LETHARGIC START

Prolonging their downtrend, Indian benchmarks have made a lethargic start, tracking negative global cues. Lower than expected Chinese Gross Domestic Product (GDP), Spain worries and weaker than expected US data weighed on global equities; moreover Asian equity indices got off to a dismal opening and most of them are exhibiting sluggish trade at this point of time. Back home, the BSE benchmark managed to hold the 17,000 level while, NSE's Nifty too holding its important 5,200 mark as all eyes are on the monthly inflation data to be released later in the day. Rate sensitive's Realty and banking providing some support to the benchmarks, both space rose about a percentage point ahead of Reserve Bank of India (RBI) monetary policy for FY13 on hopes that RBI will cut the repo rate by 25 bps on April 17 while, oil and gas, metal and software space were reeling under pressure. Moreover, the broader indices were outperforming benchmarks. The market breadth on the BSE was positive; there were 1,002 shares on the gaining side against 576 shares on the losing side while 54 shares remained unchanged.

Among individual stocks, Parsvnath Developers has rallied over 8 percent in opening deals on reports that Sahara Group, ICICI Bank, Bhushan Steel, Bharti Realty, Red Fort Capital and Shri Lal Mahal are in the race among others to acquire its 1.18 acre prime commercial land near Connaught Place in the National Capital.

The BSE Sensex opened at 17,047.87; about 47 points lower compared to its previous closing of 17,094.51, and has touched a high and a low of 17,081.95 and 17,010.16 respectively.

The index is currently trading at 17,075.55, down by 18.96 points or 0.11%. There were 10 stocks advancing against 20 declines on the index.

The overall market breadth has made a positive start with 61.40% stocks advancing against 35.29% declines. The broader indices were outperforming benchmarks; the BSE Mid cap and Small cap indices rose 0.60% and 0.49% respectively.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were, Realty up by 1.36%, Bankex up by 0.95%, FMCG up by 0.46%, CD up by 0.34% and HC up by 0.30%. While, Oil and Gas down by 0.76%, Metal down by 0.39%, IT down by 0.23%, Auto down by 0.22% and TECk down by 0.19% were the top losers on the index.

The top gainers on the Sensex were SBI up by 1.82%, DLF up by 1.29%, ICICI Bank up by 1.01%, ITC up by 0.57% and Tata Power up by 0.34%.

On the flip side, Wipro was down by 1.27%, RIL was down by 0.99%, Sterlite Industries was down by 0.94%, NTPC was down by 0.93% and Hero MotoCorp was down by 0.83% were the top losers on the Sensex.

Meanwhile, Power generation has expanded by 6% in the month of March. The increase has come despite 25 thermal power stations are operating with coal stock of less than four days.

As per Central Electricity Authority data, power generation in March increased by 6.39% to 2,550 million units as against the programmed 2,397 million units. Thermal power generation alone witnessed a rise of 6.7% at 2,211 million units against the programmed 2,072 million units. On the other hand, the fuel stock position at the thermal power stations remained strained with less than four days of reserves at 25 plants and less than seven days stock at 30 power stations.

As per the government officials coal stock is not the only reason effecting power supply. There are many more factors contributing to the increase in power, coal supply being one of them. Moreover it isn't that power companies do not have coal. The lesser supply is affecting the utilization capacity of the plant however is not shutting it down.

The Power Ministry has set a target of generating 9,20,000 million units of electricity this year, of which over 1,50,000 million units is expected to come from the private sector alone. It has plans to add over 7,60,000 million units of coal-based power during 2012-13. The government would add over 1,22,000 million units of hydel power during 2012-13, of which nearly 60,000 million units would come from the northern part of the country. It would also import over 5,000 million units of hydro power from Bhutan to bridge the shortfall.

The S&P CNX Nifty opened at 5,190.60; about 17 points lower compared to its previous closing of 5207.45, and has touched a high and a low of 5,206.70 and 5,183.50 respectively.

The index is currently trading at 5,201.35, down by 6.10 points or 0.12%. There were 20 stocks advancing against 30 declines on the index.

The top gainers of the Nifty were Ranbaxy up by 1.71%, SBI up by 1.68%, Axis Bank up by 1.55%, DLF up by 1.31% and PNB up by 1.19%.

On the flip side, HCL Tech down by 1.36%, Hindalco down by 1.32%, Sterlite Industries down by 1.31%, NTPC down by 1.29% and Ambuja Cement down by 1.23%, were the major losers on the index.

Most of the Asian equity indices were trading in the red; Shanghai Composite was down 5.17 points or 0.22% to 2,353.99, Hang Seng was down 142.01 points or 0.69% to 20,559.03, Jakarta Composite was down 6.19 points or 0.15% to 4,153.08, KLSE Composite was down 3.38 points or 0.21% to 1,599.74, Nikkei 225 was down 126.42 points or 1.31% to 9,511.57, Seoul Composite was down 19.83 points or 0.99% to 1,989.08 and Taiwan Weighted was down by 49.82 points or 0.64% to 7,738.45.

On the flip side, Straits Times was up by 1.24 points or 0.04% to 2,989.06.