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%.