RECOVERY

The Indian markets despite a volatile session were able to post good gain at the end after a day of decline. Though, the start of the trade was on a somber note, tracking the mixed global cues and apprehension about the local economic growth. There was mood of cautiousness in the beginning ahead of the announcement of September quarter GDP numbers, though the street was expecting a weaker number but apprehension were rife as after the 13 successive hikes by the Reserve Bank of India the industrial growth had slowed considerably. In the global markets the Asian counterparts made a sluggish start after the Standard & Poor's cut credit ratings on US lenders from Bank of America Corp. to Goldman Sachs Group Inc. Though in Europe Italy was able to sell its bonds but paid record yields of nearly 8% to sell three-year paper and a 10-year bond at a euro lifetime high of 7.65%. However, European inflation remained at a three-year high and unemployment increased to the highest in more than 13 years. On the local front the marketmen took encouragement with inline GDP numbers, which though came at a more than two year low on quarterly basis but was more or less as expected. The street seemed to have discounted the fact in last session. India's Gross domestic product (GDP) growth has came at 6.9% in the second quarter ended September, compared with 8.9% a year ago in the same quarter and its lowest in last nine quarters.
Earlier the trade at Dalal Street started on a somber note and it looked like the consolidation mood will continue with intermittent profit booking. The benchmarks lost their crucial levels in opening trade and drifted lower. All the sectoral gauges made a weak start and the banking sector stocks were seen under pressure in early trade. The retail stocks too were in dull mood as the logjam in parliament continued over government's approval for 51% FDI, however they got a spurt after Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said that the government would not roll back the decision. The markets started moving higher in the noon trade after the storm of weak GDP numbers stabilized and later the European markets too recovered after a soft start. On the sectoral front Oil & Gas emerged as the top gainer closely followed by FMCG and technology sector, while Consumer Durables and the realty remained the laggards since beginning and could not recover till last. The broader markets too underperformed and the BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices both lost over half a percent. In individual stock movements, market heavy weight Reliance Industries made a good bounce back in the latter part of the day to close with a gain of around 2 percent, otherwise it made a weak start on reports that it has shut down four oil wells in KG-D6 field. On the same time pharma major Ranbaxy remained under pressure since morning amidst uncertainties as to when it will be able to launch a generic version of the blockbuster drug Lipitor.
Finally, the BSE Sensex gained 115.12 points or 0.72% to settle at 16,123.46, while the S&P CNX Nifty added 26.95 points or 0.56% to close 4,832.05.
The BSE Sensex touched a high and a low of 16,179.56 and 15,849.57 respectively. The BSE Mid cap and Small cap index were down by 0.66% and 0.73% respectively.
The top gainers on the Sensex were Bharti Airtel up 3.17%, ONGC up 3.06%, Sun Pharma up 2.84%, NTPC up 2.40% and Hindustan Unilever up 2.26%. While, ICICI Bank down 3.01%, Sterlite Industries down 2.98%, Hero MotoCorp down 2.76%, Tata Motors down 2.76% and Jaiprakash Associate down 1.66% were the major losers on the index.
The top gainers on the BSE sectoral space were Oil & Gas up 1.63%, FMCG up 1.20%, TECk up 0.95% IT up 0.64% and Power up 0.61%, while Consumer Durables (CD) down 2.04%, Realty down 0.91%, Auto down 0.69%, Bankex down 0.61% and Capital Goods (CG) down 0.18% were top losers on the BSE sectoral space.
Meanwhile, substantiating fears of a slowdown, India's economy grew by just 6.9% in the second quarter of 2011-12 financial year, the weakest expansion since the second quarter of 2009 against 8.8% in the year-ago period. The general expectation was that the economy will grow at the rate of 7% much lower than the 7.7% growth in the April-June quarter. The numbers were mainly dragged down by manufacturing sector which grew at 2.7% against 7.8% in the same quarter last year and mining which witnessed a de-growth of 2.9% compared to 8% growth Y-o-Y. Sectorally, Agriculture and Industry grew by 3.2%, Services by 9.3% and Construction growth stood at 4.3%.
As per the Central Statistics Office (CSO), Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation, the Quarterly Gross Domestic Product (GDP) at factor cost at constant (2004-05) prices for Q2 of 2011-12 is estimated at Rs 12,27,254  crore  as against  Rs 11,48,472 crore in Q2 of 2010-11, showing a growth rate of 6.9% over the corresponding quarter of previous year. GDP at factor cost at current prices in Q2 of 2011-12, is estimated at Rs 19,55,880 crore, as against Rs 16,85,793 crore in Q2, 2010-11, showing an increase of 16.0%.
The economic activities, which registered significant growth in Q2 of 2011-12 over Q2 of 2010-11 are, 'electricity, gas and water supply' at 9.8%, 'trade, hotels, transport and communication' at 9.9% and 'financing, insurance, real estate and business services' at 10.5%. The estimated growth rates in other economic activities in this quarter are 3.2% in 'agriculture, forestry & fishing', 2.7% in 'manufacturing' and 4.3% in 'construction' and 6.6% in 'community, social and personal services'. The growth of 'mining and quarrying' sector declined to (-) 2.9% during this period.
Though, the decrease in the growth of GDP in second quarter can largely be attributed to the negative growth in 'mining and quarrying' and steep fall in the growth of manufacturing sector but the dampening business sentiment, sluggish industrial growth and expected decline in merchandise exports are further likely to impede the growth. Even the RBI had revised downwards the baseline projection of GDP growth for 2011-12 to 7.6% from 8% earlier.
The S&P CNX Nifty touched a high and low of 4,851.55 and 4,754.80 respectively.
The top gainers on the Nifty were Powergrid up 3.83%, ONGC up 3.63%, DLF up 3.26%, NTPC up 3.03% and Jindal Steel up 2.71%. On the flip side, SAIL down 3.94%, Sterlite Industries down 3.03%, Ranbaxy down 2.96%, Axis Bank down 2.73% and Hero MotoCorp down 2.43% were the top losers on the index.
The European markets were trading in red. France's CAC 40 lost 0.70%, Britain's FTSE 100 down by 0.33% and Germany's DAX down by 0.47%.

After a two day rally, most of the Asian markets snapped the day's trade in the negative terrain as eurozone finance chiefs struggled to boost the financial firepower of a bailout fund for the debt-ridden region. Moreover, investors remained cautious ahead of US and Chinese manufacturing data on Thursday and US employment data on Friday this week. The sentiments in the region were also dampened after credit rating agency Standard & Poor's cut credit ratings on US lenders from Bank of America Corp. to Goldman Sachs Group Inc., Citigroup Inc., and Morgan Stanley had their long-term credit grades cut to A- from A at S&P. JPMorgan Chase & Co. was reduced to A from A+.

In China, the Shangai Composite Index has plunged over three percent, following a report by a Chinese central banker, who has played down the possibility of monetary policy easing next year moreover, Hang Seng dropped by about one and a half percent as Property shares suffered after Credit Suisse forecasted office rents in the city would drop by 25% next year and then stay flat in 2013. New World Development Co. ended down 3.6%, while Henderson Land Development Co. fell 2.4%.

MARKETS REMAIN CAUTIOUS

Trade continues to remain weak at the Dalal Street, as traders are taking cautious step ahead of the announcement of September quarter GDP data. Though, the numbers are likely to remain weak, impacted by the repeated rate hikes by the RBI.  However, the benchmarks are trading in a narrow range but the pressure is being seen on the broader indices that have lost more ground than their larger peers in the mid morning trade. All the sectotal gauges on the BSE are in red, with realty and consumer suffering the most. The retail stocks too are still under pressure as the logjam over the FDI issue continues in the parliament, though PM has said that the government would not roll back the decision to allow 51% FDI in multi-brand retail, but in a latest development Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee has met Congress president Sonia Gandhi in New Delhi to discuss the issue, ahead of his meeting with Congress MPs to allay their apprehensions on FDI.
The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 15,893.93, down by 114.41 points or 0.71%. The index has touched a high and low of 15,961.17 and 15,849.57 respectively. There were just 6 stocks advancing against 24 declining ones on the index.
The broader indices too were trading lower; the BSE Mid cap index was down by 1.02% while, Small cap index was down by 0.56%.
None of the sectoral indices was in green, while CD down by 2.60%, Realty down by 1.93%, CG down by 1.56%, Auto was down by 1.22% and Metal was down by 1.12%.
The top gainers on the Sensex were HUL up by 1.07%, Sun Pharma up by 0.89%, ONGC up by 0.35%, TCS up by 0.26% and Maruti Suzuki was up by 0.17%.
On the flip side Sterlite Inds. down by 2.59%, M&M down by 2.395, BHEL down by 2.28%, JP Associates down by 2.22% and ICICI Bank down by 2.08% were the top losers on the index.
Meanwhile, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) hopes to finalise regulations for alternative investments in the next two months. All Alternative Investment Funds in the securities market, irrespective of their legal domicile shall be bound by these regulations and be subject to registration and oversight of the Board.
Earlier the market regulator has put up a concept paper for regulation of alternative investment funds, or AIFs, on its website in August. AIFs have been classified into nine categories, including a category for private equity funds. Any fund operating as a hedge fund shall be required to be registered as 'strategy fund' under the AIF regulations. The minimum size of the AIF shall be Rs 20 crore, with a minimum investment of Rs 1 crore, or 0.1%, of the fund size, whichever is higher, according to the concept paper.

The draft paper had also created separate segments of funds based on their investment objective, such as PIPE fund, debt fund, real estate fund, infrastructure fund, SME fund and social venture fund. PE players found such segmentation restrictive, as most funds invest across sectors and use different instruments such as equity shares, preference shares or debentures.

However, in a big relief for big private equity funds investing in India, SEBI has said the proposed regulatory framework for Alternative Investment Funds will not cover those raising money from investors abroad.
The S&P CNX Nifty is currently trading at 4,764.90, down by 40.20 points or 0.84%. The index has touched a high and low of 4,789.30 and 4,754.80 respectively. There were 10 stocks advancing against 40 declining ones on the index.
The top gainers of the Nifty were HUL up by 0.95%, Powergrid up by 0.74%, GAIL up by 0.67%, Sunpharma up by 0.62% and Kotak Bank was up by 0.43%.
On the other hand, Ranbaxy down by 3.67%, SAIL down by 3.40%, Siemens down by 3.09%, Sterlite Industries down by 2.73% and M&M down by 2.56% were the major losers on the index.
Asian indices continue to trade mixed; Shanghai Composite gained 0.56%, Hang Seng added 0.46%, Jakarta Composite spurted 1.15%, KLSE Composite soared 1.57%, Nikkei 225 accumulated 1.41%, Seoul Composite rallied 1.98% and Taiwan Weighted rose 1.25%. Shanghai Composite was down by 2.49%, Hang Seng plunged by 1.89%, Nikkei 225 lost 0.92% to, Seoul Composite was down by 0.41% and Taiwan Weighted declined by 1.54%.
On the other hand, Jakarta Composite advanced 0.17%, KLSE Composite gained 0.81% and Straits Times was flat.

MARKETS CONTINUE TO BE IN RED

Extending yesterday's losses, the domestic benchmarks have made a gap-down opening on the back of sustained selling by funds, triggered by stiff opposition to policy reform opening up the multi-brand retail sector to foreign direct investment and a weakening trend in Asian markets on renewed worries over the European debt crisis, mainly depressed the trading sentiment. Moreover, Standard & Poor's cut credit ratings on US lenders from Bank of America Corp. to Goldman Sachs Group Inc., Citigroup Inc., and Morgan Stanley had their long-term credit grades cut to A- from A at S&P. Back home, Sensex breached its crucial 16,000 mark as opposition mounted to the government's move to allow 51% FDI in India's multi-brand retail sector. Stocks of consumer durables, capital goods, power and refinery sectors remained under selling pressure, dragging the Sensex down. However, traders eyeing the quarterly GDP numbers to be announced later in the day. The street is apprehensive of the September quarter GDP coming to its lowest in nine quarters. The economy grew at 7.7% in the Q1 but in this quarter the numbers are likely to fall sharply lower to around 7%, anything lower than that will dampen investors' morale, while a slightly better number can give a push to the markets.
The BSE Sensex opened at 15,868.96; about 139 points lower compared to its previous closing of 16,008.34, and has touched a high and a low of 15,951.24 and 15,849.57 respectively.
The index is currently trading at 15,935.40, down by 72.94 points or 0.46%. There were 11 stocks advancing against 19 declines on the index.
The overall market breadth has made a negative start with 42.93% stocks advancing against 52.98% declines. The broader indices too were bleeding in the early trade; the BSE Mid cap and Small cap indices were down by 0.36% and 0.21% respectively.
CG down by 1.17%, CD down by 1.10%, Realty down by 0.72%, Power down by 0.71% and Oil and Gas down by 0.60%, were the top losers on the index. While, there were no gainers on the index.
Sun Pharma up by 1.58%, HUL up by 1.29%, Maruti Suzuki up by 0.86%, Hero Honda up by 0.58% and TCS up by 0.32% remained the major gainers on the index while, BHEL down by 2.21%, ICICI Bank down by 1.59%, Tata Power down by 1.41%, Jaiprakash Associates down by 1.19% and Jindal Steel down by 1.04% were the top losers on the index.
Meanwhile, petrol prices are likely to be reduced by another up to Re 1 per litre this week, on the back of declining trend seen in the global prices. The Oil marketing companies (OMCs), which are free to decide petrol prices, had announced a cut of Rs 2.22 a litre earlier this month, the first reduction in retail prices in nearly three years and the first since prices were decontrolled in June 2010.
Nevertheless, the price of aviation turbine fuel (ATF) is expected to rise by around 3% from the existing Rs 62,310 per kilolitre in Delhi, putting further pressure on loss-making airlines. On diesel too, the losses of companies are expected to increase by another Rs 2 a litre from the current Rs 10.17 a litre. Internationally, both ATF and diesel are having a price trend different to petrol.
According to industry expert, the international petrol price trend for this fortnight can allow the OMCs to make a cut of up to Re 1 a litre, inclusive of taxes. This is despite a further weakening of the rupee against the dollar in the current fortnight. Compared to an average Rs 49.6 against the dollar in first fortnight of the month, the rupee has averaged Rs 51.6 this fortnight. However, the international price drop is steeper, making a price cut possible.
Normally the OMCs monitor petrol prices on a fortnightly basis. They work out the prices based on their trade parity (80 per cent import price weight and 20 per cent export price weight) for the previous fortnight. Ever since the decontrol, petrol prices have risen nearly 39% to Rs 66.42 a litre in Delhi. In the same period, diesel, which is still regulated, saw prices increase by 7.4% to Rs 40.9 a litre. The gap between petrol and diesel prices, which used to be 25.8% before the decontrol, has now extended to 66.42%.
The widening price gap between petrol and diesel has slowed the growth of petrol consumption, which has recently fallen behind that of diesel. Compared to double-digit growth in recent years, consumption of petrol has been growing at 4.8%, while that of diesel has been growing at 5.9%.
The S&P CNX Nifty opened at 4,766.15; about 39 points lower compared to its previous closing of 4,805.10, and has touched a high and a low of 4,787.00 and 4,754.80 respectively.
The index is currently trading at 4,786.85, down by 18.25 points or 0.38%. There were just 18 stocks advancing against 32 declines on the index.
The gainers of the Nifty were Sun Pharma up by 1.33%, GAIL up by 1.00%, HUL up by 1.00%, Power Grid up by 1.00% and Reliance Infra up by 0.95%.

Ranbaxy down by 3.97%, BHEL down by 1.91%, SAIL down by 1.73%, Siemens by 1.58% and HCL Tech was down by 1.57%, were the major losers on the index.

Most of the Asian equity indices were trading in the red; Shanghai Composite was down 56.07 points or 2.32% to 2,356.33, Hang Seng was down 344.99 points or 1.89% to 17,911.21, Nikkei 225 was down 105.19 points or 1.24% to 8,372.63, Straits Times was down 2.78 points or 0.10% to 2,685.32, Seoul Composite was down 16.58 points or 0.89% to 1,839.94 and Taiwan Weighted was down by 128.60 points or 1.84% to 6,860.05.
On the flip side, KLSE Composite was up 11.67 points or 0.81% to 1,456.39 and Jakarta Composite was up by 5.91 points or 0.16% to 3,693.68.

PROFIT BOOKING

Indian equity markets buckled under across the board selling pressure exerted by market participants in the second half of Tuesday's session, leading the frontline indices to partly undo the good work done in the previous session. The benchmark indices, which witnessed about three percentage point rally in the session gone by, even got dragged below the psychological 4,800 and 16,000 levels in the session. The domestic bourses were once again tormented by global developments as investors fretted over global economic growth prospects which prompted them to take profits off the table amid little signs of any supportive leads. Sentiments went awry since early afternoon trades tracking gloomy developments in the Europe. Position squaring gathered greater momentum as investors turned apprehensive on the back of reports that rating agency S&P may revise outlook of France's AAA rating to negative in the coming few days. While another rating agency Moody's was of the opinion that it may slash subordinated debt ratings of 87 European banks, citing concerns over the increasingly limited financial flexibility of many governments in the region. Back home, the euphoria over government's policy initiatives continued to fizzle out as the row over FDI in retail continued to disrupt the functioning of Parliament with both Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha which were adjourned after a united opposition refused to allow any proceedings for the sixth day. Meanwhile, a finance ministry report indicated that increased market borrowings increased the government's debt to Rs 32.13 lakh crore at the end of September quarter from Rs 31.28 lakh crore in the previous quarter, representing an increase of 2.7%. Moreover, PSU oil market companies like HPCL, BPCL and IOC got hurt in the session amid expectations that petrol prices may be reduced by another up to Re 1 per litre this week, on the back of declining trend seen in the global prices.

Earlier on Dalal Street, the benchmark got off to a sluggish opening, overlooking the sanguine cues that Asian equity indices exhibited since the start of trade. After slipping to lower levels in the initial moments, key gauges rebounded to the highest point in the day, clawing back in to the green zone. But, the benchmarks soon witnessed a trend reversal and started drifting to lower levels since the early afternoon trades. Hefty profit booking in most sectoral counters pulled the gauges to the lowest point in the session in mid noon trades, post which the bourses failed to regain any conviction and ended underperforming almost all the global markets. Finally the NSE's 50-share broadly followed index Nifty, receded by close to a percent to settle above the crucial 4,800 support level while Bombay Stock Exchange's Sensitive Index Sensex slipped by over one hundred fifty points and ended above the psychological 16,000 mark. Moreover, the broader markets which traded on an optimistic note for most part of the session succumbed to the selling pressure and went home with moderate losses. On the BSE sectoral space, the rate sensitive Realty and Bankex counters were the top laggards in the space and settled with around two percent. Profit booking was also evident in the Oil & Gas and Consumer Durables indices which plunged by around one and half a percent. On the other hand, the defensive counters like the FMCG and Healthcare bucked the somber trends and closed with around half a percent gains, while the rate sensitive Auto pack too managed to keep its head above the water by the end of trade. The markets sank on weak volumes of around Rs 1.05 lakh crore while the turnover for NSE F&O segment too remained on the lower side as compared to Monday at over 0.92 lakh crore. The market breadth remained pessimistic as there were 1219 shares on the gaining side against 1515 shares on the losing side while 118 shares remained unchanged.
Finally, the BSE Sensex shaved off 158.79 points or 0.98% to settle at 16,008.34, while the S&P CNX Nifty lost 46.20 points or 0.95% to close 4,805.10.
The BSE Sensex touched a high and a low of 16,210.37 and 15,952.54 respectively. The BSE Mid cap and Small cap index were down by 0.56% and 0.18% respectively.
The top gainers on the Sensex were Bajaj Auto up 2.06%, Mahindra & Mahindra up 1.60%, Hindustan Unilever up 1.25%, Hero MotoCorp up 1.24% and Cipla up 1.14%. While, Bharti Airtel down 3.80%, Jindal Steel down 3.34%, DLF down 3.18%, Sterlite Industries down 2.43% and Reliance Industries down 2.30% were the major losers on the index.
The top gainers on the BSE sectoral space were FMCG up 0.45%, Health Care (HC) up 0.32% and Auto up 0.26%, while Realty down 2.32%, Bankex down 1.91%, Oil & Gas down 1.84%, Consumer Durables (CD) down 1.39% and Metal down 1.33% were top losers on the BSE sectoral space.
Meanwhile, Indian government's debt increased to Rs 32.13 lakh crore at the end of September quarter from Rs 31.28 lakh crore in the previous quarter, representing an increase of 2.7% compared with an increase of 5.2% in the Q1 of FY12. According to the quarterly Public Debt Management report released by the finance ministry, increased market borrowings led to the rise in public debt. The report underscored that due to the tight monetary policy followed the RBI, the interest rate (yield) on bonds increased, thus pushing up the borrowing cost.
The July-September quarter report on Public Debt Management showed internal debt constituted 90.3% of public debt, more or less unchanged from the previous quarter. However, government's internal debt went up during the second quarter of 2011-12, which is evident from the fact that the outstanding internal debt of the government stood at Rs 29.01 lakh crore constituting 32.3% of GDP compared with 31.4% in the previous quarter.
The report also indicated that marketable securities consisting of rupee denominated dated securities and treasury bills/cash management bills accounted for 79.7% of total public debt, compared with 79.1% at end-June 2011. During the September quarter, the 10-year yield on government securities went up sharply, on the back of the repo rate hike of 50 bps by Reserve Bank on July 26, 2011 to reach a high of 8.47% on July 28. Thereafter, yields gradually drifted down and remained range bound till September 28, 2011. Higher borrowing announcement of Rs 52,872 crore in the second half calendar for bonds pushed up yield and it closed the quarter at 8.44%, according to the report.
The S&P CNX Nifty touched a high and low of 4,866.10 and 4,787.10 respectively.
The top gainers on the Nifty were Dr Reddy up 2.47%, Bajaj Auto up 2.23%, M&M up 1.94%, Hero MotoCorp up 1.81% and HUL up 1.78%. On the flip side, PNB down 4.24%, Jindal Steel down 3.89%, Bharti Airtel down 3.77%, DLF down 3.63% and ACC down 3.46% were the top losers on the index.
The European markets were trading in green. France's CAC 40 up 0.80%, Britain's FTSE 100 up by 0.27%, and Germany's DAX up by 0.87%.

Asian markets extended their previous session's rally on Tuesday, tracking a positive close overnight on Wall Street after some optimism on Europe's debt crisis helped to improve investor sentiment. A strong start to the US holiday shopping season also helped some Asian stocks. Investors were also heartened by other economic data that helped dispel fears of the US slipping back into recession. Moreover, shares in the region gained in the later part of the day ahead of a meeting of 17 finance ministers from the euro-zone in which the next tranche of financial aid to Greek and to Ireland are expected to be approved.

Japanese Nikkei rose over two percent as exporters gained more ground after the local currency weakened further with the dollar trading over 78 yen. Index heavyweight Sony lifted 2.1% while Panasonic and Sharp Corp. were up 2.8% and 2.1% respectively. Moreover, Hong Kong shares inched higher on Tuesday, boosted by strong gains in Chinese consumer counters, seen as relatively safer bets in difficult market conditions, with turnover lingering near the year's low underlining the extent of risk aversion.

MARKET DRAGGING IT'S FEET

The Indian equity markets pared early losses with a few blue chips finding good support at lower levels and on a positive lead from global markets. Investors were still trading cautious amid concerns about the impact of widespread opposition to the government's move to allow foreign direct investments in multi-brand retail. Though the all party meet on FDI has ended this morning without a consensus between the government and the opposition over allowing 51% FDI in multi-brand retail. On sectoral front Healthcare, automobile and capital goods stocks were the ones finding some support. A few stocks from FMCG, banking, realty and power sectors too have edged off lower levels. Metal stocks too have cut most off their losses. Information technology and oil stocks and consumer durable stocks were dragging the markets down. Index heavyweights Reliance Industries is down with a loss of 1.5% as it has initiated arbitration proceedings against the government to ensure it is able to fully recover costs of developing the KG-D6 block as uncertainty over the matter was hindering further development of the gas-rich block. On the global front, all Asian markets continued trading in green. Back home, the market breadth favoring the positive trend; there were 1,158 shares on the gaining side against 1,089 shares on the losing side while 128 shares remained unchanged.
The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 16,146.82, down by 20.31 points or 0.13%. The index has touched a high and low of 16,210.37 and 15,995.57 respectively. There were 15 stocks advancing against 15 declining ones on the index.
The broader indices were outperforming the index; the BSE Mid cap and Small cap index up by 0.33% and 0.37% respectively.
HC up by 0.88%, Auto up by 0.84%, CG up by 0.52%, Bankex up by 0.38% and FMCG up by 0.30% were the top gainers in the sectoral indices on the BSE. While, Oil and Gas down by 0.96%, IT down by 0.54%, TECK down by 0.52%, PSU down by 0.11% and CD down by 0.03% were the top losers on the index.
The top gainers on the Sensex were Tata Steel up by 2.27%, M&M up by 1.80%, Cipla up by 1.50%, HUL up by 1.42% and Bajaj Auto up by 1.31%.
On the flip side, Bharti Airtel down by 1.85%, RIL down by 1.53%, Infosys down by 1.52%, Hindalco down by 1.33% and Tata Power down by 1.12% were the top losers on the index.
Meanwhile, Indian government's debt increased to Rs 32.13 lakh crore at the end of September quarter from Rs 31.28 lakh crore in the previous quarter, representing an increase of 2.7% compared with an increase of 5.2% in the Q1 of FY12. According to the quarterly Public Debt Management report released by the finance ministry, increased market borrowings led to the rise in public debt. The report underscored that due to the tight monetary policy followed the RBI, the interest rate (yield) on bonds increased, thus pushing up the borrowing cost.
The July-September quarter report on Public Debt Management showed internal debt constituted 90.3% of public debt, more or less unchanged from the previous quarter. However, government's internal debt went up during the second quarter of 2011-12, which is evident from the fact that the outstanding internal debt of the government stood at Rs 29.01 lakh crore constituting 32.3% of GDP compared with 31.4% in the previous quarter.
The report also indicated that marketable securities consisting of rupee denominated dated securities and treasury bills/cash management bills accounted for 79.7% of total public debt, compared with 79.1% at end-June 2011. During the September quarter, the 10-year yield on government securities went up sharply, on the back of the repo rate hike of 50 bps by Reserve Bank on July 26, 2011 to reach a high of 8.47% on July 28. Thereafter, yields gradually drifted down and remained range bound till September 28, 2011. Higher borrowing announcement of Rs 52,872 crore in the second half calendar for bonds pushed up yield and it closed the quarter at 8.44%, according to the report. 
The S&P CNX Nifty is currently trading at 4,847.95, down by 3.35 points or 0.07%. The index has touched a high and low of 4,864.40 and 4,802.85 respectively. There were 25 stocks advancing against 23 declining ones on the index and 2 remained unchanged.
The top gainers of the Nifty were Ranbaxy up by 2.97%, Dr Reddy's Lab up by 2.57%, Tata Steel up by 2.17%, M&M up by 1.86% and Reliance Infra up by 1.82%.

On the other hand, Bharti Airtel down by 1.68%, RIL down by 1.47%, Hindalco down by 1.37%, ACC down by 1.26% and Infosys down by 1.23% were the major losers on the index.

All Asian equity indices were trading in the green; Shanghai Composite gained 0.94%, Hang Seng added 1.68%, Jakarta Composite spurted 1.15%, KLSE Composite soared 1.57%, Nikkei 225 accumulated 2.25%, Straits Times up by 0.41%, Seoul Composite rallied 2.23% and Taiwan Weighted rose 1.305%.

FLAT OPENING

After witnessing a huge relief rally in previous session, key benchmarks have made a flat opening but, immediately slipped in the red due to fall in index heavyweight Reliance Industries, Hindalco, ICICI Bank, ONGC and Infosys. However, global cues remained supportive as the US markets rejoiced overnight after a weekend and the major indices surged on the back of strong start to the US holiday shopping season while, majority of stock markets in Asia sustained the positive momentum in Tuesday's trade. On the domestic turf, profit booking in banking, software and realty sector dampened the sentiments and BSE's Sensex and NSE's Nifty lost their crucial 16,100 and 4,850 mark respectively in the early trade. Moreover, index heavyweight Reliance Industries down by over two and a half percent after the company announced that it has initiated arbitration proceedings against the government to seek an independent view of a tribunal on the issue of the company's entitlement of recovery of entire costs on KG-D6 gas blocks from the revenue generated from the blocks. Moreover, PSU oil marketing companies viz. BPCL, HPCL and IOC edged lower in the trade on reports that the state-run refiners could cut petrol prices by about one rupee a litre. The broader indices were struggling to get some traction and were trading flat at this point of time while, the market breadth has been equally distributed; there were 764 shares on the gaining side against 757 shares on the losing side while 59 shares remained unchanged.
The BSE Sensex opened at 16,210.37; about 43 points higher compared to its previous closing of 16,167.13, and has touched a low of 16,031.11 while high remain its opening.
The index is currently trading at 16,053.25, down by 113.88 points or 0.70%. There were just 7 stocks advancing against 23 declines on the index.
The overall market breadth has been evenly divided with 48.35% stocks advancing against 48.35% declines. The broader indices were trading flat; the BSE Mid cap index was down by 0.14% while, Small cap index was up by 0.19%.
HC up by 0.38%, CG up by 0.31% and FMCG up by 0.01% remained the only gainers in the sectoral indices on the BSE. While, Oil and Gas down by 1.86%, Bankex down by 0.64%, IT down by 0.62%, Realty down by 0.60% and Auto down by 0.50% were the top losers on the index.
The top gainers on the Sensex were Tata Steel up by 2.04%, Cipla up by 1.58%, TCS up by 0.91%, BHEL up by 0.85% and L&T up by 0.28%.
On the flip side, RIL down by 2.51%, Hindalco down by 1.93%, ICICI Bank down by 1.64%, Infosys down by 1.64% and ONGC down by 1.62% were the top losers on the index.
Meanwhile, government in its bid to revive, reform and restructure the Indian handloom sector has given its go ahead to a centrally sponsored debt waiver package of Rs 38.84 billion for handloom weavers, said Commerce and Industry Minister Anand Sharma, who holds additional charge of Textiles Ministry. The Union Cabinet headed by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh approved the debt restructuring package under which funds will be provided for repayment of 100 percent of principal and 25 percent of interest, which is overdue as on March 31, 2010 in respect of viable and potentially viable primary weavers` cooperative societies and apex societies.
The commerce minister also said that out of the total package, share of the Centre will be 31.37 billion while that of the state government will be Rs 7.47 billion. According to Anand Sharma, the package will benefit 13 lakh weavers, including two lakh in Uttar Pradesh, a state headed for Assembly elections next year. India's handloom sector is reeling under stress for quite some time now on account of stiff competition and credit unavailability.
The Centre had earlier announced that it would implement Rs 62.34 billion package out of which it has earmarked Rs 38.84 billion for debt restructuring and the remaining Rs 23.50 billion is for a six-fold strategy to uplift weavers during the 12th Plan (2012-17). The statement said there would be an overall ceiling of Rs 50,000 per individual beneficiary as far as funding under the scheme is concerned in respect of waiver of over-dues of individual handloom weavers. The scheme will help 15,000 weavers' cooperative societies besides individual weavers.
The S&P CNX Nifty opened at 4,864.20; about 13 points higher compared to its previous closing of 4,851.30, and has touched a high and a low of 4,864.40 and 4,812.85 respectively.
The index is currently trading at 4,815.00, down by 36.30 points or 0.75%. There were 14 stocks advancing against 36 declines on the index.
The top gainers of the Nifty were Tata Steel up by 1.95%, Cipla up by 1.14%, Ranbaxy up by 1.12%, TCS up by 1.00% and Dr Reddy up by 0.97%.

On the other hand, RIL down by 2.67%, Hindalco down by 2.13%, ONGC down by 1.87%, ACC down by 1.70% and ICICI Bank down by 1.65%, were the major losers on the index.

Most of the Asian equity indices were trading in the green; Shanghai Composite was up 13.00 points or 0.55% to 2,396.04, Hang Seng was up 83.65 points or 0.46% to 18,121.46, Jakarta Composite was up 41.65 points or 1.14% to 3,688.70, KLSE Composite was up 22.45 points or 1.57% to 1,454.00, Nikkei 225 was up 101.02 points or 1.22% to 8,388.51, Seoul Composite was up 34.83 points or 1.92% to 1,850.11 and Taiwan Weighted was up 72.54 points or 1.05% to 6,971.32.
On the flip side, Straits Times was down by 3.09 points or 0.11% to 2,691.34.

SHOWING STRENGTH

After weeks of appalling feats, Indian benchmark indices finally showcased a fascinating performance on the first day of a new week by vehemently amassing massive gains of three percent in the session, re-conquering the psychological 16,150 (Sensex) and 4,850 (Nifty) levels. The frontline indices took a quantum leap registering the best gains since late August. The relief rally finally came through as re-energized market bulls enthusiastically resorted to hunt for undervalued but fundamentally strong bargains amid highly sanguine sentiments prevailing in markets across the globe. The sharp upmove was mostly seen as a technical bounce following the brutal mayhem that had pulled stocks in oversold territory. Local bourses remained firm despite the IMF denying reports that it was discussing a rescue package with Italy which had earlier spurred optimism in global markets. Expectations that European leaders will boost efforts and announce some concrete steps to avert the nightmarish debt debacle persuaded investors to take large bets in the session. The  buzz that IMF is considering a rescue plan worth up to 600 billion euros for Italy and Euro zone leaders discussed a deal to institute strict new budget rules for their nations in order to act more quickly, gave some support to jittery financial markets. Moreover, retail sales broke records during the Thanksgiving weekend and surged to $52.4 billion, up 16% from $45 billion last year in the US, giving a much needed boost to a long-suffering economy and raising retailers' hopes for the best holiday shopping season ever. Back home, C. Rangarajan, Chairman of PMEAC, opined that food inflation is moderating due to good monsoon and would further ease to around 7% by March 2012. Meanwhile, the rupee too strengthened in the session and climbed by over half a percent supported by the surge in equity markets and sharp rally in euro against the American counterpart.
Earlier on Dalal Street, the benchmark got off to a gap up opening on the back of encouraging leads from Asian peers which mostly traded with strong gains of around two percent. The frontline indices gathered momentum thereon and commenced the northbound journey with great conviction. There appeared no resistance what so ever throughout the session as the indices kept conquering one psychological level after another. The indices surged from strength to strength and the journey halted only with the end of session around the highest point of the day. Finally the NSE's 50-share broadly followed index Nifty, accumulated close to one hundred fifty points to settle above the crucial 4,850 support level while Bombay Stock Exchange's Sensitive Index or Sensex garnered a massive about five hundred fifty points and ended above the psychological 16,150 mark. Moreover, the broader markets traded on an optimistic note through the session, but failed to match the fervor displayed by their larger peers and settled with gains of over one and half a percent. On the BSE sectoral space, Metal and rate sensitives which went through turbulent times in of-late witnessed huge position build-up in the session while the Oil & Gas and PSU pockets too were amongst the swiftest of gainers. There were no sectoral laggards on the BSE and barring the two motorcycle makers Bajaj Auto and Hero Moto, all the components of the Sensex went home with a green tick. The markets rocketed on weak volumes of around Rs 1 lakh crore while the turnover for NSE F&O segment too remained on the lower side as compared to Friday at over 0.8 lakh crore. The market breadth remained optimistic as there were 1793 shares on the gaining side against 946 shares on the losing side while 130 shares remained unchanged.
Finally, the BSE Sensex surged by 471.70 points or 3.01% to settle at 16,167.13, while the S&P CNX Nifty climbed 141.25 points or 3.00% to close 4,851.30.
The BSE Sensex touched a high and a low of 16,186.68 and 15,888.28 respectively. The BSE Mid cap and Small cap index were up by 1.55% and 1.86% respectively.
The top gainers on the Sensex were Hindalco Industries up 9.90%, Jaiprakash Associates up 6.10%, Tata Motors up 5.36%, Sun Pharma up 5.28% and HDFC up 5.10%. While, Bajaj Auto down 1.69% and Hero MotoCorp down 0.69% were the major losers on the index.
The top gainers on the BSE sectoral space were Metal up 4.87%, Oil & Gas up 3.45%, Bankex up 3.43%, PSU up 3.06% and Realty up 2.79%, while there was no loser on the BSE sectoral space.
Meanwhile, India's import of finished steel has reduced considerably by 36% to 2.88 million tonnes in the April-September 2011, compared to the corresponding period of the previous year. During the April-September period of the current fiscal, India produced 34.86 million tonnes of finished steel and the consumption stood at 34.03 million tones, while the Exports were at 2.26 million tonnes.
The production grew 9.5% in the first six months of the current fiscal in comparison to the corresponding period last fiscal. Steel consumption, however, grew only 2.8%. During the 2010-11 fiscal, India imported 6.8 million tonne of finished steel, even though domestic production amounted to 66.01 million tonne and real consumption was 65.61 million tonne. However, the country also exported 3.46 million tonne during the financial year.
Steel Minister, Beni Prasad Verma said, 'the quantity of import has significantly reduced by 35.8 per cent during April-September 2011-12, in comparison to the corresponding period of the previous year.' By outlining the drift in the domestic steel industry, Verma said, 'a small quantity of import as well as export of various products of steel takes place, depending upon the specific requirements of individual companies.'
The minister further informed that 41 Memorandum of Understanding (MoUs) have been signed between various state governments and private companies for investment in the steel sector during the last three-and-a-half years.
The S&P CNX Nifty touched a high and low of 4,859.10 and 4,766.40 respectively.
The top gainers on the Nifty were Hindalco Industries up 9.87%, IDFC up 6.76%, ACC up 6.72%, JP Associates up 6.43% and Kotak Bank up 6.23%. On the flip side, Bajaj Auto down 1.36% and Hero MotoCorp down 0.06% were the top losers on the index.
The European markets were trading in green. France's CAC 40 up 3.56%, Britain's FTSE 100 up by 2.12%, and Germany's DAX up by 2.94%.

Market sentiment has improved in Asia on Monday on the buzz that International Monetary Fund (IMF) is preparing Euro 600 billion loan for Italy in case the debt burden worsens. Even Italian Prime Minister Monti is expected to unveil measures on December 5, 2011. Traders were also cheered by news that Germany and France had discussed plans to speed up integration in the euro-zone. Moreover, data from the United States showing Americans spent a record $52.4 billion over Thanksgiving weekend also added to the upbeat mood.

Meanwhile, Seoul shares rebounded on Monday after posting their biggest weekly fall in nine weeks, with over two percent gains led by technology stocks while, Taiwan Weighted jumped over one and a half percent, led by Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co gained 2.79 percent while leading IC design house MediaTek was 2.74 higher on Monday.
However, stock markets in Malaysia remained shut in observance of Awal Muharram.

RALLY CONTINUES

Indian equities continued its firm trade hovering near the day's high as investors continued to accumulate stocks at every point during the day. Sentiments remained upbeat on the back of encouraging global leads as most Asian peers traded with strong gains of around two percent. In the fight between bulls and bears to gain control in the market, bulls have seen riding firm giving no chance for bears to enter the market throughout the day. Traders were seen piling up the position in Metal, Bankex and Oil & Gas sector stocks. Hindalco, Sesa Goa, Jindal Steel, Sterlite, SAIL and Tata Steel were seen trading with a gain of around more than two to six percent giving the much needed support for the market. Kotak Bank, SBI, ICICI Bank, Axis Bank and HDFC Bank were seen trading in green pulling the markets up. Index heavyweight RIL is seen trading firm in green with gain of around three percent helping markets trade high. Also, ONGC and Cairn from Oil & Gas sector were trading in green helping markets continue its positive trade.
In the scrip specific development, Dish TV India rose after the finance ministry cleared the company's proposal to raise foreign equity to the extent of Rs 980 crore. Financial Technologies (India) spurted after the finance ministry cleared Multi Commodity Exchange of India's request for an initial public offering to Indians and registered foreign institutional investors. NDTV was too firm after Foreign Investment Promotion Board okayed the company's proposal for up to 100% foreign equity. On the global front, all Asian markets were seen trading in green barring Jakarta Composite while the European markets were too trading in green on optimistic note. The European market remained firm despite the IMF denying reports that it was discussing a rescue package with Italy, which had earlier spurred sanguine sentiments across the globe. Back home, the NSE Nifty and BSE Sensex were trading above their psychological 4,800 and 16,000 levels, respectively.
The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 16073.71 up by 378.28 points or 2.40% after trading as high as and 16091.25 as low as 15888.28. There were 28 stocks advancing against 2 declines on the index.
The broader indices were trading on a strong note; the BSE Mid cap index surged 1.26% while Small cap soared 1.40%.
On the BSE sectoral space, Metal up 3.78%, Bankex up 2.87%, Oil & Gas up 2.52%, Realty up 2.50% and PSU up 2.44% were the major gainers while there were no losers in the space.
Hindalco up 5.90%, Tata Motors up 4.31%, HDFC up 4.26%, SBI up 4.22% and Coal India up 4.02% were the major gainers on the Sensex, while Bajaj Auto down 2.42% and M&M down 0.09% were the major losers in the index.
Meanwhile, in the wake of the rising subsidy burden, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee has raised an additional expenditure demand of over Rs 56,848 crore in the Parliament in 2011-12, which is likely to further enlarge the government's fiscal deficit. This would be in addition to the budgeted expenditure of Rs 12.5 lakh crore and an extra net spend of Rs 9,016 crore approved in the first batch of the supplementary grant.
In the second supplementary demand for grant scheduled in the Lok Sabha, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee sought the approval of the House to pay Rs 30,000 crore as compensation for the first half of the year to oil marketing companies (OMCs), which have been suffering due to selling fuel at a price lower than that prevailing in the international market.
Fertilizer companies will get nearly Rs 13,778 crore while nearly Rs 2,297 crore will go towards food subsidy. Though the gross additional spend is Rs 63,180 crore, the government is planning to meet the requirement of Rs 6,330 crore through savings in various heads, leaving the net cash outgo at Rs 56,848 crore.
Leaving away subsides from fuel, food and fertilizer, which comprised about 73% of the gross additional expenditure, the ministry has tried to limit the demand only to a few necessary items. Further the evaluation will be done towards the end of January 2012, when the government will compute its expenditure and savings, to arrive at the revised deficit target.
The S&P CNX Nifty is currently trading at 4824.10, higher by 114.05 points or 2.42% after trading as high as 4828.90 and as low as 4766.40. There were 47 stocks advancing against 3 declines on the index.

The top gainers on the Nifty were Hindalco up 6.12%, IDFC up 6.10%, Sesa Goa up 5.48%, Kotak Bank up 4.66% and Tata Motors up 4.60%.

Bajaj Auto down 2.19%, GAIL down 0.18% and M&M down 0.08% were the major losers on the index.
Asian markets traded on an encouraging note, Shanghai Composite gained 0.12%, Hang Seng spurted 1.97%, Nikkei 225 soared 1.56%, Straits Times surged 1.65%, Seoul Composite jumped 2.19% and Taiwan Weighted ascended 1.68%. On the flip side, Jakarta Composite declined 0.11%.
Stock markets in Malaysia remained closed in observance of Awal Muharram.
The European markets were trading in green with, France's CAC 40 spurted 2.50%, Germany's DAX ascended 2.24% and Britain's FTSE 100 inched higher 1.45%.

BULLS ARE BACK

Buoyed by a robust start to the U.S. holiday shopping season, bulls at Dalal Street are currently riding high on the hopes of Europe coming up with some concrete steps this week towards activating a crucial euro zone bail-out fund amidst much hyped reports stating International Monetary Fund's (IMF) possibility of lending a helping hand to Italy financially. A report on Sunday from the Turin daily La Stampa, stated that the IMF could provide financial assistance between Euro 400 to Euro 600 billion to Italy to allow Italian Premier Mario Monti about 12 to 18 months to introduce measures to bolster market confidence in the country's ability to repay its debt. With a European Union summit looming on December 9, another factor that has seen the return of confidence in market participants has been the better-than-expected retail sales during the Thanksgiving weekend in the United States. According to the National Retail Federation, sales during the holiday weekend climbed 16% to a record $52.4bn, that has raised hopes of a robust demand for the Christmas and New Year holiday season from the world's biggest economy.  Further, positive leads from of Asian pacific stocks have also aided the early rally. However, the US markets in a short trading session on Friday closed marginally lower, the volume remained low as the traders were away for Thanksgiving holiday.
 Back home, although buying has been initiated across the board, however, stocks from rate sensitive pockets- Metal, Realty and Bankex have featured in the best list of performers, which have taken 30 share index on BSE-Sensex- higher over 300 points, above its crucial 16000 psychological level. In a similar 50 share barometer gauge of NSE-Nifty- too shot up close to 100 points to trade over 4800 level. The overall market breadth on BSE is in the favour of advances which have thumped declines in the ratio of 1574:496, while 66 shares have remained unchanged.
The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 16,009.06, up by 313.63 points or 2.00%. The index has touched a high and low of 16,021.26 and 15,888.28 respectively.  All the 30 stocks were on advancing side.
 The broader indices too gained additional traction; the BSE Mid cap and Small cap indices surged 1.31% and 1.46% respectively.
Buying was witnessed across the board. However, the top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were, Metal up by 3.13%, Realty up by 2.40%, Bankex up by 2.02%, Power up by 1.92% and CG up by 1.89%.
Hindalco Industries up by 4.89%, Tata Motors up by 4.13%, BHEL up by 3.32%, Sterlite Industries up by 3.05% and Jaiprakash Associate up by 2.97% gained maximum traction amongst 30 share barometer index on BSE-Sensex.
Meanwhile, with the aim of encouraging Indian investment in Nepal, averting fiscal elusion, and lessening procedures for stakeholders with commercial interests in both countries, India and Nepal have signed a revised Double Taxation Avoidance Agreement (DTAA). The treaty, based on modern taxation principles and in-line with the current international environment, will replace the agreement on double taxation avoidance signed in 1987.
Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee signed the pact with his Nepalese counterpart, Barshaman Pun 'Ananta,' in the presence of Prime Minister Baburam Bhattarai. On the sidelines Mukherjee said, 'the revised DTAA will provide tax stability to the residents of India and Nepal and facilitate mutual economic co-operation as well as motivate the flow of investment, technology and services between India and Nepal.'

The treaty includes provisions for exchange of information, support in collection of taxes between tax authorities and anti-abuse provisions. The exchange of information will extend to exchanging bank details, and could be shared with other law enforcement agencies with the consent of the information supplying country.

The agreement comes soon after the two countries signed the Bilateral Investment Promotion and Protection Agreement (BIPPA) during Bhattarai's visit to India last month. Nepal hopes that the two agreements together would encourage further Indian investment in Nepal, which in turn would lead to greater exports and help bridge the growing trade deficit with India. India accounts for more than 45% of foreign direct investment in Nepal, while two-thirds of Nepal's trade is with India.
The move has been welcomed by the private sector, as this would pave way for greater investment, transparency, and allow both countries to avail of each other's relative advantage. Given that tax rates were lower in Nepal, investors who had paid taxes in India would not have to do so in Nepal and those who paid taxes in Nepal would only have to pay the differential amount back in India.
The S&P CNX Nifty is currently trading at 4,803.45, higher by 93.40 points or 1.98%. The index has touched a high and low of 4,806.45 and 4,766.40 respectively. There were 48 stocks advancing against 2 declining ones on the index.
The top gainers of the Nifty were Hindalco up by 5.24%, Sesa Goa up by 4.61%, Tata Motors up by 4.22%, Reliance Communication up by 3.60% and SAIL up by 3.59%. On the flip side, BPCL down by 0.49% and Power Grid Corporation of India down by 0.10% were the laggards on the index.
Most of the Asian equity indices were trading in the green; Shanghai gained 0.26%, Hang Seng surged 1.87%, Nikkei 225 added 1.64%, Straits Times accumulated 1.48%, Seoul Composite soared 1.98% and Taiwan Weighted spurted 1.79%.
On the flip side, Jakarta Composite lost 0.32%, while stock markets in Malaysia remained shut in observance of Awal Muharram.

CAUTIOUS

The Indian equity benchmarks continued trading flat in the negative territory on the first day of a new F&O series as investors were still afraid of weak global cues even though retailers rallied a day after the government moved to liberalize foreign investment in the sector. The Nifty was hovering around 4,750 level, while Sensex fell 0.17%. On sectoral front, information technology, oil, metal and FMCG stocks were mostly down in the red with notable losses. Realty stocks were showing a firm support, while select capital goods, consumer durables, power stocks have posted smart gains. Retail chain operators Pantaloon Retail (India), Trent and Shoppers Stop rose more than 10% each after the government threw open gates for foreign investment in multi-brand retail. On the global front, Asian markets continued trading in red. Back home, the market breadth favoring the positive trend; there were 1,540 shares on the gaining side against 829 shares on the losing side while 87 shares remained unchanged.
The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 15,831.57, down by 26.92 points or 0.17%. The index has touched a high and low of 15,891.05 and 15,672.19 respectively. There were 11 stocks advancing against 19 declines on the index.
The broader indices are outperforming the benchmarks; the BSE Mid cap and Small cap indices surged by 1.19% and 1.38% respectively. 
The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were realty up by 3.26%, CG up by 3.21%, CD up by 2.32%, Power up by 0.99% and Bankex up by 0.65%. On the flip side, IT index down by 1.43%, TECk down by 0.91%, Oil & Gas down by 0.85%, Metal down .83% and FMCG index down by 0.13%.
The top gainers on the Sensex were DLF up by 5.69%, BHEL up by 4.93%, L&T up by 3.86%, Cipla up by 2.44% and Tata Motors was up by 2.11%.
The top losers on Sensex were Jindal Steel down by 2.57%, Hero MotoCorp down by 2.23%, Tata Steel down by 1.96%, TCS down by 1.79% and Infosys down by 1.58%.
Meanwhile, a move that will help improve efficiency and increase liability of the corporate sector, the union cabinet on November 24, approved the Companies Bill, 2011. The draft law, to broadly amend the 55-year-old Companies Act 1956 is likely to be tabled in Parliament in the ongoing winter session. Once passed the draft bill will update the company law in line with the best global practices and modernize the corporate regulation. It will sign an era of e-governance, enhanced accountability, and corporate social responsibility (CSR) among companies registered in the country.
The bill also recommends tightening laws for raising money from the public, besides prohibiting any insider trading by company directors or key managerial personnel by treating such activities as a criminal offence. It will also make mandatory for companies to earmark 2% of their average profit of the preceding 3 years for CSR activities and make a disclosure to shareholders about the policy adopted in the process.
Further, disclosure norms for companies are mandatory rotation of auditors and audit firms, regulation of related-party transactions, protection of minority shareholders, provision for class action suits, enhancement of penalties and a mandatory slot for a woman director on company boards are all new proposals included in the bill.

The bill, which will replace the decades old Act, has already been scrutinized by the Parliamentary Standing Committee of Finance and also by various ministries concerned. The bill was initially introduced in Lok Sabha in 2008, but lapsed because of change of government. It was re-introduced in August 2009.

Welcoming the move, CII Director General Chandrajit Banerjee said, 'the Bill has been through various iterations and industry anxiously awaits a new corporate law that would lay stress on responsible self-regulation. The new company law is expected to be more streamlined and facilitative than the existing 55 year-old Companies Act, it seeks to replace.'
The S&P CNX Nifty is currently trading at 4,749.30, down by 7.15 points or 0.15%. The index has touched a high and low of 4,767.30 and 4,700.50 respectively.  There were 21 stocks advancing against 29 declining ones on the index.
The top gainers of the Nifty were DLF up by 5.61%, BHEL up 4.76%, L&T up by 3.92%, Ranbaxy up by 3.85% and Cipla up by 2.61%.
Jindal Steel down by 2.63%, Hero Motocorp down by 2.39%, Tata Steel down by 2.26%, TCS down by 2.09% and Sesa Goa down by 2.07% were the major losers on the index.
Barring the Japanese market all other Asian indices are trading in red Shanghai Composite was down by 0.40%, Hang Seng lost 1.32%, KLSE Composite slid by 0.91%, Jakarta Composite down by 1.74%Straits Times plunged by 1.02%, Seoul Composite lost 1.08% and Taiwan Weighted was down by 1.16%.
On the other hand Nikkei was trading higher by 0.09%.

MARKETS TRYING TO STABILIZE

The domestic markets have stabilized in the mid morning trade and the benchmark indices are trading flat. Though, the sentiments still remain cautious but the traders are opting value buying in the beaten down high beta sectors and the realty sector stocks have surged, closely followed by capital goods, consumer durables and the power sector stocks, at the same time IT and technology stocks are still languishing in red, witnessing some profit booking. The main spurt is seen among the retail stocks that have surged by 4-20% in the early trade after the government approved the proposal of FDI in multibrand retail. However, the best part of the trade till now is the returning fervor in the small cap and the midcap stocks, as they are outperforming their larger peers with quiet a margin.
The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 15,872.61, up by 14.12 points or 0.09%. The index has touched a high and low of 15,891.05 and 15,672.19 respectively.  There were 13 stocks advancing against 17 declines on the index.
The broader indices are outperforming the benchmarks; the BSE Mid cap and Small cap indices ascended by 1.33% and 1.41% respectively. 
The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were realty up by 2.64%, CG up by 2.59%, CD up by 2.50%, Power up by 1.50% and PSU was up by 0.93%. On the flip side IT index was down by 0.99%, TECk down by 0.56%, Oil & Gas down by 0.37% and Metal index was down by 0.34%
The top gainers on the Sensex were BHEL up by 4.27%, DLF up by 3.37%, L&T up by 2.51%, Cipla up by 1.84% and SBI was up by 1.53%.
The top losers on Sensex were Hero Motocorp down by 2.14%, Jindal Steel down by 2.07%, tata Steel down by 1.68%, Infosys down by 1.35% and TCS was down by 1.31%.
Meanwhile, the Union Cabinet on November 24 finally approved a proposal of up to 51% foreign direct investment (FDI) in multi-brand retail, and up to 100% FDI in single brand retail. The route has been long tapped by foreign retailers such as Wal-Mart and Carrefour to enter Asia's second fastest growing economy.
However, the proposal clearance has come with some checks; foreign investors will be required to invest up 50% of total FDI in back-end infrastructure, excluding the land cost and rentals. Retailers will also need to source at least 30% of manufactured/processed products from small industries, excluding agricultural items. The government has also retained the first right on sourcing agricultural produce. In terms of single-brand retail, the government has made 30% sourcing from SMEs mandatory once the FDI limit exceeds 51%. Not only this, the policy will allow foreign retailers to set up shop only in cities with a population of more than 10 lakh as per the 2011 Census. There are 55 such cities in India currently.

The Union Cabinet's move is likely to bolster the interest of foreign retailers in India, even as many existing joint venture (JV) partnerships between Indian and foreign retailers could get realigned. Various industry bodies have welcomed the decision of the government, FICCI president, Harsh Mariwala said, 'We welcome the long awaited move of the Government of allowing FDI in multi-brand retail. It is a step which will have positive implications for various segments like food processing, farming and SMEs. This policy initiative is expected to bring more investments not just in the front end but also in the back-end infrastructure, which would result in reduced wastages and would also help in addressing the issue of inflation over a period of time.'

Industry body ASSOCHAM said foreign investments in Indian retail sector will inject competition and efficiencies, create lakhs of new jobs across the country and reduce considerable difference in farm gate prices, wholesale prices and retail prices.
The S&P CNX Nifty is currently trading at 4,753.25, down by 3.20 points or 0.07%. The index has touched a high and low of 4,767.30 and 4,700.50 respectively.  There were 29 stocks advancing against 21 declining ones on the index.
The top gainers of the Nifty were BHEL up by 3.92%, Ranbaxy 3.85%, DLF up by 3.23%, L&T up by 2.52% and BPCL was up by 2.48%.
Hero Motocorp down by 2.34%, HCL Technology 2.15%, Jindal Steel 2.03%, Tata Steel down by 1.97% and ONGC down by 1.71% were the major losers on the index.
Barring the Japanese market all other Asian indices are trading in red Shanghai Composite was down by 0.43%, Hang Seng lost 1.29%, KLSE Composite slid by 0.91%, Straits Times plunged by 1.02%, Seoul Composite lost 0.70% and Taiwan Weighted was down by 0.47%.
On the other hand Nikkei was trading higher by 0.39%.

SHORT COVERING

After a horrendous performance on Wednesday, Indian benchmark indices finally pull through a relief rally on the November series futures and options expiry day and surged a percent higher. The frontline indices kept languishing below the neutral line, almost through the day but the last leg of trade saw a reversal of sorts as sentiments suddenly turned sanguine and the key gauges swiftly started gathering a lot of traction. The key gauges even managed to climb beyond the psychological 15,850 (Sensex) and 4, 750 (Nifty) levels, thanks to the hefty covering of short positions in rate sensitive Automobile and Capital Goods counters which surged by about two and half a percent and lent support to recovery. Sentiments also got buttressed after India's food inflation moderated sharply to single digit at 9.01% for the week ended November 12, its third straight week of decline. The drop in food inflation is likely to bring some relief to the government which took steps to remove supply bottlenecks and has forecasted that prices would ease from December. On the global front, sentiments across Asia appeared cautiously optimistic as a majority of indices in the region settled in green territory while the European counterparts rebounded after previous session's debacle on the back of better than expected German business sentiment data. However, cautiousness loomed across the globe amid heightened nervousness over the spreading European debt crisis contagion and disappointing US economic reports. On the domestic front, rupee showed signs of stabilization after recently touching lifetime lows, amid hopes that steps announced by the RBI would boost dollar inflows. Meanwhile, retailers including Pantaloons rallied in the session amid reports that Cabinet will consider 100% foreign direct investment (FDI) in single brand and 51% in multi-brand. Also fertilizer stocks including RCF, National Fertilizers & Chemicals Travancore spurted in the session amid reports that suppliers agreed to cut Diammonium Phosphate (DAP) and Nitrogen, Phosphorus, Potassium (NPK) price for Indian fertilizer companies.
The NSE's 50-share broadly followed index Nifty, went for a one percent rally and settled just above the psychological 4,750 support level while Bombay Stock Exchange's Sensitive Index - Sensex garnered around one hundred fifty points to close above the psychological 15,850 mark. The broader markets too showed resilience and settled with notable gains. On the BSE sectoral front, hefty short covering was evident in the rate sensitive Auto index which topped the gainers space with 2.45% gains followed by Capital Goods and TECk indices which rose 2.31% and 1.74% respectively. On the flipside, the Consumer Durables pockets remained the only chink in the armor as it settled in the negative terrain with marginal losses. On the F&O front, November series Nifty and Sensex got brutally butchered by around 8% each. From the expiry perspective, market wide rollover of 58.6% was observed which was lower than the three month average of 62.44% while Nifty rollovers were at 52.57%, lower than 3 month average of 56.55%. Sectorally, the Capital Goods, Cement, Automobile and Metal counters witnessed high rollovers while stocks from the IT, Pharma and Telecom pockets observed relatively low rolls. Among individual stocks, vast rollovers were witnessed in index heavyweights including Mundra Port (85%), Adani Power (76%), Balrampur Chini (76%), DLF (75%) and Cairn (73%) while low rollovers were seen in stocks like TVS Motors (30%), NMDC (33%), Exide (34%), Mphasis (35%) and Central Bank (39%). On expected lines, markets registered extremely large volumes of over Rs 2.74 lakh crore on the November series F&O expiry day. The turnover for NSE F&O segment remained on the higher side compared to Wednesday at over Rs 2.59 lakh crore. The market breadth remained positive as there were 1460 shares on the gaining side against 1313 shares on the losing side while 119 shares remained unchanged.
Finally, the BSE Sensex surged by 158.52 points or 1.01% to settle at 15,858.49, while the S&P CNX Nifty soared by 50.00 points or 1.06% to close 4,756.45.
The BSE Sensex touched a high and a low of 15,901.30 and 15,479.97 respectively. The BSE Mid cap and Small cap index were up by 1.40% and 0.38% respectively.
The top gainers on the Sensex were Maruti Suzuki up 4.02%, Bajaj Auto up 3.71%, Bharti Airtel up 3.65%, ONGC up 2.90 and L&T up 2.76%. While, Hindalco Industries down 1.26%, Hero MotoCorp down 0.95%, Sterlite Industries down 0.67%, ITC down 0.10% and SBI down 0.06% were the major losers on the index.
The top gainers on the BSE sectoral space were Auto up 2.45%, Capital Goods (CG) up 2.31%, TECk up 1.74%, Health Care (HC) up 1.68% and Realty up 1.34%. While Consumer Durables (CD) down 0.21% was the only loser on the BSE sectoral space.
Meanwhile, India's weekly food inflation measured by the Wholesale Price Index (WPI) slipped below double digits for the first time in five weeks at 9.01% for the week ended November 12, compared to 10.63% in the last week. For the week under review, prices of vegetables, fruits and milk showed a decline of 1.6%, however, all other food items including prices of eggs and poultry became expensive on an annual basis.
According to the data released by the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, the index for 'Food Articles' group  declined by 0.7% to 198.5 (Provisional) from 199.8 (Provisional) for the previous week due to lower prices of poultry chicken (6%), bajra and fruits and vegetables (2% each) and condiments and spices, urad, fish-inland, maize and moong (1% each). However, the prices of masur and coffee (4% each), tea (2%) and barley, ragi, fish-marine, wheat and gram (1% each) moved up.
The index for 'Non-Food Articles' group declined by 0.7% to 174.7 (Provisional) from 175.9 (Provisional) for the previous week due to lower prices of raw rubber (9%), gaur seed (3%), sunflower, groundnut seed and raw cotton (2% each) and mesta, copra, coir fibre and castor seed (1% each). However, the prices of flowers (9%), fodder and gingelly seed (3% each), linseed and raw silk (2% each) and raw jute and rape and mustard seed (1% each) moved up.
However, the index for 'Minerals' group rose by 0.4% to 310.5 (Provisional) from 309.2 (Provisional) for the previous week due to higher prices of crude petroleum (1%). As a result the index for 'Primary Articles' which accounts for 20.12% of the WPI declined by 0.5% to 201.9 (Provisional) from 203.0 (Provisional) for the previous week. The annual rate of inflation, calculated on point to point basis, stood at 9.08% (Provisional) for the week ended November 12 as compared to 10.39% (Provisional) for the previous week.
Meanwhile, the index for 'Fuel and Power' group, which accounts for 14.91% of WPI, remained unchanged at their previous week's level of 171.5 (Provisional) and 15.49% (Provisional) for the week ended November 12.
Inspite of food inflation coming into single digit after hovering above 10% mark for five successive weeks, is still significantly above the Reserve Bank of India's (RBI) comfort zone. However, this significant decline in the food inflation is expected to provide some relief to the government and RBI, which have been fighting to curb the high inflation. 
On November 23, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee said that 'the government's immediate priority is to contain price rise. High inflation and also some of the efforts to control liquidity has a detrimental effect on short-run growth. The immediate priority is to control inflation so that long-term growth prospects are not affected.'
Though after it had hiked rates in October the RBI said it would hold off another increase if inflation showed signs of decline, however, RBI's Governor D Subbarao said he would not hesitate to tighten rates further if inflation did not come down as expected. Overall inflation too has remained stubbornly high, near double digits, since January 2010. Headline inflation based on the wholesale price index was recorded at 9.73% in October, according to the latest data available. 
The S&P CNX Nifty touched a high and low of 4,771.10 and 4,639.10 respectively.
The top gainers on the Nifty were GAIL up 4.26%, ONGC up 4.12%, Sesa Goa up 3.73%, IDFC up 3.59% and Ambuja Cement up 3.45%. On the flip side, SAIL down 3.19%, Reliance Power down 2.61%, ACC down 1.84%, Hero MotoCorp down 1.58% and Ranbaxy down 0.62% were the top losers on the index.
The European markets were trading in green. France's CAC 40 up 1.36%, Britain's FTSE 100 up by 0.31%, and Germany's DAX up by 1.06%.

Most Asian stock markets were slightly higher on Thursday, with several exchanges reversing morning losses amid a rise in US stock futures, even as many investors remained cautious after Germany's failure to auction all the bonds it offered Wednesday. The surprising recovery in markets could be simply due to the fact that the sellers are exhausted and investors are looking to take advantage of recent share-price weakness to snap up some blue chips. China shares ended higher on Thursday, snapping six days of losses as property and financial shares turned higher. However, Nikkei average fell almost 2% to close at a two-and-a-half-year low on Thursday, hurt by a worrying German bond sale and expectations that mounting European debt concerns will continue to push overseas equities markets lower.

Earlier in the morning, Asian exchanges were lower due to continued worries over the euro zone's debt crisis after slightly less than two-thirds of the bonds offered at a German auction were sold. There were also concerns over the Chinese economy as China watchers have forecasted the world's second-biggest economy to see a slowdown in its growth momentum to 8.5% next year, due to weakening external demand and rising export prices caused by increasing wages and costs.

CRASH

A session after witnessing a dead cat bounce, Indian frontline indices picked up from where they had left on Monday as marketmen grew increasingly pessimistic about the market outlook amid growing evidence of slowing down global economy. The benchmarks witnessed panic selling in the session and got obliterated by over two percent to around the lowest levels seen in last two years. Largely across the board carnage was seen on Dalal Street as market participants ruthlessly squared off hefty positions from heavyweight stocks a day ahead of November series derivative contract expiry. Sentiments across the globe appeared gloomy as Asian markets exhibited dispiriting trends amid prolonged anxiety over the fate of global economic growth while the European shares too extended their downtrend for a fifth straight session. Investors' confidence got dented on getting the disappointing Chinese preliminary manufacturing PMI data which showed factory activity decelerated at a faster-than-expected pace to 32-month low levels in November while reports of slower than estimated US GDP growth too revived concerns of a global recession. Marketmen also overlooked the IMF's move to beef up its lending instruments and launch a six-month liquidity line, to bolster the flexibility and scope of its emergency programs to aid nations that may face liquidity problems. On the domestic front, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee opined that withdrawals by foreign institutional investors led to the market crash. Market sentiments also got hit from reports that government has no plans to reduce the Securities Transaction Tax (STT) charged on equity trades, as collections dipped by around 18% in the first seven months of the 2011-12. Meanwhile, rupee snapped a seven-day declining streak with speculations that RBI intervened to ease access to foreign exchange and sold US dollars. Also, the sugar stocks which rejoiced earlier on reports that the government has allowed sugar exports too got battered by the end of session and settled with huge losses.
Earlier on Dalal Street, the benchmark got off to a sedate opening as sentiments were largely influenced by pessimistic cues from Asian markets and overnight sell-off on Wall Street. The benchmarks failed to show any kind of fervor and kept drifting to lower levels through the morning trades. But the early noon session saw across the board sell-off which led the frontline indices to nearly two year lows but some short covering thereafter ensured that the local bourses eventually settle off the low point of the day. The NSE's 50-share broadly followed index Nifty, got thrashed by over two percent to settle above the crucial 4,700 support level while Bombay Stock Exchange's Sensitive Index Sensex got pounded by over three hundred fifty points and closed below the psychological 15,700 mark. Moreover, the broader markets too got pulverized as they settled with large cuts of close to two percent but outperformed their larger peers. On the BSE sectoral space, market participants booked hefty profits in the Capital Goods counter which got thrashed by a massive three percent, while the Technology and Oil & Gas counters also got butchered by around two and half a percent. On the other hand, the Consumer Durable counter remained the only counter that managed to snap the session in the positive terrain with around half a percent gains.  The markets plummeted on tremendously large volumes of over Rs 2.53 lakh crore while the turnover for NSE F&O segment too remained on the higher side as compared to Tuesday at over 2.40 lakh core as it was the penultimate day of F&O expiry week. The market breadth too remained awfully pessimistic as there were 761 shares on the gaining side against 2054 shares on the losing side while 101 shares remained unchanged.
Finally, the BSE Sensex shaved off 365.45 points or 2.27% to settle at 15,699.97, while the S&P CNX Nifty plummeted by 105.90 points or 2.20% to close 4,706.45.
The BSE Sensex touched a high and a low of 15,969.60 and 15,478.69 respectively. The BSE Mid cap and Small cap index were down by 2.05% and 1.72% respectively.
The only gainer on the Sensex was NTPC up 0.58%. While, Jaiprakash Associate down 5.05%, HDFC Bank down 3.85%, Bharti Airtel down 3.70%, BHEL down 3.58% and Wipro down 3.17% were the major losers on the index.
The only gainer on the BSE sectoral space was Consumer Durables (CD) up 0.49%. While Capital Goods (CG) down 3.04%, TECk down 2.65%, IT down 2.48%, Oil & Gas down 2.41% and Bankex down 2.40% were the major losers on the BSE sectoral space.
Meanwhile, in the wake of recent decline of Indian rupee against American dollar, the ministry of petroleum wants Rs 56,600 crore more in cash subsidy to partially compensate the government owned oil marketing companies for losses they incur on selling fuel below market cost.
G C Chaturvedi, Oil Secretary said that "at the current rates, under-recoveries (revenue loss) of oil marketing companies (OMCs) in the current fiscal is likely to be of the order of Rs 1,30,000 crore."The Oil Ministry wants the share of upstream companies like Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC) to be limited to one-third of this revenue loss, or Rs 43,329 crore. "We would like their share to be one-third. The rest we want the Finance Ministry to bear," Chaturvedi said.
In the first half of the current financial year, the upstream companies ONGC, Oil India and GAIL bore one-third of the Rs 64,900 crore revenue losses on fuel sale. The finance ministry only gave Rs 30,000 crore and rest was borne by oil refiners, Indian Oil, Bharat Petroleum and Hindustan Petroleum. In the first half of 2011-12, the OMCs have suffered revenue loss of Rs 64,900 crore on selling diesel, kerosene and domestic cooking gas below market price.
Presently, OMCs are losing Rs 11.44 per litre on diesel, Rs 26.94 per litre on kerosene sold via the public distribution system (PDS) and Rs 260.50 per 14.2kg LPG cylinder supplied to domestic households for cooking purposes. As a result, the OMCs are incurring a daily revenue loss of around Rs 360 crore on sale of these three petroleum products. If the prices of these products are not revised, then by the end of the 2011-12, OMCs are expected to incur revenue loss of around Rs 130,000 crore.
The S&P CNX Nifty touched a high and low of 4,779.50 and 4,640.95 respectively.
The top gainers on the Nifty were NTPC up 1.00%, RCom up 0.71%, Bajaj Auto up 0.43% and HUL up 0.03%. On the flip side, BPCL down 5.34%, JP Associate down 5.13%, HDFC Bank down 4.52%, IDFC down 4.36% and Ranbaxy down 4.21% were the top losers on the index.
The European markets were trading in red. France's CAC 40 down 0.54%, Britain's FTSE 100 down by 0.58%, and Germany's DAX down by 0.78%.

Asian markets resumed witnessing slaughter after a day halt as provisional reading on manufacturing growth in China showed contraction and weaker-than-expected economic expansion in the US too dampened the sentiments. HSBC China manufacturing gauge has fallen to 48.0 in November from 51.0 last month. Forecasts for the HSBC flash manufacturing Purchasing Managers Index had called for a 50.1. A level above 50 implies expansion while anything below it denotes contraction while, the US economy expanded at a slower than expected pace in the third quarter, evident after the Commerce Department lowered its GDP growth estimates to 2% from earlier estimates of 2.5%.

Hong Kong and China shares declined below their crucial 18,000 and 2,400 mark, dragged down by materials and finance-related stocks as investors rotated selling and took profit in cyclical sectors with risk aversion staying high in global markets.
Japanese markets remained closed for trade on Wednesday on account of Labor Thanksgiving day.

PANIC SELLING

Indian markets are witnessing panic selling in the Wednesday afternoon trading session and the frontline equity indices have got obliterated by around three and half a percent to around the lowest levels seen in last two years. Market participants were seen ruthlessly squaring off hefty positions all across the board a day ahead of November series derivative contract expiry. Sentiments across the globe appeared gloomy as Asian markets exhibited dispiriting trends amid prolonged anxiety over the fate of global economic growth while the European shares too looked set to extend their downtrend for a fifth straight session. Investors' confidence got dented on getting the disappointing Chinese preliminary manufacturing PMI data which showed factory activity decelerated at a faster-than-expected pace to 32-month low levels in November while slower than estimated US growth too revived concerns of a global recession. Marketmen also overlooked the IMF's move to beef up its lending instruments and launch a six-month liquidity line, to bolster the flexibility and scope of its emergency programs to aid nations that may face liquidity problems. On the domestic front, the sugar stocks which rejoiced earlier on reports that the government has allowed sugar exports, too have plunged into the negative zone. On the BSE sectoral space, market participants booked hefty profits in the rate sensitive Bankex counters which got threshed by a massive around four percent while the Oil & Gas and technology counters also got butchered by around three and half a percent.
Moreover, the broader markets too got pulverized as they traded with large cuts of over two percent but were outperforming their larger peers. The bourses plummeted on extremely large volumes of well over Rs 1.26 lakh core mark on the penultimate day of November series F&O contract expiry. The market breadth on BSE was dominantly in favor of declines in the ratio of 1957:557 while 88 scrips remained unchanged.
The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 15,518.70 down by 546.72 points or 3.40% after trading as high as and 15,969.60 as low as 15,478.69. All 30 stocks were declining.
The broader indices were trading on somber note; the BSE Mid cap index plunged 2.14% and Small cap dived 2.03%.
On the BSE sectoral space, there were no gainers while Bankex down 3.90%, Oil & Gas down 3.77%, TECk down 3.44%, IT down 3.40% and Metal down 2.92% were the major losers in the space.
There were no gainers on the Sensex, while HDFC Bank down 6.49%, JP Associates down 5.13%, RIL down 4.58%, Jindal Steel down 4.44% and BHEL down 4.36% were the major losers in the index.
Meanwhile, in the wake of recent decline of Indian rupee against American dollar, the ministry of petroleum wants Rs 56,600 crore more in cash subsidy to partially compensate the government owned oil marketing companies for losses they incur on selling fuel below market cost.
G C Chaturvedi, Oil Secretary said that "at the current rates, under-recoveries (revenue loss) of oil marketing companies (OMCs) in the current fiscal is likely to be of the order of Rs 1,30,000 crore."The Oil Ministry wants the share of upstream companies like Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC) to be limited to one-third of this revenue loss, or Rs 43,329 crore. "We would like their share to be one-third. The rest we want the Finance Ministry to bear," Chaturvedi said.
In the first half of the current financial year, the upstream companies ONGC, Oil India and GAIL bore one-third of the Rs 64,900 crore revenue losses on fuel sale. The finance ministry only gave Rs 30,000 crore and rest was borne by oil refiners, Indian Oil, Bharat Petroleum and Hindustan Petroleum. In the first half of 2011-12, the OMCs have suffered revenue loss of Rs 64,900 crore on selling diesel, kerosene and domestic cooking gas below market price.
Presently, OMCs are losing Rs 11.44 per litre on diesel, Rs 26.94 per litre on kerosene sold via the public distribution system (PDS) and Rs 260.50 per 14.2kg LPG cylinder supplied to domestic households for cooking purposes. As a result, the OMCs are incurring a daily revenue loss of around Rs 360 crore on sale of these three petroleum products. If the prices of these products are not revised, then by the end of the 2011-12, OMCs are expected to incur revenue loss of around Rs 130,000 crore.
The S&P CNX Nifty is currently trading at 4,654.65, lower by 157.70 points or 3.28% after trading as high as 4,779.50 and as low as 4,640.95. There were 2 stocks advancing against 48 declines on the index.
The top gainers on the Nifty were R Com up 1.21% and GAIL up 0.40%.

HDFC Bank down 5.97%, IDFC down 5.34%, JP Associates down 4.97%, Sesa Goa down 4.77% and Jindal Steel down 4.67% were the major losers on the index.

Asian markets continued to trade on a bleak note, Shanghai Composite dropped 0.55%, Hang Seng plummeted 1.99%, Jakarta Composite sank 1.47%, KLSE Composite shed 0.84%, Straits Times shaved-off 1.63% and Seoul Composite got battered by 2.36% and Taiwan Weighted nosedived 2.77%.
Japanese markets remained closed on Wednesday on account of Labor Thanksgiving day.