MARKETS TRADE FLAT

After witnessing downfall in previous session, domestic benchmarks have opened on a flat note tracking subdued global cues. US stocks fell sharply overnight as investors saw little reason to be optimistic about a European Union summit this week while, most of the Asian equity indices were trading in the red at this point of time after Spain lost hope of getting help from the European Leaders in the upcoming summit in Brussels to protect its banks and investors. Back home, on the sectoral front, healthcare, realty and oil & gas remained the top gainers while, fast moving consumer goods, capital goods and metal remained the major loser on the BSE sectoral indices. Meanwhile, IT stocks continued to underperform the broader markets. Infosys, HCL Tech and Wipro were among the laggards on the Nifty index. IT stocks have been out of favour over the uncertainty in the direction of the rupee and the global macro environment. However, Cement stocks like Ambuja Cements, Ultratech Cements and ACC have bounced back after the adverse order by CCI. Moreover, the broader indices too were outperforming benchmarks. The market breadth on the BSE was positive; there were 799 shares on the gaining side against 521 shares on the losing side while 73 shares remained unchanged.

The BSE Sensex opened at 16,873.09; about 9 points lower compared to its previous closing of 16,882.16, and has touched a high and a low of 16,908.54 and 16,857.00 respectively.

The index is currently trading at 16,864.89, down by 17.27 points or 0.10%. There were 18 stocks advancing against 12 declines on the index.

The overall market breadth has made a strong start with 57.36% stocks advancing against 37.40% declines. The broader indices were outperforming benchmarks; the BSE Mid cap and Small cap indices surged 0.23% and 0.14% respectively.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were, HC up by 0.44%, Realty up by 0.37%, Oil and Gas up by 0.30%, Power up by 0.21% and PSU up by 0.17%. While, FMCG down by 0.69%, CG down by 0.32%, Metal down by 0.31%, IT down by 0.08% and Bankex down by 0.07% were the top losers on the index.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Tata Power up by 1.54%, Jindal Steel up by 1.12%, Dr Reddy up by 1.11%, TCS up by 0.95% and Sun Pharma up by 0.76%.

On the flip side, HUL was down by 1.33%, Tata Steel was down by 1.29%, ITC was down by 0.88%, Infosys was down by 0.68% and Hindalco was down by 0.48% were the top losers on the Sensex.

Meanwhile, in a bid to boost Indian economy in the back drop of rupee depreciation, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) eased External Commercial Borrowings (ECBs) and has enhanced foreign institutional investors (FIIs) investment caps in corporate bonds.

The Reserve bank has increased existing limit for investment in Government securities (G-Secs) by SEBI registered FIIs to $20 billion. It has allowed Indian companies in sectors of manufacturing, infrastructure and others having foreign exchange earnings to avail ECBs upto a limit of $10 billion.

The central bank has decided to allow long term investors like Sovereign Wealth Funds (SWFs), multilateral agencies, endowment funds, insurance funds, pension funds and foreign central banks to be registered with SEBI, as to invest in G-Secs for the entire limit of $20 billion. The lock-in period and residual maturity for FII investment in infrastructure debt and the scheme for non-resident investment in Infrastructure Development Funds (IDFs) have been further rationalized.

Further, Qualified Foreign Investors (QFIs) has been allowed to invest in mutual fund (MF) schemes that hold at least 25% of their assets in infrastructure sector under the current $3 billion sub-limit for investment in mutual funds related to infrastructure.

The S&P CNX Nifty opened at 5,107.45; about 7 points lower compared to its previous closing of 5,114.65, and has touched a high of 5,124.85 while low remain its opening.

The index is currently trading at 5,110.70, down by 3.95 points or 0.08%. There were 24 stocks advancing against 26 declines on the index.

The top gainers of the Nifty were Grasim up by 1.59%, Tata Power up by 1.49%, Jindal Steel up by 1.14%, TCS up by 0.95% and Sun Pharma up by 0.92%.

On the flip side, SAIL down by 1.67%, Tata Steel down by 1.39%, HUL down by 1.22%, ITC down by 0.88% and Hindalco down by 0.77%, were the major losers on the index.

Most of the Asian equity markets were trading in the red; Shanghai Composite was down by 15.63 points or 0.70 percent to 2208.48, KLSA Composite slide by 3.06 point or 0.19 percent 1600.15, Nikkei dipped by 66.67 point or 0.76 percent to 8668.06, Strait Times declined by 6.47 point or 0.23 percent to 2809.12, Kospi Composite Index shed by 3.80 points or 0.22 percent to 1821.47 and Taiwan Weighted plummeted 39.69 points or 0.56 percent to 7126.96.

On the flip side, Hang Seng Index managed to rally as compared to its Asian Counterparts and was up by 21.25 point or 0.11 per cent to 18918.70 while, Jakarta Composite up by 12.85 points or 0.33% to 3,870.44.