside in the market to a minimum.
The BSE Sensex slipped 95 points, or 0.24 per cent, to 38,767 on April 12, from 38,862 on April 5.
Likewise, the NSE Nifty came off 23 points, or 0.19 per cent, to 11,643 during the same period.
The next week will be a truncated one as the market is shut on Wednesday and Friday because of for Mahavir Jayanti and Good Friday, respectively.
Among key data points, WPI inflation for March is slated for Monday.
On the global front, Chinese GDP and industrial production data due on Wednesday, along with Opec Meeting, will inject a sense of caution.
Below is a list of top stocks and sectors that made news through the whole week.
Stocks that rallied up to 30%As many as nine stocks on the BSE500 index managed to deliver over 10 per cent returns to investors during the week gone by.
The list featured stocks such as Rain Industries (up 30.85 per cent), PC Jeweller (28.68 per cent), Indiabulls Real Estate (22.92 per cent), Shankara Building Products (16.66 per cent) and Jai Corp (15.20 per cent).
Pain for 3 scrips Just three stocks such as Century Plyboards (down 11.53 per cent), PNB Housing Finance (down 11.86 per cent) and Reliance Communications (down 22 per cent) on the BSE500 plunged in double digits.
IPO updateThe initial public offering (IPO) of wires and cables manufacturer Polycab India, which was open for subscription from April 5-9, got subscribed over 51.96 times during the week.
The Rs 1,345-crore IPO received bids for over 91 crore shares against the total issue size of more than 1.76 crore.
Lacklustre debutShares of Rail Vikas Nigam Limited made a flat market debut on Thursday, listing at its issue price of Rs 19 on BSE and NSE both.
The scrip settled 3.94 per cent up at Rs 19.80 on the NSE.
Q4 off to good startIT majors TCS and Infosys beat Street expectations on Friday with some solid March quarterly numbers.
The results came in after market closing.
While TCS earnings grew 17.7 per cent in January-March from a year earlier, Infosys posted a 10.5 per cent growth in consolidated net profit at Rs 4,078 crore.
TCS stock settled 0.26 per cent down at Rs 2,013.75 ahead of earnings whereas Infosys gained 0.63 per cent to Rs 747.85.
“With robust TCV (total contract value) signings and improving business visibility, we believe that Infosys would gradually catch up in revenue growth with TCS in FY2020E and in turn would narrow the valuation gap with TCS, going forward.
Thus, we maintain our Buy rating on the stock with an unchanged price target (PT) of Rs 840,” said brokerage firm Sharekhan.
Stocks @fresh all-time highAs many as 13 stocks on the BSE500 hit their fresh all-time highs.
The list includes stocks such as ICICI Lombard Life Insurance, Gillette India, Bajaj Finserv, PVR, SKF India, Pidilite, Honeywell Automation, Info Edge (India) and Infosys.
Sectoral sceneSector-wise, BSE Auto as well as FMCG, Healthcare and Power indices rallied more than 1 per cent.
However, BSE Telecom, Metal, Teck, IT and Consumer Durables weakened up to 2.84 per cent.
Top Nifty gainers/losersWipro: With a rally of 8.13 per cent during the week, Wipro was the top gainer in the Nifty pack.
Tata Motors (up 5.26 per cent), Bajaj Auto (up 5.12 per cent), Cipla (up 4.28 per cent) and ITC (up 3.80 per cent) brought up the rest of the list.
Wipro is scheduled to announce its results on April 16.
It's set to announce its largest buyback of Rs 12,000 crore ($1.7 billion) on the same day following Sebi's nod to the proposal.
On the other hand, Indiabulls Housing Finance (down 8 per cent), Asian Paints (down 5.01 per cent) and Bharti Airtel (down 4.12 per cent) lost the game in the 50-share Nifty pack.
Asian Paints scrip fell after a fire at its paint manufacturing facility in Vishakhapatnam in Andhra Pradesh.
The manufacturing operations have been affected since.
DHFL skidsShares of Dewan Housing Finance Corporation (DHFL) came down by over 3 per cent to Rs 167.10 on Friday after rating agency Brickwork Ratings India downgraded its secured NCDs and subordinated debt instruments.
An ETNow report suggested that US-based large private equity (PE) player Lone Star Funds is eyeing a stake in the company.
But SpicJet takes offShares of SpiceJet rallied over 10 per cent after the airline announced induction of new aircraft into its fleet.
According to a BSE filing, the company will induct 16 Boeing 737-800 NG aircraft on dry lease in the next 10 days after regulatory approvals.
Takeover buzz lifts Ruchi SoyaShares of Ruchi Soya Industries climbed over 12 per cent to Rs 7.30 on April 12, from Rs 6.50 on April 5.
An ET report suggested that Patanjali Ayurved’s proposed acquisition of Ruchi Soya has reached the final stages with the committee of creditors (CoC) scheduled to meet next Tuesday to clear the deal.
