POSITIVE OPENING

The Indian equity markets have made a decent opening following firm cues from some of the Asian counterparts. Though, leads from the overnight US markets remained lackluster, but cues from the European region were supporting sentiments. The positive Euro-zone consumer confidence data which showed household sentiment rose in January along with reports that the region's finance ministers have nearly finalized a treaty on a stability mechanism, encouraged investors as they hoped that progress was being made to tame the region's debt crisis. Back home, the traders are eagerly awaiting the credit policy to be declared today. While opinions are mixed, some feel that the RBI may cut cash reserve ratio (CRR), many still feel that for now the central bank will maintain a status quo with a dovish outlook. Capital goods, consumer durables and banks (major ones) were on buyers' radar while auto, realty and select metal stocks were under pressure. The broader indices too were witnessing some traction. The market breadth on the BSE was positive; there were 912 shares on the gaining side against 560 shares on the losing side while 56 shares remained unchanged.

The BSE Sensex opened at 16,806.72; about 55 points higher compared to its previous closing of 16,751.73, and has touched a high and a low of 16,834.82 and 16,786.77 respectively.

The index is currently trading at 16,796.71, up by 44.98 points or 0.27%. There were 17 stocks advancing against 13 declines on the index.

The overall market breadth has made a strong start with 59.69% stocks advancing against 36.65% declines. The broader indices were outperforming benchmarks; the BSE Mid cap and Small cap indices surged 0.24% and 0.55% respectively.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were, CD up by 1.07%, CG up by 0.92%, Oil and Gas up by 0.68%, FMCG up by 0.34% and HC was up by 0.34%. While, Realty down by 0.59%, Auto down by 0.29% and Metal down by 0.29% were the only losers on the index.

The top gainers on the Sensex were L&T up by 1.20%, Bharti Airtel up by 1.02%, Cipla up by 0.98%, RIL up by 0.91% and HUL was up by 0.90%.

On the flip side, Maruti Suzuki was down by 1.84%, Sterlite Industries was down by 1.62%, DLF was down by 1.39%, NTPC was down by 0.80% and Hero MotoCorp down by 0.75% were the top losers on the Sensex.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh has expressed his concern over the state of skill development in the country. He said that there was an urgent need to provide skill training to India's growing youth population and asked ministers to step up their efforts and set ministry-wise targets for skill development in the run-up to the Union Budget in mid-March and propose ambitious skilling initiatives in the 12th Plan (2012-17). He asked the ministers to especially consider the skilling needs of people belonging to SC, ST, backward classes, minorities, women and those with disabilities and focus on sectors like infrastructure, real estate, auto and auto components, textile, healthcare, retail and logistics.

The Prime Minister was of the view that any social and economic policy of inclusive development could not ignore the fact that a significant proportion of India's citizens were forced to take up unskilled work because they lacked the education and skills required for taking up economically and professionally rewarding employment. In his opinion the country could reap a demographic dividend only if the youth was educated and possessed skills required for earning a decent livelihood.

Skill requirement studies estimate that India will require around 26 crore skilled people by 2018 and around 34 crore by 2022 which means that there would be a need to provide quality training to around eight crore people in the next five years. This requires a focused and target oriented approach from the Central and State governments backed by matching outlays. The PM is all for it and has said that any such proposal will be looked at 'favourably' by the government and announcements could be made in the budget for next fiscal, to be unveiled in March.

Dilip Chenoy, Managing Director of National Council on Skill Development  (NSDC) opined that, "if there is a service tax exemption (for NSDC and other training providers) it will help bring down fees for skill training programmes and thereby incentivise more students to enroll for such programmes". If the proposals go through, students enrolling in courses like software, retail and fashion can expect to pay a lower course fees.

The S&P CNX Nifty opened at 5,064.80; about 18 points higher compared to its previous closing of 5,046.25, and has touched a high and a low of 5,072.00 and 5,057.85 respectively.

The index is currently trading at 5,059.85, higher by 13.60 points or 0.27%. There were 31 stocks advancing against 19 declines on the index.

The top gainers of the Nifty were BPCL up by 2.03%, L&T up by 1.28%, Bharti Airtel up by 1.02%, Ambuja Cement up by 1.01% and Reliance Infra up by 0.92%.

Sterlite Industries down by 2.22%, Maruti Suzuki down by 1.57%, Ranbaxy down by 1.46%, DLF by 1.16% and Hero MotoCorp was down by 1.07%, were the major losers on the index.

In Asia, majority of bourses remained closed for Lunar New Year holiday, while the benchmarks in Indonesia and Japan are trading on a positive note; Jakarta Composite was up 15.79 points or 0.40% to 4,002.30 and Nikkei 225 was up by 23.54 points or 0.27% to 8,789.44.