VOLATILE

Converse to the characteristic of massive volatility on F&O expiry day, Indian equity markets, so far barring the trend are depicting steady moves, as barometer gauges continue to hold their respective 17000 (Sensex) and 5150 (Nifty) bastions. However, gains of the bourses are under check on expectations that an EU summit is unlikely to produce concrete measures to contain the region's debt crisis. The broader indices, however, have pared some of their gains, Positive opening of European markets are also supporting the optimism at Dalal Street. However, regional counterparts are exhibiting mixed trend, as on one hand, encouraging U.S. economic data has buoyed demand, but anxiety of investors ahead of a European Union summit of leaders, which are deeply divided on how to tackle the long euro zone debt crisis, have led to winding up of positions by select group of investor's.

Closer home, Tyre stocks have also lost momentum on the buzz of CCI imposing fine on five leading companies, which control over 95% of market. Report also alleges that these leading industry players have collectively blacklisted tyre importers. The regulatory body is likely to slap a fine amounting to 10% average sales of three years or three times the profit earned by companies in the years of contention. Staggering under pressure, were stocks from MRF, CEAT, Apollo Tyres and JK Tyre & Industries. On the BSE sectoral front, stocks from Power, Capital Goods and Public Sector Undertaking are sustaining the gaining momentum of the bourses, while stocks from rate sensitive's Auto, Bankex and Realty continue to languish at the bottom. The overall market breadth on BSE is in the favour of advances which have piped declines in the ratio of 1369:1037, while 121 shares remained unchanged.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 17,011.63, up by 43.87 points or 0.26% after trading as high as 17,029.20 and as low as 16,982.85. There were 18 stocks advancing against 11 declines on the index, while 1 stock remained unchanged.

The broader indices pared some of their gains; the BSE Mid cap index and Small cap indices were trading up by 0.40% and 0.46% respectively.

 On the BSE sectoral space, Power up 0.80%, FMCG up 0.60%, Capital Goods up 0.56%, PSU up 0.38% and Metal up 0.32% were the major gainers, while Auto down by 0.39%, Bankex down by 0.18%, Realty down by 0.09% and Oil & Gas down by 0.08% were top losers on the sectoral space.

NTPC up 1.65%, Tata Power up 1.48%, ITC up by 1.09%, Infosys up by 0.87% and BHEL up 0.84% were the major gainers on the Sensex, while Tata Motors down 1.30%, Gail India down 1.17%, SBI down 0.92%, Bajaj Auto down by 0.27% and TCS down 0.22% were the major losers on the index.

Meanwhile, Indian economy appears to be on a revival path with the new finance minister and the present Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh at the helm of affairs following the resignation of ex-finance minister Pranab Mukherjee who is tipped to be the front runner in the race to become the country's president. The new finance minister called upon a meeting with Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia, PMEAC Chairman C Rangarajan and senior officials from the Finance Ministry after taking over the Finance portfolio and showed his intent to revitalize Asia's third largest economy by initiating urgent steps to reverse the climate of pessimism with re-generation of animal spirit.

Manmohan Singh acknowledged that at the current juncture, India is passing through challenging times economically as growth rate has been deteriorating, the industrial production remains abysmal, investment climate too looks relatively unattractive while inflation also continues to be a problem. But, emphasizing that reviving investor sentiment was his top priority, he opined that government needs to work towards making India resilient in meeting external as well as internal challenges to get the economy going again and restart the India growth story.

The finance minister also voiced his concerns over the external factors and the way the exchange rate has behaved and also over the drying capital flows. While, he highlighted that there have been various challenges that have contributed to the general negative mood, Manmohan Singh advocated the idea of addressing problems on the tax front and he also called for solving problems faced by the Mutual Funds and Insurance sectors.

The finance minister is also scheduled to meet Reserve Bank of India Governor D Subbarao and Planning Commission members on June 28, 2012 as part of his review of affairs concerning the economy. 

The S&P CNX Nifty is currently trading at 5,150.55, higher by 8.65 points or 0.17% after trading as high as 5,159.00 and as low as 5,145.75. There were 29 stocks advancing against 21 declines and one remained unchanged on the index.

The top gainers on the Nifty were Siemens up by 1.67%, NTPC up by 1.55%, JP Associates up 1.51%, Tata Power up by 1.48% and Ambuja Cement up 1.38%.

Axis Bank down 2.84%, HCL Technologies down by 1.88%, IDFC down 1.82%, Gail India down 1.40% and Tata Motors down 1.38% were the major losers on the index.

In the Asian space, Hang Seng rose 0.04%, Nikkei 225 surged 1.65%, Straits Times Index climbed 0.66% and KOSPI Composite Index inched up 0.08%. On the other hand, Shanghai Composite eased 0.57% Jakarta Composite shed 0.31%, KLSE Composite fell 0.34% and Taiwan Weighted down 0.19%.

European shares after opening positive adopted to cautious stance, DAX gained 0.06%, FTSE 100 lost 0.07% and CAC40 decline 0.25%.