POSITIVE ZONE

The Indian equity benchmarks erased major portion of its early gains though still in positive terrain, as government bowing to pressures from the opposition parties and even from some of its allies and putting on hold its proposal to allow foreign direct investment in retail sector. Investors were trading cautiously as worries about the pace of reforms resurfaced again, despite positive cues from Asian markets. Several front line stocks from IT, FMCG, auto and metal sector were trading notably higher, while consumer durable, healthcare, and power stocks paired all early gains and currently trading lower. On the global front, US markets closed mixed yesterday, while markets in the Asia-Pacific region were witnessing buying demand. Back home, the market breadth favoring the positive trend; there were 1,355 shares on the gaining side against 1,041 shares on the losing side while 114 shares remained unchanged.
The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 16,868.85, up by 63.52 points or 0.38%. The index has so far touched a high and low of 16,995.08 and 16,781.62. There were 24 stocks advancing against 6 declining ones on the index.
The broader indices have gained traction; the BSE Mid cap and Small cap indices surged 0.23% and 0.34% respectively.
The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were, IT up by 1.04%, FMCG up by 0.74%, Auto up by 0.72%, Metal up by 0.41% and Capital Goods (CG) up by 0.30%. On the flip side, Consumer Durables down by 0.81%, Health Care down by 0.48%, PSU down by 0.33% and Power down by 0.26% were the top losers in the BSE sectoral space.  
The top gainers on the Sensex were Hindalco Industries up by 2.02%, Wipro up by 1.86%, Jaiprakash Associates up by 1.67%, SBI up by 1.38% and Infosys up by 1.33%.
On the flip side, Bharti Airtel down by 2.65%, Coal India down by 2.53%, NTPC down by 1.90%, ICICI Bank down by 1.10% and Sun Pharma down by 0.71% were the top losers on the index.
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 is currently trading at 5,066.15, higher by 27.00 points or 0.54%. The index has touched a high and a low of 5,097.15 and 5,032.25 respectively. There were 40 stocks advancing against 10 declining ones on the index.
The top gainers of the Nifty were HCL Tech up by 3.17%, RCom up by 3.10%, Wipro up by 2.26%, SAIL up by 2.17% and Hindalco up by 2.01%.
On the flip side, Bharti Airtel down by 2.92%, Coal India down by 2.73%, BPCL down by 1.93%, NTPC down by 1.93% and ICICI Bank down by 0.92% were the losers on the index.
Asian pacific markets continued to trade in fine contour; Shanghai Composite gained 0.37%, Hang Seng added 0.92%, Jakarta Composite rose 0.19%, Nikkei 225 surged 1.77%, Straits Times rose 0.80%, Seoul Composite accumulated 0.67% and Taiwan Weighted was up by 1.10%.
On the flip side, KLSE Composite declined 0.34% was the lone loser among Asian pack.