Global mkts end May in red; things to know as June begins
Global markets ended the month of May in the red with the Dow and S&P 500 posting their worst one-day drop since mid-April.
June 03, 2013 / 09:06 IST
Big losses were seen on Wall Street Friday with the Dow and S&P 500 posting their worst one-day drop since mid-April. European markets also ended lower. It was a disastrous session of trade on the Dalal street driven by rupee weakness. Key Indian indices finally closed last week with over 2 percent losses. The Nifty tanked 138 points to 5985, while the Sensex lost 455 points to end at 19760.
Asian markets followed suit on Monday, Japanese market slipped 2 percent. China’s official PMI data, out on Saturday, rose to 50.8 in May from 50.6 in April, beating market expectations.Stocks to watch Back home, NR Narayana Murthy returned to Infosys in an executive role. Brokerages are positive on the stock in the near term, but are awaiting more details. KV Kamath stepped down as chairman and became the lead independent director. IOC has upped petrol prices by 75 paise per litre and diesel prices by 50 paise per litre. IOC has said that the hike in diesel prices is due to the recent depreciation in the rupee and that revenue loss on diesel is at Rs 4.87 per litre despite the rate hike. On the other hand, IOC has cut LPG rates by Rs 45 per cylinder for the non-subsidised quota. The revenue loss on cooking gas currently stands at Rs 334.5 per cylinder for the companyIn the latest fund raising action, BGR Energy promoters will sell over 44 lakh shares via OFS today. It has set a floor price at Rs 163 a share. Omaxe promoters will be selling up to 2.1 crore shares and has set a floor price of Rs 140 a share. Essar Ports promoter will sell over 32 lakh shares via OFS route with a floor price at Rs 77 a share. Meanwhile Adani Ports will sell over 6 crore shares via IPP, that will open and close on Tuesday. It has set the price band at Rs 148-158 a shareReports suggest that Sun Pharma is in talks to buy Swedish drugmaker Meda AB for a whopping USD 5 billion. The acquisition will give Sun Pharma greater access to the European markets where it now has no presence. Meda is a speciality pharma firm that operates primarily in respiratory and dermatology segments. Auto sales for the month of May saw a steep drop. High interest cost, increase in fuel prices and sluggish economic activity kept sales low. Maruti's month-on-month sales were down 13 percent. Tata Motors too disappointed, sales down 3 percentUS markets ended the month of May with big losses, with the Dow and S&P 500 posting their worst one-day drops since mid-April, but major averages still logged monthly gains. The Dow rallied 1.86 percent, the S&P 500 jumped 2.08 percent, and the Nasdaq soared 3.82 percent for the month of May. The CBOE volatility index soared above 16. On the economic data front, consumer sentiment hit its highest level in nearly six years in May rising to 84.5 from 76.4 in April. But consumer spending fell 0.2 percent in April for the first time in almost a year. In Europe, markets closed lower on disappointing German and Italian data. Data for Italy showed its unemployment rate climbed to a worse-than expected 12 percent in April. In addition, youth unemployment rose to a record of 40.5 percent. Retail sales data for Germany also disappointed, showing a 0.4 percent dip in April month-on-month, when analysts had expected a 0.2 percent increase.In the currency space, the euro was flat at 1.29 to the dollar. The dollar index stood at the 83.20 mark. The volatility in the Indian currency continues as it ended trade at 56.50 to the dollar on Friday after slipping to 11-month lows. In commodities, Brent crude slipped sharply below USD 100 level on tepid demand and a weak economic outlook. From precious metals space, gold hovers around USD 1394 an ounce. Discover the latest Business News, Sensex, and Nifty updates. Obtain Personal Finance insights, tax queries, and expert opinions on Moneycontrol or download the Moneycontrol App to stay updated!
