MODERATE GAINS

It turned out to be a session of moderate gains for the Indian stock markets which came off the highest point of the day in dying hours of trade amid comments from the Union Finance Minister over India's slowing growth, elevated inflationary pressure and swelling fiscal deficit. Nonetheless, the benchmark indices managed to amass around half a percent gains in the choppy session and completely recover the losses that the indices suffered on Monday. The frontline indices got firm support around the psychological 5,050 (Nifty) and 16,850 (Sensex) levels as they snapped the session around those levels after retreating twice from the crucial 5,100 (Nifty) and 17,000 (Sensex) levels. Sentiments remained sanguine for most part of the day even as the government bowed to intense pressure from within and outside and announced suspension of its decision to allow FDI in retail, bringing Parliament back to business after nine days of logjam. Investors added positions with conviction on hopes that the Reserve Bank of India will abstain from hiking key interest rates in its monetary policy review meet on December 16, buttressing buying interests in rate sensitive counters. On the global front, most Asian equity indices settled on an encouraging note while the European counterparts too climbed to higher levels. Investors globally remained optimistic as worries over the rating agency S&P's warning of mass EU downgrade waned and made way for cautious optimism that Euro-zone policymakers will deliver a comprehensive plan to avert the region's onerous debt crisis at a summit later this week. Back home, concerns over the ruling government's ability to implement important reform measures came to the fore, keeping investors' mood under check. Meanwhile, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh opined that the government will look into the concerns of telecom companies and formulate forward-looking policies to sustain growth in the sector.
Earlier on Dalal Street, the benchmark got off to a quiet beginning as marketmen remained cautious after a day's break on Tuesday. However, the frontline indices jumped to higher levels in no time, tracking the Asian equity indices which largely exhibited optimistic trends. After trading on a firm note through mid morning trades, the key gauges pared gains in the late morning trades. But the sentiments once again got a lift in mid noon trades with the positive opening of European markets amid hopes that a concrete solution to the European problem may emerge in the forthcoming EU meet. However, late hour profit booking by skeptical investors ensured that the indices settle off the day's highs. Eventually the NSE's 50-share broadly followed index - Nifty, advanced by half a percent, while Bombay Stock Exchange's Sensitive Index - Sensex amassed around seventy points and closed. Moreover, the broader markets too managed to snap the session in the positive terrain with marginal gains. On the BSE sectoral space, the information technology counter jumped by around one and half a percent, being the top gainer in the space followed by the Capital Goods pocket that climbed over half a percent. On the other hand, the defensive Healthcare and Consumer Durables counters settled with large cuts. The markets advanced on larger volumes of over Rs 1.26 lakh crore while the turnover for NSE F&O segment too remained on the higher side as compared to Monday at over 1.11 lakh crore. The market breadth remained optimistic as there were 1451 shares on the gaining side against 1362 shares on the losing side while 113 shares remained unchanged.
Finally, the BSE Sensex gained 71.73 points or 0.43% to settle at 16,877.06, while the S&P CNX Nifty rose by 23.45 points or 0.47% to close at 5,062.60.
The BSE Sensex touched a high and a low of 17,003.71 and 16,781.62 respectively. The BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.20% and Small cap index was up by 0.20% respectively.
The top gainers on the Sensex were Wipro up 3.31%, Infosys up 1.95%, JP Associates up 1.89%, HDFC up 1.82% and ONGC up 1.64%. While, Bharti Airtel down 3.33%, NTPC down 3.21%, Sun Pharma down 2.58%, Coal India down 2.44% and ICICI Bank down 1.64% were the top losers on the index.
The top gainers on the BSE sectoral space were, IT up 1.43%, Capital Goods (CG) up 0.78%, Realty up 0.77%, FMCG up 0.71% and Oil & Gas up 0.49%, while Health Care (HC) down 1.53%, Consumer Durables (CD) down 0.69%, Power down 0.41% and PSU down 0.35% were top losers on the BSE sectoral space. 

Meanwhile, the logjam in the parliament over the FDI issue has finally been resolved, as opposition parties accepted the government's formula and agreed to allow parliament to function today. After the all party meeting, the finance minister Pranab Mukherjee announced the suspension of the government's decision to allow 51% Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in retail till a consensus is evolved.

Earlier, the government had called an all-party meeting to end the deadlock in parliament over allowing foreign investment in domestic retail industry. The government is facing stiff resistance from opposition and some of its own allies on the issue.
Reacting to the government's decision of suspension of the decision of allowing FDI in retail, left party leader D Raja said that the move was a virtual rollback. The opposition parties were demanding rollback of the decision as it will affect the livelihood of millions of people and local Kiran shops.
UPA government's key ally Trinamool Congress, which is opposing the decision of allowing FDI in sector, had expressed happiness over the decision. 'We are happy that this decision has been taken back. Mamata was already told about it. We are happy that the BJP too has agreed to this suspension of the decision,' said TMC MP Sudip Bandyopadhyay.
The S&P CNX Nifty touched a high and low of 5,099.25 and 5,032.25 respectively.
The top gainers on the Nifty were RCOM up 4.01%, Wipro up 3.29%, HCL Tech up 2.35%, Infosys up 2.07% and Reliance Infra up 2.00%. On the flip side, NTPC down 3.92%, Bharti Airtel down 3.56%, Coal India down 2.97%, Sun Pharma down 2.74% and Sesa Goa down 2.50% were the top losers on the index.
The European markets were trading in green. France's CAC 40 surged 0.98%, Britain's FTSE 100 up by 0.44% and Germany's DAX soared by 0.55%.
Asian markets resumed their northward journey after a day's halt and major indices snapped the session with gains of 1-2 percent on Wednesday on hopes that a meeting of European leaders will finally lead to a plan that will bring an end to the crippling euro-zone debt crisis. Investors were eying two-day summit that begins on December 9, 2011 with expectations growing that a plan for fiscal integration set out by the leaders of France and Germany will be largely agreed on. Confidence was also lifted by reports that European officials are discussing plans to possibly implement two separate bailout funds to tackle the region's debt crisis.
Chinese benchmark closed up 0.3 percent, snapping three days of losses as Chinese banks, insurers and property developers outperformed on hopes of more policy easing by Beijing after last week's cut in the reserve requirement ratio. Meanwhile, Japanese Nikkei remained the top gainer among the Asian pack, up by 1.71 percent as cyclical shares such as shippers and steelmakers helped in making huge gains after recent credit easing by big emerging economies such as China and Brazil eased worries about a sharp slowdown in the global economy.