WINNING STREAK SNAPPED

Indian bourses commenced the new week on an unimpressive note as the benchmark equity indices failed to extend the four session northbound journey and settled with moderate cuts of around half a percent. It largely turned out to be a range bound session marred with high volatility as investors indulged in stock specific activities amid a slew of earnings announcement by heavyweights belonging to Banking, IT and FMCG sectors. After accumulating over six percent gains in the previous week, investors looked to consolidate their position for most part of the day, lacking any significant upside cue from the global front. Sentiments remained somber in European as well as Asian markets after optimism over the solution of Euro-zone debt trouble fizzled out and marketmen took a breather post seeing a sharp rally last week. Investors remained concerned that the optimism cannot be sustained since economies like US and Europe are still not firm on their road to recovery. The market participants shifted their attention from Europe to the important US Federal Reserve meet and a slew of economic data that are scheduled to be announced later this week. Meanwhile the intervention of Japanese authorities in the currency market to control the rise of yen against the American dollar too weighed on sentiments as it made the dollar priced commodities costlier for holders of other currencies. Back home, the better than expected earnings of FMCG heavyweight HUL and some banking stocks like Bank of Baroda, UCO Bank etc gave the much needed support to investors' morale while the IT bellwether Wipro's strong quarterly earnings too lifted investors' sentiments in the first half. Meanwhile, the Foreign Institutional Investors seems to have turned bullish after the two months in October. According to the data available with the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), the FIIs purchased equities and debt worth a gross amount of Rs 58,483.40 crore and sold securities valued around Rs 57,470 crore, resulting in a net inflow of Rs 1,014.30 core in October.
Earlier on Dalal Street, the benchmark got off to lackadaisical opening and traded around the neutral line without much of deflection. However, the cautious investors booked some profits in oil and gas and automobile counters and dragged the indices to lower levels in mid morning session. There was some recovery evident in noon trades when the key gauges moved closer to the previous closing levels after some encouraging earnings announcement. But some hefty bouts of profit booking in Oil and Gas and Metal counters led the frontline indices snap the four session gaining streak and settle with moderate cuts. Eventually the NSE's 50-share broadly followed index Nifty, slipped by around half a percent and settled above the crucial 5,300 support level while Bombay Stock Exchange's Sensitive Index Sensex shed about a hundred points and closed above the psychological 17,700 mark. Moreover, the broader markets finished on a positive note with gains of around half a percent and outclassed their larger peers by quite a margin. On the BSE sectoral space, the Oil and Gas counter settled as the top laggard in the space after suffering nasty lacerations of over two percent followed by the Metal index which too got pounded by close to two percent. On the other hand, the FMCG pocket went home with over a percent gains being the top gainer in the space after HUL reported encouraging second quarter earnings. While the Banking counter settled with gains of around three fourth of a percent post some upbeat Q2 results and an in-line ICICI Bank earnings announcement. The markets declined on weak volume of over Rs 0.8 lakh crore while the turnover for NSE F&O segment too remained on the lower side as compared to Friday at over 0.7 lakh core. The market breadth remained optimistic as there were 1494 shares on the gaining side against 1354 shares on the losing side while 108 shares remained unchanged.
Finally, the BSE Sensex lost 99.79 points or 0.56% to settle at 17,705.01, while the S&P CNX Nifty declined by 34.10 points or 0.64% to close at 5,326.60.
The BSE Sensex touched a high and a low of 17,813.11 and 17,668.27 respectively. The BSE Mid cap and Small cap index up by 0.37% and 0.21% respectively.
The major gainers on the Sensex were Hindustan Unilever up 7.38%, HDFC Bank up 1.36%, Hero MotoCorp up 0.84%, Infosys up 0.54% and Tata Steel up 0.49%. While, Hindalco Industries down 4.11%, Sterlite Industries down 4.10%, Tata Motors down 3.76%, Jindal Steel down 2.87% and BHEL down 2.86% were the major losers on the index.
The major gainers on the BSE sectoral space were FMCG up 1.04%, Bankex up 0.72% and TECk up 0.10%. While Oil & Gas down 2.09%, Metal down 1.97%, Auto down 0.98%, PSU down 0.80% and Capital Goods (CG) down 0.60% there were no losers on BSE sectoral space.
Meanwhile, the government has ended review of safeguard duty on import of certain aluminium products from China, as the domestic industry did not press for continuation of the tax. The revenue department under the ministry of finance in its notification said that 'the review safeguard investigation...concerning imports of aluminium flat rolled products and aluminium foil into India from China is hereby terminated.'
The review examination, which started in February 2011, was terminated as applicants the Aluminium Association of India asked to end the probe. The Aluminium Association of India in February this year had asked to review for continued impose of tax for another 2 years, by arguing that the imports were causing market disruption.
The Aluminium Association of India in the application had said that the expiry of safeguard duty would cause damage to the domestic industry.  The industrial body had also submitted evidences of continued imports and threat to market disruption in support of their claim.
The Directorate General of Safeguard in the Revenue Department said that the investigation has become 'infructuous' upon request for withdrawal of the probe application.
Despite the impose of the safeguard duty, during 2010-11, the import of aluminium flat rolled products and aluminium foil from China surged by 28.87% and 28.36% from last year. Normally a country imposes safeguard duty to provide temporary relief to domestic producers whereas they adjust to the pricing tactics of competitive foreign players. 
The S&P CNX Nifty touched high and low of 5,360.25 and 5,314.60, respectively.
The top gainers on the Nifty were HUL up 6.65%, PNB up 1.64%, Sesa Goa up 1.58%, HDFC Bank up 1.52% and Hero MotoCorp up 1.29%. On the flip side, Hindalco down 4.29%, Sterlite Industries down 4.03%, Tata Motors down 3.97%, SAIL down 3.40% and Ambuja Cement down 3.24% were the top losers on the index.

The European markets were trading in red. France's CAC 40 lost 1.60%, Britain's FTSE 100 down by 1.08%, and Germany's DAX declined by 1.46%.

After exhibiting a cheerful trade in previous session, all the Asian equity indices barring KLSE Composite witnessed a choppy trade on Monday as investors shifted their focus from Europe's debt woes to the US economy, waiting for the Federal Reserve's monetary policy meeting and the key employment data that are scheduled to be announced later this week. Meanwhile, the Nikkei 225 index in Tokyo swung between positive and negative territory during the trade and ended the session with a cut of over half a percent after Japan intervened to weaken its currency, which had earlier hit a new post World War II high against the greenback. The strong yen has dented earnings of Japanese corporations such as Nintendo Co. and Toyota Motor Corp. and hurt the economy's recovery from the March 11 earthquake and tsunami. Moreover, Chinese Shanghai Composite snapped a five-session winning streak by falling over 0.20 percent.

PROFIT BOOKING

The Indian equity markets continued trading weak on the back off consistent selling at some of the blue chip counters. The NSE Nifty continued to trade in a narrow range of 5,315-5,340, while 30-share BSE Sensex dropped 63 points. Earlier week benchmark indices Nifty and Sensex rallied more than 6% on a week-on-week basis therefore investors were booking some profits today. On sectoral front, banking, IT and realty stocks were in positive territory. Auto, metal and oil stocks were the biggest losers at this hour. Healthcare and consumer durables were also trading weak. Wipro was up 2.3% as it has announced that its standalone net profit rose to Rs 1050.60 crore in the quarter ended September 30, 2011, from Rs 1172.10 crore in the quarter ended September 30, 2010. On the global front, Asian markets continued trading lower. Back home, the market breadth favoring the positive trend; there were 1,339 shares on the gaining side against 1,128 shares on the losing side while 100 shares remained unchanged.
The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 17,741.09, down by 63.71 points or 0.36%.  The index has touched a high and low of 17,806.21 and 17,686.27 respectively. There were 11 stocks advancing against 19 declines on the index.
The broader indices kept outperforming benchmarks; the BSE Mid cap and Small cap indices were up by 0.35% and 0.36% respectively.
The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were, IT up by 0.81%, TECk up by 0.71%, Realty up by 0.38% and Bankex up by 0.17%. While, Auto down by 1.17%, Metal down by 1.07%, Oil & Gas down by 0.99%, HC down by 0.91% and CD down by 0.49% were the top losers on the index.
The top gainers on the Sensex were Wipro up by 2.32%, NTPC up by 1.32%, Infosys up by 1.06%, HDFC Bank up by 0.83% and Hero MotoCorp up by 0.63%.
On the flip side, Tata Motors down by 3.13%, Sterlite Industries down by 2.33%, M&M down by 1.87%, ONGC down by 1.84% and Jindal Steel down by 1.80% were the top losers on the Sensex.
Meanwhile, on the back of slowdown in the international economy, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) may have to further lower its growth projection for the current financial year. The Goldman Sachs, in its Asia Policy Watch said, 'our FY12 Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth forecast remains at 7% with downside risks and we think the RBI may need to still revise its growth forecasts downwards.'
The RBI in its second quarter monetary policy review, earlier last month, has downward its growth projection for the Indian economy to 7.6% from earlier projection of 8%. For this downward revision in growth projection, RBI made responsible to slower global growth and its adverse impact on domestic economy, especially on the industrial production, due to the increasing inter-linkages of the domestic economy with the global economy. 'While growth in advanced economies is already weakening, there is a risk of sharp deterioration if a credible solution to the euro area debt problem is not found,' RBI said.
In the first quarter of 2011-12, Indian economy grew by 7.7% compared to 8.8% in the same period of last year. During 2010-11, Indian economy had expanded by 8.5% and in 2009-10 it registered economic growth of 8%. Along with high inflation, the slowdown in project investments is also affecting the economic growth of India.
However, on the positive note, the Goldman report said that inflation in the country will moderate to 6% by March 2012, which is below the RBI projection of 7%. 'There is some comfort coming from de-seasonalized sequential quarterly WPI data which suggest that inflation momentum has turned down... The RBI's end-March WPI inflation forecast remains at 7%, while we think it could be lower at 6%,' it said.

Whereas, headline inflation measured by the WPI, for the month of September stood at 9.72% compared to 9.78% in August. The inflation of manufactured products, which account for more than 65% of the WPI, stood at 7.69% during the month compared to 7.79% in August. Despite, marginal decline, the headline inflation is still hovering near the two digit mark. 

In order to curb inflation, the RBI has hiked its short term lending and borrowing rates for 13 times since March 2010. 'We continue to think that with inflation and growth likely to surprise on the downside, the RBI will likely cut interest rates in April 2012, and we have built in 100 basis points in rate cuts in 2012-13,' Goldman added.
The S&P CNX Nifty is currently trading at 5,334.10, lower by 26.60 points or 0.50%. The index has touched a high and low of 5,360.25 and 5,316.95 respectively.  There were 15 stocks advancing against 35 declines on the index.
The top gainers of the Nifty were Wipro up by 2.05%, NTPC up by 1.37%, IDFC up by 1.36%, Sesa Goa up by 1.22% and Infosys up by 1.11%.
On the flip side, Tata Motors down by 3.48%, Ambuja Cement down by 2.90%, Sterlite Industries down by 2.30%, Ranbaxy down by 2.27% and M&M down by 2.01%, were the major losers on the index.
All the Asian counterparts were trading on the subdued note on Monday, Shanghai Composite declined by 0.42%, Hang Seng was down surrendered 1.42%, Jakarta Composite plunged 1.69%, KLSE Composite lost 0.27%, Nikkei 225 descended 0.60%%, Straits Times plummeted 1.17%, Seoul Composite lost 0.95% and Taiwan Weighted declined by 0.37%.

MARKETS CELEBRATE DIWALI

Indian benchmarks extended their Diwali celebrations on the last trading session of the week. It looked like the bears just ceased to exist as there were little evidence of profit booking through the day. The festivities got bigger after the two session break in observance of the festival of lights as frontline equity showcased an awe-inspiring performance by vivaciously rallying by a massive three percentage points in the session and re-conquering the 5,350 (Nifty) and 17,800 (Sensex) bastions. Sentiments got bolstered after the European policy makers approved a three-pronged agreement which will help in easing Greece's debt burden and strengthen banks and the European bailout fund. As per the tripartite agreement, private investors would accept a loss of 50% on Greek bonds, which will cut Greece's debt burden to 120% of GDP by 2020, banks will be forced to raise more capital to protect them against losses resulting from any future defaults and approved a crucial mechanism to boost the EFSF to an estimated 1 trillion euro. Friday's sharp rally for the local benchmarks appeared even more marvelous given the fact that the gains came on a day when equity indices in Europe traded on a sluggish note while none of the counterparts in the Asian region were able to match the colossal gains that domestic indices settled with. Morale of investors globally also was buttressed because of an impressive US economic report which showed that the GDP gathered additional steam and expanded at a better than expected pace of 2.5% annual rate in the third quarter, easing concerns that the US was on the verge of a double-dip recession. Back home, marketmen even went on to overlook the discouraging weekly inflation data which accelerated to the highest levels in over six months despite the 13 interest-rate hikes by Indian central bank since March 2010. However, some somberness was evident in downstream PSU oil marketing companies like BPCL, HPCL and IOC because of around three percent spurt in international crude oil prices overnight.
Earlier on Dalal Street, the Sensex got off to a gigantic over six hundred point gap up opening as investors rejoiced after Euro-zone policy makers approved a concrete blueprint to rescue the region from debt trouble. In no time the indices tapered to lower levels but continued to tread in a tight range thereafter. The frontline gauges hit intraday lows in early afternoon trades after the unimpressive European market opening but a sudden spurt in sentiments was witnessed thereafter in mid-noon trades which helped the indices to settle around more than two month high levels by the end.  Eventually the NSE's 50-share broadly followed index Nifty, jumped by over three percent and settled above the crucial 5,350 support level while Bombay Stock Exchange's Sensitive Index Sensex garnered over five hundred points and closed above the psychological 17,800 mark. Moreover, the broader markets failed to match the fervor with which their larger peers rallied and settled with around a percent gains. On the BSE sectoral space, the metal counter showed sharp upmove and surged close to six percent amid global rally in commodity prices on hopes of an optimistic global economic outlook. While the rate sensitive banking pocket too appeared in resurgent mood after reports that the ministry of finance has indicated that it is likely to approve capital infusion into public sector banks, including State Bank of India by mid-November. In the current financial year, the capital requirement of PSU banks has been estimated between Rs 10,000-20,000 crore. Though there were no sectroal laggards in the space, but individual stocks like Maruti Suzuki, Bharti Airtel and Bajaj Auto failed to settle in the green terrain. Despite the initial days of a new F&O series, the markets surged on large volumes of over Rs 1.2 lakh crore while the turnover for NSE F&O segment remained on the lower side as compared to Tuesday at over 0.89 lakh core. The market breadth remained optimistic as there were 1728 shares on the gaining side against 1139 shares on the losing side while 92 shares remained unchanged.
Finally, the BSE Sensex surged by 515.97 points or 2.92% to settle at 17,804.80, while the S&P CNX Nifty soared by 158.90 points or 3.05% to close at 5,360.70.
The BSE Sensex touched a high and a low of 17,908.13 and 17,671.86 respectively. The BSE Mid cap surged 1.51% and Small cap index climbed by 0.88%.
The major gainers on the Sensex were Hindalco up 10.88%, Sterlite up 8.80%, DLF up 7.95%, Jaiprakash Associates up 7.90% and Jindal Steel up 7.53%. While, Maruti Suzuki down 7.99%, Bharti Airtel down 0.25% and Bajaj Auto down 0.11% were the major losers on the index.
The major gainers on the BSE sectoral space were Metal up 6.34%, Realty up 5.34%, Bankex up 3.73%, Capital Goods up 3.56% and Auto up 2.87%. While there were no losers on BSE sectoral space.
Meanwhile, food inflation, which entered the double-digits zone again, for the week ended October 15, the Minister of State (independent charge) for Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution KV Thomas, said that the hovering food prices may not come down substantially from current level but the prices may not increase from the current level. Food minister's comment had come after the Reserve Bank of India's (RBI) 13th hike in its key policy rates to control inflation. India's weekly food inflation measured by the Wholesale Price Index (WPI) is at 6-month high, sustaining the pressure on overall inflation and policy makers.
'My experience over the past one year is that inflation in 15 essential food items, except for a few pulses and edible oils, has remained steady. Other than these, prices of paddy, wheat and sugar and other items have been stable. This is one of the reasons for my optimism that food prices will stabilize over the next few months,' said Thomas.
The inflation has spread from food items to the manufactured products, which accounts for more than 65% of total the WPI. The RBI, which increased its key policy rates by 25 basis points, expects inflation to decline by December and chances of another rate hike is relatively low. 
The Minimum Support Prices (MPS) and increase in prices of petroleum products, which increased the cost of transportation, are responsible for the current high food inflation.  The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs increased the prices of wheat by Rs 164 a quintal to Rs 1,285. The prices of Chana and Masur were also increased by Rs 700 and Rs 550 each per quintal to Rs 2,800 each.

K V Thomas said, 'on the one hand, we say farmers must benefit and so give them cheap water supply, cheap electricity, higher MSP.....In Kerala, for example, we say farmers must be given higher prices for coconut, copra and natural rubber-....then we grumble about high coconut oil and tyre prices. How can these be controlled..

Experts are of the view that the large scale purchases of food grains by the government for subsidized supply to low income families reduces their availability in the local market and it becomes costlier for the middle class. On the other hand, in spite non-procurement of pulses a constant rising of benchmark prices makes them dearer. The government purchases around 30% of total food grain production every year for the distribution via ration shops.
The S&P CNX Nifty touched high and low of 5,399.70 and 5,322.80, respectively.
The top gainers on the Nifty were Hindalco up 10.72%, DLF up 8.23%, Jaiprakash Associates up 8.04%, R Infra up 8.03% and Sterlite Industries up 8.02%. On the flip side, BPCL down 3.15%, Maruti down 1.63%, GAIL down 0.65%, Bharti Airtel down 0.52% and Seas Goa down 0.49% were the top losers on the index.
The European markets were trading in mixed. France's CAC 40 lost 0.34%, Britain's FTSE 100 down by 0.17%, and Germany's DAX advanced by 0.08%.
Asia pacific stocks, extending an advance that started on Thursday, surged to an eight week high on Friday, after European leaders put forward a plan to contain the regions sovereign-debt and banking crisis that included a 50% write down on Greek government debt held by private bondholders and a boost to the region's bailout fund. Asian shares rallied for a second day on Friday with many regional markets hitting highs as investor confidence grew after the talk of world's largest economy, US slipping into recession got a halt after the quarterly data illustrated the largest jump for the US economy in more than a year, which also sparked a overnight gain at Wall Street.
The US economy grew at its fastest pace in a year in the third quarter as consumers and businesses stepped up spending, creating momentum that could carry into the final three months of the year. Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index after surging to its highest close in more than a month settled with gains of over 1.5%. Brokerages including Guotai Junan Securities Company, Mizuho Securities Asia and Barclays Plc said China may cut banks' reserve requirements before the end of this year. In Seoul, gains were underpinned by Samsung Electronics which advanced 2.3%. The firm said that its third-quarter net profit fell 23% due to weakness at its display unit, but the results weren't as weak as analysts had forecast. Samsung's third-quarter loss was offset by strength in the tech major's mobile-phone business, which unseated Apple Inc. last quarter as the world's largest seller of smart phones by unit.

MARKETS HOLD THEIR GAINS

The domestic equity markets don't seem in a mood to lose control over the stupendous gains they gathered with the start of the session. The regional peers too are continuing their jubilant run and are set to snap their best weekly rally since 2009. While the European futures are giving cues of positive start there. Back home, the domestic markets are showing firm trade, holding their gain of around 3 percent what they gathered in initial trade. All the sectoral gauges maintaining their gains, though consumer durable segment is witnessing some profit booking after the Diwali buying. On the same time the PSU oil marketing companies have turned in somber mood after the international crude prices surged overnight on getting optimistic European news. The broader indices too are lacking enthusiasm, underperforming their larger peers.
The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 17,773.51, up by 484.68 points or 2.80%. The index has touched a high and low of 17,908.13 and 17,671.86 respectively. All the 30 stocks were trading in green on the index.
The broader indices however were underperforming the benchmarks; the BSE Mid cap and Small cap indices were up by 1.37% and 0.99% respectively.
The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Metal up by 5.66%, CG up by 3.67%, Bankex up by 3.56%, Realty up by 3.41% and Auto was up by 2.84%, while none of the sectoral indices was trading in red.
The top gainers on the Sensex were Hindalco industries up by 9.40%, Sterlite Industries up by 8.27%, Jindal Steel up by 6.56%, JP Associates up by 6.18% and Tata Steel was up by 6.02%.
Meanwhile, the government has cleared 21 new textile parks under the scheme for Integrated Textiles Parks, which seeks green-field investments in the textiles sector on a public private partnership basis with the objective of setting up world-class infrastructure for textiles industry. The total project cost will be around Rs 2,100 crore, which will be implemented in a period of 36 months.

The Minister for Commerce, Industry and Textiles Anand Sharma said 'sanction of new Textiles parks would catalyze significant additional investments with industry utilizing the benefits both under the Scheme for Integrated Textiles Parks for development of common infrastructure; and under the Technology Upgradation Funds Scheme for installation of Plant and Machinery.'

As per the textile ministry statement, the government has enhanced the allocation under TUFS Rs 8,000 crore to Rs 15,404 crore in the 11th Five Year plan and in Scheme for Integrated Textiles Park (SITP) an allocation of Rs 400 crore has been made for sanction of new Textile Parks in April 2011. The new Textile Parks would attract around Rs 9,000 crore of investment and offer employment to around 4 lakh workers. The government would finance common infrastructure with a subsidy upto Rs 40 crore per textile park.
The government has cleared 6 new textile parks in Maharashtra, 4 in Rajasthan, 2 each in Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh, 1 each in Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat, Tripura, Himachal Pradesh, Karnataka, Jammu and Kashmir and West Bengal. The product in these parks would include apparels and garments parks, hosiery parks, silk parks, processing parks, technical textiles including medical textiles, carpet parks, and power-loom parks.
'The focus of government has been to ensure value addition through aggregation to best utilize India's raw material surplus in cotton and cotton yarn for enhanced labor employment and export earnings' said Sharma. By adding further he said, given the considerable demand for textiles parks in the country and given the success of the Scheme in the 11th Five Year Plan, textiles ministry would be seeking a higher allocation under the 12th Five Year Plan. It may be highlighted that of the 40 textiles parks sanctioned under the 11th Five Year Plan, 24 textiles parks have started operations and have attracted investments of Rs 18,880 crore, with a government subsidy of Rs 1,420 crore.
The S&P CNX Nifty is currently trading at 5,350.20, up by 148.40 points or 2.85%. The index has touched a high and low of 5,399.70 and 5,329.05 respectively. There were 49 stocks advancing against just 1 decline on the index.
The top gainers of the Nifty were Hindalco up by 9.40%, Sterlite Industries up by 8.35%, Jindal Steel up by 6.80%, Tata Motors up by 6.47% and Tata Steel was up by 6.27%
On the flip side, BPCL Bank down by 2.06% was the lone loser on the index.
All the Asian equity indices were trading with good gain; Shanghai Composite gained 1.28%, Hang Seng was up by 1.83%, Jakarta Composite added 0.57%, KLSE Composite gained  0.83%, Nikkei 225 surged by 1.39%, Straits Times gained 1.17%, Taiwan Weighted was up by 0.67% and Seoul Composite was up by 0.39%.

POSITIVE SENTIMENT

The penultimate day of October series futures and options contract expiry turned out to be a good session for the Indian frontline equity indices as they managed to settle with gains of around a percent after two previous disappointing sessions. Sentiments were buoyant in the first half after the European leaders' assurances of an upcoming rescue deal for the region's lingering debt problem. The weekend meeting of EU leaders resulted in "good progress", though not many concrete details were announced post the meet, investors remained optimistic that policy makers will announce significant measures on Wednesday to bolster the bailout fund and resolve Greece's debt crisis, while also supporting the region's banks. However, the optimism got tempered to some extent after FMCG bellwether ITC announced earnings which were in-line with Street's estimates. But the weaker than expected earnings announcement from Union Bank of India hit the morale of investors and led to a sell-off in banking counter. Apart from this on the global front, sentiments also petered out after European shares drifted into the red terrain post a positive opening. However, Asian peers settled with strong gains as indices in the region rallied in the range of 1-4% after robust Japanese exports data and encouraging Chinese PMI readings, together indicating that global economic outlook is not as bad as feared earlier. Back home, reports that India's exports from engineering sector registered a 14% decline in September on the back of slowdown in the US and European nations, weighed on Capital Goods stocks. Investors abstained from building fresh commitments ahead of the two keenly awaited events on Tuesday which are RBI's monetary policy review meet and October series futures and options contract expiry which too is scheduled on the same day because of two back to back public holidays on October 26 and 27 in observance of the Diwali - the festival of lights.
Earlier on Dalal Street, the benchmark got off to a rollicking opening as investors rejoiced after Euro-zone policy makers in their weekend meeting closed with concrete blueprint to rescue the region from debt trouble. The indices in no time climbed to intraday highs and traded around the psychological 17,100 (Sensex) and 5,150 (Nifty) levels through the morning trades. But the optimism soon started showing signs of easing in late hours of trade and profit booking in few sectors and drifting European markets weighed down the local bourses by the end of session. Eventually the NSE's 50-share broadly followed index Nifty, climbed by close to a percent and settled below the crucial 5,100 support level while Bombay Stock Exchange's Sensitive Index Sensex amassed one hundred and fifty points and closed below the psychological 16,950 mark. Moreover, the broader markets succumbed to the selling pressure despite showing positive moves early on and settled with moderate cuts of around a quarter percent.  On the BSE sectoral space, the IT index soared by close to two percent being the top gainer, followed by the rate sensitive Automobile and Oil & Gas counters too gained good traction and went home with over one and half a percent gains.  Meanwhile, reports that the government may lift a ban on foreign airlines investing in the country's domestic carriers as they battle intense competition and high fuel costs underpinned domestic airline companies like Kingfisher, Jet Airways and Spice Jet which surged in the rage of 0.50% - 4%. On the flipside, the Capital Goods and Bankex sectors languished at the bottom of the table with losses of 1.78% and 0.38% respectively, being the only laggards in the space. The markets surged on large volumes of over Rs 1.6 lakh crore while the turnover for NSE F&O segment too remained on the higher side as compared to Friday at over 1.5 lakh core as it was the penultimate session of October series F&O contract settlement. The market breadth remained pessimistic as there were 1278 shares on the gaining side against 1528 shares on the losing side while 120 shares remained unchanged.
Finally, the BSE Sensex gained 153.64 points or 0.92% to settle at 16,939.28, while the S&P CNX Nifty advanced by 48.40 points or 0.96% to close at 5,098.35.
The BSE Sensex touched a high and a low of 17,104.88 and 16,898.60 respectively. The BSE Mid cap and Small cap index were down by 0.33% and 0.28% respectively.
The major gainers on the Sensex were Tata Motors up 4.44%, ONGC up 4.09%, Hindustan Unilever up 3.14%, Bajaj Auto up 3.12% and TCS up 2.97%. While, L&T down 3.11%, SBI down 2.11%, Coal India down 1.28%, Sun Pharm down 0.99% and HDFC Bank down 0.45% were the major losers on the index.
The major gainers on the BSE sectoral space were IT up 1.91%, Auto up 1.86%, Oil & Gas up 1.65%, TECk up 1.62% and FMCG up 1.36%. While Capital Goods (CG) down 1.78% and Bankex down 0.38% were top losers on BSE sectoral space.
Meanwhile, India's exports from engineering sector has registered a decline of 14% in the month of September on the back of slowdown in the US and European nations. As per the data of Engineering Export Promotion Council (EEPC), exports from engineering sector stood at $7.1 billion in September 2011 compared to $8.3 billion in September 2010.
In last financial year, the sector had contributed around $60 billion in the India's exports of $245.9 billion. In the current financial year, India's exports performance has been impressive. Despite the slowdown in US and decline in business confidence in European economy, country's exports during the first half of the current financial year surged by the 52% to $160 billion.
However, after several months of surge in exports from the sector, exports have declined in September because of the economic slowdown in the western markets. The engineering exports in April-August 2011 had surged by 125%, aggregating to $40 billion in the April-August 2011.
Market experts are of the view that the situation is not expected to improve in the coming months. The declining trend in exports may continue in the coming two quarters of 2011-12. The US and European markets together account for more than 40% of the country's engineering exports. Engineering exports include transport equipment, capital goods, other machinery/equipment and light engineering products like castings, forgings and fasteners.
Expressing concern over the adverse impact of global uncertainty on the Indian Economy, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee on October 22, said 'when the world sneezes, India runs risk of catching a cold...Not surprisingly, the economic crisis in Europe and the slowdown in the US are impacting us adversely.'
The S&P CNX Nifty touched high and low of 5,145.65 and 5,084.75, respectively.
The top gainers on the Nifty were Tata Motors up 4.91%, ONGC up 3.96%, RPower up 3.69%, HUL up 3.50% and Axis Bank up 3.31%. On the flip side, L&T down 2.94%, PNB down 1.96%, SBI down 1.91%, Sun Pharma down 1.82% and Coal India down 1.38% were the top losers on the index.
The European markets were trading in mixed. France's CAC 40 lost 0.30%, Britain's FTSE 100 up by 0.26%, and Germany's DAX advanced by 0.21%.

Asian pacific stocks after getting a strong start ended equally well comforted by a report that showed China's manufacturing may expand for the first time in four months amid signs stating that European leaders were days away from a plan to contain the euro-zone's debt crisis. German chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Nicolas Sarkozy said on Sunday that they would finalize a comprehensive response to the debt crisis by the end of the month, including a plan to make sure European banks have adequate capital. Asian stocks ended well for the second straight session underpinned by positive export figures from Japan that pointed a recovery from a devastating tsunami earlier this year, which besides fuelling a rally in Japan's Nikkei 225 index also buoyed the sentiment across the region. Japan's Finance Ministry said early on Monday that exports rose 2.4% in September compared with a year earlier, marking the second consecutive month of growth. The rise followed a five-month decline in the wake of the March 11 earthquake and tsunami that devastated northeast Japan.

MARKETS HOLD ON TO GAINS

The Indian equity markets were holding their early gains amid broad based buying and currently remained up in positive territory. Several blue chip stocks were extending their move further up north on sustained buying support. Investors grew optimistic about renewed efforts by European leaders to limit the region's debt crisis and doubts that the central bank might hike interest rates one more time to rein in inflation, but today investors were busy picking up stocks from rate sensitive realty, automobile and banking sectors. On sectoral front, all the sectors were trading in green. Auto, realty, IT, metal and banking stocks were trading notably high. Power, oil and FMCG stocks were in demand. Pharmaceuticals stocks were edging higher after turning a bit subdued. Capital goods stocks, which opened on a weak note, recovered some lost ground. Airline stocks rose, after local media reports that India will shortly consider a proposal to allow foreign airlines to pick up stakes in cash-strapped domestic carriers. On the global front, all Asian markets were trading in green on hopes that the forthcoming European Union Summit on Wednesday will find a solution to the debt crisis. Back home, the market breadth favoring the positive trend; there were 1,452 shares on the gaining side against 910 shares on the losing side while 109 shares remained unchanged.
The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 17,072.33, up by 286.69 points or 1.71%. The index has touched a high and low of 17,104.88 and 17,006.28 respectively. There were 29 stocks advancing against just 1 declining one on the index.
The broader indices however, kept underperforming the benchmarks; the BSE Mid cap and Small cap indices were up by 0.71% and 0.54% respectively.
The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Auto up by 2.29%, Realty up by 2.29%, IT up by 2.05%, Metal up by 2.02% and Bankex up by 1.95%.
The top gainers on the Sensex were Tata Motors up by 4.41%, Sterlite Industries up by 3.91%, ONGC up by 3.43%, Bajaj Auto up by 3.29% and Hindustan Unilever up by 3.16%.
On the flip side, L&T down by 0.80% was the only loser on the index.
Meanwhile, India's exports from engineering sector has registered a decline of 14% in the month of September on the back of slowdown in the US and European nations. As per the data of Engineering Export Promotion Council (EEPC), exports from engineering sector stood at $7.1 billion in September 2011 compared to $8.3 billion in September 2010.
In last financial year, the sector had contributed around $60 billion in the India's exports of $245.9 billion. In the current financial year, India's exports performance has been impressive. Despite the slowdown in US and decline in business confidence in European economy, country's exports during the first half of the current financial year surged by the 52% to $160 billion.
However, after several months of surge in exports from the sector, exports have declined in September because of the economic slowdown in the western markets. The engineering exports in April-August 2011 had surged by 125%, aggregating to $40 billion in the April-August 2011.
Market experts are of the view that the situation is not expected to improve in the coming months. The declining trend in exports may continue in the coming two quarters of 2011-12. The US and European markets together account for more than 40% of the country's engineering exports. Engineering exports include transport equipment, capital goods, other machinery/equipment and light engineering products like castings, forgings and fasteners.
Expressing concern over the adverse impact of global uncertainty on the Indian Economy, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee on October 22, said 'when the world sneezes, India runs risk of catching a cold...Not surprisingly, the economic crisis in Europe and the slowdown in the US are impacting us adversely.'
The S&P CNX Nifty is currently trading at 5,137.35, higher by 87.40 points or 1.73%. The index has touched a high and low of 5,145.40 and 5,111.35 respectively. There were 48 stocks advancing against just 2 declining ones on the index.
The top gainers of the Nifty were Tata Motors up by 4.38%, Sterlite Industries up by 4.09%, RPower up by 3.69%, ONGC up by 3.50% and Reliance Infra up by 3.47%.

On the flip side, RCom down by 0.87% and L&T down by 0.73% were the major losers on the index.

Most of the Asian equity indices continue to trade in good contour; Shanghai Composite gained 1.84%, Hang Seng added 4.21%, Jakarta Composite gained 2.22%, KLSE Composite expanded 1.32%, Nikkei 225 gained 1.78%, Straits Times increased 2.07%, Seoul Composite raised 3.01% and Taiwan Weighted added 2.97%.

MARKETS SLIP AGAIN

Indian frontline equity indices snapped a distressing session with cuts of about a percent on the last trading session of the week. The key gauges after a volatile trade got dragged way below the neutral line in the dying hours of trade after the index heavyweight Larsen and Toubro got butchered by over three and half a percent post announcing second quarter numbers and guidance that were below street's expectations. The markets exhibited unenthusiastic trends right from the start of trade, lacking any significant upside cues. Marketmen continued to indulge in stock specific activity amid a slew of earnings announcements. Sentiments at large remained cautious as investors across the globe remained on the edge ahead of this weekend's European Union summit. Hopes that a solution to the European debt woes would be unveiled by Sunday were dashed after officials called for convening another summit next week on Wednesday, where France and Germany will divulge out further details on the plan. Meanwhile, the European markets got off to a positive start and were trading with gains of over half a percent while the Asian counterparts displayed mixed trends. Back home, the benchmarks traded amid high volatility ahead of the October series futures and options contract expiry scheduled on Tuesday while the RBI monetary policy review meet too is scheduled on the same day where it is largely expected to hike key interest rates in its endeavor to rein in inflation.
Earlier on Dalal Street, the benchmark got off to a sedate opening as investors lacked conviction to build fresh positions and appeared unperturbed by reports that Germany and France want euro-region leaders to agree on an ambitious plan. The key gauges soon climbed into the green terrain and traded in a narrow band but in the green zone through the morning trades. However, the trade turned choppy in afternoon trades and the indices see-sawed around the neutral line for most part of noon but dived deeper in the dying hours post L&T's disappointing earnings and guidance. Eventually the NSE's 50-share broadly followed index Nifty, suffered close a percent loss and settled below the crucial 5,050 support level while Bombay Stock Exchange's sensitive Index Sensex shaved-off one hundred fifty points and closed below the psychological 16,700 mark. Moreover, the broader markets too settled on a negative note with cuts of around half a percent but managed to outperform their larger peers. On the BSE sectoral space, the rate sensitive Realty pocket bore the maximum brunt and got pounded by two percent while the Capital Goods counters too witnessed hefty bouts of profit booking and dived by about two percent due to huge sell-off in bellwether L&T. On the flipside, only Consumer Durables index settled on a positive note with marginal gains. The markets got dragged on large volumes of over Rs 1.6 lakh crore while the turnover for NSE F&O segment too remained on the lower side as compared to Thursday at over 1.49 lakh core. The market breadth remained pessimistic as there were 1112 shares on the gaining side against 1682 shares on the losing side while 126 shares remained unchanged.
Finally, the BSE Sensex lost 151.25 points or 0.89% to settle at 16,785.64, while the S&P CNX Nifty declined by 41.95 points or 0.82% to close at 5,049.95.
The BSE Sensex touched a high and a low of 17,032.32 and 16,752.21 respectively. The BSE Mid cap and Small cap index were down by 0.68% and 0.60% respectively.
The major gainers on the Sensex were Maruti Suzuki up 1.53%, Bajaj Auto up 1.52%, Hero MotoCorp up 1.15%, SBI up 0.73% and BHEL up 0.58%. While, L&T down 3.54%, Bharti Airtel down 3.08%, Tata Motors down 2.81%, DLF down 2.66% and Hindalco Industries down 2.48% were the major losers on the index.
The only gainer on the BSE sectoral space was Consumer Durables (CD) up 0.22%, while Realty down 1.99%, Capital Goods (CG) down 1.88%, Metal down 1.36%, TECk down 0.88% and FMCG down 0.73% were top losers on BSE sectoral space.
Meanwhile, the coal ministry has no plans to revise downward the annual production target of Coal India (CIL). Even though the company during the first half of the current financial year has shown negative growth, which is the main reason of the current energy crisis, as the thermal power stations all over India are facing dry fuel shortages. 
The Union minister of state for coal Pratik Prakashbapu Patil said "The production in most coal mines has suffered due to incessant rains, as a result of which some coal companies could not produce the targeted amount of coal, setting of crisis in coal supply to power plants." Patil, expects coal production to be normalized in coming 2 to 3 months.
On the issue of the delay by the private sector firms, which have been allocated coal blocks to start operation of their mines, Patil said that the warnings have been issued to non-serious private players and follow up will be taken soon.
The minister also denied any possibility of discontinuing e-auction of coal to enhance the supply position, as such measures will hurt the small scale industries. On the issue of the wage negotiation with the coal trade unions leaders, Patil said that the discussions are on and the differences, hopefully, will be ironed out by the end of the year.
The S&P CNX Nifty touched high and low of 5,120.75 and 5,037.95, respectively.

The top gainers on the Nifty were Bajaj Auto up 1.86%, Siemens up 1.72%, Maruti Suzuki up 1.57%, Hero Motocorp up 1.13% and BHEL up 1.02%. On the flip side, L&T down 3.84%, Bharti Airtel down 2.87%, Tata Motors down 2.79%, Hindalco down 2.45% and DLF down 2.25% were the top losers on the index.

The European markets were trading in green. France's CAC 40 gained 0.82%, Britain's FTSE 100 up by 0.62%, and Germany's DAX advanced by 0.39%.
Asian equity indices finished the day's trade on mixed note on Friday as investors awaited a weekend meeting of European leaders for signs of progress in resolving the region's debt crisis. Moreover, France and Germany said in a joint statement on Thursday that the leaders will discuss in detail a comprehensive solution to the euro zone crisis at the summit on Sunday but no decisions will be adopted before a second meeting to be held by October 26, 2011 at the latest. Meanwhile, Seoul shares rose over one and a half percent, rebounding from sharp last-minute falls in the previous session, lifted by rallies in technology issues and construction firms like LG Display and Hyundai Engineering & Construction, however, Chinese stocks ended down by half a percent to fresh 31-month low on Friday on worries over the country's economic outlook after growth slowed in the third quarter.

LACKLUSTER DAY

Indian benchmark equity indices are exhibiting unenthusiastic trends in Friday afternoon trades and have even gone on to slip into the negative zone, lacking any significant upside cues. Marketmen continued to indulge in stock specific activity amid a slew of earnings announcements. Sentiments at large remained cautious as investors across the globe remained on the edge ahead of this weekend's European Union summit. Hopes that a solution to the European debt woes would be unveiled by Sunday were dashed after officials for convened another summit next week on Wednesday, where French and German will divulge out further details on the plan. Meanwhile, the European markets got off to a positive start and are trading with gains of around half a percent while the Asian counterparts displayed mixed trends. Back home, on the BSE sectoral front, the rate sensitive Realty and Information Technology pockets were top laggards in the space as they sank by over half a percent. On the other hand, the Consumer Durable and Capital Goods counters showed some resilience and gained by over half a percent.  Moreover, the broader markets traded on a quiet note and were largely unchanged from previous closing levels in the early afternoon trades. The bourses consolidated on good volumes of over Rs 0.60 lakh core, while the market breadth on BSE was in favor of declines in the ratio of 1333:1180 while 117 scrips remained unchanged.
The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 16,903.98 down  by 32.91 points or 0.19% after trading as high as 17,032.32 and as low as 16,873.99. There were 15 stocks advancing against 15 decline on the index.
The broader indices were trading in the flat terrain; the BSE Mid cap index eased 0.01% and Small cap added 0.08%.
On the BSE sectoral space, Consumer Durables up 0.74%, Capital Goods up 0.58%, Auto up 0.28%, Power up 0.16% and Healthcare up 0.14% were the major gainers while Realty down 0.76%, TECk down 0.53%, IT down 0.42%, Metal down 0.38% and FMCG down 0.07% were the major losers in the space.
Maruti Suzuki up 1.85%, BHEL up 1.68%, Bajaj Auto up 1.62%, SBI up 1.01% and Sun Pharma up 0.92% were the major gainers on the Sensex, while HDFC down 2.01%, DLF down 1.60%, Infosys down 1.36%, NTPC down 1.34% and Bharti Airtel down 1.30% were the major losers on the index.
Meanwhile, citing concerns like towering inflation, slowing manufacturing output and global headwinds, C Rangarajan, the chairman of Prime Minister's Economic Advisory Council cautioned that the pace of India's economic expansion could be slower than the forecasts of 8% during the 2012 fiscal year. Rangarajan is also of the belief that reining in inflationary pressure on the economy is the primary responsibility of the Reserve Bank of India.
He further said that not only monetary policy but fiscal measures are also critical in the government's endeavor to tackle inflation and to sustain the growth momentum. On fiscal policy front, the PMEAC Chairman felt that excise duties and service tax can be raised to pre-2008 levels however it would be unwise to do so in the middle of the year. Furthermore, Rangarajan advocated the idea of releasing more foodgrain stocks in the open market in order to ease inflation. The government has allocated 10 lakh tonnes of wheat and rice for the open market scheme.
The PMEAC Chairman also backed RBI's constant rate hikes by stating that 'when inflation is remaining at the level which is way above the comfort level of central bank, in that situation it becomes absolutely essential for the central bank to act.' However, he was of the belief that had the RBI taken more aggressive stance earlier on, they would have by now been able to contain inflation. "RBI took baby steps to contain inflation... Aggressive policy earlier would have been a preferred policy alternative," he said at the Economic Editors' Conference.
The PMEAC gives economic growth estimates twice a year and it earlier had forecasted a GDP growth rate of 8.2% for the fiscal year ending March 2012. Meanwhile, the key economic advisor to the PM admitted that the pace of growth has slowed and told that interest rate hikes were not the only reason for the slowdown and RBI must continue to maintain its anti-inflationary stance.
The PM's top economic advisor' statement came just five days ahead of the RBI's monetary policy review meeting which is scheduled to be held on October 25. Expectations are rife that the RBI may further its liquidity tightening measures in its meeting and hike key interest rates for the thirteenth time since March 2010 to tackle inflation which is continues to hover at elevated levels for a long time now.
The S&P CNX Nifty is currently trading at 5,083.50, lower by 8.40 points or 0.16% after trading as high as 5,120.75 and as low as 5,070.65. There were 25 stocks advancing against 25 declines on the index.

The top gainers on the Nifty were Bajaj Auto up 1.84%, BHEL up 1.76%, Maruti up 1.60%, Siemens up 1.23% and Dr Reddy's up 1.08%.

HDFC down 1.99%, Cairn down 1.94%, Ambuja Cement down 1.46%, Tata Steel down 1.38% and BHarti Airtel down 1.29% were the major losers on the index.
Asian markets traded on a mixed note, Shanghai Composite dropped 0.55%, Jakarta Composite shed 0.62%, KLSE Composite eased 0.02% and Nikkei 225 inched down 0.04%,
On the flipside, Hang Seng rose 0.05%, Straits Times climbed 0.65%, Seoul Composite jumped by 1.84% and Taiwan Weighted rose 0.14%.
The European markets traded on a positive note as France's CAC 40 gained 63%, Germany's DAX rose 0.26% and Britain's FTSE 100 added 0.67%.

CAUTIOUS MARKETS

The Indian equity markets turn flat to positive after dipping into the red terrain in the initial trade. A bout of volatility was witnessed in the early trade as investors stayed cautious ahead of a meeting of European leaders to help resolve the region's debt crisis. The US markets closed mixed overnight, after finding some support in commitment by Germany and France to produce a comprehensive plan while, most of the Asian equity indices were trading in the negative terrain at this point of time. Back home, on the sectoral front capital goods witnessed the maximum gain in trade followed by consumer durables and auto while, realty, fast moving consumer goods and oil and gas remained the top losers on the BSE sectoral space. The broader indices were outperforming benchmarks. Meanwhile, PSU oil marketing companies viz. BPCL, HPCL and IOC all edged higher in the trade as the prime minister's top economic adviser C Rangarajan has said that the government will hike diesel prices once there is a substantial easing in inflationary pressure and expressed his optimism that inflation is likely to start easing in the coming months on the back of good monsoon and increased availability of food grains. The market breadth on the BSE was positive; there were 1,226 shares on the gaining side against 549 shares on the losing side while 64 shares remained unchanged.
The BSE Sensex opened at 16,975.79; about 40 points higher compared to its previous closing of 16,936.89, and has touched a high and a low of 16,987.94 and 16,873.99 respectively.
The index is currently trading at 16,965.33, up by 28.44 points or 0.17%. There were 18 stocks advancing against 12 declines on the index.
The overall market breadth has made a strong start with 66.67% stocks advancing against 29.85% declines. The broader indices were out performing benchmarks; the BSE Mid cap and Small cap indices rose 0.45% and 0.62% respectively.
The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were, CG up by 1.43%, CD up by 0.76%, Auto up by 0.73%, Metal up by 0.26% and Power was up by 0.24%. While, Realty down by 0.48%, FMCG down by 0.17%, Oil and Gas down by 0.11% and TECk down by 0.02% remained the only loser on the index.
The top gainers on the Sensex were Maruti Suzuki up by 2.62%, BHEL up by 1.76%, L&T up by 1.50%, Jaiprakash Associates up by 1.28% and SBI was up by 1.01%.
On the flip side, DLF was down by 1.90%, NTPC was down by 1.25%, Bharti Airtel was down by 0.82%, HUL was down by 0.81% and HDFC Bank was down by 0.61% were the top losers on the Sensex.
Meanwhile, though, the prices of crude oil has declined marginally in the recent past in the international markets, rupee, however, at the same time is depreciating against the US dollar since this September, making it difficult for the OMCs to cut prices of fuel products. The under-recovery or the revenue loss incurred by the OMCs in selling diesel, LPG and kerosene at controlled price is likely to be more than Rs 1,21,571 crore at an average crude oil price of $110 a barrel.
On this, Petroleum Minister S Jaipal Reddy said, even after the implementation of market determined pricing, the public sector OMCs have been making price revisions of petrol in a guarded manner, absorbing a part of the under-recovery themselves.' By adding further he said, the government was 'committed' to making available essential fuels, particularly cooking fuels to the common man at affordable prices. However, as a result, the oil marketing companies (OMCs) have been 'incurring huge under-recoveries on sale of diesel, domestic LPG and PDS kerosene.
Jaipal Reddy further said, the OMCs would be losing about Rs 67,000 crore in sale of diesel. Stating that 15% of the diesel consumption was for personal vehicles, he said his ministry felt that dual pricing was not a practical solution. On the other hand, the ministry suggested a higher duty on diesel cars. LPG subsidy would approximately amount to another Rs 25,000 crore during the year. It was a difficult political call to restrict the number of subsidized LPG cylinder, Reddy added.
Petroleum secretary G C Chaturvedi on the sidelines said the gross under-recovery was likely to be Rs 21,000 crore in the Q2 ended September 30, 2011. Of this, the ministry was seeking a reimbursement of Rs 14,250 crore from the government. 'Upstream companies for the time being will continue to share 33% of the subsidy burden'. In the April-June quarter, the gross under-recoveries stood at Rs 43,000 crore.
The finance ministry had indicated that Rs 15,000 crore would be given for the first quarter. The government has under projected its petroleum subsidy bill in the current fiscal year at Rs 23,640 crore. The sum has already exhausted in May by paying subsidy for the last fiscal year. With revenue under pressure and GDP growth expected to be lower than 9% estimated at the time of budget, any fresh provisioning for oil subsidy will hit the fiscal deficit target that had been set at 4.6% of the GDP.
The S&P CNX Nifty opened at 5,106.60; about 15 points higher compared to its previous closing of 5,091.90, and has touched a high and a low of 5,108.95 and 5,070.65 respectively.
The index is currently trading at 5,096.40, higher by 4.50 points or 0.09%. There were 29 stocks advancing against 21 declines on the index.
The top gainers of the Nifty were Maruti Suzuki up by 2.44%, BHEL up by 1.90%, L&T up by 1.57%, JP Associates up by 1.35% and Bajaj Auto up by 1.12%.

On the flip side, Cairn down by 2.27%, DLF down by 1.54%, NTPC down by 1.26%, GAIL down by 1.22% and Bharti Airtel down by 0.96%, were the major losers on the index.

Most of the Asian equity indices were trading in the red; Shanghai Composite was down 13.41 points or 0.58% to 2,317.96, Hang Seng was down 4.33 points or 0.02% to 17,978.77, Jakarta Composite was down 25.29 points or 0.70% to 3,597.49, KLSE Composite was down 1.08 points or 0.07% to 1,440.10, Nikkei 225 was down 5.08 points or 0.06% to 8,677.07 and Taiwan Weighted was down by 23.44 points or 0.32% to 7,220.88.
On the flip side, Straits Times was up 13.35 points or 0.50% to 2,707.36 and Seoul Composite was up by 17.17 points or 0.95% to 1,822.26.

D-STREET IN RED

Indian frontline equity indices showed great resilience in Thursday's trading session and recovered a great deal from the lowest point of the session but failed to pare all the intraday losses by the end. The benchmarks trimmed their losses in late hours of trade on media reports that a guideline document said the European financial stability facility would be able to buy bonds on the secondary market. However, the key gauges still settled below the psychological 5,100 (Nifty) and 16,950 (Sensex) levels as market participants squared off hefty positions almost across the board as they continued to focus on inflation amid signs of slowdown in consumption and production indicators. The rate sensitive counters like Realty and Automobile which witnessed a sharp upmove on Wednesday, suffered severe pounding in the session after weekly inflation data showed that India's food inflation climbed to the highest level in almost six months, augmenting pressure on the RBI ahead of monetary policy review meet scheduled on October 25. Sentiments were also undermined by reports of differences in Germany and France over how to tackle Europe's debt crisis, while a disappointing Beige Book report by the Federal Reserve added to worries looming over the US economic outlook. The Asian peers too exhibited gloomy trends as major markets plunged by around two percent. On the domestic front, marketmen speculated that the RBI will extend its liquidity tightening measures and boost interest rates in order to rein in the mounting inflationary pressure on the economy. Meanwhile, C Rangarajan, the chairman of PMEAC opined that India's GDP will grow at a lower than forecasted 8% during the 2012 fiscal year, citing the towering inflation, slowing industrial output and global headwinds are slowing growth.
Earlier on Dalal Street, the benchmark got off to a gap down start as uncertainty over the future of Euro-zone debt crisis again came at the forefront of investors' concerns while the US economic slowdown fears too multiplied their worries. The key gauges continued to drift to lower levels through the morning session and found a bottom in early noon trades. The psychological 5,050 and 16,750 levels proved as firm supports for the frontline indices as they convalesced and almost halved their losses from those levels by the end. Eventually the NSE's 50-share broadly followed index Nifty, suffered a one percent laceration and settled below the crucial 5,100 support level while Bombay Stock Exchange's Sensitive Index Sensex shaved-off close to one hundred fifty points and closed below the psychological 16,950 mark. Moreover, the broader markets too traded with a negative bias with cuts of around half a percent but managed to outperform their larger peers. On the BSE sectoral space, the rate sensitive Realty and Auto pockets bore the maximum brunt and got obliterated by 2.04% and 1.50% respectively while the Power and Capital Goods counters too witnessed hefty bouts of profit booking and dived by over a percent. On the flipside, the IT and TECk counters rebounded into the green zone by the end of trade and settled with gains of a quarter percent. The markets got dragged on large volumes of over Rs 1.7 lakh crore while the turnover for NSE F&O segment too remained on the higher side as compared to Wednesday at over 1.59 lakh core. The market breadth remained pessimistic as there were 1126 shares on the gaining side against 1664 shares on the losing side while 128 shares remained unchanged.
Finally, the BSE Sensex lost 148.45 points or 0.87% to settle at 16,936.89, while the S&P CNX Nifty declined by 47.25 points or 0.92% to close at 5,091.90.
The BSE Sensex touched a high and a low of 16,962.06 and 16,744.99 respectively. The BSE Mid cap and Small cap index was down by 0.66% and 0.47% respectively.
The major gainers on the Sensex were Tata Steel up 1.47%, Jindal Steel up 1.32%, Bharti Airtel up 1.29%, Sun Pharma up 1.26% and Maruti Suzuki up 0.97%. While, HDFC down 4.27%, Jaiprakash Associates down 3.49%, DLF down 3.34%, ICICI Bank down 2.89% and Tata Power down 2.59% were the major losers on the index.
The major gainers in the BSE sectoral space were TECk up 0.27% and IT up 0.23%, while Realty down 2.04%, Auto down 1.50%, Power down 1.34%, Capital Goods (CG) down 1.27% and Consumer Durables (CD) down 1.17% were top losers on BSE sectoral space.
Meanwhile, India's weekly food inflation measured by the Wholesale Price Index (WPI) after a gap of a month-and-a-half is back in double digits at 10.60% for the week ended October 8, 2011 as compared to 9.32% in the previous week on the back of costlier vegetables, fruits, milk and protein-based items.
According to the data released by the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, the index for 'Food Articles' group rose by 0.4% to 200.3 (Provisional) from 199.5 for the previous week due to higher prices of poultry chicken (4%), bajra (2%) and fish-inland, masur, fruits and vegetables, urad and condiments and spices (1% each).  However, the prices of jowar and ragi (2% each) and barley, maize, fish-marine and moong (1% each) declined.
However, the index for 'Non-Food Articles' group has declined by 0.4% to 179.8 (Provisional) from 180.5  for the previous week due to lower prices of soyabean (7%), raw silk (6%), copra and sunflower (4% each), castor seed and groundnut seed (3% each), coir fibre (2%) and rape and mustard seed (1%).  However, the prices of flowers (20 %) and gaur seed (1%) moved up.
Meanwhile, the index for Primary Articles groups which account for 20.12% of the WPI rose by 0.2% to 203.8 (Provisional) from 203.4 for the previous week. The annual rate of inflation, calculated on point to point basis for this group, stood at 11.18% (Provisional) for the week ended October 8, 2011 as compared to 10.60% for the previous week ended on October 1, 2011.

The index for Fuel and Power group, which account for 14.91% of the WPI rose by 0.1% to 170.1 (Provisional) from 170.00 for the previous week due to higher prices of bitumen and furnace oil (1% each). The annual rate of inflation, calculated on point to point basis, stood at 15.17% (Provisional) for the week as compared to 15.10% in the previous week.

Food inflation rate, which rose to the highest level in almost six months, is likely to exert further pressure on the government and the Reserve Bank to tackle the situation expeditiously. 'Growth in Asia's third-largest economy will be slower than government projections', Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee said, highlighting how high inflation, rising interest rates and global financial turbulence threaten India's growth momentum. Mukherjee also hinted that India may continue to tighten monetary policy, in contrast to most other major emerging economies, to keep stubbornly high inflation in check despite fears of a broader economic slowdown.
Thus with the hawkish language of finance minister coupled with the headline inflation hovering uncomfortably above 9% and food inflation entering into double digit for the week, RBI's move of hiking rate by another 25 bps in its upcoming monetary policy on October 25, 2011 would not come as a surprise to the street. The RBI has up till now already hiked interest rates by 12 times, by a total of 350 basis points, since March, 2010 in order to tame demand and curb inflation.
The S&P CNX Nifty touched high and low of 5,099.00 and 5,033.95, respectively.
The top gainers on the Nifty were Tata Steel up 1.46%, HCL Tech up 1.35%, Jindal Steel up 1.34%, Bharti Airtel up 1.08% and Maruti Suzuki up 0.98%. On the flip side, HDFC down 4.10%, IDFC down 3.95%, DLF down 3.80%, JP Associate down 3.63% and RPower down 2.96% were the top losers on the index.
The European markets were trading in red. France's CAC 40 lost 0.75%, Britain's FTSE 100 shaved off 0.42%, and Germany's DAX declined by 0.33%
All the Asian equity indices finished the day's trade in the negative terrain on Thursday as traders nervously awaited a weekend summit of European Union leaders, there were concerns that a plan to deal with the region's crisis would not be far-reaching enough. Meanwhile, Seoul Composite remained the top loser among the Asian peers and tumbled over two and a half percent on Thursday, pressured by foreign investor selling and falls in banks and shipyards including KB Financial Group and Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering. Moreover, Chinese Shanghai Composite ended with a cut of about two percent at a 31-month low in the trade, dragged down by steep losses in materials and energy stocks, while Hong Kong shares lost ground in the lowest turnover in a month as investors took profit in energy on declining physical commodity prices.

GAINS

Indian equity markets are trading on a positive note in Wednesday afternoon trading session as investors continue to build positions across the counter. The frontline indices are trading with around one and half a percent gains and are hovering around the psychological 5,100 (Nifty) and 17,000 (Sensex) levels. The beaten down rate sensitive counters like Real Estate, Banking and Automobile counters are seeing hefty buying interests in the session as marketmen covered the short positions that got build since the start of the week. The capital goods pocket too gained a lot of traction in the session after bellwether L&T spurted by around two and half a percent. While there was no sectoral laggard on BSE, yet the FMCG counter failed to rally in the session and traded with marginal gains of 0.23% since FMCG major HUL traded with around half a percent loss. On the global front, the European markets showed a smart pull back rally amid unconfirmed reports that France and Germany have approved a plan to boost the euro zone rescue fund to 2 trillion euros. Investors also overlooked the reports that Moody's slashed Spain's sovereign ratings by two notches to A1 from Aa2. Meanwhile, the Asian peers too are exhibiting largely optimistic trends following the overnight rally on Wall Street. Back home, the broader markets too traded on an encouraging note with around a percent gains but underperformed their larger peers. The bourses surged on good volumes of over Rs 0.80 lakh core, while the market breadth on BSE was in favor of advances in the ratio of 1693:829 while 111 scrips remained unchanged.
The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 16,979.44 up by 231.15 points or 1.38% after trading as high as 17,030.86 and as low as 16,874.34. There were 29 stocks advancing against 1 decline on the index.
The broader indices were trading with good gains; the BSE Mid cap index climbed 1.20% and Small cap gained by 0.90%.
On the BSE sectoral space, Realty up 2.40%, Bankex up 1.92%, Auto up 1.83%, Capital Goods up 1.51 and Oil & Gas up 1.41% were the major gainers while there were no losers in the space.
Hero Moto up 4.93%, DLF up 3.51%, Wipro up 2.99%, JP Associates up 2.90% and Bharti Airtel up 2.82% were the major gainers on the Sensex, while HUL down 0.47% was the only loser on the index.
Meanwhile, surge in the prices of food, clothing and fuel items has pushed up the Consumer Price Index (CPI) by 1.25 per cent in September on month-on-month basis. The CPI based on retail prices was recorded at 113.1 points in September, compared with 111.7 points in August.
As per data released by the government, on an all-India level, the Index for 'food, beverages and tobacco' was up sequentially by 1.34 per cent to 113.2 points in September from 111.7 points in the previous month. However, the main increase was seen in the prices of vegetables, with the index rising by 3.44 per cent month-on-month to 117.3 points, while the indices for milk and milk products went up by over 2.07 per cent to 118.6 points. Pulses prices also went up by 1.73 per cent to 100.1 points, as per the index, while eggs, meat and fish were up 1.76 per cent to 115.6 points in September in comparison to August.  Prices in the 'fuel and light' segment rose by 1.46 per cent in September vis-a-vis the previous month, with the index inching up to 118.1 points from 116.4 points in August. The rise was mainly due to the Rs 3 per liter hike of petrol prices announced by oil marketing companies in mid-September.
The index for 'Housing' was up 1.12 per cent month-on- month at 108.8 points in September, up from 107.6 points in August. This is the fourth month that housing prices have been factored into the CPI data. However, the data was compiled only for urban areas.
The price of miscellaneous items rose by 1.09 per cent in September vis-a-vis August, as per the CPI data, with the index for this segment rising to 111.5 points on a countrywide basis in the month under review from 110.3 points in the previous month.
Meanwhile, the Central Statistics Office (CSO), Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation has introduced a new series of Consumer Price Indices (CPI) on base 2010=100 for all-India and States/UTs separately for rural, urban and combined with effect from January, 2011.  As per it the General Indices for rural, urban and combined for September, 2011 stood at 114.6, 111.1 and 113.1 respectively.

The S&P CNX Nifty is currently trading at 5,106.60, higher by 69.10 points or 1.37% after trading as high as 5,124.25 and as low as 5,075.30. There were 47 stocks advancing against 3 declines on the index.

The top gainers on the Nifty were Hero Moto up 4.59%, DLF up 3.27%, Wipro up 2.88%, JP Associates up 2.76% and Tata Motors up 2.59%.
Sesa Goa down 0.71%, HUL down 0.24%, HDFC down 0.15% were the only losers on the index.
Asian markets traded largely on an optimistic note, Hang Seng surged 1.43%, Jakarta Composite soared 1.94%, KLSE Composite advanced 0.57%, Nikkei 225 rose 0.35%, Straits Times added 0.19% and Seoul Composite climbed 0.93%.
On the flipside, Shanghai Composite eased 0.25% and Taiwan Composite fell 0.08%.
The European markets traded on positive note as France's CAC 40 gained 0.59%, Germany's DAX rose 0.53% and Britain's FTSE 100 added 0.61%.

MARKETS EXTEND LOSSES

The Indian equity markets extended its losses, remained deep down in red and currently trading near the low point of the day on sustained selling across the board and renewed worries about the economic situation in Europe. Sensex slipped more than 300 points, while Nifty holding 5,000 mark. Investor's sentiments dented on TCS and HCL Tech's worst than expected second quarter numbers. Tata Consultancy Services reported a lower-than-expected 15% year-on-year rise in second quarter net profit at Rs 2,439 crore, amid continued uncertainty in global economy. HCL Tech reported a fall of 2.5% Q-o-Q in consolidated net profit of Rs 497 crore for the quarter ended September 2011. TCS and HCL Tech were not showing any sign of recovery, both falling over 7%. On sectoral front, information technology, realty, metal, bank and capital goods stocks declined sharply with investors choosing to take some profits after recent gains. Automobile, oil and consumer durables stocks too were down in negative territory with notable losses. Pharmaceuticals and FMCG stocks were faring relatively better but in the negative territory. On the global front, Asian markets continued to trade in red tracking Mainland shares listed in Hong Kong fell more than 3% after China reported gross domestic product at 9.1% for the quarter, slightly below forecasts of 9.2%, indicating the world's second-largest economy expanded at its slowest pace since the second quarter of 2009 and Germany's finance minister cautioned against hopes for a quick fix to Europe's debt problem. Back home, the market breadth favoring the negative trend; there were 693 shares on the gaining side against 1,557 shares on the losing side while 90 shares remained unchanged.
The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 16,717.87, down by 307.22 points or 1.80%. The index has touched a high and low of 16,824.76 and 16,714.14 respectively.  There were just 5 stocks advancing against 25 declines on the index.
The broader indices too added on their losses; the BSE Mid cap and Small cap indices were down by 1.25% and 1.06% respectively.
Although selling was witnessed across the board there was no gainer on the BSE sectoral space, however, IT down by 3.56%, TECk down by 2.93%, Realty down by 2.78%, Metal down by 2.37% and Bankex down by 2.16% featured in the list of the worst performers.
The top gainers on the Sensex were Coal India up by 1.66%, Hero Motocorp up by 0.45%, Tata Power up by 0.35%, Sun Pharmaceuticals up by 0.17% and NTPC up by 0.15%.
On the flip side, TCS down by 7.48%, Tata Motors down by 4.65%, Hindalco down by 4.07%, Sterlite Industries down by 4.01% and DLF down by 3.41% were the top losers on the index.
Meanwhile, Union Finance Minister, Pranab Mukherjee stated that India remains firmly on a growth trajectory of 8.5 percent to 9 percent in the medium to long-run, at a function to celebrate 25 years of India-Asian Development Bank (ADB) partnership. He further opined that the nation needs investment in quality infrastructure to enhance productivity and sustain the growth momentum.
The finance minister's statement comes at a time when Asia's third largest economy is showing signs of slow down while inflation on the other hand continues to remain at elevated levels of around 10 percent. Mukherjee was also concerned about the emerging challenges and cautioned that 'we, however, need to be alert and respond to the emerging challenges and concerns, in a timely manner as we make efforts to achieve our potential as a young and fast growing nation.'
The minister said that food security and volatility in commodity prices has been a matter of concern for India and remarked that increased agricultural production on a sustainable basis is the only long term solution to the problems of availability as well as high and fluctuating food and commodity prices. Mukherjee said that ADB needs to focus on issues that help in linking farms to markets and promote research activities and efforts in improving productivity of dry-land farming, efficient use of water, rain-fed irrigation, development of drought-resistant varieties of seeds and other similar concerns.
The minister also called upon Asian Development Bank (ADB) to cover new ground through study and research on how Asian countries can help harness skills and innovations for sustaining growth. ADB should analyze developments not only in ADB member nations but in West Asia and the Gulf nations as well and incorporate them into comparative studies with the rest of Asia, to enable a holistic understanding of trends and development patterns in the Asian region, the minister added.

The Twelfth Five Year Plan (2012-2017) has an ambitious target of infrastructure investment estimated at $1 trillion or nearly 10 per cent of India's GDP. Citing that ADB's investment support in India's infrastructure sector has been noteworthy, the finance minister said that the momentum of collaboration between ADB and India needs to be further stepped-up in this important area, considering the huge investment it needs for the sector.

The S&P CNX Nifty is currently trading at 5,025.95, down by 92.30 points or 1.80%. The index has touched a high and low of 5,057.50 and 5,023.75 respectively.  There were 8 stocks advancing against 41 declining ones on the index, while 1 stock remained unchanged.
The major gainers of the Nifty were Coal India up by 1.62%, GAIL up by 0.55%, BPCL up by 0.47%, Hero MotoCorp up by 0.41% and NTPC up by 0.24%. HCL Tech down by 7.79%, TCS down by 7.54%, Tata Motors down by 4.76%, Sterlite Industries down by 4.22% and Hindalco down by 4.11% were the major losers on the index.
All the Asian equity indices were trading in the red; Shanghai Composite down by 1.60%, Hang Seng down by 3.64%, Jakarta Composite down by 2.96%, KLSE Composite down by 1.89%, Nikkei 225 down by 1.55%, Straits Times down by 1.83%, Seoul Composite down by 1.47% and Taiwan Weighted  down by 1.36%.

WEAKNESS

The Indian equity marketss continued with its northward journey in the negative territory and currently trading near the low point of the day due to heavy selling in Reliance Industries and in few other blue chips. NSE benchmark has holding 5,000 level, while Sensex came off the 17,000 mark. On sectoral front Oil & Gas index is down by over 2% now. Capital goods, information technology and power stocks were among the other prominent losers. Pharmaceuticals, FMCG and metal stocks were trading in negative territory on selling pressure. Automobile stocks are trading firm. Select realty, consumer durables and bank stocks were also trading higher. Reliance Industries is down nearly 3.7% due to sustained selling at the counter as its second quarter results were below expectations. Reliance Industries, on the other hand, is likely to suspend oil and gas drilling due to pending internal valuation of its exploration and production strategy. Software trainer, NIIT rose more than 14% in early morning trades, after the firm said that it sold its US unit's entire stake in Element K Corp, a step-down subsidiary, to Ireland-based SkillSoft for $110 million. On the global front, most of the Asian markets continued to trade in green tracking US gains on earnings hopes and on expectations that Europe will come up with a plan to contain its debt crisis. Back home, the market breadth favoring the positive trend; there were 1,215 shares on the gaining side against 1,158 shares on the losing side while 100 shares remained unchanged.
The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 16,980.09, down by 102.60 points or 0.60%. The index has touched a high and low of 17,188.55 and 16,966.70 respectively. There were 10 stocks advancing against 20 declines on the index.
The broader indices were outperforming benchmarks; the BSE Mid cap and Small cap indices up by 0.08% and 0.34% respectively.
The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were, Auto up by 0.88%, CD up by 0.54%, Realty up by 0.52% and Bankex up by 0.36%. While, Oil and Gas down by 2.21%, CG down by 1.18%, Power down by 0.93%, IT down by 0.70% and TECk down by 0.67% were the top losers on the index.
The top gainers on the Sensex were Maruti Suzuki up by 2.79%, Tata Motors up by 2.33%, SBI up by 1.73%, DLF up by 1.36% and Hindalco up by 1.17%.
On the flip side, RIL down by 3.71%, NTPC down by 2.51%, L&T down by 1.80%, Sun Pharma down by 1.79% and Jindal Steel down by 1.46% were the top losers on the Sensex.
Meanwhile, commenting on the latest headline inflation data, the Prime Minister's Economic Advisory Council (PMEAC) chairman, C Rangarajan said that there is no sign of moderation in the rate of price rise to prompt the Reserve Bank to change its policy of monetary tightening. Further, he said, 'it is not a very comfortable situation. For the monetary policy stance to change, inflation has to come down and show signs of definite decline. But that kind of an indication has not come.'

The headline inflation, measured by Wholesale Price Index (WPI) stood at 9.72% in September which marginally eased compared to 9.78% in August. From last ten months the headline inflation has been hovering above 9%, which is above the comfort zone of Reserve Bank of India (RBI).

This hovering inflation has made strong case for another hike by the RBI, which is scheduled to take review of monetary policy on October 25. To curb inflation, in last 18 months, the RBI has increased its short term lending and borrowing rates by 12 times.
Earlier this week, the RBI Governor, D Subbarao, said the rate hikes have affected industrial activities, but asserted that inflation continues to remain above the comfort level of around 5%. By adding further he said interest rates would come down only if inflation eased. Meanwhile, the PMEAC, in its Economic Outlook for 2011-12, had said that inflation is likely to remain elevated till the third quarter of the fiscal because of high prices globally.
The S&P CNX Nifty is currently trading at 5,105.40, down by 26.90 points or 0.52%. The index has touched a high and low of 5,160.20 and 5,095.75 respectively. There were 14 stocks advancing against 36 declines on the index.
The top gainers of the Nifty were Maruti Suzuki up by 2.92%, Cairn up by 2.74%, Tata Motors up by 2.28%, SBI up by 1.78% and DLF up by 1.68%. On the flip side, Reliance Industries down by 3.91%, IDFC down by 2.49%, NTPC down by 2.46%, Sun Pharma down by 2.45% and RCom down by 2.43% were the major losers on the index.
Most of the Asian equity indices were trading in the green, Hang Seng rose 1.22%, Jakarta Composite added 1.29%, KLSE Composite clocked in gains of 1.00%, Nikkei 225 expanded by 1.51%, Straits Times registered gains of 0.83%, Seoul Composite was up by 1.40% and Taiwan Weighted added 1.40%, while Shanghai Composite lost 0.18%.

MARKETS FLAT

Bulls after showcasing a power-packed performance in the previous session appear to be currently resting as the bourses are doing little to budge from their current levels. The domestic bourses, on the contrary, have pared some of its gains as fresh shorts created in the Healthcare, Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) and Metal counters are meddling in the upmove of the bourses. However, the heart-warming factor remains that both the barometer gauges on Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) and National Stock Exchange (NSE)-Sensex and Nifty- are trading above their long lost psychological level of 17k and 5100 mark respectively. Ascend of the equities in the early trade was on the back of the hopes that euro zone leaders will be able to hammer out a solution to the debt crisis. Sentiment was lifted by news that Slovakia's political parties had agreed to hold a new vote this week that could see the expansion of the eurozone emergency fund approved by Friday. However, the cautiousness continues to prevail as traders have kept their eyes glued on the earnings and the other on developments in the euro zone. On the global front, U.S. stocks rose on Wednesday as Europe's progress toward bolstering its financial rescue fund brought more battle-weary investors back into the market.  Meanwhile, US stocks taking a lead from the positive close of Wall Street extended the previous session's rally. The US future indices too were showing an uptick in the screen trade. Back home, stocks from Bankex, Information Technology and TECk counters were struggling to keep the markets in fine fettle.  The 30 scrip sensitive index- Sensex- sustaining gains of over 50 points, was trading above its 17k level, while the 50 share index- Nifty-gaining over 10 points is hovering around its neutral line. The overall market breadth on BSE is in the favour of advances which have thumped declines in the ratio of 1314:787, while 88 shares remained unchanged.
The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 17,028.63, up by 70.24 points or 0.41%. The index has touched a high and low of 17,084.07 and 16,974.18 respectively.  There were 15 stocks advancing against 15 declines on the index.
The broader indices were out performing benchmarks; the BSE Mid cap and Small cap indices surged 0.62% and 0.63% respectively.
The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were, Bankex up by 1.58%, IT up by 1.09%, TECk up by 0.72%, Realty up by 0.63% and Power up by 0.45%. While, HC down by 0.31%, FMCG down by 0.23% and Metal down by 0.22% were the losers on the index.
The top gainers on the Sensex were ICICI Bank up by 2.52%, SBI up by 2.44%, HDFC Bank up by 1.25%, BHEL up by 1.19% and TCS up by 1.15%.
On the flip side, Jindal Steel was down by 2.19%, Hindalco Industries down by 1.28%, Maruti Suzuki was down by 0.93%, Sun Pharma down by 0.89% and L&T down by 0.82% were the top losers on the Sensex.
Meanwhile, the slowdown in the industrial production has raised concerns of the government. Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee accepted that the IIP slowdown may affect the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth in the second quarter. Mukherjee said, it may impact India's July-September quarter GDP. 'It (IIP) is not encouraging. It is a bit disappointing and it may affect the GDP of second quarter.'
The Index of Industrial Production (IIP) for month of August grew by 4.1% compared to 3.8% in July and for the first five months of current financial year cumulative growth of IIP was 5.6% compared to 8.7% in April-August 2010.
Finance minister, however, did not comment on the extent to which the subdued IIP numbers will impact on the GDP growth in the second quarter of 2011-12. He said, 'to what extent it (slowdown in IIP) would affect, it would be premature to make any assessment.'
For the first quarter of 2011-12, country's GDP growth fell to six quarter low at 7.7% compared to 8.8% in the same period of 2010-11. For the current fiscal year, government expects Indian economy to grow by 8.5%. However, many agencies including Reserve Bank of India (RBI), have done downward revision in their estimates for the current financial year, because of the slowdown in global economy and hovering inflation, which is affecting the demand, hence the growth.
Although, July IIP data has been revised upwards from 3.3% to 3.8%, on this upward revision finance minister said that 'the silver lining is that IIP has improved from July figure... But compared to corresponding period of previous year, it is quite low.'
Meanwhile, the economic affairs secretary R Gopalan said that the slowdown in the IIP numbers is a matter of concern but expressed confidence that the figures would improve from here. 'It is a cause of concern. But as we go along, if you see the previous year, always second half IIP numbers have been good,' he added. 
The S&P CNX Nifty is currently trading at 5112.45, higher by 13.05 points or 0.26%. The index has touched a high and low of 5,136.95 and 5,102.35 respectively.  There were 24 stocks advancing against 26 declines on the index.
The top gainers of the Nifty were HCL Tech up by 2.46%, ICICI Bank up by 2.39%, SBI up by 1.92%, TCS up by 1.19% and Reliance Power up by 1.07%.
On the flip side, Jindal Steel down by 2.00%, Hindalco Industries down by 1.51%, Dr Reddy down by 1.40%, ACC and Cairn India were down by 1.24%, were the major losers on the index.

All the Asian equity indices were trading in the green; Shanghai Composite was up by 0.58%, Hang Seng up by 1.91%, Jakarta Composite was up by 1.56%, KLSE Composite was up by 0.97%, Nikkei 225 was up by 0.98%, Straits Times was up by 0.47%, Seoul Composite was up by 1.36% and Taiwan Weighted was up by 0.54%.