Rough 'n' smooth

Alternate buying and selling bouts make this a choppy phase and one to be treated with caution

Yet another short trading week has come to an end with benchmark indices registering gains. The four-day trading week saw sharp gains on one day, small gains on two days and profit taking on the last day of the week. The BSESENSEX gained 303.92 points or 0.79 per cent to close at 38,251.80 points. NIFTY gained 86.35 points or 0.75 per cent to close at 11,557.10 points. The broader indices saw the BSE100, BSE200 and BSE500 gain 1.03 per cent, 0.94 per cent and 0.86 per cent respectively. BSEMIDCAP was up 1.49 per cent but BSESMALLCAP was down 0.01 per cent.

Percentages
The top sectoral gainer was BSECAPGOOD up 4.58 per cent followed by BSEPOWER 3.15 per cent and BSEHEALTH CARE 3.02 per cent. The top loser was BSECONDUR down 1.86 per cent followed by BSEBANKEX 1.34 per cent and BSEIT 0.26 per cent. In individual stocks the top gainer was Larsen & Toubro up 7.67 per cent followed by ONGC 6.75 per cent and Reliance Industries 5.87 per cent. The top loser was Bharat Petroleum down 5.58 per cent followed by Yes Bank 4.48 per cent and Infosys 3.70 per cent.

Rupee
The Indian rupee gained 24 paisa or 0.34 per cent to close at Rs 69.91. Dow Jones was up 87.75 points or 0.34 per cent to close at 25,790.35 points. The Dow was up on three of the five trading days and continues to remain choppy like the Indian markets.

In IPO news, the issue from Credit Access Grameen Limited managed to close the listing day at just around the issue price of Rs 422. It lost some ground the next day and closed, at Rs 406.65, a loss of Rs 15.35 or 3.64 per cent.

The week ahead would see August Futures expire on Thursday, August 30. NIFTY is currently higher by 389.80 points or 3.37 per cent and clearly bulls have an upper hand. Holding on to the lead with some minor losses should not be an issue for the bulls with four days to defend this lead.

Premium
In its first ever buyback Larsen & Toubro announced one at a substantial premium to the market price. The company decided to call a board meeting when the share price was at Rs 1,240 and announced a buyback at a price of Rs 1,500. The share price moved up to Rs 1,343 and trades at a discount of Rs 157 or almost 11 per cent to the buyback price. The timing of the buyback however was just before the AGM of the company, which turned out to be quite stormy. Some questions were raised, and replies were given that the matter was sub judice.

Replacement
Markets have been on a roll for quite some time and are looking tired and suffering from fatigue. One has always seen that the rally fizzles out after a state of euphoria. This time around, there seem to be no sense of euphoria setting in and at the same time, time for the market seems to be running out.

How the markets would unfold in the coming few days or fortnight is becoming difficult to foretell. One thing which is very clear is that no fresh buying of any substance is happening and at best it can be termed as replacement buying where one share is sold and another bought.

The week ahead would see cautious moves in the marketplace, which is likely to be choppy with alternate bouts of buying and selling. Refrain from making any purchases unless the markets react sharply. Trade cautiously.

Arun Kejriwal is founder of the Mumbai-based advisory firm Kejriwal Research & Investment Services Pvt Ltd.
Disclaimer: No financial information whatsoever published anywhere in this newspaper should be construed as an offer to buy or sell securities, or as advice to do so in any way whatsoever. All matter published here is for educational and information purposes only.

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