BELOW NEUTRAL LINE

Indian equities continued lackadaisical trade below neutral line in the late morning session. On the global front, Asian markets were trading in red after the Chinese latest data showed exports grew just one percent in July year-on-year to $176.9 billion, while imports rose 4.7 percent to $151.8 billion, cutting the trade surplus to $25.1 billion from $31.7 billion in June. Traders were seen piling up position in Oil & Gas, FMCG and TECk sector while selling was witnessed in Auto, Power and Consumer Durables sector. In the scrip specific development, Tech Mahindra jumped on reporting 22% rise in Q1 consolidated net profit. Max India gained on reporting net profit of Rs 536.54 crore for the quarter ended June 30, 2012 against net loss of Rs 1.75 crore for the corresponding period last fiscal. Market bellwether Infosys gained on entering into an agreement with India Post to transform its financial service. The NSE Nifty and BSE Sensex were managing to hold their psychological 5300 and 17500 levels respectively.

The market breadth on BSE was positive in the ratio of 1128: 910 while 100 scrips remained unchanged.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 17512.76 down by 48.11 points or 0.27% after touching a high of 17563.46 and low of 17509.19. There were 11 stocks advancing against 19 declines on the index.

The broader indices were trading on a positive note; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.12%, while Small cap index was up by 0.27%.

On the BSE sectoral space, Oil & Gas up by 0.34%, FMCG up by 0.27%, TECk up by 0.22%, HC up by 0.10% and IT up by 0.06% were the gainers while Auto down by 1.33%, Power down by 0.78%, CD down by 0.68%, CG down by 0.67% and Bankex down by 0.54% there was no loser on the index.

Bharti Airtel up by 1.01%, TCS up by 0.99%, RIL up by 0.67%, Cipla up by 0.55%, ITC up by 0.49% were the major gainers on the Sensex, while Hero Moto Corp down by 2.55%, Tata Motors down by 2.30%, Tata Power down by 1.84%, Bajaj Auto down by 1.29% and Mahindra & Mahindra down by 1.17% were the major losers on the index.

Meanwhile, after tyre companies, competition Watchdog, the Competition Commission of India (CCI) has now shifted its focus to car makers for alleged restrictive and monopolistic trade practices. Further towards this development, the commission has initiated a probe against automobile companies for anti-competitive practice, which includes restricting dealers to sell rival brands and availability of spares to consumers, which in turn impact the prices and services provided to automobiles on use.

Complaints received by ministry of labour and employment on this score mainly triggered an investigation by competition watchdog, which last time imposed a hefty penalty of Rs 6307 crore on Cement companies guilty of cartelization. The commission will be investing whether auto dealers could diversify their offerings as per their customer's choice. CCI besides looking into complaints on limiting access to services of automobiles to their 'authorised outlets' at exorbitant rates, will probe on the aspect whether the customers are able to received their insurance claims and other damages repaired only if done through the companies' authorized service centre's.

Further, towards the fag end of the last month, CCI also accused tyre companies on forming cartel. The Monopolies and Restrictive Trade Practices (MRTP) report on the matter alleged five tyre companies, controlling over 95% of the market share, too have acted in a concerted manner.

 The S&P CNX Nifty is currently trading at 5,304.30, down by 18.65 points or 0.35% after trading in a range of 5,323.40 and 5,304.30. There were 18 stocks advancing against 32 declines on the index.

The top gainers on the Nifty were BPCL up by 1.38%, Cairn up by 1.02%, TCS up by 1.01%, Sterlite Industries by 0.78% and Sesa Goa up by 0.74%. While, Tata Motors down by 2.51%, Ranbaxy by 2.33%, Hero Moto Co down by 2.22%, IDFC down by 2.07% and SAIL down by 2.05% were the top losers on the index.

All the Asian indices were trading in red; Kospi Composite Index down  0.20%, Nikkei 225 down 1.26%, Jakarta Composite down by 0.13%, KLSE Composite down  by 0.14%, Taiwan Weighted down  by 0.27%, Hang Seng index down by 0.97%, Shanghai Composite down by 0.32% and  Straits Times down by 0.26%.