FIRM OPENING

The Indian equity markets have made a firm start led by some bottom fishing after two sessions' of downfall. However, global cues remained choppy as the US markets made a mixed closing on Thursday as the news from the economy front too remained mixed while, Asian counters exhibiting mixed trend at this point of time. Back home, sustained buying in mostly all the key heavyweights along with broader indices supported BSE's -- Sensex -- and NSE's -- Nifty -- to trade comfortably over their crucial 17,200 and 5,200 mark respectively. On the sectoral front, banking, realty and oil and gas remained the top gainers while there was no loser on the index. The sentiments got a boost after the Reserve Bank said it will buy up to Rs 10,000 crore of bonds through open market operations today. Meanwhile, the sharp jump in core sector also added to optimism. The eight core infrastructure industries that account for nearly 40% in the IIP grew at 6.8% in February against 0.5% last month. The broader indices were going neck to neck with benchmarks while, the market breadth on the BSE was positive; there were 1,079 shares on the gaining side against 396 shares on the losing side while 42 shares remained unchanged.

The BSE Sensex opened at 17,117.41; about 59 points higher compared to its previous closing of 17,058.61, and has touched a high and a low of 17,263.72 and 17,105.22 respectively.

The index is currently trading at 17,248.35, up by 189.74 points or 1.11%. All the 30 stocks were on the advancing side on the index.

The overall market breadth has made a strong start with 70.66% stocks advancing against 25.93% declines. The broader indices were trading in line with benchmarks; the BSE Mid cap and Small cap indices surged 1.15% and 0.92% respectively.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were, Realty up by 1.88%, Bankex up by 1.64%, CD up by 1.62%, Metal up by 1.48% and Power up by 1.33%. While, there were no losers on the index.

The top gainers on the Sensex were ICICI Bank up by 2.60%, Tata Power up by 2.49%, Hindalco up by 2.40%, TCS up by 1.90% and DLF up by 1.84%. While, there was no loser on the Sensex.

Meanwhile, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has asked banks to improve their ability to manage stressed assets, but said that there was nothing alarming about an unexpected rise in the non-performing assets levels in this financial year. Banks, especially the public sector banks have been reporting higher NPAs since the second quarter of the fiscal because of the continued slowdown in economic activities and the rising domestic rate of interests.

SBI, the country's largest lender, has reported record gross NPAs in Q3 at Rs 40,080 crore and has seen a 87.5% spike in its provisioning. Private lenders however are better off. What is worrying about the NPAs is not the increase in their numbers but the 300% spike in corporate debt recast (CDR). Under CDR, creditors, among others, make concessions by reducing the interest rate, rescheduling repayments, converting debt into equity/ preference shares, and waiving principal/ interest (to a limited extent) to turnaround the companies.

The sectors which are seeking CDR are the textiles industry, aviation industry and DISCOMS. Textile companies are seeking CDRs for Rs 1 trillion worth of debts. The RBI has approved Rs 18,000 crore for Air India, while Kingfisher's Rs 7,000 crore was already recast in 2010. The debt in DISCOMS is already touching Rs 80,000 crore while many have recently gone for CDRs.

In total, CDRs have already touched a whopping Rs 76,251 crore, three times more than in the previous year's Rs 25,054 crore. This makes the overall CDR asset in the system to over Rs 1.9 trillion. The increase in CDRs clearly points out to the distress of India Inc. Apart from economic downturn and high interest rates, use of working capital funds for funding capital expenditure, diversion of funds and adverse currency movements are some of the other reasons responsible for the sharp increase in CDR cases.

The S&P CNX Nifty opened at 5,206.60; about 28 points higher compared to its previous closing of 5,178.85, and has touched a high and a low of 5,244.05 and 5,203.65 respectively.

The index is currently trading at 5,239.25, higher by 60.40 points or 1.17%. There were 48 stocks advancing against just 2 declines on the index.

The top gainers of the Nifty were Tata Power up by 3.19%, JP Associates up by 2.73%, ICICI Bank up by 2.68%, Hindalco up by 2.40% and IDFC up by 2.33%.

On the flip side, ACC down by 0.39% and Cairn down by 0.22%, were the major losers on the index.

Asian markets were trading mixed; Shanghai Composite was up 7.78 points or 0.35% to 2,259.94, Jakarta Composite was up 1.50 points or 0.04% to 4,106.67, KLSE Composite was up 6.64 points or 0.42% to 1,592.08 and Straits Times was up 11.02 points or 0.37% to 3,005.11.

On the flip side, Hang Seng was down 121.95 points or 0.59% to 20,487.44, Nikkei 225 was down 33.05 points or 0.33% to 10,081.74, Seoul Composite was down 1.04 points or 0.05% to 2,013.37 and Taiwan Weighted was down 3.55 points or 0.05% to 7,869.11.

SOFT START

The domestic bourses have made a soft start and fell over half a percent in early trade led by profit booking after yesterday's decent rally amid weak Asian counters. Stock markets across Asia largely drifted into the negative terrain on Wednesday after sentiments got undermined by overnight decline on Wall Street. Though, the US markets reversed some of their gains overnight following lackluster housing and consumer confidence data. Back home, cautious approach adopted by investors ahead of Thursday's monthly expiry in the derivatives segments also influenced the trading sentiment. Moreover, the Indian rupee moving towards 51 to the dollar, depreciating by 23 paise to 50.92 a dollar too is dampening the sentiments. Meanwhile, barring healthcare space, all other sectoral indices traded lower on the BSE. Consumer durables, metal, realty and banking led the declines. Among individual stocks, IVRCL rallied in opening trades after the company said that Essar Group has bought additional 5.31% stake in the company through open market purchase. The broader indices too were struggling to get some traction and the market breadth on the BSE was negative; there were 614 shares on the gaining side against 870 shares on the losing side while 63 shares remained unchanged.

The BSE Sensex opened at 17,234.48; about 23 points lower compared to its previous closing of 17,257.36, and has touched a low of 17,135.76 while high remained its opening.

The index is currently trading at 17,138.40 down by 118.96 points or 0.69%. There were 5 stocks advancing against 25 declines on the index.

The overall market breadth has made a negative start with 39.69% stocks advancing against 56.24% declines. The broader indices too were trading in the red; the BSE Mid cap and small cap indices declined 0.36% and 0.23% respectively.

The only gaining sectoral index on the BSE was HC up by 0.49%. While, CD down by 1.59%, Metal down by 1.35%, Realty down by 1.22%, Bankex down by 1.12% and Auto down by 0.73% were the top losers on the index.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Sun Pharma up by 0.90%, M&M up by 0.75%, Tata Power up by 0.52%, Cipla up by 0.35% and RIL up by 0.11%.

On the flip side, Sterlite Industries was down by 2.54%, Hindalco was down by 1.97%, Tata Motors was down by 1.43%, Jindal Steel was down by 1.41% and DLF was down by 1.39% were the top losers on the Sensex.

Meanwhile, India's steel production has increased by 6.8% to 63.894 million tonnes in the period April-January of this fiscal, as compared to the same period last year. Further, steel production during the entire 2010-11 fiscal was 66.013 million tonnes, up 8.8% over 60.624 million tonnes in 2009-10, as per the country's steel minister, Beni Prasad Verma.

India has been a net importer of steel during the last three years and the trend has continued so far in the current fiscal as well. During the April-January period of the current fiscal, India imported 5.59 million tonnes finished steel against 3.45 million tonnes over the corresponding period last year. In 2010-11, steel exports stood at 3.46 million tonnes compared to 6.79 million tonnes of imports.

The government has taken various steps to maintain steady supply position in the domestic market and also to boost steel production in the country. It has increased export duty on iron ore exports to 30% and brought import duty on raw materials such as coking coal and steel melting scrap to zero.

Steel prices in the country are deregulated and hence it is decided by the individual producers based on various market conditions such as demand-supply scenario, movement in international steel prices, cost of raw materials and other input costs.

The S&P CNX Nifty opened at 5,231.70; about 12 points lower compared to its previous closing of 5,243.15, and has touched a high and a low of 5,232.10 and 5,205.20 respectively.

The index is currently trading at 5,206.05, lower by 37.10 points or 0.71%. There were 10 stocks advancing against 40 declines on the index.

The top gainers of the Nifty were Dr Reddy up by 1.23%, Sun Pharma up by 0.95%, M&M up by 0.91%, Ranbaxy up by 0.86% and HCL Tech up by 0.63%.

On the flip side, Sterlite Industries down by 2.41%, Cairn down by 2.27%, Hindalco down by 2.25%, JP Associates down by 2.15% and Sesa Goa down by 2.02%, were the major losers on the index.

Most of the Asian equity indices were trading in the red; Shanghai Composite was down 35.28 points or 1.50% to 2,311.90, Hang Seng was down 199.25 points or 0.95% to 20,847.66, Jakarta Composite was down 7.74 points or 0.19% to 4,071.64, KLSE Composite was down 1.67 points or 0.11% to 1,586.43, Nikkei 225 was down 96.58 points or 0.94% to 10,158.57, Straits Times was down 13.25 points or 0.44% to 3,005.66 and Seoul Composite was down 7.90 points or 0.39% to 2,031.86.

On the flip side, Taiwan Weighted was up by 12.27 points or 0.15% to 8,041.73.

TIGHT RANGE

Barometer gauges oscillating in a tight band are sustaining their gains as the sentiment continues to remain firm in the backdrop of strong global cues. Short covering that has emerged at lower levels, has also contributed to the up move of the bourses, which stagnating at the start of the week, raised doubts over the fundamentals of the markets in the week marked by March month's F&O expiry.

Buoyed by the cheer across the globe post Federal Reserve chief Ben Bernanke suggested he thinks more needs to be done to help spur the US economy, bears ran berserk to capture gains, which drove the benchmark indices higher above the 17100 level (Sensex) and 5200 (Nifty) respectively.  Much of the strength came in from the trade of Asian pacific shares, which imitating overnight rally of Wall Street stood tall in trade. Asian shares rose the most in six weeks after Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke signaled he will continue to stimulate the U.S. economy. Meanwhile, the US future indices were showing an uptick in the screen trade.

Back home, sugar stocks like Shree Renuka Sugars, Sakthi Sugars, Bajaj Hindusthan, Dhampur Sugar Mills and Balrampur Chini Mills, rallied on the bourses after the government decided to allow the export of another 1 MT of sugar export under the Open general license (OGL) in view of surplus production. However, Auto stocks lost all their steam after Maharashtra government raised motor vehicle tax; Maruti Suzuki plunged 2.7% while Tata Motors, M&M and Bajaj Auto were down by around 0.5%. Stocks from Consumer Durable, Realty and Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) counters on the BSE sectoral front, were one among the prominent gainers, however, stocks from Power, Oil & Gas and Public Sector Undertaking showcase reversed trend. The broader indices too depicted lackluster trend. The overall market breadth on BSE was in the favour of advances which thumped declines in the ratio of 1121:1031, while 128 shares remained unchanged.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 17,141.30, up by 88.52 points or 0.52%. The index has touched a high and a low of 17,230.34 and 17,061.16 respectively.   There were 19 stocks advancing against 11 declining one's on the index.

The broader indices were trading flat; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.03% and Small cap indices was down by 0.01%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were, CD up by 2.04%, Realty up by 1.26%, FMCG up by 1.20%, TECk up by 1.08% and IT up by 0.96%. While, Power down by 0.16%, Oil and Gas down by 0.15% and PSU down by 0.09% remained the only losers on the index.

The top gainers on the Sensex were HUL up by 2.83%, Sterlite Industries up by 2.73%, Cipla up by 2.42%, DLF up by 2.14% and HDFC up by 1.96%.

On the flip side, Maruti Suzuki was down by 2.23%, BHEL down by 1.88%, Jindal Steel down by 0.76%, ICICI Bank down by 0.74% and Tata Power was down by 0.73 % were the top losers on the Sensex.

Meanwhile, the government has allowed exports of additional 1 million tonnes of sugar. The decision to allow exports was taken by an Empowered Group of Ministers (EGoM), headed by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee. The decision will also help domestic mills to clear mounting sugarcane arrears to farmers that have reached Rs 8,409 crore. 

India is the second largest producer and the world's largest consumer of sugar. But it is a sector which is highly regulated by the government. The government had allowed 2 million tonnes of sugar exports in the 2011-12 marketing year in two equal tranches, as the country's sugar output was all set to exceed domestic consumption.

Based on the inputs of Cane Commissioners of all sugar producing states, the food ministry recently revised the sugar production estimates upwards to about 25.2 million tonnes from the earlier projection of 24.6 million tonnes for this marketing year.

However, the industry had pegged the sugar output at 26 million tonnes in 2011-12 against 24.3 million tonnes in the previous year. The annual domestic demand is projected at 22 million tonnes. With this decision the total quantity of sugar approved for exports has risen to 3 million tonne, in line with what the industry and markets expected. This could increase the prices of sugar in the domestic market by approximately 1%.

The EGOM has also decided to continue exports of wheat and non-basmati rice, which was allowed under Open General Licence (OGL) in September last year, on record production. The panel has also allowed unrestricted exports of wheat flour under the OGL mechanism for the year starting April 1, 2012, removing a limit of 650,000 tonnes set for the current fiscal year.

The S&P CNX Nifty is currently trading at 5,200.80, higher by 16.55 points or 0.32%. The index has touched a high and a low of 5,246.05 and 5,184.65 respectively.  There were 33 stocks advancing against 16 declining while one stock remained unchanged on the index.

The top gainers of the Nifty were HUL up by 2.54%, Sterlite Industries up by 2.45%, Cipla up by 2.35%, DLF up by 2.03% and HDFC up by 1.90%.

On the flip side, Maruti Suzuki down by 2.62%, BHEL down by 2.01%, ICICI Bank down by 1.26%, Jindal Steel down by 1.16% and JP Associate down by 0.73% were the major losers on the index.

All the Asian equity indices were trading in the green; Shanghai Composite gained 0.20%, Hang Seng surged 1.37%, Jakarta Composite added 0.60%, KLSE Composite rose 0.32%, Nikkei 225 spiked up by 2.14%, Straits Times accumulated 0.96%, Seoul Composite was up by 0.86% and Taiwan Weighted registered gains of 0.58%.

MARKETS CRUMBLE

After marking a flat opening, key benchmarks have extended their losses with Sensex slumping over 200 points, breaching its crucial 17,200 mark. The Asian stock markets too are giving mixed lead today with a slight upside bias on disappointing economic data from the United States offset by solid corporate earnings news. Back home, markets may remain volatile this week as traders will roll over positions from the near-month March 2012 series to April 2012 series. The March 2012 derivatives contracts expire on March 29, 2012. All the sectoral indices on the BSE traded lower. Banks, realty, power, capital goods, oil and gas and IT stocks were witnessing the selling pressure in early trade. Moreover, the broader indices too were struggling to get some traction and the market breadth on the BSE was negative; there were 603 shares on the gaining side against 944 shares on the losing side while 80 shares remained unchanged. 

Bucking the trend, Shree Renuka Sugars, Balrampur Chini and Bajaj Hindusthan gained over in the early trade as EGoM headed by Finance Minister will meet today to decide on allowing additional export up to 1 million tones of sugar in the 2011-2012 marketing year. Among individual stocks, Maruti advanced in early trade on reports that the company plans to set up 1,700 crore rupee diesel plant in Gurgaon and has hiked prices of its vehicles by up to 17,000 rupees following the hike in excise duty in the Budget.

The BSE Sensex opened at 17,377.59; about 16 points higher compared to its previous closing of 17,361.74, and has touched a low of 17,132.95, while high remain its opening.

The index is currently trading at 17,149.60 down by 212.14 points or 1.22%. There were only 2 stocks advancing against 28 declines on the index.

The overall market breadth has made a negative start with 37.06% stocks advancing against 58.02% declines. The broader indices too were trading in the red; the BSE Mid cap and Small cap indices declined 0.62% and 0.40% respectively.

The major losing sectoral indices on the BSE were, Bankex down by 1.63%, Realty down by 1.53%, Power down by 1.51%, CG down by 1.44% and Oil and Gas down by 1.31%, while there were no gainers on the index.

The few gainers on the Sensex were Jindal Steel up by 1.14% and Maruti Suzuki was up by 0.18%.

On the flip side, Hero ICICI Bank was down by 2.96%, BHEL was down by 2.20%, TCS was down by 2.08%, GAIL was down by 2.02% and NTPC was down by 1.87% were the top losers on the Sensex.

Meanwhile, it is unlikely that diesel prices will be deregulated in the near future but petrol prices may be hiked. As per Oil Minister, S Jaipal Reddy, petrol prices have seen a recent discontinuation of deregulation and need to be relooked into, however prices of diesel will require more forethought and consultations as it involves more than just numbers.

Even though petrol prices have been deregulated, any hike in them is made by the oil companies after consulting the government. Given the recent assembly elections, the UPA government had not allowed the oil companies to hike petrol prices in tandem with its international prices. This led to the companies suffering losses to the tune of Rs 4,500-crore.

Recently, Indian Oil has been pressing the government to fully compensate it for the losses or it will have no option to pass on this burden to the consumers. If this happens, the still fragile inflation numbers could witness a further upswing. At present, the government compensates oil firms for losses only on diesel, domestic LPG and kerosene.

The government's rising fiscal deficit is making it difficult for it to sustain fuel subsidies. Moreover it is eroding the government's credibility in the national as well as international markets. The recent budget has made the government's commitment clear on the food security bill and the food minister has stated that it could be implemented by the end of the calendar year. Given this huge rise in its expenditure, the government will find it difficult to sustain its subsidy bill unless it cuts down somewhere else.

A hike in diesel price is receiving considerable push from economic quarters, followed by support for deregulating LPG. However given the UPAs difficult allies, it may not be an easy task. This fact has only been strengthened by the recent roll back in the hike of rail fares.

The S&P CNX Nifty opened at 5,274.35; about 4 points lower compared to its previous closing of 5,278.20, and has touched a high and a low of 5,274.95 and 5,207.90 respectively.

The index is currently trading at 5,214.70, lower by 63.50 points or 1.20%. There were only 4 stocks advancing against 46 declines on the index.

The top gainers of the Nifty were Jindal Steel up by 1.52%, Kotak Bank up by 0.95%, Maruti Suzuki up by 0.39% and JP Associates up by 0.38%.

On the flip side, Hero Axis Bank down by 3.25%, ICICI Bank down by 3.00%, BHEL down by 2.77%, IDFC down by 2.77% and TCS down by 2.10%, were the major losers on the index.

Asian markets were trading on a mixed note; Shanghai Composite was up 2.33 points or 0.10% to 2,351.87, Hang Seng was up 4.64 points or 0.02% to 20,673.44, KLSE Composite was up 0.91 points or 0.06% to 1,586.74 and Nikkei 225 was up 25.13 points or 0.25% to 10,036.60.

On the flip side, Jakarta Composite was down 15.17 points or 0.38% to 4,026.39, Straits Times was down 6.69 points or 0.22% to 2,983.39, Seoul Composite was down 10.59 points or 0.52% to 2,016.24 and Taiwan Weighted was down 105.61 points or 1.31% to 7,971.00 

FEEBLE MOVEMENT

Stock markets in India are showing lackadaisical movements in the Friday afternoon session amid lack of investor conviction to pile up fresh positions amid uncertain market conditions. Market participants chose to consolidate their positions around previous closing levels after the brutal over two percent laceration that the frontline indices suffered on Thursday. The key equity gauges continue to move sideways in a narrow range around the psychological 5,250 (Nifty) and 17,250 (Sensex) levels, lacking any significant upside triggers as investors indulged only in stock specific activities. Markets also lacked fervor due to lack of retail participation owing to a Gudi Padwa holiday while Banks, money and foreign exchange markets remained closed on this Maharashtrian New Year day. Meanwhile, sentiments got support after the investment firm Goldman Sachs in its latest Asia-Pacific Quarterly Outlook report upgraded Indian stocks to marketweight from underweight citing reasons that the domestic growth is likely to pick up, while stock valuations remain relatively attractive. Besides, at a time when Indian oil and gas companies incurring hefty losses and subsidies burden has shown little signs of coming down, the government has initiated gas pricing reforms to incentivize production of natural gas. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh stated that oil and gas are national resources and the economic exploitation of these resources should lead to win-win solutions for both the investors as well as the people of India. Leads from the Asian counterparts remained mixed as major markets like the Chinese and Japanese plunged over a percent in the session while others traded with marginal gains. While European futures indicated that the markets there would open on a mildly positive note and halt a four straight session declining streak, its longest down run in four months ahead of announcement of a key US jobs report later in the global day. Back home, on the BSE sectoral space, profit booking was largely evident in the Metal index which plunged over a percent while Consumer Durables counter too traded with similar cuts. On the other hand, investors filed up positions in the defensive FMCG and information technology shares which surged over a percent in the session.

Moreover, the broader markets traded on quiet note around previous closing levels in tandem with their larger peers. The bourses gained on good volumes of over Rs 1 lakh crore while market breadth on BSE was in favor of declines in the ratio of 1357:1164 while 135 scrips remained unchanged.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 17,257.89 up by 61.42 points or 0.36% after trading as high as 17,356.77 and as low as 17,179.33. There were 18 stocks advancing against 12 declines on the index.

The broader indices were trading on a quiet note; the BSE Mid cap index slipped 0.09% and Small cap added 0.05%.

On the BSE sectoral space, FMCG up by 1.20%, TECk up 1.01%, IT up 0.88%, Realty up 0.57% and Bankex up 0.30% were the major gainers, while Metal down 1.26%, Consumer Durables down 1.10%, Auto down 0.56%, PSU down 0.44% were the only losers in the space.

Bharti Airtel up 1.93%, ITC up 1.82%, HUL up 1.50%, HDFC Bank up 1.46% and TCS up 1.25%, were the major gainers on the Sensex, while Maruti Suzuki down 3.15%, Hindalco down 2.29%, Bajaj Auto down 2.18%, Coal India down 1.96% and Sterlite down 1.93% were the major losers in the index.

Meanwhile, Indian IT industry has contributed substantially to the growth of the US economy and has paid $15 billion as taxes as well as generated employment for 2.8 lakh people, as per Indian IT association NASSCOM. NASSCOM has further stated that Indian investments have actually helped the US in its economic recovery as the Indian IT industry in the States is actually growing despite the slowdown.

These observations are worth pondering over given the outcry over outsourcing in the US. NASSCOM in its report 'India's Tech Industry in the US' has observed that in the past 5 years, the direct workforce employed in the US by the Indian IT sector has almost doubled to 107,000.  Combined with the indirect jobs, the figure goes up to 280,000. Also, Indian technology companies have invested more than $5 billion through 128 acquisitions thereby saving and sustaining thousands of jobs in the USA. Growth in acquisitions by the Indian companies in the US increased to 54% in FY2010 from 41% in FY2009.

Leading Indian companies, in the recent years, have increased their campus recruitment efforts and plan to increase the number of offers made upto four times in the next two years.

It is also estimated that industry has invested thousands of hours in community service that have touched half-a-million American lives. The companies remain committed to play role of good corporate citizens in the future, targeting to touch more than 10 times more lives through these sustained efforts, says the report.

The S&P CNX Nifty is currently trading at 5,236.35, higher by 7.90 points or 0.15% after trading as high as 5,278.45 and as low as 5,220.00. There were 26 stocks advancing against 24 declines on the index.

The top gainers on the Nifty were ITC up 1.87%, Bharti Airtel up 1.65%, HUL up 1.62%, Cairn up 1.46%, TCS up 1.30%.

Maruti down 2.96%, Hindalco 2.56%, Bajaj Auto down 2.29%, Sterlite down 1.98%, Coal India down 1.90% were the major losers on the index.

In the Asian space, Jakarta Composite rose 0.13%, KLSE Composite added 0.10%, Straits Times advanced 0.23%, Seoul Composite gained 0.04% and Taiwan Weighted increased 0.21%.

On the other hand, Shanghai Composite plunged 1.18%, Hang Seng sank 1.37% and Nikkei 225 plummeted 1.14%. 

MARKETS PRUNE EARLY GAINS

Barometer gauges halved their early gains as weakness crept into the markets on the back of stocks belonging to Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG), Information Technology (IT), Technology and Oil & Gas counters. Market men tracing the sluggish trend of regional counterparts, preferred booking profits on the early uptake of the bourses post previous session's massacre, which led to Indian equity markets' biggest daily fall since late February.

On the global front, imitating the dismal performance of Wall Street overnight, Asian stocks too were trading depressed in trade. Extending the biggest weekly decline of the year, Asian pacific shares dropped on Friday as a surprise drop in profit at China's third-largest bank rekindled concern growth will slow in the world's second-largest economy. Agricultural Bank of China, the nation's No. 3 lender, sank 3.1 percent in Hong Kong after reporting its first quarterly profit drop since listing two years ago amid lending restrictions and bad-loan costs. However, the US future indices, barring the trend, were showing an uptick in the screen trade.

Back home, optimism was still sustained by the Indian equity markets as foreign investors remained net buyers, suppressing worries over global risk aversion and domestic political uncertainty. After trading as high as 17,356.77, BSE's Sensex-was oscillating near the 17200 bastion. Similarly, the NSE's Nifty, too losing its crucial 5250 mental level, was gyrating around its neutral line. However, the broader indices, after being unable to decide upon trajectory, were exhibiting mixed trend. The overall market breadth on BSE was in the favour of advances which thumped declines in the ratio of 1137:910, while 113 shares remained unchanged.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 17,247.14, up by 50.67 points or 0.29%. The index has touched a high and a low of 17,356.77 and 17,179.33 respectively. There were 17 stocks advancing against only 13 declines on the index.

The broader indices too were exhibiting mixed trend; the BSE Mid cap was down by 0.10% and Small cap index rose 0.32%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were, Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) up by 0.86%, Information Technology up by 0.77%, Technology up by 0.69%, Oil & Gas up by 0.47% and Realty up by 0.38%.

On the flip side, Metal down by 0.81%, Auto down by 0.57%, Public Sector Undertaking (PSU) down by 0.15%, Power and Health Care (HC) were down by 0.14%

The top gainers on the Sensex were HUL up by 1.43%, TCS up by 1.32%, ITC up by 1.27%, Gail India up by 1.10% and RIL up by 1.04%.

While, Maruti Suzuki down by 2.24%, Sterlite Industries down by 2.19%, Bajaj Auto down by 2.00%, Jindal Steel down by 1.56% and Hindalco Industries down by 1.17% remained the few losers on the Sensex.

Meanwhile, the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) clarified that the observations made in the 'leaked' draft regarding the allotment of coal blocks are highly misleading since the discussions were at a very preliminary stage. In fact CAG is not even of the opinion that the allotment would have necessarily meant an equal loss to the exchequer.

There was a huge uproar in the Parliament over a draft report by the CAG which accused the government of allotting coal blocks without auctioning, which it claimed had led to 'undue benefits' to commercial entities, totaling a mind-boggling Rs 10.67 lakh crore.

Later the Finance Minister clarified that the 'report' was actually a 'draft report' and the findings were not conclusive. The Prime Minister too has stated that since the report was just a draft, there was no need for him to clarify anything in the Parliament.

The coal minister, Sriprakash Jaiswal, however has clarified that the government is almost ready to auction coal blocks through competitive bidding and the guidelines for this are likely in 2-4 months. Coal India subsidiary CMPDI has been assigned the task for hiring a consultant to come out with a methodology of fixing the reserve price of blocks and finalizing the bid document, and assist in bidding process.

The government which will be facing general elections in 2014 is now trying hard to salvage the situation. The opposition is missing no opportunity to take advantage of the situation and has called it the 'mother of all scams'.

The S&P CNX Nifty is currently trading at 5,239.05, higher by 10.60 points or 0.20%. The index has touched a high and a low of 5,278.45 and 5,220.00 respectively.  There were 22 stocks advancing against 28 declines on the index.

The top gainers of the Nifty were HUL up by 1.76%, HCL Technologies up by 1.68%, Cairn India up by 1.45%, Gail India up by 1.42% and ITC up by 1.39%.

On the flip side, Maruti Suzuki down by 2.30%, Sterlite Industries down by 2.07%, Bajaj Auto down by 1.93%, Jindal Steel down by 1.77% and Hindalco Industries down by 1.47% remained the top losers on the index.

Most of the Asian equity indices were trading in the red; Shanghai Composite declined 0.68%, Hang Seng dropped 0.96%, Nikkei 225 plunged 1.06%, Seoul Composite slipped 0.09% and Taiwan Weighted was down by 0.18%.

On the flip side, Jakarta Composite gained 0.13%, KLSE Composite added 0.08% and Straits Times increased by 0.35%. 

CAUTIOUS APPROACH

Markets are trading flat in the late morning session with a positive bias, though barring metal most of the sectoral indices are trading in green but the traders are opting cautious approach lacking any major upside triggers for the market. PSU stocks are leading the pack supported by the opening of IPO of NBCC, a government entity after a long time. National Buildings Construction Corporation Ltd (NBCC) is entering the capital markets with an initial public offer of 1.2 crore equity shares at a price band of Rs 90-106. Though the NBCC offer is small, it is considered very important for the government perspective as it the part of its ambitious divestment target for the fiscal. Back on street the gold loan companies have taken a hit after the Reserve Bank of India came out with curbs on the business, restricting loans to 60% of the jewellery value and bar loans against coins and gold biscuits. Muthoot Finance was down by 11.18% while Manappuram Finance was down by 17%.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 17,662.65, up by 60.94 points or 0.35%. The index has touched a high and a low of 17,687.01 and 17,522.24 respectively. There were 24 stocks advancing against 6 declines on the index.

The broader indices were slightly outperforming benchmarks; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.41%, while the Small cap index was up by 0.51%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were, PSU up by 1.34%, FMCG up by 0.80%, CG up by 0.65%, Auto up by 0.58% and bankex was up by 0.46%, on the other hand Metal down by 0.45% was the lone loser index.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Coal India up by 2.18%, Tata Motors up by 1.63%, Wipro up by 1.32%, Hero MotoCorp up by 1.25% and BHEL was up by 1.19%.

On the flip side, Jindal Steel down by 5.15%, maruti Suzuki down by 0.99%, Infosys down by 0.58%, Tata Steel down by 0.48% and Cipla down by 0.36% were the top losers on the Sensex.

Meanwhile, the government will make all attempts to implement the food security bill by December 2012, as per the Food Minister, K V Thomas. The minister has further clarified that the government has enough foodgrains to meet the requirements of the food bill as well as export requirements till 2014.

The Food Security Bill was introduced in the Lok Sabha in December and is currently being examined by the Parliamentary Standing Committee. It is estimated that the bill will increase the subsidy burden of the government by Rs 88,000 crore this year, which will go upto Rs 1.09 lakh crore with the revision in the 2000 census and 1993-94 poverty line estimates.

The bill will be a taxing affair for the government unless it tries to cut on the subsidies it is providing on fuel. The Finance Minister has stated that efforts are being made to reach a political consensus over the issue but whether all political parties agree to it, remains to be seen.

Another factor that is a cause for worry is that the economy may grow at a subdued pace even in the next fiscal, which will lead to a fall in revenue collections of the government. Additional income will come due to the recent increase in the rates of excise duty and service tax, but the extent shall vary depending on the economic growth.

The S&P CNX Nifty is currently trading at 5,379.40, up by 14.45 points or 0.27%.  The index has touched a high and a low of 5,385.95 and 5,337.15 respectively. There were 34 stocks advancing against 16 declines on the index.

The top gainers of the Nifty were Coal India up by 2.16%, Reliance Infra up by 1.95%, Tata Motors up by 1.67%, hero MotoCorp up by 1.47% and Sterlite Inds was up by 1.34%.

On the flip side, Jindal Steel down by 5.11%, IDFC down by 1.80%, Maruti Suzuki down by 0.88%, Powergrid down by 0.78% and HCL Technology down by 0.73%, were the major losers on the index.

The Asian equity indices were trading mixed; Shanghai Composite declined by 0.40%, Nikkei 225 was down marginally by 0.02%, Straits Times lost 0.27%, Seoul Composite was down by 0.21%

On the flip side, Hang Sang was up by 0.16%, Jakarta Composite gained 0.07%, KLSE Composite added 0.18% and Taiwan Weighted was trading higher by 0.76%. 

SLUGGISH MARKET

Key benchmarks have made a flat opening tracking soft global cues. The US markets closed lower overnight on signs of a slowing Chinese economy, the mixed signs of housing data too weighed on the sentiments. Moreover, Asian counters too were trading choppy at this point of time dampening the domestic sentiments. Back home, the protest by gold and jewellery traders has entered the fourth day even as Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee stick to his stand saying that its imports cause strain on balance of payment and impacts rupee's exchange rate. Meanwhile, Oil exploration stocks fell along with crude oil prices. Cairn India, and ONGC shed by between 0.50- 1.50 percent. Crude oil prices fell overnight with crude futures for April delivery down $2.48 or 2.3 percent, to settle at $105.61 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Lower crude oil prices will result in lower realizations from crude sales for oil exploration firms. However, the broader indices were outperforming benchmarks while the market breadth on the BSE was evenly divided; there were 752 shares on the gaining side against 760 shares on the losing side while 77 shares remained unchanged.

In the stock specific action, Mahindra Satyam is up 0.6 percent and Tech Mahindra has gained 2 percent after the boards of Satyam Computer Services and Tech Mahindra have announced a merger. The swap ratio has been fixed at 8.5 Satyam shares for every Tech Mahindra Share. While, Kingfisher Airlines got another reprieve on Tuesday, as the directorate general of civil aviation (DGCA) decided not to suspend its operations. The stock was up by 1.25 percent in the early trade.

The BSE Sensex opened at 17,301.16; about 15 points lower compared to its previous closing of 17,316.18, and has touched a high and a low of 17,378.08 and 17,275.88 respectively.

The index is currently trading at 17,282.60, down by 33.58 points or 0.19%. There were 11 stocks advancing against 19 declines on the index.

The overall market breadth has been evenly divided with 47.33% stocks advancing against 47.83% declines. The broader indices were outperforming benchmarks; the BSE Mid cap and Small cap indices rose 0.05% and 0.22% respectively.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were, HC up by 0.44%, IT up by 0.43%, CD up by 0.38%, TECk up by 0.33% and FMCG was up by 0.22%. While, Metal down by 1.14%, Auto down by 0.69%, Realty down by 0.55%, CG down by 0.50% and Power down by 0.49% were the top losers on the index.

The top gainers on the Sensex were BHEL up by 2.68%, Tata Motors up by 2.11%, ICICI Bank up by 1.66%, Wipro up by 1.36% and ONGC up by 0.61%.

On the flip side, HUL was down by 1.28%, TCS was down by 1.15%, M&M was down by 0.65%, Coal India was down by 0.44% and HDFC was down by 0.37% were the top losers on the Sensex.

Meanwhile, facing increasing queries on how the government plans to control its fiscal deficit, the Finance Minister has hinted at an increase in fuel price soon. He has stated that he will be discussing the issue with various political parties post the budget session (after 30 March), to work out an overall mechanism through which the issue can be resolved.

The oil companies have also been demanding that prices of petrol, diesel, liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) and kerosene be hiked to control the heavy losses they are suffering. Since petrol prices have been deregulated, a hike in them could come in sooner, while hike in prices of other fuels will require political consensus.

Currently oil companies are losing Rs 14.73 a litre on diesel, Rs 30.10 a litre on kerosene and Rs 439.50 per LPG cylinder. They are also losing over Rs 5 a litre on petrol as petrol prices have not moved in tandem with costs. The government has been sanctioning subsidies to the companies to cover the losses. However, this is significantly impacting its expenditure due to the rapid increase in global crude prices.

An increase in fuel prices will help the government cut its subsidy burden and narrow its fiscal deficit. In the current fiscal, the government has provided Rs 65,000 crore in fuel subsidy, which it hopes to trim down to Rs 40,000 crore in 2012-13. It targets to bring down the subsidy bill to below 2% of GDP in FY'13 and its fiscal deficit to 5.1%.

The S&P CNX Nifty opened at 5,267.20; about 7 points lower compared to its previous closing of 5,274.85, and has touched a high and a low of 5,287.90 and 5,256.00 respectively.

The index is currently trading at 5,268.05, up by 6.80 points or 0.13%. There were 19 stocks advancing against 31 declines on the index.

The top gainers of the Nifty were Ambuja Cement up by 1.56%, TCS up by 1.36%, HUL up by 1.26%, ACC up by 0.86% and Ranbaxy up by 0.82%.

On the flip side, RPower down by 2.62%, Hindalco down by 1.92%, Jindal Steel down by 1.56%, Sterlite Industries down by 1.31% and Tata Motors down by 1.22%, were the major losers on the index.

Most of the Asian equity indices were trading in the red; Shanghai Composite was down 10.58 points or 0.45% to 2,366.26, Hang Seng was down 84.22 points or 0.40% to 20,804.02, Jakarta Composite was down 1.26 points or 0.03% to 4,020.91, Nikkei 225 was down 62.56 points or 0.62% to 10,079.43, Straits Times was down 10.68 points or 0.36% to 2,992.05, Seoul Composite was down 14.37 points or 0.70% to 2,027.78 and Taiwan Weighted was down by 14.52 points or 0.18% to 7,958.18.

On the flip side, KLSE Composite was up by 1.35 points or 0.09% to 1,578.97.

CONSOLIDATION

Indian stock markets are showing signs of consolidation in Tuesday afternoon session as the benchmarks equity indices have given up most part of the gains and investors remained cautious, lacking any significant upside triggers to take the markets higher. The markets were showing some signs of recovery after the brutal butchery in last two trading sessions owing to the disappointing federal budget, however, the psychological 5,300 (Nifty) and 17,400 (Sensex) levels proved to be stern resistance levels for the frontline indices as they failed to break those crucial points and slipped towards the neutral line. Market participants were seen piling up positions in Consumer Durables and Metal counters which surged around a percent. However, hefty selling in rate sensitive Automobile pocket exerted pressure on the frontline gauges as most auto stocks got dragged, led by Tata Motors, Bajaj Auto and Maruti Suzuki. Meanwhile, index heavyweight Reliance Industries, the country's largest company, which showed some fervor for the first time in five days, was pruning gains in noon trades while Bharat Heavy Electricals, the largest power-equipment maker, added some gains after a three-day, 12 percent drop. Besides, Indian bourses failed to get any significant triggers from global peers as most Asian equity indices traded on a cautious note with a negative bias despite a fairly positive cues from overnight US markets which rose on the back of upbeat Chicago area manufacturing numbers and better than expected nationwide home builder sentiment. While, the European futures too indicated that the markets there would open on a negative note.

Moreover, the broader markets too have pared most of their gains and are trading with only marginal gains, consolidating very close to their previous closing levels. The bourses gained on good volumes of over Rs 0.60 lakh crore while market breadth on BSE was in favor of declines in the ratio of 1278:1216 while 157 scrips remained unchanged.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 17,330.36 up by 56.99 points or 0.33% after trading as high as 17,410.13 and as low as 17,245.92. There were 20 stocks advancing against 10 declines on the index.

The broader indices were trading on a flat note; the BSE Mid cap index gained 0.18% and Small cap index added 0.03%.

On the BSE sectoral space Consumer Durables up by 1.23%, Metal up 0.87%, Realty up 0.87%, Oil & Gas up 0.63% and FMCG up 0.60% were the major gainers, while Auto down 1.56% was the only loser in the space.

Jindal Steel up by 1.81%, Cipla up by 1.63%, TCS up by 1.58%, Hindalco up by 1.52% and Sun Pharma up by 1.45%, were the major gainers on the Sensex, while Tata Motors down 3.07%, Bajaj Auto down 2.01%, Maruti Suzuki down 1.77%, Coal India down by 1.75% and Hero Moto down by 1.22% were the major losers in the index.

Meanwhile, in its bid to bring down state-owned Oil marketing companies' (OMCs) losses that they incur on selling fuel below cost to some extent, the finance ministry decided to give additional subsidy of Rs 15,000 crore for 2011-12 to the oil firms. This compensation is over and above Rs 15,000 crore sanctioned for meeting losses of first quarter ending June 30.

With this, the oil subsidy bill is set to touch over Rs 68,600 crore during current financial year. This is almost half of the total under recovery of Rs 1.37 lakh crore estimated. The OMCs have registered under- recoveries of around Rs 21,374 crore in the July- September quarter and the upstream oil companies like Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC) and Oil India (OIL) are likely to bear good one third or Rs 7,124 crore of the total under- recoveries while the Finance Ministry was asked to make the rest Rs 14,250 crore.

Besides, in the third set of supplementary demands for grants tabled in Parliament on Monday, March 19, 2012, along with additional subsidies for OMCs, the fertilizer industry too was sanctioned an additional subsidy of over Rs 7,200 crore for 2011-12. The total fertilizer subsidy has touched nearly Rs 71,000 crore.

The government has sought approval from Parliament for additional net cash spending of over Rs 42,605 crore during the current financial year ending March 31. However, this additional net cash outgo is unlikely to impact the revised estimate of expenditure given in the Budget tabled on March 16. While the Government's gross additional spending is pegged at Rs 4.30 lakh crore in the third supplementary, Rs 3.87 lakh crore will be generated through enhanced receipts and recoveries.

The S&P CNX Nifty is currently trading at 5,274.00, higher by 16.95 points or 0.32% after trading as high as 5,297.35 and as low as 5,246.95. There were 31 stocks advancing against 19 declines on the index.

The top gainers on the Nifty were Cairn up 2.04%, TCS up 1.92%, Jindal Steel up 1.49%, Cipla up 1.43%, BPCL up by 1.40%.

R Infra down by 2.68%, Tata Motors down by 2.35%, IDFC down by 2.07%, Bajaj Auto down 1.86%, R Power down 1.70% were the major losers on the index.

In the Asian space, Shanghai Composite plunged 1.29%, Hang Seng declined 0.35%, Jakarta Composite fell 0.15% and Seoul Composite shed 0.24% and Taiwan Weighted sank 0.89%.

On the other hand, KLSE Composite added 0.16% and Straits Times moved climbed 0.89%