CONSOLIDATION

The Indian equity markets are consolidating in the mid morning trade, the weakness in the regional markets is weighing down the sentiments , though there is not a severe cut but the markets are lacking buyers after three consecutive days of rally. Some of the high beta sectors like metal, Capital Goods, oil & gas are witnessing profit booking that has dragged the markets lower, however healthcare, power and consumer durables are powering the indices not to slip further. However, there has been some stabilization in the affected telecom stocks after the verdict of SC in the 2G scam. DB Corp was up by 0.23%, Tata Teleservices was up by 1.58%, though RCom was down by 4% and Idea Cellular was down by 2.5%

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 17,399.23, down by 32.62 points or 0.19%. The index has touched a high and a low of 17,474.38 and 17,382.70 respectively. There were 16 stocks advancing against 14 declining ones on the index.

Broader indices were outperforming the benchmarks; the BSE Mid cap and Small cap indices were up by 0.37% and 0.49% respectively.  

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were, Health Care up by 1.12%, Power up by 0.44%, CD up by 0.41%, FMCG up by 0.39% and Realty was up by 0.32%.

On the flipside, Metal down by 1.38%, CG down by 0.79%, Bankex down by 0.56%, Oil & Gas 0.51% and Auto was down by 0.16%.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Cipla was up by 2.03%, Sun Pharma up by 1.79%, Bharti Airtel up by 1.74%, Coal India was up by 1.43% and Tata Power was up by 1.35%.

On the flip side, Hindalco Inds down by 2.70%, Sterlite Inds down by 2.70%, Tata Steel down by 2.69%, Jindal Steel down by 2.02% and L&T down by 1.52% were the major losers on the index.

Meanwhile, a national policy will soon be announced to revamp and modernize the postal service department of India. The policy will also aim at expanding the activities of the postal sector and providing affordable services at all points in the country. It also aims at repositioning the Indian Postal department as a self-sufficient and cost-effective provider of services. Further, since the postal department has already been working as a quasi bank, efforts are on to convert it into a full fledged bank.

Speaking on the sidelines of the postal policy round table organised by FICCI, the Communications Minister, Kapil Sibal confirmed that the Postal Department had applied to the Reserve Bank of India for a banking license and he had written to the Finance Minister to expedite the same. He said that there was need to modernize the postal department so that it could keep up with the changing trends and also attain new heights.

India currently has 1.55 lakh post offices, 95% of which are located in rural areas. The postal department provides a host of savings products, postal life insurance, pension payments and money transfer services through these branches. However, it does not provide credit, which is the most important part of a financial institution. A banking license will help fill that gap, enabling the delivery of modern banking facilities in the remotest areas and therefore help bring about inclusive growth.

The department is also expecting large scale private sector participation in providing value added services and extending the department's product range beyond the current core functions. It was earlier reported that the department had already hired international consultancy firm Accenture to modernise the post offices across the country, which will also help create infrastructure for banking services.

The S&P CNX Nifty is currently trading at 5,261.60, down by 8.30 points or 0.16%. The index has touched a high and a low of 5,279.45 and 5,258.70 respectively. There were 26 stocks advancing against 23 declining ones, while one stock remained unchanged on the index.

The top gainers of the Nifty were Bharti Airtel up by 2.24%, Ranbaxy up by 2.04%, IDFC up by 1.98%, Dr Reddy up by 1.94% and Cipla was up by 1.88%.

RCom down by 3.62%, Hindalco down by 3.16%, Sterlite Inds down by 2.90%, Tata Steel down by 2.79%, and Jindal Steel down by 2.19% were the major losers on the index.

The other Asian indices were trading mixed; Shanghai Composite was up by 0.08%, Hang Seng was down by 0.10%, Nikkei 225 lost 0.55% and Seoul Composite was down by 0.94%,

On the other hand, Jakarta Composite added 0.09%, Straits Times gained 0.64% and Taiwan Weighted was higher by 0.05%.