CAUTIOUS NOTE

After witnessing jubilant run in previous session, key benchmarks have made a flat opening. On the global front, Asian shares rose on Monday with sentiment brightening at the start of the third quarter after Europe agreed to shore up the region's banks. Japan's Nikkei average is up 14 points at 9,021. Though, Shanghai Composite fell 1.44 points or 0.06 percent to 2224 on weak manufacturing data. Back home, the rupee opened stronger for the third straight session, buoyed by the surge in regional stocks after European leaders agreed to shore up the region's troubled banks. Meanwhile, aviation stocks are flying high today on reports that the oil marketing companies have cut jet fuel prices by 2%. Stocks like Jet Air India, Spicejet and Kingfisher Airlines all edged higher in the trade. Moreover, retail related stocks like Pantaloon Retail and Shoppers Stop also trading jubilantly as the government plans to give a big push to foreign direct investment in multi-brand retail after the presidential polls this month. However, Auto pack was struggling in the early trade as some of the companies have reported weak June sales number. The broader indices were outperforming benchmarks while the market breadth on the BSE was traded in green; there were 1045 shares on the gaining side against 573 shares on the losing side while 71 shares remained unchanged.

The BSE Sensex opened at 17,438.68; about 9 points higher compared to its previous closing of 17,429.98, and has touched a high and a low of 17,464.47 and 17,388.17 respectively.

The index is currently trading at 17,397.75, down by 32.23 points or 0.18%. There were 13 stocks advancing against 17 declines on the index.

The overall market breadth was positive, with 61.87% stocks advancing against 33.93% declines. The broader indices were outperforming benchmarks; the BSE Mid cap and Small cap indices rose 0.47% and 0.49% respectively.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were, CD up by 1.26%, Realty up by 1.14%, CG up by 0.92%, Power up by 0.56% and HC up by 0.24%. While, Oil and Gas down by 0.60%, Auto down by 0.51%, IT down by 0.25%, Bankex down by 0.21% and FMCG down by 0.10% were the top losers on the index.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Bharti Airtel up by 1.26%, Tata Steel up by 1.07%, L&T up by 0.92%, BHEL up by 0.88% and Cipla up by 0.76%.

On the flip side, ONGC was down by 1.30%, Jindal Steel was down by 1.17%, Hero MotoCorp was down by 1.17%, Tata Motors was down by 1.01% and ICICI Bank was down by 0.96% were the top losers on the Sensex.

Meanwhile, with soaring imports, economic slowdown and moderate export growth, India's current account deficit (CAD) more than tripled to 4.5% of GDP at $78.2 billion in January-March period of 2011-12, posting highest in at least 30 years in the March quarter.

The current account deficit surged to $21.7 billion (4.5% of GDP), compared with $6.3 billion (1.3% of GDP) for the corresponding quarter in the previous year. It was also more than the October-December period's $19.6 billion, the previous record. The current account includes the trade balance, payments for software exports and worker remittances.

With export growth lagging import growth, the trade deficit for January-March 2012 widened to $51.6 billion from $30 billion in the same quarter last year. Growth in net services exports in the fourth quarter decelerated to 21.1% from 72% in the fourth quarter of 2010-11, while Imports swelled 22.6%, compared with 27.7%.

Despite the slowdown in economic activity and rupee depreciation, growth in merchandise imports moderated only mildly from 27.7% in Q4 of 2010-11 to 22.6% in Q4 of 2011-12.

The net capital and financial account surplus rose to $16.5 billion from $9.1 billion a year earlier. The RBI drew down its reserves by $5.7 billion during the January-March period, compared with an addition of $2 billion a year earlier.

The S&P CNX Nifty opened at 5,283.85; about 7 points lower compared to its previous closing of 5,278.90, and has touched a high and a low of 5,289.70 and 5,266.25 respectively.

The index is currently trading at 5,271.85, down by 7.05 points or 0.13%. There were 28 stocks advancing against 22 declines on the index.

The top gainers of the Nifty were Cairn up by 2.10%, DLF up by 1.15%, Bharti Airtel up by 1.16%, Tata Steel up by 1.04% and L&T up by 1.03%.

On the flip side, Hero MotoCorp down by 1.46%, ONGC down by 1.37%, Tata Motors down by 1.09%, Jindal Steel down by 1.00% and BPCL down by 0.95%, were the major losers on the index.

All the Asian equity indices were trading in the green; Nikkei was up by 14.15 points or 0.16 percent to 9020.23, Hang Seng index rallied 416.19 points or 2.19 percent to 19441.46, Kospi composite jumped to 3.17 point or 0.17 percent to 1857.25, Taiwan Weighted index surged 51.98 point or 0.71 percent 7348.76, Jakarta Composite accumulated 31.62 points or 0.78 percent to 3985.12, Strait Times soared 15.61 points or 0.57 percent to 2895 and KLSE composite advanced 4.67 points or 0.29 percent to 1603.