MARKETS DRIFT LOWER

Indian frontline indices which displayed listless performance in the early afternoon session of trade, have drifted to intraday low levels after index heavyweight Reliance Industries suffered a kneejerk reaction and suddenly took a sharp plunge. Investors resorted to hefty profit booking and dragged the benchmark indices below the psychological 5,600 and 18,600 levels amid lack of significant upside triggers on the domestic front. The upside for local bourses was limited as investors punished IT heavyweight Wipro for announcement of lukewarm growth in earnings for Q1. Wipro has shaved off around four and half a percent while another disappointment was Dr Reddy's Laboratories which dived ahead of its Q1 result announcement expected later in the session. The gain in FMCG counter was the only counter that traded with moderate gains. On the global front, the European markets got off to an optimistic opening after Wall Street witnessed a sharp rally on back of strong corporate earnings, upbeat housing numbers and hopes of some headway in the ongoing impasse over US debt limit debate. The local investors also shrugged the positive leads from Asian markets, some of which rallied well over a percent point.  Meanwhile, the broader markets too are trading on a weak note lacking any fervor to climb to high levels. The bourses consolidated on weak volumes while the market breadth on BSE was in favor of advances in the ratio of 1444:1199 while 121 scrips remained unchanged.
The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 18,584.00 down by 69.87 points or 0.37% after trading as high as 18,765.60 and as low as 18,539.28. There were 8 stocks advancing against 22 declines on the index.
The broader indices were trading on a weak note; the BSE Mid cap index fell 0.44% and Small cap rose by 0.12% respectively. 
On the BSE sectoral space, FMCG up 0.76% and Realty up 0.21% were the only gainers, while Healthcare down 1.14%, Power down 1%, Capital Goods down 0.89%, IT down 0.81% and Teck down 0.79% were the major losers on the index.
The top gainers on the Sensex were DLF up by 1.52%, ITC up by 1.25%, Sterlite up by 0.60%, Jindal Steel up 0.58% and Tata Steel up 0.48%.
On the flip side, Wipro down by 4.58%, JP Associates down 1.55%, Hindalco down 1.44%, Hero Honda down 1.20% and NTPC down by 1.03% were the major losers on the index.
Commerce and Industry Minister Anand Sharma will meet the new Environment Minister Jayanthi Natarajan today to discuss the proposed manufacturing policy and industry concerns on green clearances for projects.
Many mega industrial projects from, infrastructure, constructions, power and mining projects like Posco in Orissa and Lavasa in Pune have been delayed due to environment related issues.  The draft new manufacturing policy which aims to attract foreign investment and increasing share of manufacturing sector to in the country's Gross Domestic Production (GDP), has been stuck because of inter-ministerial differences on the issues like labour and environment.
The draft manufacturing policy suggests that industries in National Manufacturing Investment Zones (NMIZs) - big enclaves which could even subsume special economic zones - should be given flexibilities to downsize labour. Likewise, it recommends changes in the environment norms which come in the way of investment.
Earlier, the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP) had issued a concept paper for setting up NMIZs, which are being planned as mega industrial cities with the entire infrastructure. Government is aiming to increase the share of manufacturing sector from 16% to 25% of GDP by 2025. The policy also targets to generate 100 million jobs. 
The S&P CNX Nifty is currently trading at 5,588.90, lower by 24.65 points or 0.44% after trading as high as 5,645.40 and as low as 5,574.75. There were 10 stocks advancing against 40 declines on the index.
The top gainers of the Nifty were DLF up by 1.67%, ITC up by 1.15%, Siemens up by 1%, Ambuja up by 0.98% and Tata Steel up by 0.49%.
Wipro down by 4.72%, Hindalco down 1.90%, JP Associates down 1.48%, Ranbaxy down 1.46% and NTPC down 1.38% were the major losers on the index.
Asian markets are exhibiting positive trends as Shanghai Composite added by 0.03%, Hang Seng rose 0.37%, Jakarta Composite gained 0.32%, KLSE Composite advanced 0.50%, Nikkei 225 surged 1.17%, Straits Times climbed 0.90%, Seoul Composite soared by 1.16% and Taiwan Weighted jumped by 2.13%.

The European markets have opened on a optimistic note as France's CAC 40 gained 0.66%, Germany's DAX rose 0.62% and London's FTSE added 0.42%