LISTLESS TRADE

Indian equity markets trading marginally lower in the late morning session amid alternate bouts of buying and selling. The BSE index fell 0.13 points, while the 50-share NSE index declined 0.02%. Investors were not showing any interest in building up positions and benchmark movements were somewhat listless. On sectoral front, pharmaceuticals, realty, information technology, power and consumer durables stocks were finding some support. Metal, oil and banking stocks were slightly weak. Meanwhile, NBFC firms reporting strong gains a day after RBI Deputy Governor Anand Sinha's statement that the central bank will issue final guidelines on new bank licenses before the end of March. Moreover, telecom stocks were trading weak, amid reports that the government has cleared a proposal to allow 4G license holders to offer voice calling services. In global markets, most Asian shares were trading lower on worries over euro zone economy and US fiscal talks. In mainland China, Shanghai Composite stocks fell on fears that the government will take action to rein in a rebound in property prices over the coming weeks. Back home, the market breadth favoring positive trend; there were 1,245 shares on the gaining side against 1,074 shares on the losing side while 139 shares remain unchanged.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 19,500.95, down by 0.13 points after trading in a range of 19,531.51 and 19,471.19. There were 16 stocks advancing against 14 declines on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.48% and Small cap index was up by 0.54%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were, Health Care up by 0.56%, Realty up by 0.51%, IT up by 0.47%, Power up by 0.39% and Auto up by 0.39%. While, Metal down by 0.33%, Capital Goods down by 0.22%, Oil & Gas down by 0.04% and Bankex down by 0.01% were the top losers on the index.

The top gainers on the Sensex were ONGC up by 1.94%, Cipla up by 1.66%, Hindustan Unilever up by 0.90%, NTPC up by 0.89% and BHEL up by 0.84%.

On the flip side, Bharti Airtel was down by 2.12%, Gail India was down by 1.42%,  Coal India was down by 1.22%, Jindal Steel down by 0.87% and RIL was down by 0.86% were the top losers on the Sensex.

Meanwhile, to utilize the unconventional hydrocarbon resource to meet the growing energy needs, India will unveil a shale gas exploration policy in a month. Oil Minister M Veerappa Moily said 'we have received comments on the draft shale gas exploration policy that we had floated. We are now in the process of putting out a note for the consideration of the cabinet and hopefully in a month time we will be able to announce the shale gas policy'.

Shale gas or natural gas trapped in sedimentary rocks (shale formations) below the earth's surface is seen as a new alternative to conventional oil and gas for meeting growing energy needs. Shale gas has become an increasingly important source of natural gas in the United States over the past decade, and now interest has spread to potential gas shale's in Canada, Europe, Asia, and Australia. 

The government is also planning to launch its first auction of shale gas block by 2013-end on terms that are expected to be remarkably different from bid rounds for oil and gas blocks. The Directorate General of Hydrocarbons (DGH), the Oil Ministry's technical arm, has proposed to offer areas for exploration shale gas on royalty and production-linked payments to the government. As per the available data, six basins hold shale gas potential including Cambay (Gujarat) and Assam-Arakan (the North-East) among others.

As per Veerappa Moily, oil ministry is working on a new policy for exploiting gas lying below coal seams, called Coal-Bed Methane. Moily said that he has formed an expert committee under Vijay Kelkar to suggest roadmap for cutting India's dependence on imports to meet its oil needs. India currently imports around 79 percent of its oil needs and the Ministry wants this to be cut to 50 percent by 2020 and by 75 percent in 2025 through intensive exploration and exploitation of untapped reserves.

Moreover, the draft shale gas policy does not permit cost recovery and hence profit sharing as these two features came under criticism by the CAG in its audit report on Reliance Industries' KG-D6 block. As per the DGH's draft policy, the government's share of production will be net of all statutory dues and will also focus on minimizing the government intervention, removing complications in accounting and incentive for gold plating, which may occur while allowing profit sharing based on cost recovery.

The S&P CNX Nifty is currently trading at 5,896.95 down by 1.25 points or 0.02% after trading in a range of 5,904.15 and 5,889.35. There were 31 stocks advancing against 19 declines on the index.

The top gainers of the Nifty were ACC up by 1.99%, ONGC up by 1.82%, Ranbaxy up by 1.80%, Cipla up by 1.58% and DLF up by 1.19%.

On the flip side, Bharti Airtel down by 2.07%, GAIL down by 1.71%, Coal India down by 1.21%, BPCL down by 1.00%, and Reliance Infra down by 0.95% were the major losers on the index.

Most of the Asian equity indices were trading in the red; Shanghai Composite declined 1.16%, Hang Seng dipped 0.34%, Jakarta Composite decreased 0.22%, KLSE Composite slipped 0.26% and Nikkei 225 was down by 0.31%.

On the flip side, Straits Times rose 0.14%, KOSPI Composite added 0.20% and Taiwan Weighted was up by 0.22%.