SENTIMENTS REMAIN BEARISH

Sentiments remained bearish for third straight day on Friday and domestic benchmarks have made a soft opening tracking weak global cues. On the global front, US stocks fell modestly overnight to close out the worst month since September while, all the major indices in the Asia barring Shanghai and Hang Seng have made a weak start, extending their slide in the new month on weak US economic data and a report that showed Chinese manufacturing slowed. Back home, trading sentiment remained bearish on sustained selling by funds and retail investors on weak GDP growth. India's economic growth rate slowed to a nine-year low, both in the March quarter at 5.3 percent as well as in 2011-12 at 6.5 percent. On the sectoral front power, banking, consumer durables and fast moving consumer goods remained the few gainers while, software, technology and oil and gas witnessed the most selling pressure, dragging down the Sensex. Meanwhile, auto stocks traded with gains ahead of announcement of May sales. Tata Motors up by, 0.34% recovered after three days of hammering while, Maruti up 0.98%, India's biggest car maker, also saw gains. Moreover, the broader indices were trading in the green and the market breadth on the BSE was positive; there were 796 shares on the gaining side against 698 shares on the losing side while 62 shares remained unchanged. 

The BSE Sensex opened at 16,217.48; about 1 points lower compared to its previous closing of 16,218.53, and has touched a high and a low of 16,226.19 and 16,156.91 respectively.

The index is currently trading at 16,181.57 down by 36.96 points or 0.23%. There were 11 stocks advancing against 19 declines on the index.

The overall market breadth has made a positive start with 51.16% stocks advancing against 44.86% declines. The broader indices, however, were trading in the green; the BSE Mid cap and Small cap indices rose 0.07% and 0.20% respectively.

The few gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were, Bankex up by 0.39%, CD up by 0.35% and FMCG up by 0.09%. While, IT down by 1.23%, TECk down by 0.89%, Oil and Gas down by 0.65%, Power down by 0.44% and Auto down by 0.30% were the top losers on the index.

The top gainers on the Sensex were ICICI Bank up by 1.22%, SBI up by 1.14%, Maruti Suzuki up by 0.98%, Tata Power up by 0.80% and Bharti Airtel up by 0.79%.

On the flip side, Wipro was down by 1.94%, Bajaj Auto was down by 1.71%, TCS was down by 1.55%, Infosys was down by 0.96% and Hero MotoCorp was down by 0.93% were the top losers on the Sensex.

Meanwhile, a meeting of state run oil companies to review the decision on hike in petrol prices is likely to be held on Thursday. It is expected that the companies may lower petrol prices in the wake of falling international prices of crude oil.

Hindustan Petroleum Corp (HPCL) and Indian Oil Corp have already hinted that they might slash petrol prices between Rs 1.25 and 1.67 excluding taxes. Bharat Petroleum has also hinted at the possibility of lowering petrol prices by about Rs 1.5- 20. All three oil majors are of the opinion that if global prices of crude oil fall they would pass on the benefit to the consumers.

Oil companies review their decisions regarding a hike or lowering of petrol prices on the first and 16th of every month keeping in view the change in international prices as well as foreign exchange rates. The prices of petrol have been raised recently (May 24) by Rs. 7.50 because the international price of crude oil was hovering at $124 per barrel. However this has now come down to $116-117 a barrel fuelling hopes of a slash in prices.

The S&P CNX Nifty opened at 4,910.85; about 14 points lower compared to its previous closing of 4,924.25, and has touched a high and a low of 4,925.00 and 4,904.30 respectively.

The index is currently trading at 4,911.50, lower by 12.75 points or 0.26%. There were 18 stocks advancing against 32 declines on the index.

The top gainers of the Nifty were Maruti Suzuki up by 1.47%, ICICI Bank up by 1.32%, Axis Bank up by 1.23%, SBI up by 1.07% and Tata Power up by 0.96%.

On the flip side, Cairn down by 3.98%, Asian Paint down by 2.11%, Wipro down by 1.74%, Power Grid down by 1.73% and SAIL down by 1.68%, were the major losers on the index.

Most of the Asian equity indices were trading in the red; Jakarta Composite dropped 14.08 points or 0.37% to 3,818.74, KLSE Composite declined 6.56 points or 0.42% to 1,574.11, Nikkei 225 sank 63.61 points or 0.74% to 8,479.12, Straits Times Index slipped 15.98 points or 0.58% to 2,756.56, KOSPI Composite Index shed 4.74 points or 0.26% to 1,838.73 and Taiwan Weighted plummeted 108.65 points or 1.49% to 7,192.85.

On the other hand, Shanghai Composite advanced 10.06 points or 0.42% to 2,382.29 and Hang Seng Index rose 17.18 points or 0.09% to 18,646.70.