FIRM MARKETS

Benchmark indices are continuing their strength in the mid morning session supported by the gains in the rate sensitive gauges. Though they pared some gains but have once again recovered to trade near the high points of the day. Buying is being witnessed across the board and the small and mid cap stocks are getting better demand. The banking pack is in the jubilant mood as most of the banks who have reported their numbers so far have came up with inline numbers, also in their pre-budget demand banks and financial institutions have sought more tax sops from the finance ministry, arguing that the greater deposit mobilisation through incentives will help them lend more when the economy recovers. The top bankers suggested that the government should increase the limit on tax deducted at source (TDS) on interest from bank deposits to Rs 50,000, from Rs 10,000 at present. The somberness in Reliance Industries is weighing on the oil & gas counter that has been languishing in the red since morning.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 16,746.56, up by 102.80 points or 0.62%. The index has touched a high and a low of 16,777.67 and 16,693.16 respectively. There were 19 stocks advancing against 11 declines on the index.

The broader indices were outperforming the benchmarks; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.94% while the small cap index was trading up by 0.95%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Bankex up by 2.50%, Consumer Durables (CD) up by 2.10%, realty up by 1.45%, Capital Goods (CG) up by 0.92% and Power was up by 0.89%.

On the flip side Health Care down by 0.29% and Oil & gas down by 0.28% were the only two laggards in the sectoral space.

The top gainers of the Sensex were ICICI Bank up by 4.90%, Bajaj Auto up by 3.41%, Wipro up by 2.98%, DLF up by 2.40% and Jindal Steel was up by 2.23%.

On the other hand Coal India down by 3.24%, Maruti Suzuki down by 2.11%, M&M down by 1.30%, ONGC down by 0.52% and RIL down by 0.50% were the top losers on the index.

Meanwhile, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, addressing the FICCI's 84th Annual General Meeting, urged India Inc. to help build consensus on economic reforms. While, agreeing to the fact that the efforts made by the government to bring about economic reforms had not yielded fruits on some fronts, he could not be blamed for not trying. Commenting on his government's failure to push through reforms like FDI in multi brand retail and other legislative amendments he said that this was the nature of democracy and at times reforms get overtaken by political events. He agreed that there was a need to rebuild trust especially after the unearthing of alleged scams in telecom and Commonwealth Games. There was also a perception that economic growth was faltering on account of 'policy paralyses and lack of legislative changes to push reforms.

Mukherjee further said that global uncertainty too did not help. But on the governments part there had been a host of policy measures which lent credence to the government's commitment to economic reforms. He asked corporate to demonstrate willingness to support reforms and marry their economic interests with larger social responsibilities. On its part, corporate India urged the Government not to judge industry by "deviants". They also called for change in the relationship between Government and industry. They felt that there was an urgent need to rebuild trust and remove hurdles inhibiting growth.

On a more positive note, outgoing FICCI President, Harsh Mariwala said the India story was still alive and that "we are in a sweet spot". He admitted that industry had to self-regulate and internalise business ethics and it was also crucial that the Government gave the private sector credit for creating wealth and value for the country.

The S&P CNX Nifty is currently trading at 5,049.05, up by 30.65 points or 0.61%. The index has touched a high and a low of 5,054.60 and 5,025.30 respectively. There were 31 stocks advancing against 19 declines on the index.

The top gainers of the Nifty were IDFC up by 5.76%, ICICI Bank up by 4.65%, Bajaj Auto up by 3.60%, Axis Bank was up by 3.29% and Wipro was up by 2.98%.

On the other hand, Coal India down by 3.23%, Dr Reddy down by 3.18%, Maruti Suzuki down by 2.25%, Reliance Power down by 2.03% and Reliance Infra down by 1.46% were the top losers on the index.

All the Asian markets barring Jakarta Composite that was down by 0.71%, were trading in green; Shanghai Composite was up by 0.40%, Hang Seng was up by 0.62%, Nikkei 225 surged by 1.53%, Straits Times gained 0.89% and Seoul Composite was up by 1.87%.

Markets in Taiwan remained close for a public holiday.