DIRECTIONLESS

Domestic benchmarks have made a positive start after government hiking petrol price by Rs 7.50 a litre and also raised hopes of rise in diesel and LPG prices soon. But, the indices immediately pared most of their gains to trade flat as Petrol price hike alone would not be sufficient to improve sentiment of the market. Global worries too dampened the sentiments, lingering worries over Greece continued to make traders nervous while, most of the Asian equity indices were trading in the red amid signs that European leaders were unable to deliver meaningful measures to resolve the region's deepening debt crisis. Back home, Oil marketing companies rallied quite sharply after government has taken bold steps yesterday to increase petrol price by Rs 7.50 a litre. Stocks of BPCL, HPCL and IOC shot up 1.50-4 percent while, ONGC gained about 3.5 percent on hopes that government may raise diesel price too. However, auto stocks took knock down on account of hike in petrol prices. Meanwhile, the Indian rupee could not see any pull back in early trade as it opened at 56.14 a dollar as against previous close of 56 a dollar. However, the broader indices were going neck-to-neck with benchmarks. The market breadth on the BSE was positive; there were 755 shares on the gaining side against 526 shares on the losing side while 72 shares remained unchanged.

The BSE Sensex opened at 16,033.90; about 85 points higher compared to its previous closing of 15,948.10, and has touched a high and a low of 16,064.24 and 15,955.48 respectively.

The index is currently trading at 15,992.03, up by 43.93 points or 0.28%. There were 16 stocks advancing against 14 declines on the index.

The overall market breadth has made a positive start with 55.80% stocks advancing against 38.88% declines. The broader indices were trading in-line with benchmarks; the BSE Mid cap and Small cap indices rose 0.12% and 0.23% respectively.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Oil and Gas up by 1.40%, PSU up by 0.59%, CG up by 0.36%, Power up by 0.13% and Bankex up by 0.13%. While, IT down by 0.55%, Auto down by 0.49%, Realty down by 0.28%, TECk down by 0.22% and FMCG down by 0.14% were the top losers on the index.

The top gainers on the Sensex were ONGC up by 3.42%, HDFC up by 2.73%, GAIL up by 1.82%, Bharti Airtel up by 1.19% and Sterlite Industries up by 0.79%.

On the flip side, Maruti Suzuki was down by 2.13%, Bajaj Auto was down by 1.61%, SBI was down by 1.07%, Sun Pharma was down by 0.94% and Tata Power was down by 0.90% were the top losers on the Sensex.

Meanwhile, close on the heels of the Finance Minister's statements on the necessity of taking tough policy decisions and bringing in financial austerity, Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh also stressed on the need to take strict measures to deal with the fiscal situation in the country.

While speaking at a function to mark the completion of third year of the UPA-II government, the PM has stated that difficult decisions need to be taken both on spending and revenue mobilization. He has specifically stressed on the need to handle the worsening balance of payment and fiscal situation.

It is noteworthy that these comments are coming in at a time when the country is faced with a current account deficit (CAD) of 4% of GDP. The rupee has fallen to record levels against the dollar and the government is faced with huge subsidy bills due to subsidies extended for fuel.

The PM although has chosen to comment on the issue of falling rupee a little lightly stating that 'in a market economy, currency goes up and down'. He has stated that India has managed a growth level of close to 7% of the GDP in a worsening global environment which is creditable. He is also of the opinion that the general perception of policy paralysis needs to be corrected with reality.

On the achievements of the UPA government, it has been pointed out that poverty has declined at twice the rate that it did before the UPA government's tenure and there have been notable success in agriculture which recorded a growth of 3.3% in the 11th Plan as against 2.3% in the previous Plan. India a record production of foodgrains and the farmers are getting better prices for their crops. Rural wages have gone up and so has the disbursement of loans to farmers. Efforts are also being made to expand opportunities to scheduled castes, scheduled tribes, other backward classes, minorities and women.

The S&P CNX Nifty opened at 4,863.40; about 28 points higher compared to its previous closing of 4,835.65, and has touched a high and a low of 4,867.55 and 4,836.20 respectively.

The index is currently trading at 4,846.10, up by 10.45 points or 0.22%. There were 26 stocks advancing against 24 declines on the index.

The top gainers of the Nifty were ONGC up by 2.77%, HDFC up by 2.75%, BPCL up by 2.00%, GAIL up by 1.62% and Bharti Airtel up by 1.56%.

On the flip side, Maruti Suzuki down by 2.46%, Bajaj Auto down by 1.57%, Sun Pharma down by 1.30%, SBI down by 1.13% and Hero MotoCorp down by 1.06%, were the major losers on the index.

Most of the Asian markets were trading in the red; Shanghai Composite declined 5.40 points or 0.23% to 2,358.04, Hang Seng Index fell 116.36 points or 0.62% to 18,669.83, Nikkei 225 dropped 24.55 points or 0.29% to 8,532.05, Straits Times Index eased 1.01 points or 0.04% to 2,781.43 and Taiwan Weighted inched down 10.37 points or 0.15% to 7,137.38.

On the flipside, Jakarta Composite gained 5.35 points or 0.13% to 3,986.93, KLSE Composite rose 4.10 points or 0.27% to 1,543.81 and KOSPI Composite Index added 2.60 points or 0.14% to 1,811.22.