PROFIT BOOKING

The Indian equity markets pared most of its early gains on profit taking and currently trading near the low point of the day but in the positive territory. The broader markets were looking quite steady. Benchmarks stirring southward in the positive territory due to sell-off in technology stocks. Even heavyweight like Reliance Industries turned flat. Investors were trading cautious ahead of sector major Infosys' results, and factory output data, which will be watched keenly as any visible sign of slowdown in industrial activity. However, monthly inflation data may suggest how the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) is going to act in its forthcoming mid-year policy review on October 25. On sectoral front, consumer durables, capital goods, realty, power, bank, auto and metal stocks were mostly up with sharp gains. Healthcare, FMCG and oil stocks too were trading firm, while, TECk and IT stocks were pulling the market down. Telecom stocks led by Bharti Airtel surged by 3% on the BSE after the government unveiled a new policy that will help users avail free roaming services across the country and inter-circle mobile number portability. On the global front, Asian stocks were trading in green on the back of a rally in the global markets. Back home, the market breadth favoring the positive trend; there were 1,603 shares on the gaining side against 803 shares on the losing side while 96 shares remained unchanged.
The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 16,650.83, up by 93.60 points or 0.57%.  The index has touched a high and low of 16,774.12 and 16,638.73 respectively.  There were 24 stocks advancing against 6 declines on the index.
The broader indices too were trading in line with benchmarks; the BSE Mid cap and Small cap indices captured gains of 1.05% and 0.88% respectively.
The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were, CD up by 1.70%, CG up by 1.63%, Realty up by 1.45%, Power up by 1.26% and Metal was up by 1.23%. While, IT down by 1.91% and TECk down by 0.69% remained the top losers on the index.
The top gainers on the Sensex were Bharti Airtel up by 3.72%, Tata motors up by 2.76%, Hindalco up by 2.67%, Jindal Steel up by 2.66% and Sun Pharma up by 2.39%.
On the flip side, Infosys down by 2.93%, ONGC down by 1.63%, Wipro down by 1.31%, TCS down by 0.97% and Sterlite Industries down by 0.55% were the top losers on the Sensex.
Meanwhile, the sales of passenger cars in domestic market recorded negative growth during the first half of current financial year. It registered a growth of (-1.36%) in April-September 2011. For the month of September, the passenger car sales also saw negative growth; it fell by 1.80% compared to the same month of last year, the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM) data showed.
As per the data released by the SIAM, in the month of September the production grew by 19.96% compared to September 2010. During the first six months of current financial year, the production of vehicles grows by 16.62% compared to the April-September 2010. On the other hand, the cumulative growth rate of domestic sales recorded for April-September 2011 was 14.36%. September 2011 registered a growth rate of 19.39% as compared to September 2010.
During September, the sales of passenger vehicles saw marginal growth of 1.43%. However, in September 2011, Utility Vehicles and Vans recorded growth of 14.78% and 10.86% respectively. In April-September 2011, the sales of passenger vehicle grew marginally at 1.84% from April-September 2010. The Utility Vehicles grew by 9.84% and Vans grew by 19.24% in this period.
'The overall Commercial Vehicles segment registered a growth of 17.85% during April-September 2011 as compared to the same period last year. While, Medium & Heavy Commercial Vehicles (M&HCVs) registered a growth of 6.05%, and Light Commercial Vehicles grew at 28.72%. However, in the month of September 2011 over September 2010, the growth in sales of the overall segment was 18.05%,' SIAM said in the statement.

While, the sales of the Three Wheelers vehicles, in April-September 2011 saw decline, it fell by 0.04%, whereas the passenger carriers also registered decline of 3.70% in the first half of 2011-12. However, the Goods Carriers registered a growth of 16.54%. For the month of September, Three Wheelers registered marginal growth at 0.90%.

In September 2011, the Two Wheelers saw growth of 24.27% compared to September 2010. During April-September 2011, two wheelers registered a growth of 17.42%. Mopeds, Scooters and Motorcycles grew by 13.51%, 23.02% and 16.47% respectively.
However, exports of the overall automobile exports registered a growth of 39.62% in the month of September. Whereas, in April-September 2011, overall automobile exports registered a growth rate of 32.31%. Passenger Vehicles registered growth at 21.01 % in this period. Two Wheelers, Commercial Vehicles and Three Wheelers segments recorded growth of 32.34%, 35.91% and 49.55% respectively during April-September 2011.
The S&P CNX Nifty is currently trading at 5,006.20, higher by 26.60 points or 0.53%. The index has touched a high and low of 5,045.10 and 5,005.65 respectively. There were 40 stocks advancing against 10 declines on the index.
The top gainers of the Nifty were Bharti Airtel up by 3.67%, Hindalco up by 3.19%, Tata Motors up by 2.81%, Jindal Steel up by 2.75% and RCom up by 2.36%.
On the flip side, Infosys down by 2.97%, ONGC down by 1.86%, Wipro down by 1.39%, HCL Tech down by 1.24% and TCS down by 1.03% were the major losers on the index.
All the Asian equity indices were trading in the green; Shanghai Composite gained 0.31%, Hang Seng surged 2.92%, Jakarta Composite rose 3.14%, KLSE Composite was up by 0.98%, Nikkei 225 added 1.84%, Straits Times expanded by 2.26%, Seoul Composite spiked up by 1.57% and Taiwan Weighted was up by 2.59%.