BEARISH SENTIMENT

Sentiments turned bearish on Wednesday's morning trade and Indian benchmarks have made a subdued start as market participants chose to take some profits off the table after the significant rise in last three sessions amid weak global cues. The US markets got a halt to their rally mood overnight after Federal Reserve downplayed the prospects for more quantitative easing while; all the Asian peers were exhibiting choppy trade at this point of time. Back home, funds and retail investors locked in gains recorded in the past few sessions amid a weakening trend overseas. On the sectoral front power, oil and gas and software remained the few gainers while, metal, realty and banking witnessed the most selling pressure, dragging down the Sensex. Meanwhile, Power companies gained after news on fuel supply agreements. Tata Power and Reliance Power gained 2 percent. Adani Power, NTPC and JSW Energy too were up 0.5-1.5 percent. Frontliners like Sesa Goa, JSPL, Sterlite Industries, State Bank of India, HDFC Bank, PNB, Axis Bank, GAIL India, JP Associates, Larsen & Toubro and Reliance Communications were down 0.5-2 percent. However, the broader indices were trading in the green and the market breadth on the BSE was positive; there were 828 shares on the gaining side against 734 shares on the losing side while 56 shares remained unchanged. 

The BSE Sensex opened at 17,553.26; about 44 points lower compared to its previous closing of 17,597.42, and has touched a low of 17,480.61 while high remained its opening.

The index is currently trading at 17,531.41 down by 66.01 points or 0.38%. There were 9 stocks advancing against 21 declines on the index.

The overall market breadth has made a positive start with 51.17% stocks advancing against 45.36% declines. The broader indices, however, were trading in the green; the BSE Mid cap and Small cap indices rose 0.02% and 0.25% respectively.

The few gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were, Power, up by 0.82%, Oil and Gas up by 0.16% and IT up by 0.04%. While, Metal down by 0.92%, Realty down by 0.86%, Bankex down by 0.82%, CD down by 0.53% and FMCG down by 0.46% were the top losers on the index.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Tata Power up by 2.81%, Maruti Suzuki up by 1.65%, BHEL Auto up by 1.57%, Wipro up by 0.93% and ONGC up by 0.77%.

On the flip side, GAIL was down by 3.06%, Jindal Steel was down by 1.60%, Coal India was down by 1.44%, ICICI Bank was down by 1.37% and HDFC was down by 1.00% were the top losers on the Sensex.

Meanwhile, India aims to more than double its natural gas pipeline network over the next five years to 30,000 km to cope with the country's booming demand for cleaner energy supplies. The government aims to develop a National Gas Grid by 2017 to take natural gas to different markets across the length and breadth of India.

As per Oil Minister S Jaipal Reddy, the natural gas sector in India is on the verge of a takeoff which is desirable as it is an efficient fuel for power generation, a cheaper feedstock for industries, a cleaner alternative fuel for vehicles. Moreover, it leads to an improvement in the quality of life.

Natural gas consumption in India has grown at 14% a year over the last five years and currently has a network about 12,000 km of gas pipelines with a capacity to transport 230 mmscmd of gas. Right now 12,000 km of additional lines are under construction. 

With the government's proposal to add another 7000 km, the network will increase to 30,000 km and the capacity will go up to 875 million standard cubic meters per day (mmscmd). This will lead to easier access and will help popularize the use of gas.

Given the fact that the production of domestic gas in India is limited, India is also looking at importing large quantities of liquefied natural gas (LNG). For this purpose it is also pursuing trans-national gas pipelines such as the 1800 km long Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI) Gas Pipeline, in spite of the security hazards and a high threat perception. After more than 18 months of hard negotiations, the four participating countries are close to initializing the Gas Sale Purchase Agreement (GSPA).

The S&P CNX Nifty opened at 5,328.65; about 30 points lower compared to its previous closing of 5,358.50, and has touched a high and a low of 5,337.70 and 5,317.90 respectively.

The index is currently trading at 5,337.60, lower by 20.90 points or 0.39%. There were 14 stocks advancing against 36 declines on the index.

The top gainers of the Nifty were Tata Power up by 2.56%, RPower up by 1.94%, BHEL up by 1.74%, Maruti Suzuki up by 1.55% and Ranbaxy up by 1.08%.

On the flip side, GAIL down by 3.48%, Jaiprakash Associates down by 2.26%, SAIL down by 2.02%, Jindal Steel down by 1.55% and Coal India down by 1.54%, were the major losers on the index.

All the Asian equities were exhibiting the choppy trade; Jakarta Composite was down 39.34 points or 0.93% to 4,176.11, KLSE Composite was down 5.95 points or 0.37% to 1,600.68, Nikkei 225 was down 152.37 points or 1.52% to 9,898.02, Straits Times was down 11.80 points or 0.39% to 3,003.18 and Seoul Composite was down 26.28 points or 1.28% to 2,023.00. 

Markets in mainland China and Hong Kong remained closed on Wednesday on account of Qingming Festival while the Taiwanese markets were shut owing to Tomb Sweeping Day holiday.