TIGHT RANGE

Indian equity markets continued to move in a tight range and currently trading marginally down in negative territory. Investors were waiting for a fresh trigger to make some strong positions. The BSE benchmark slipped 10 points, while the NSE benchmark was down 0.40. In currency markets, Indian rupee opened higher for the third straight session on Monday, but currently trading marginally lower against dollar. However, country's largest vehicle maker, Maruti Suzuki rallied over 2% as company's sales spiked 20.3% year-on-year to 96,597 units in June. On sectoral front, realty and consumer durables were among the notable gainers on the Indian bourses. Select stocks from power and capital goods sectors too were trading higher. Pharmaceuticals, metal, bank and information technology stocks were mostly trading flat, while automobile and oil stocks were slightly weak. On the global front, Asian markets opened on a strong note on the back of strong cues from the US.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 17419.45, down by 10.53 points or 0.06%. The index, has so far, touched a high and low of 17,464.47 and 17,379.75 respectively. There were 14 stocks advancing against 16 declines on the index. The broader indices were outperforming benchmarks; the BSE Mid cap and Small cap indices surged 0.78% and 0.93% respectively.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were, CD up by 1.44%, Realty up by 1.30%, CG up by 0.73%, Power up by 0.71% and Bankex up by 0.18%. While, Auto down by 0.36%, FMCG down by 0.22%, Oil and Gas down by 0.18% and IT down by 0.11% were top losers on the index.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Maruti Suzuki up by 2.26%, BHEL up by 1.49%, GAIL up by 1.42%, Tata Steel up by 0.96% and HDFC Bank up by 0.91%. On the flip side, Jindal Steel down by 2.24%, Hero MotoCorp down by 1.41%, ICICI Bank down by 1.29%, Bajaj Auto down by 1.01% and HUL down by 0.84% were top losers amongst the 30 share index.

Meanwhile, owing to confusion whether the Railways have been exempted from new service tax regime, the hike in railway fares was not brought into effect on July 02, 2012. According to a railway ministry official, "there will be no hike in passenger fares which comes in to effect from Monday."

The new hike, if imposed, will increase the fares of all AC classes and first class by 3.6%.Meanwhile goods and passenger fares have been excluded from the hike as Railways have not received any communication from the Finance ministry.

Railway Minister Mukul Roy said that he has requested the newly elected finance minster Manmohan Singh not to introduce service tax on passenger fare and freight traffic, he is confident that finance minter would realize the situation and will accept his request. Earlier he has requested for the same to Pranab Mukherjee then the finance minster of India.

This exemption of passenger and freight charges will cost Indian railways Rs 6000 crore if it decides not to burden the two categories. Earlier service tax was introduced on passenger and freight in the general budget but was kept hold due to opposition by the erstwhile Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee. The exemption has been postponed since then.

This time the finance minister finally decided to levy service tax on freight and AC rail travel. Presently the freight and passenger fares enjoy 70% subsidy.

The S&P CNX Nifty is currently trading at 5,278.50, down by 0.40 points or 0.01%. The index has touched a high and low of 5,289.70 and 5,265.70 respectively. There were 29 stocks advancing against 21 declines on the index.

The top gainers of the Nifty were ACC up by 2.67%, Maruti up by 2.19%, DLF up by 1.94%, Cairn up by 1.84% and Kotak Bank up by 1.42%. On the flip side, Jindal Steel down by 1.70%, Hero MotoCorp down by 1.70%, ICICI Bank down by 1.28%, Bajaj Auto down by 1.20% and HUL down by 0.96%, were the major losers on the index.

Most of the Asian equity indices were trading in the green; Taiwan Weighted index jumped 0.67%, Jakarta Composite surged 0.82%, Strait Times soared 0.47% and KLSE composite advanced 0.22%, while Nikkei 225 down 0.04% and Kospi composite down 0.13% and Shanghai composite down by 0.07%.

Hang Seng Index remained closed due to a public holiday today.