MARKETS MANAGE TO CUT LOSSES

Indian equity markets continued to gain steam in Monday afternoon trades as the frontline indices managed to cut large part of their losses to trade with moderately below the previous closing levels. The benchmarks gradually were inching towards the psychological 4,750 (Nifty) and 15,800 (Sensex) levels after some improvement in sentiments which remained pessimistic since the start of trade tracking the weakness in most Asian markets. Domestic bourses followed the European futures which showed some recovery ahead of the meeting of German Chancellor and French President later in the day which will be followed by a round of talks among euro-area leaders before the next European summit in Brussels. Moreover, all the Asian markets exhibited somber trends barring the Chinese benchmark which outperformed all its peers by surging around three percent on reports that the Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao said Beijing would improve market regulation and protect investor rights after a financial work conference over the weekend. Meanwhile, Indian Prime Minister avowed that with its strong economic fundamentals and robust constitutional processes, India is expected to register an economy growth rate of around 7% in this fiscal year ending March, 2012. The affirmation came a day after the Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee said that Indian GDP would grow by 7.5% in 2011-12. On the BSE sectoral front, the rate sensitive Auto index declined by over half a percent followed by the Oil & Gas counter that too slipped with similar losses. On the other hand, the Power counter led the gainers with over a percent gains followed by the Healthcare index which gained around half a percent.
Moreover, the broader markets showed some fervor and traded with notable gains, performing better than their larger peers. The bourses slipped on good volumes of over Rs 0.50 lakh crore. The market breadth on BSE was in favor of declines in the ratio of 1403:979 while 92 scrips remained unchanged.
The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 15,784.04 down by 64.76 points or 0.41% after trading as high as 15,841.40 and as low as 15,678.30. There were 11 stocks advancing against 19 declines on the index.
The broader indices were trading on a negative note; the BSE Mid cap index added 0.41% and Small cap surged 1.10%.
On the BSE sectoral space, Power up 1.11%, Healthcare up 0.47%, PSU up 0.44%, Capital Goods up 0.42% and Realty up 0.34% were the major gainers while Auto down 0.76%, Oil & Gas down 0.68%, FMCG down 0.57%, Metal down 0.30% and TECk down 0.14% were the only losers in the space.
BHEL up 2.53%, Maruti up 1.59%, Cipla up 1.55%, Jindal Steel up 1.28% and Tata Power up 1.25% were the major gainers on the Sensex, while Bharti Airtel down 2.51%, Tata Motors down 1.89%, Bajaj Auto down 1.60%, Coal India down 1.58% and SBI down 1.47% were the major losers in the index.
Meanwhile, even as the global economy is passing through a difficult phase, Indian Prime Minister avowed that with its strong economic fundamentals and robust constitutional processes, India is expected to register an economy growth rate of around 7% in this fiscal year ending March, 2012. Manmohan Singh's lowering of India's growth rate down to 7% in the fiscal 2011-12 has come a day after the Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee affirmed that Indian gross domestic product (GDP) would grow by 7.5% in 2011-12.
Asia's third largest economy saw its GDP grow at the rate of 8.5% in the previous fiscal while it was initially forecasted to expand by around 9% in the current fiscal. But the growth rate in the first half of the current fiscal slipped to 7.3% from 8.6% in the year ago period. As the world is passing through an adverse environment, India too is facing the challenges of the global economic slowdown with declining employment opportunities and increasing protectionism, said the Prime Minister addressing Indian Diaspora gathered from 60 countries at the tenth Prawasi Bharatiya Diwas in Jaipur.

However, Singh instilled some confidence on stating that he is hopeful of bringing back the rhythm of India's growth processes to sustain an annual growth rate of 9-10% in the medium-term. He further affirmed that domestic savings rate which currently stands at 33-35 percent of the nation's GDP will greatly facilitate the realization of growth objectives. Prime minister further acknowledged that government's efforts to battle inflation are producing results and there has been an improvement in the situation.

The S&P CNX Nifty is currently trading at 4,734.15, lower by 12.75 points or 0.27% after trading as high as 4,747.55 and as low as 4,695.45. There were 24 stocks advancing against 26 declines on the index.
The top gainers on the Nifty were BHEL up 2.87%, R Power up 2.38%, Cipla up 1.88%, Maruti up 1.80% and Jindal Steel up 1.37%.
Bharti Airtel down 2.69%, Seas Goa down 2.02%, Bajaj Auto down 1.79%, Coal India down 1.71% and BPCL down 1.56% were the major losers on the index.
Asian markets traded on a negative note; Hang Seng shed 0.55%, Jakarta Composite eased 0.21%, Straits Times plunged 1.05%, Seoul Composite sank 0.90% and Taiwan Weighted declined 0.39%.
On the flipside, Shanghai Composite surged 2.90%.
Stock markets in Japan remained closed on Monday for a public holiday.