MARKETS DRIFT FURTHER

Indian equity markets added losses to continue its weak trade in the late afternoon session on account of selling in frontline counters and taking cues from European counterpart. The sentiments on the street were on pessimistic note after country's FY12 GDP growth was revised to 6.2 percent from 6.5 percent. The government meanwhile has also pegged FY12 gross domestic savings at 30.8 percent, down from 34 percent earlier. Traders were seen piling some position in Consumer Durables, PSU and Realty sectors while selling was witnessed in Metal, IT and Oil & Gas sectors. The market may remain volatile today as traders may roll over positions in the futures & options (F&O) segment from the near month i.e. January 2013 series to next month i.e. February 2013 series. The January 2013 F&O contracts will expire today i.e. on January 31, 2013.

In the scrip specific movement, Union Bank of India was trading in green after reporting net profit growth of 37.7 percent year-on-year to Rs 302.4 crore in the third quarter of financial year 2012-13, led by lower non-performing assets. The country's second largest public sector lender Punjab National Bank (PNB) reported a forecast beating nearly 14% year-on-year rise in its third quarter net profit at Rs 1,306 crore, aided by lower provisions against bad loans, which in turn sent the stock higher. Jet Airways was trading firm on reports that the much awaited Jet Airways-Etihad deal may happen by tomorrow. Oil India (OIL) was trading in green after the Government of India said that it will sell 6.01 crore shares constituting 10% of the total paid up capital of the company via Offer for Sale (OFS) through the stock exchanges mechanism on Friday, February 1, 2013.

On the global front, the Asian markets were trading on a mixed note while the European markets were trading on pessimistic note. Back home, the NSE Nifty and BSE Sensex were trading below their psychological 6,050 and 20,000 levels respectively. The market breadth on BSE was negative in the ratio of 1159:1470 while 176 scrips remain unchanged.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 19,915.08, down by 89.92 points or 0.45% after trading in a range of 20,008.83 and 19,902.49. There were 8 stocks advancing against 21 declines while 1 stock remains unchanged on the index.

The broader indices were too trading in red; the BSE Mid cap and Small cap index were trading down by 0.03% and 0.26% respectively.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were, Consumer Durables up by 1.07%, PSU up by 0.72%, Realty up by 0.35%, Health Care up by 0.30%, and Power up by 0.12%, while, Metal down by 0.77%, IT down by 0.55%, Oil & Gas down by 0.40%, TECK down by 0.38% and Auto down by 0.20% were the top losers on the index.

The top gainers on the Sensex were BHEL up by 2.45%, ITC up by 0.77%, Coal India up by 0.76%, Sun Pharma up by 0.72% and Bajaj Auto up by 0.63%. On the flip side, Sterlite Industries down by 2.66%, Tata Power down by 2.37%, Wipro down by 1.37%, Reliance Industries down by 1.30% and Jindal Steel down by 1.25% were the top losers on the Sensex.

Meanwhile, Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) has urged the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) to reconsider the 'unsustainable spectrum prices' for the upcoming spectrum auction. In a letter to Union Communications and IT Minister Kapil Sibal, COAI has written that at the current prices proposed by the government for 1800 MHz and 900 MHz spectrum would allow only leading players to participate in the upcoming spectrum auction, which is scheduled to be held in March.

As per the COAI, the government has recognized that a high reserve price is the key detrimental factor when revising the reserve price for CDMA operators by 50%. Further, COAI has also stated that this time the government has freedom to slash the GSM reserve prices also which could bring more operators into the auction. Further, this move of the government will also ensure the complete deployment of all available spectrums and continuing competition in the market.

COAI said in its letter that there should be parity between the reserve price for 800MHz and 900MHz bands by slashing the reserve price for 900MHz equal to that of 800 MHz spectrum. Even TRAI has acknowledged parity between CDMA and GSM bands.

Further, it also stated that the licensees coming up for extension in November 2014 cannot be arbitrarily compelled to participate in the forthcoming auction and the government must honour and abide by the provisions for extension as contained in policy and license. Further, to maintain a level playing field and fairness in the auction, it added that this revised price should be extended to all 21 service areas and not just the circles which see no bidders.

The S&P CNX Nifty is currently trading at 6,038.15, down by 17.60 points or 0.29% after trading in a range of 6,058.05 and 6,034.90. There were 19 stocks advancing against 31 declines on the index.

The top gainers of the Nifty were PNB up by 7.36%, Bank of Baroda up by 3.20%, BHEL up by 2.82%, Lupin up by 2.16% and DLF up by 1.45%.

On the flip side, Tata Power down by 2.47%, Sesa Goa down by 2.33%, Wipro down by 1.43%, Reliance Industries down by 1.38% and Jindal Steel down by 1.30% were the major losers on the index.

The Asian equity indices were trading on a mixed note; Hang Seng lost 0.39%, Jakarta Composite declined 0.21%, Straits Times dipped 0.11% and KOSPI Composite decreased 0.13%.

On the other hand Taiwan Weighted was up by 0.22%, Nikkei 225 up by 0.22%, KLSE Composite edged higher by 0.06% and Shanghai Composite was trading up by 0.12%.

The European markets were trading in red with; France's CAC 40 lost 0.47%, Germany's DAX declined 0.13% while the United Kingdom's FTSE 100 edged lower by 0.23%

MARKETS REMAIN UNDER PRESSURE

Indian equity markets, which tumbled in the morning session, remained in negative territory in the late morning session amid a cautious mood. Meanwhile, government has reported FY12 gross domestic savings at 30.8%, down from 34% earlier, however FY11 GDP had produced better results than initially thought. The revised number for FY11 stands at 9.3% from 8.4% estimated earlier. However, benchmarks have not reacted to this news and remained barren of action on the F&O series expiry day. In currency markets, rupee appreciated against dollar on continued selling of the American currency by exporters amid increased capital inflows. On sectoral front, metal and information technology stocks were mostly subdued. Realty stocks were finding fairly good support. Consumer durables, power and automobile stocks were also seeing some buying. In global markets, Asian shares gave up earlier session's gains on Thursday as sentiment was underpinned by the US Federal Reserve's pledge to retain its stimulus policy and on the signs of stabilization in the euro zone. Back home, the market breadth favoring negative trend; there were 1,140 shares on the gaining side against 1,175 shares on the losing side while 150 shares remain unchanged.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 19,951.96 down by 53.04 points or 0.27% after trading in a range of 20,008.83 and 19,938.94. There were 10 stocks advancing against 20 declines on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.11% and Small cap index was up by 0.01%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were, Realty up by 0.78%, Consumer Durables up by 0.46%, PSU up by 0.35%, Auto up by 0.22% and Health Care up by 0.15%, while, Metal down by 0.63%, Oil & Gas down by 0.29%, FMCG down by 0.27%, IT down by 0.15% and Bankex down by 0.01% were the top losers on the index.

The top gainers on the Sensex were BHEL up by 1.82%, Bajaj Auto up by 1.47%, ONGC up by 0.99%, Maruti Suzuki up by 0.72% and Sun Phama up by 0.37%.

On the flip side, Tata Power down by 1.98%, Sterlite Industries down by 1.65%, Reliance down by 1.32%, Hindustan Unilever down by 1.23% and Wipro down by 1.17% were the top losers on the Sensex.

Meanwhile, the fair and remunerative price (FRP) for sugarcane is likely to be raised 23.5 per cent to Rs 210 a quintal by the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) for the 2013-14 sugar season. The proposed FRP hike would be in line with the recommendation of the Commission for Agriculture Costs and Prices. However, if approved, could help farmers offset the rising cultivation costs, including both labor and fuel.

Also, CCEA is expected to consider allowing export of edible oil from the domestic tariff area (DTA) to special economic zones. Besides, it is also likely to consider allowing export of coconut oil and permit the export of edible oils with a minimum export price (MEP) of $1,500 a tonne in branded consumer packs of up to 5 kg without any quantitative restrictions.

Planting of sugarcane starts a year-ahead and an early announcement of FRP would help farmers make informed decisions. FRP, the benchmark cane price for 2013-14 sugar year, starting October, is linked to a basic recovery rate of 9.5 per cent, subject to a premium of Rs 2.21 a quintal for every 0.1 per cent increase in recovery above 9.5 per cent. FRP is fixed by the Centre but there at least five states - Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Punjab, Uttarakhand and Tamil Nadu - that announce their own rates, called the State Advisory Price (SAP).

India is expected to produce about 24 million tonnes (mt) of sugar in the current year, down from 26 mt last year. Domestic consumption of sugar is pegged at 22 mt.

The S&P CNX Nifty is currently trading at 6,046.75 down by 9.00 points or 0.15% after trading in a range of 6,058.05 and 6,042.30. There were 23 stocks advancing against 26 declines on the index and one remains unchanged.

The top gainers of the Nifty were PNB up by 2.20%, BHEL up by 2.01%, DLF up by 1.82%, Asian Paints up by 1.59% and IDFC up by 1.40%.

On the flip side, Sesa Goa down by 1.98%, Tata Power down by 1.74%, Reliance Industries down by 1.43%, Hindustan Unilever down by 1.24% and Wipro down by 1.21% were the major losers on the index.

Most of the Asian equity indices were trading in the red; Hang Seng lost 0.34%, Jakarta Composite declined 0.40%, KLSE Composite slipped 0.06%, Straits Times dipped 0.06% and KOSPI Composite decreased 0.16%.

On the other hand Taiwan Weighted was up by 0.22%, Nikkei 225 up by 0.09% and Shanghai Composite was flat at 2,382.47.

COMMODITIES CALL

USDINR	5354.401	-----	5306.599
SILVER	59772.14	---	58329.86
LONG	58507.21	TARGET	59331.27	ST.LOSS	58124.03
SHORT	58826.67	TARGET	58503.02	ST.LOSS	58977.17
GOLD	30345.73	---	30054.27
LONG	30137.14	TARGET	30273.03	ST.LOSS	30073.95
SHORT	30203.3	TARGET	30106.21	ST.LOSS	30248.45
CRUDE	5230.462	----	5183.538
LONG	5206.846	TARGET	5222.231	ST.LOSS	5199.692
SHORT	5217.592	TARGET	5195.407	ST.LOSS	5227.908
NICKEL	987.1379	----	961.0621
LONG	964.8878	TARGET	979.383	ST.LOSS	958.1476
SHORT	970.6638	TARGET	964.4086	ST.LOSS	973.5724
COPPER	443.5556	----	439.2444
LONG	440.2059	TARGET	442.3881	ST.LOSS	439.1911
SHORT	441.1819	TARGET	439.9197	ST.LOSS	441.7689
N. GAS	180.5691		176.4309
LONG	177.0269	T	179.3345	ST.LOSS	175.9538
SHORT	177.9469		176.9593	ST.LOSS	178.4062
ALUM	110.7543	------	108.8457
LEAD	130.9302	-------	129.0698
ZINC	114.4053	-----	112.3947

WEAK TRADE

Indian benchmarks- Sensex, Nifty were trading in red in the late morning session amid sluggish Asian trend. Sentiments got dampened by squaring-up of positions by participants as today being the last session of current month expiry in the derivatives segment. On the global front, most of the Asian equity indices were trading in the red at this point of time with Japanese Nikkei losing the most after the country's industrial production rose less than expectation, suggesting that a recovery in the nation's manufacturing sector is lagging. Back home, the traders were seen piling up position in Realty, PSU and Consumer Durables while selling was seen in Metal, IT and Bankex sectors. In scrip specific development, Power Finance Corp gained after reporting a sharp improvement in margins in the October-December quarter earnings. Gujarat NRE Coke surged on report that Jindal steel has offered to buy its Austarlian arm. Suzlon Energy soared on bagging a 350 mega tonne RE power project; the stock was the biggest gainer on the index. State Bank of India shares edged higher after the lender cut its base rate by 5 basis points. Colgate Palmolive India slipped on reporting lower-than-expected volume growth at 8 percent, the lowest in the past 15 quarters. Oil India dropped on report that the Government of India will sell 6.01 crore shares of the company via Offer for Sale through the stock exchanges mechanism on February 01, 2013. The NSE Nifty and BSE Sensex were managing to hold their psychological 6,000 and 19000 levels respectively.

The market breadth on BSE was positive; advances: declines in the ratio of 1032:914.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 19969.79 down by 35.21 points or 0.18% after trading in a range of 20008.83 and 19938.94. There were 10 stocks advancing against 20 declines on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.17% and Small cap index was up by 0.05%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were, Realty up by 0.81%, PSU up by 0.56%, Consumer Durables up by 0.55%, Power up by 0.34%, FMCG up by 0.17% and while, Metal down by 0.34%, IT down by 0.20%, Bankex down by 0.08% and Capital Goods down by 0.07% were the only losers on the index.

The top gainers on the Sensex were BHEL up by 1.89%, Bajaj Auto up by 1.71%, ONGC up by 1.36%, ITC up by 0.63% and Maruti Suzuki up by 0.45%.

On the flip side, RIL was down by 1.31%, Sterlite Inds was down by 1.09%, Tata Motors was down by 1.00%, Tata Power was down by 0.97% and Hindustan Unilever was down by 0.92% were the top losers on the Sensex.

Meanwhile, in a move to contain the surging current account deficit (CAD), Finance Minister P Chidambaram said that the government is looking at more steps to curb gold import, which has led to widening of the CAD. To check the gold imports, the government last week hiked duty on gold to 6% from 4% and also linked gold exchange traded fund (ETF) schemes offered by mutual funds to gold deposit schemes of banks with a view to increase availability of physical gold in the market.

As per the finance minister, these two schemes will unfreeze 15, 20 tonnes of gold, idle gold, and will bring it into the market to moderate imports. Even the Reserve Bank in its policy review on January on 29 raised concerns over the high gold import and widening CAD.

Moreover, the gold import was only second to oil and contributed to the CAD, which has widened to a record high of 5.4 per cent of GDP in the July-September quarter. Till December, India has imported gold worth $38 billion. In the last fiscal year, the gold import was at $56 billion.

The S&P CNX Nifty is currently trading at 6,051.60 down by 4.15 points or 0.07% after trading in a range of 6,058.05 and 6,042.30. There were 24 stocks advancing against 26 declines on the index.

The top gainers of the Nifty were BPCL up by 2.47%, BHEL up by 2.41%, Bajaj-Auto up by 1.86%, HCL Tech up by 1.73% and DLF up by 1.71%.

On the flip side, Sesa Goa down by 1.63%, Reliance Industries down by 1.38%, Tata Motors down by 0.99%, Tata Power down by 0.97% and Hindustan Unilever down by 0.90% were the major losers on the index.

Most of the Asian equity indices were trading in the red; Hang Seng lost 118.24 points or 0.50% to 23,703.82, Jakarta Composite declined 17.72 points or 0.40% to 4,435.26, KLSE Composite slipped 0.96 points or 0.06% to 1,626.77, Nikkei 225 dropped 78.95 points or 0.71% to 11,035.81, Straits Times dipped 1.34 points or 0.04% to 3,284.42, KOSPI Composite decreased 8.61 points or 0.44% to 1,955.82 and Taiwan Weighted was down by 12.43 points or 0.16% to 7,820.55. 

Shanghai Composite was up by 2.40 points or 0.10% to 2,384.87.

COMMODITIES CALL

USDINR	5396.815	-----	5356.185
SILVER	58189.94	---	57870.06
LONG	57895.87	TARGET	58087.45	ST.LOSS	57806.79
SHORT	57968.26	TARGET	57904.29	ST.LOSS	57998.01
GOLD	30357.94	---	30192.06
LONG	30270.17	TARGET	30327.35	ST.LOSS	30243.59
SHORT	30308.07	TARGET	30232.5	ST.LOSS	30343.21
CRUDE	5254.032	----	5197.968
LONG	5215.944	TARGET	5240.757	ST.LOSS	5204.406
SHORT	5228.688	TARGET	5208.675	ST.LOSS	5237.994
NICKEL	958.177	----	946.623
LONG	948.3671	TARGET	954.7579	ST.LOSS	945.3954
SHORT	950.9683	TARGET	948.1375	ST.LOSS	952.2846
COPPER	439.8798	----	436.3202
LONG	436.9757	TARGET	438.8676	ST.LOSS	436.096
SHORT	437.7814	TARGET	436.8295	ST.LOSS	438.224
N. GAS	179.5115		172.8885
LONG	176.68	T	178.5246	ST.LOSS	175.8223
SHORT	178.2374		174.7528	ST.LOSS	179.8577
ALUM	109.4028	------	107.8972
LEAD	129.1521	-------	127.9479
ZINC	112.477	-----	111.123

COMMODITIES TREND

silver buy on dips Trend change - 57940

  gold  sell on rise Trend change 30285

  copper buy on dips Trend change 437

  nickel buy on dips Trend change 948

  crude buy on dips Trend change 5206

  lead buy on dips Trend change 127.9

  natural gas sell on rise Trend change 177.5

  zinc buy on dips Trend change 111.3

  aluminum buy on dips Trend change 107.9

MARGINALY POSITIVE

Indian benchmarks- Sensex, Nifty were trading marginally in the green in the late morning session. Sentiments got some support by participants on expectations of an improvement in the liquidity in the market after the RBI reduced Cash Reserve Ratio by 0.25 per cent and covering-up of short positions ahead of Thursday's monthly expiry in the derivatives segment. On the global front, most of the Asian equity indices were trading in the green at this point of time, with continuing weakness in the yen further fuelling a rally in Japanese Nikkei. Back home, the traders were seen piling up position in Oil & Gas, Consumer Durables and Realty while selling was seen in Power, Auto and FMCG sectors. In scrip specific development, Pidilite Industries scaled a record high after reporting stellar Q3 numbers. ICICI Bank gained ahead of its earnings result on Thursday. Crompton Greaves slipped on reporting Rs 189-crore loss for the third quarter of FY13, weighed down by employee liabilities due to restructuring of its operations in Europe. The NSE Nifty and BSE Sensex were managing to hold their psychological 6,000 and 20,000 levels respectively.

The market breadth on BSE was positive; advances: declines in the ratio of 1182:835.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 20031.92 up by 41.02 points or 0.21% after trading in a range of 20073.46 and 20000.32. There were 15 stocks advancing against 15 declines on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.34% and Small cap index was up by 0.34%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Oil & Gas up by 1.44%, Consumer Durables up by 0.95%, Realty up by 0.80%, Metal up by 0.77% and PSU up by 0.35%. While, Power down by 0.25%, Auto down by 0.16%, FMCG down by 0.11% and Capital Goods down by 0.06% were the top losers on the index.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Hindustan Unilever up by 2.52%, Sterlite Inds up by 2.12%,RIL up by 1.99%, Cipla up by 1.50%  and  ONGC up by 1.50%.

On the flip side, ITC was down by 1.24%, HDFC was down by 0.98%, Tata Power was down by 0.94% , NTPC was down by 0.83%, and Tata Motors was down by 0.81% were the top losers on the Sensex.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister's Economic Advisory Council Chairman C Rangarajan expressed the need of greater capital inflows to help the economy in dealing with the problem of high current account deficit (CAD). He said 'it is the capital flow which has enabled us to sustain higher level of deficits. Let us not make a demon out of capital flows. Capital flows have been useful and have contributed to the strengthening of the economy.' 

Further, Rangarajan pointed out that there is a need to distinguish between various types of capital inflows in order to utilize their potential as a detoxifying agent to tackle the menace of high CAD. While, the country's CAD touched a record high of 5.4 percent of GDP or $22.3 billion in the July-September quarter on account of higher outflows and decelerated growth in net export of services. Declining for the eighth month in row, exports contracted by 1.92 percent to $24.8 billion in December, widening the country's trade deficit to $17.6 billion for the month.

Meanwhile, the RBI also expressed concern over the rising CAD, which is expected to threaten macroeconomic stability and impact growth. The apex bank said 'large fiscal deficits will accentuate the CAD risk, further crowd out private investment and stunt growth impulses'. Moreover, to battle out high CAD, the government is trying to attract more foreign funds into the country and has also hiked import duty on gold to contain the high CAD.

The S&P CNX Nifty is currently trading at 6,064.15 up by 14.25 points or 0.24% after trading in a range of 6,071.95 and 6,053.30. There were 29 stocks advancing against 21 declines on the index.

The top gainers of the Nifty were Hindustan Unilever up by 2.57%, Reliance Industries up by 2.04%, BPCL up by 1.84%, DLF up by 1.56%, and Axis Bank up by 1.51%. On the flip side, ITC down by 1.16%, NTPC down by 0.92%, Bank Baroda down by 0.90%, Tata Motors down by 0.82%and HDFC down by 0.81% were the major losers on the index.

Most of the Asian equity indices were trading in the green; Shanghai Composite rose 0.14 points or 0.01% to 2,359.11, Hang Seng increased 173.41 points or 0.73% to 23,828.58, Jakarta Composite surged 8.16 points or 0.18% to 4,447.19, Nikkei 225 soared 204.35 points or 1.88% to 11,070.21, Straits Times jumped 17.90 points or 0.55% to 3,277.65, KOSPI Composite added 9.78 points or 0.50% to 1,956.74 and Taiwan Weighted was up by 34.73 points or 0.45% to 7,836.73.

On the flip side, KLSE Composite was down by 12.55 points or 0.77% to 1,624.79.

COMMODITIES CALLS

SILVER	59754.47	---	58065.53
LONG	58613.37	TARGET	59356.75	ST.LOSS	58267.69
SHORT	58995.42	TARGET	58389.63	ST.LOSS	59277.11
GOLD	31294.21	---	30861.79
LONG	30966.21	TARGET	31179.89	ST.LOSS	30866.84
SHORT	31063.92	TARGET	30932.24	ST.LOSS	31125.16
CRUDE	5086.441	----	5023.559
LONG	5053.628	TARGET	5075.005	ST.LOSS	5043.688
SHORT	5068.038	TARGET	5039.061	ST.LOSS	5081.512
NICKEL	972.4177	----	956.5823
LONG	957.6708	TARGET	967.2779	ST.LOSS	953.2035
SHORT	961.1982	TARGET	958.1911	ST.LOSS	962.5965
COPPER	455.0996	----	446.8004
LONG	448.3766	TARGET	452.7564	ST.LOSS	446.3399
SHORT	450.2385	TARGET	447.9987	ST.LOSS	451.2801
N. GAS	180.4749		169.5251
LONG	176.1309	T	178.9608	ST.LOSS	174.815
SHORT	178.7811		172.7512	ST.LOSS	181.585
ALUM	118.3523	------	115.0477
LEAD	133.3778	-------	129.4222
ZINC	116.9108	-----	114.2892