NEW DELHI: There was a dearth of good triggers to take the benchmark indices higher during the week gone by.
Crude prices boiled at $80 mark, the highest since November 2014. US bond yields jumped to levels last seen in 2011 while the rupee tumbled below the 68 mark. This is at a time when foreign outflows have been on a rise. Add political uncertainty, and it was recipe for a depressed market.
The Sensex lost 687 points, or 1.93 per cent, for the week to settle at 34,848 on Friday. NSE barometer Nifty50 dropped 210 points, or 1.94 per cent, to close at 10,596.
Select stocks hogged limelight through the week.
Reliance Communications: This stock fell in four of last five sessions. Yet, led by a whopping 57 per cent surge on Thursday, it managed to settle 12 per cent higher for the week. The stock surged on reports that the company was in talks with Swedish telecom firm Ericsson to reach a settlement on unpaid service dues outside of the bankruptcy court. But a Reuters report said this was unlikely. The insolvency tribunal has named three separate interim resolution professionals (IRPs) for bankruptcy proceedings against Anil Ambani-owned companies.
Sun TV: This stock climbed 10 per cent during the week after a host of brokerages, including CLSA, Edelweiss and Centrum, gave it buy ratings after Q4 earnings. IIFL and Nomura also upgraded the stock to buy. Bloomberg data showed of the 26 analysts tracking the stock, 21 had buy ratings, two had hold and three sell. The consensus target price is Rs 1,118.11. The broadcaster reported a 22.8 per cent increase in net profit at Rs 289.76 crore for March quarter.
Punjab National Bank: This stock lost 16 per cent of market value last week after reporting highest-ever quarterly loss at Rs 13,416 crore for March quarter. The lender took a massive hit from the Rs 14,000 crore Nirav Modi scam. PNB's market capitalisation at Rs 20,635 crore on Friday was lower than its subsidiary PNB Housing Finance's Rs 21,289 crore.
Hindustan Unilever: The subsidiary of UK-based Unilever piped ITC this week to become the most valued FMCG firm on BSE. At Friday's close, HUL's market capitalisation at Rs 3.47 lakh crore was higher than ITC's Rs 3.44 lakh crore.HUL rose 6.5 per cent last week against a 0.6 per cent drop in shares of ITC.
Allahabad Bank: This stock declined as the lender took away all executive powers of chief executive officer Usha Ananthasubramanian after the Central Bureau of Investigation named her in the Rs 13,700 crore Punjab National Bank-Nirav Modi fraud. The has imposed restrictions on the bank's lending to risky assets and raising high-cost deposits in view of deteriorating financial health.
Bajaj Finance: This stock soared for sixth consecutive sessions to Friday and hit a record high this past week. This stock soared 15.35 per cent during the week after the NBFC reported a 61 per cent jump in net profit at Rs 721 crore for the March quarter on 33 per cent rise in total income to Rs 3,557 crore for the same quarter. Strong and consistent growth, impeccable asset quality and focus on delivering 3 per cent RoA will keep commanding premium valuations, Axis Capital said in a note.
Vakrangee: The stock fell 23 per cent last week after MSCI, a leading provider of benchmark indices globally, excluded it from its India Index. Price Waterhouse recently quit audit mandate of the company.
BPCL, HPCL and IOC: Shares of oil marketing companies (OMCs) fell last week even as the oil PSUs resumed hiking petrol and diesel prices post the Karnataka elections. IOC fell 3 per cent in its five-day losing streak. HPCL declined 2 per cent while BPCL declined 3.35 per cent during the week, thanks to a surge in crude oil prices that hit $80 a barrel mark last week.
Rain Industries: The stock fell 12 per cent during the week even as the company reported a 324 per cent YoY surge in consolidated profit at Rs 251.16 crore for March quarter. The company in its press release said that during Q1CY18, it took a foreign exchange loss of Rs 21.2 crore compared with a gain of Rs 14.2 crore in Q1CY17. The stock nosedived 16 per cent to settle at Rs 274.65 on BSE.
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