MARKETS IN FINE FETTLE

Indian equities continued to trade in fine fettle on back of strong buying in frontline counters in the late morning session. Most of the Asian equity indices were trading in the red after China's services industry weakened and concerns about the ongoing territorial dispute between China and Japan also weighed on investor sentiment. Back home, traders were seen piling up position in Oil &Gas, HC and Realty sector while selling was witnessed in CD , FMCG and Auto sector. Sun Pharma, Dr Reddys Lab, Cipla, Lupin, Ranbaxy Lab, Glaxosmithkline Pharmaceuticals and Divis Lab from HC pack were seen trading in green edging the markets higher. RIL, ONGC, BPCL, Indian Oil Corp and Oil India from Oil &Gas pack were seen trading firm in green. CD majors - Titan Industries, Rajesh Exports and Blue Star were capping the markets' gains. In the scrip specific development, Coal India gained on plan to sign fuel supply agreements by November.  SAIL rose as production jumped 7% in July-September 2012 period.  Religare Enterprises edged higher on getting nod for IFC's $75 million investment. Himadri Chemicals jumped on plan to invest Rs 525 crore for greenfield project at Odisha. RBNL gained on launching 'Big Magic International' in United States.  Govind Rubber soared on plan to set up tyre, bicycle manufacturing facility at Dahej.

The NSE Nifty and BSE Sensex were managing to hold their psychological 5,700 and 18,800 levels respectively. The market breadth on BSE was positive, in the ratio of 1534:783.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 18875.85 up by 51.94 points or 0.28% after trading in a range of 18882.21 and 18831.94. There were 19 stocks advancing against 11 declines on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.56% and Small cap index was up by 0.74%.

On the BSE sectoral space, Oil &Gas up by 0.91%, HC up by 0.89%, Realty up by 0.62%, Power up by 0.58% and Metal up by 0.51% were the top gainers. While, CD down by 0.33%, FMCG down by 0.18%, Auto down by 0.03% and Bankex down by 0.03% were the top losers.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Dr Reddys Lab up by 2.53%, Hindustan Unilever up by 1.63%, Bharti Airtel up by 1.32%, Sterlite Industries up by 1.24% and RIL up by 1.19%. On the other hand, Jindal Steel down by 3.11%, ITC down by 1.79%, Hero Moto Corp down by 1.50%, BHEL down by 0.78% and Bajaj Auto down by 0.73% was only the loser on the Sensex.

 Meanwhile, the Empowered Group of Ministers (EGoM) on telecom headed by Finance Minister P Chidambaram is likely to meet today and take a decision on the one-time spectrum fee issue. It has been reported that the issue of re-farming of radio waves will also come up for discussion at the EGoM.

While, the incumbent operators had been allocated spectrum beyond the contractual limit of 6.2 MHz without any additional charges by the government, much of the spectrum to be vacated by the telecom companies that lost their licences following a Supreme Court verdict will be reserved for re-farming radio waves in the 900 Mhz band. The Department of Telecommunication (DoT) intends to take back the spectrum allocated to telcos in this band and replace it with airwaves in the 1,800 Mhz band at the time of renewal of licences, mainly, to auction it again.

The EGoM will also be discussing the issue of including additional blocks in its notice inviting application (NIA). Earlier, EGoM had decided to provide 8 blocks of 1.25 Mhz each for auction in this band and three additional blocks when required in some circles, after reserving spectrum for re-farming or reallocating them to companies at the time of their licences renewal. However, DoT in its NIA on September 28 has increased the number of spectrum blocks in 1800 Mhz band for auctions by three, except in Delhi and Mumbai circles. 

The S&P CNX Nifty is currently trading at 5,734.05, up by 15.25 points or 0.27% after trading in a range of 5,738.25 and 5,722.85. There were 32 stocks advancing against 18 declines on the index.

The top gainers of the Nifty were Siemens up by 3.39%, Dr reddy up by 2.65%, IDFC up by 2.65%, Ambuja Cement up by 2.17% and JP Associates was up by 2.09%. While, Jindal Steel down by 3.43%, ITC down by 1.76%, Hero Moto Co down by 1.48%, Axis Bank down by 0.95% and Grasim down by 0.88% were the losers on the index.

Most of the Asian markets were trading in red, Jakarta Composite was lower by 0.11%, KLSE Composite lost 0.59%, Nikkei 225 declined by 0.45%, Straits Times was lower by 0.47% and Taiwan Weighted declined by 0.2% while Hang Seng up by 0.11% was only the gainer.

Markets in China and Korea are closed today for holidays.