MARKETS CONSOLIDATING

The Indian equity markets have started the first day of FY 2011-12 on a positive note tracking good gains from Asian counterparts. All the Asian peers were trading in the positive terrain at this point of time. While the US markets made a mixed closing overnight, though the economy news was good but the crude prices rising to 30 months high weighed on. Back home, sustained buying by foreign funds and ease in inflation has boosted investors' sentiments and kept the market on the positive side. Fast moving consumer goods witnessed the maximum gain in trade followed by oil and gas and realty while, banking, public sector undertaking and technology stocks remained the only losers on the BSE sectoral space. The broader indices were outperforming benchmarks. Meanwhile, Paper stock, AP Paper Mills again locked in circuit in the early trade and gained about 10% as in a surprising deal of International Paper Company, the US based paper and packaging giant, has bought 53.5% stake in Andhra Pradesh Paper Mills from its promoters for around Rs 1,160 crore. The market breadth on the BSE was positive; there were 1,118 shares on the gaining side against 517 shares on the losing side while 51 shares remained unchanged.

The BSE Sensex opened at 19,463.11; about 18 points higher compared to its previous closing of 19,445.22, and has touched a high of 19,562.55 while low remain its opening.

The index is currently trading at 19,494.84, up by 49.62 points or 0.26%. There were 20 stocks advancing against 10 declines on the index.

The overall market breadth has made a strong start with 66.31% stocks advancing against 30.66% declines. The broader indices were outperforming benchmarks; the BSE Mid cap and Small cap indices surged 0.51% and 0.67% respectively. 

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were, FMCG up by 0.87%, Oil and Gas up by 0.78%, Realty up by 0.78%, CG up by 0.72% and Power was up by 0.69%. While Bankex down by 0.80%, PSU down by 0.09% and TECk down by 0.02% were the only losers on the index.

The top gainers on the Sensex were RCom up by 3.16%, Reliance Infra up by 2.36%, Hero Honda up by 2.05%, Hindalco up by 1.51% and ONGC was up by 1.50%.

On the flip side, SBI down by 1.22%, ICICI Bank down by 0.86%, Bharti Airtel down by 0.84%, Tata Motors down by 0.83% and Tata Power down by 0.76% were the top losers on the index.

Meanwhile, India is considering wrapping up comprehensive trade pacts with Thailand and Indonesia, eyeing the public health, education and accountancy sectors in the two Asean members. The two agreements will usher in a new era of co-operation and broad-basing of economic relationship between India and the two East-Asian economies.

Singapore was the first Asean member to sign a Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) with India in 2006. This was followed by the Malaysian CEPA earlier this year, which will be implemented in July. Both Thailand and Indonesia are highly interested in bilateral trade deals.  However, Indonesia is going slow. It is important for India to sign CEPAs, which include goods and services, with individual Asean members to be able to access the vast services market in the region. India completed negotiations with Japan and Malaysia for a CEPA.

At present the demand for professional services in these countries are being met by countries like Australia, New Zealand and to some extent China. The three countries have preferential access to the two markets through comprehensive trade deals. India too can compete once it signs its bilateral pacts.

India's negotiations with the 10-member Asean on a services and investments pact is moving at a slower pace, with the next round scheduled for May. India and the Asean implemented a free-trade agreement in goods earlier this year, which is yet to be ratified by Vietnam and the Philippines. The two above mentioned trade pacts could allow Indian professionals longer duration visas, easier renewals and relaxation of criteria such as the economic needs test. In the economic needs tests a firm hiring a foreigner must prove there is an economic need for it, which can't be fulfilled by domestic workers. Malaysia has offered similar concessions to the country.

The S&P CNX Nifty opened at 5,835.00; about 2 points higher compared to its previous closing of 5,833.75, and has touched a high and a low of 5,860.20 and 5,832.15 respectively.

The index is currently trading at 5,840.35, higher by 6.60 points or 0.11%. There were 29 stocks advancing against 21 declines on the index.

The top gainers of the Nifty were Reliance Capital up by 3.67%, RCom up by 2.97%, Ranbaxy up by 2.31%, Reliance Power up by 2.30% and Grasim up by 2.08%.

BPCL down by 1.72%, PNB down by 1.67%, HCL Tech down by 1.67%, Ambuja Cement down by 1.15% and SBI was down by 1.14%, were the major losers on the index.

All the Asian peers were trading in the green. Shanghai Composite was up 7.16 points or 0.24% to 2,935.28, Hang Seng was up 38.32 points or 0.16% to 23,565.84, Jakarta Composite was up 28.56 points or 0.78% to 3,707.23, KLSE Composite was up 3.80 points or 0.25% to 1,548.93, Nikkei 225 was up 32.36 points or 0.33% to 9,787.46, Straits Times was up 9.34 points or 0.30% to 3,115.19, Seoul Composite was up 6.78 points or 0.32% to 2,113.48 and Taiwan Weighted was up by 1.81 points or 0.02% to 8,685.11.

TOP PICKS FOR 1st APRIL

Indian Markets continue with it's winning streak, though it was a volatile day due to F & O expiry. Tomorrow the NIFTY may move up to 5872 - 5944 or more likely to consolidate by retracing a few steps to 5797 - 5734, as it has been rising for eight days non stop. Long positions can be taken in SINTEX for a target of 164, POLARIS for a target of 200, MINDTREE for a target of 457, MCLEODRUSS for a target of 270, KESORAMIND for a target of 225.
                                            HAPPY INVESTING ............ CHEERS !!!

ROLLER COASTER RIDE

Indian frontline indices went through a rollercoaster ride on the settlement day of March series futures and options contracts as sentiments turned highly volatile in the second half of the session. The seven successive days of winning streak got extended for yet another day, thanks to the late short covering rally after the indices drifted to the red terrain on the back of hefty position squaring in rate sensitive and healthcare counters. The rebound in international crude prices by around a percent on the back of the ongoing turbulences in Libya and neighboring nations too weighed on the local sentiments. However, the rally in software and technology stocks capped the downside risks for the markets while the ease in inflation numbers to single digits during the week-ended March 19 after showing an unexpected increase in the previous week also supported the investor mood. The NSE's 50-share broadly followed index Nifty, settled a tad below the crucial 5,850 support level, after surging around a percent while Bombay Stock Exchange's Sensitive Index, or Sensex garnered over one hundred fifty points and closed just below the psychological 19,450 level. In the broader markets especially the mid cap stocks after a tremendous rally in last session showed some sign of fatigue but managed to hold in green. The BSE's Midcap and Smallcap indices went home with trivial gains of 0.29% and 0.21% respectively, underperforming their larger peers by quite a margin. On the sectoral front, The IT pocket grabbed the top gainer's position after garnering 1.92% on hopes that upbeat results and outlooks last week from global technology majors Oracle Corp and Accenture bode well for resurgence in tech spending. Heavyweight TCS soared 2.71%, being the top gainer on the index while stocks like Infosys and Wipro too gained 2.10% and 1.15% respectively. The FMCG counter too remained amid the thick of things and advanced 1.67% on the back of around 2.50% gains in Marico and Hindustan Unilever each. Rally in index bellwether Reliance Industries in the last too lifted local mood as it amassed almost one and half a percentage points. The paper stocks continued to remain in jubilant mood while AP Paper Mills once again got locked in upper circuit other paper stocks too traded higher. On the other hand, the Banking sector languished at the bottom of the table after slipping 0.70% as majors like SBI and Indusind Bank plummeted 3.19% and 4.87% respectively. While the Auto stocks also slipped after Maharashtra state government reportedly withdrew a sales tax exemption offered to several mega projects in state's new automobile hub Chakan-Talegaon. The incentives were offered to woo big investments to Maharashtra; with the roll back the automobile industry has expressed its concern that the government has changed the rules after the works got started.

On the global front, all the Asian equity indices barring Shanghai Composite finished the day's trade in the positive terrain on Thursday as Wall Street closed higher overnight on the back of strong jobs data from the United States that boosted hopes for the global recovery. The European markets though traded on a subdued note as France's CAC, Germany's DAX and Britain's FTSE exhibited negative trends. On the other hand, the screen trading for US index futures indicated that the Dow could open in the flat zone.

Earlier on Dalal Street, the benchmark got off to a steady start in the morning trade tracking optimistic leads from overnight Wall Street which closed higher led by good jobs data and rally in Telecom companies on reports that private companies are continuing to add workers and planned layoffs at US firms fell in March. Thereafter, the indices gradually kept gathering momentum through the first half of day's trade as they went on to touch intraday highs of 19,575.16 and 5,872.00. However hefty bouts of profit booking in counters like Bank, Auto and Realty dragged the indices even below the neutral line that too just half an hour before the closing bell. But what followed in the final moments of trade was an unexpected short covering rally that helped the bourses convalesce most of the losses and snap eighth straight session in the positive terrain settling a tad below the psychological levels of 5,850 and 19,450. The March F&O series expired on a strong note with Sensex and Nifty gaining about 8.7% and 9% respectively from the previous series. On the expected lines, markets registered extremely large volumes of over Rs 2.77 lakh crore while the turnover for NSE F&O segment too remained at the higher side at over Rs 2.54 lakh crore on the March series F&O settlement day. Market breadth turned negative by the end as there were 1444 shares on the gaining side against 1412 shares on the losing side while 95 shares remained unchanged.

Finally, the BSE Sensex surged by 155.04 points or 0.80% to settle at 19,445.22 while the S&P CNX Nifty climbed 46.10 points or 0.80% to end at 5,833.75.

The BSE Sensex touched a high and a low of 19,575.16 and 19,284.35 respectively. The BSE Mid-cap and Small-cap indices gained by 0.29% and 0.21%, respectively. 

Bajaj Auto up 2.90%, ONGC up 2.76%, TCS up 2.71%, Hindustan Unilever up 2.50% and Hero Honda up 2.23% were the major gainers on the Sensex.

On the flip side, SBI down 3.19%, Cipla down 2.01%, Reliance Communication down 2.00%, Mahindra & Mahindra down 1.61% and Maruti Suzuki down 0.95% were the Major losers on the index.

Despite the Indian government looking to further ease the regulations governing the foreign direct investment (FDI), the direct capital inflows into the country declined for a second consecutive month in February to $1.2 billion. The figure is about 30% below the FDI worth $1.7 billion received in the same month a year ago.

Various agencies have been raising concerns over declining FDI amidst a widening current account deficit (CAD). Cumulative FDI into India during the first 11-months of the current fiscal year has declined by 25% to $18.3 billion, putting pressure on the government to fine-tune its policies in order to attract greater amount of overseas investment. The country had received FDI worth $24.6 billion during the corresponding period of last financial year.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) had said recently that it preferred greater amount of long-term and stable flows through FDI into the country rather than often short-term oriented foreign institutional investment (FII) to bridge the current account deficit (CAD) that the country faces. The Governor of the central bank D Subbarao said that while inflow of foreign capital was welcome for bridging the CAD, the RBI would always prefer the stable inflows in terms of FDI, which comes with a long term commitment, rather than volatile portfolio inflows which can reverse in case of even a small change in either domestic of global economic scenario.

The decline in FDI in India has been rather against the trend seen in other developing countries. A recent report by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) had observed that in the last calendar year, emerging market economies (EMEs) attracted more foreign investment than developed countries for the first time in history as the global economic engine shifts to the EMEs. Despite this, the FDI into India has seen a decline.

Meanwhile, the government is set to release a revised FDI policy circular later in the day hoping to attract greater amount of foreign funds in the next financial year beginning April 1. Among other modifications, the third edition of the Consolidated FDI Policy Circular (CFPC) may contain guidelines on domestic companies issuing shares to foreign entities for considerations other than cash, a move aimed at checking possible misuse of FDI policy to engage in money laundering.

IT up 1.92%, FMCG up 1.67%, Oil & Gas up 1.44%, TECk up 1.42%, and Metal up 0.98% were the major gainers in the BSE sectoral space. Bankex down 0.70%, Health Care down 0.35%, CD down 0.22%, Capital Goods down 0.16 were the loser in the BSE sectoral space.

In a positive news for India's Information Technology (IT) industry, the global IT spending is all set to increase at a faster pace as global economy recovers from the slowdown. According to the latest estimates prepared by the Research and consultancy firm Gartner, IT spending worldwide is projected to touch $3.6 trillion in the current calendar year.

'Worldwide IT spending is forecast to total $3.6 trillion in 2011, a 5.6% increase from $3.4 trillion in 2010,' Gartner said. The forecast has been revised up from a 5.1% estimate given earlier, and reflects the overall improvement in global economy that is giving more confidence to business worldwide. This will be a second consecutive year in significant increase in IT spending after a decline seen in 2008.

India is a major player in global IT market, particularly in the IT services segment. The biggest outsourcing destination in world will benefit directly from the increased IT spending budgets worldwide. In fact, most of the India's top line IT players have shown good buoyancy in revenues in recent quarters hinting the improving global economy was bringing the IT services back towards a high growth trajectory.

The global financial crisis that started in late 2008 with crash of the US banking major Lehman Brothers had clouded the IT industry's outlook with most of the clients scrapping discretionary spending and IT budget getting stagnated or even contracted as an austerity derive was set in motion by business around the world to counter a sudden drop in demand.

However, over last 2-3 quarters, most tech companies have reported that IT spending was again beginning to increase and discretionary spending was also back in picture. Gartner said that while there could be some impact from the disaster in Japan, the current evaluation was that it will not be significant to alter the IT spending plans of major companies. The Indian IT industry is anyway not much worried from the Japan crisis as in terms of volumes, the US and EU are main markets for Indian IT vendors while only a small share of total business comes from Japan.   

The S&P CNX Nifty touched a high and a low of 5,872.00 and 5,778.65 respectively.

The top gainers on the Nifty were Reliance Power up 5.25%, Reliance Infrastructure up 3.98%, DLF up 3.15%, Bajaj Auto up 3.02% and ITC up 2.90%.

The top losers on the index were SBIN down 3.29%, Ambuja Cement down 2.50%, RCOM down 1.82%, M&M down 1.68% and Sun Pharma down 1.51%.

European markets were trading in red on Thursday. France's CAC 40 drops by 0.44%, Germany's DAX declined by 0.02% and Britain's FTSE 100 falls by 0.16%.

All the Asian equity indices barring Shanghai Composite finished the day's trade in the positive terrain on Thursday as Wall Street closed higher overnight on the back of strong jobs data from the United States that boosted hopes for the global recovery. Japanese Nikkei jumped about half a percent today as weaker yen boosted exporters. However, Chinese index finished with a cut of about one percent as investors booked their profits in heavyweight stocks after recent gains and amid speculation of another interest rate hike over the weekend

MARKETS CONTINUE WITH TEAM INDIA

The Indian equity markets have made a firm start tracking positive cues from global indices. The US markets extended their gains overnight supported by good jobs data, even though European concerns resurfaced with Portugal nearing a bailout. However, the Asian markets were trading on a mixed note. Back home, Nifty surged to its two and a half month high and breached its crucial 5,800 level supported by sustained buying by foreign funds which boosted investors' sentiments and India's win over Pakistan in the cricket's World Cup semi finals also aided the sentiments. Consumer durables witnessed the maximum gain in trade followed by software and capital goods with no losers on the BSE sectoral space. The broader indices were going neck to neck with benchmarks. Meanwhile, Paper stock, AP Paper Mills again touched the roof in the early trade and gained about 20% as in a surprising deal of International Paper Company, the US based paper and packaging giant, has bought 53.5% stake in Andhra Pradesh Paper Mills from its promoters for around Rs 1160 crore. Other Paper stocks viz., Tamil Nadu Newsprint, JK Papers and West Coast Paper mills were also trading with good gains. The market breadth on the BSE was positive; there were 1,119 shares on the gaining side against 467 shares on the losing side while 72 shares remained unchanged.

The BSE Sensex opened at 19,339.75; about 49 points higher compared to its previous closing of 19,290.18, and has touched a high of 19,443.48 while low remain its opening.

The index is currently trading at 19,420.49, up by 130.31 points or 0.68%. There were 20 stocks advancing against 10 declines on the index.

The overall market breadth has made a strong start with 67.49% stocks advancing against 28.17% declines. The broader indices were trading in line with benchmarks; the BSE Mid cap and Small cap indices surged 0.49% and 0.80% respectively. 

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were, CD up by 2.06%, IT up by 1.03%, CG up by 0.87%, Realty up by 0.86% and Bankex was up by 0.84%. While there were no losers on the index.

The top gainers on the Sensex were TCS up by 2.05%, Hero Honda up by 1.70%, ONGC up by 0.66%, Jaiprakash Associates up by 1.41% and HDFC was up by 1.25%.

On the flip side, Bharti Airtel down by 1.38%, M&M down by 1.34%, Wipro down by 0.94%, RCom down by 0.50% and Sterlite Industries down by 0.49% were the top losers on the index.

Meanwhile, Government has once again delayed a decision on levying service tax on transport of goods by rail to July 1. The move to defer the levy of tax came after Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee put pressure on the government to waive off service tax as it had done in the previous year. This is the fourth time that the government is postponing a decision on service tax on rail freight which was to be implemented from April 1, 2010.

Earlier in Budget 2009-10, the government had proposed a 10% service tax on goods carried by the railways to provide a level-playing field to transport of goods by road. However, it exempted rail freight from service tax in September 2009. However, in Budget 2010-2011, Pranab Mukherjee announced that the exemption from service tax would be withdrawn.

The service tax attracted an abatement of 70% of the gross value of freight charged on goods (other than exempted goods). This translated to a tax on only 30% of the value of transported goods. The service tax on rail would result in an increase in freight rates between 6-7%, in case the railway decides to pass it on to the consumers. With high food inflation, which has again entered double digits at 10.05% for the week ended March 12, while the overall wholesale price inflation stood at 8.31% in February, this would have further fuelled prices.

The exchequer has already lost around Rs 800 crore in 2010-11 as the finance ministry decided not to levy service tax on transport of goods through rail this fiscal. Service Tax is a form of indirect tax imposed on specified services called 'taxable services'. The objective behind levying service tax is to reduce the degree of intensity of taxation on manufacturing and trade without forcing the government to compromise on the revenue needs. The intention of the government is to gradually increase the list of taxable services until most services fall within the scope of service tax.

The S&P CNX Nifty opened at 5,803.05; about 16 points higher compared to its previous closing of 5,787.65, and has touched a high of 5,830.80 while low remain its opening.

The index is currently trading at 5,823.70, higher by 36.05 points or 0.62%. There were 36 stocks advancing against 14 declines on the index.

The top gainers of the Nifty were TCS up by 2.18%, Hero Honda up by 1.63%, ONGC up by 1.63%, Sesa Goa up by 1.32% and HDFC up by 1.27%.

M&M down by 1.50%, Bharti Airtel down by 1.34%, Wipro down by 1.03%, Sterlite Industries down by 0.64% and Power Grid was down by 0.64%, were the major losers on the index.

Asian markets were trading on a mixed note; Hang Seng was up 22.68 points or 0.10% to 23,474.11, Jakarta Composite was up 15.81 points or 0.43% to 3,656.79, KLSE Composite was up 5.36 points or 0.35% to 1,536.99 and Seoul Composite was up 2.04 points or 0.10% to 2,093.42.

On the flip side, Shanghai Composite was down 28.62 points or 0.97% to 2,927.15, Nikkei 225 was down 26.46 points or 0.27% to 9,682.33, Straits Times was down 1.42 points or 0.05% to 3,093.90 and Taiwan Weighted was down by 23.86 points or 0.28% to 8,622.45.

TOP PICKS FOR 31st MARCH

Markets continue it's northbound journey & the NIFTY is headed for 5955 & on the downside it may slip to 5684. Long positions can be taken in MAHSEAMLES for a target of 355, KESORAMIND for a target of 225, KFA for a target of NDTV for a target of 90, TATAELEXSI for a target of 273, THERMAX for a target of 722.
                                      HAPPY INVESTING ........... CHEERS !!!

ANOTHER GOOD PERFORMANCE

It turned out to be yet another swashbuckling performance by Indian equity indices as the joy of closing in the positive territory this Wednesday. Unlike Tuesday's session, bulls showed vigorous buying interests in not only blue chip stocks but in the broader markets as well. Sentiments remained upbeat across the globe as investors traded with conviction supported by expectation of bright corporate earnings figures which eased concerns about nuclear issues in Japan. Meanwhile the wilt in international crude oil prices below $105 a barrel on the back of reports that Libyan rebels retook control of two key port towns and said they would restart crude exports within weeks, supported the local sentiments. Persistent buying by foreign funds in the recent past too underpinned investor mood ahead of the quarterly earnings season as they expected that most of the headwinds have been factored in by the markets and that the companies will report strong earnings for the fourth quarter. While the concerns over inflationary pressure too eased to some extent after fall in crude oil prices. The NSE's 50-share broadly followed index Nifty, settled a tad below the crucial 5,800 support level, after surging around a percent while Bombay Stock Exchange's Sensitive Index, Sensex garnered over one hundred fifty points and closed just below the psychological 19,300 level. Buying was largely seen in the broader markets as investors showed comparatively lower interests in the heavyweights given the fact that the BSE's Midcap and Smallcap indices went home with strong gains of 1.51% and 2.20% respectively. On the sectoral front, Consumer Durables pocket grabbed the top gainer's position after garnering 3.98% led by majors like Whirlpool which soared 6.72%, being the top gainer on the index while stocks like Gitanjali Gems and VIP Industries too gained 3.51% and 2.50% respectively. The rate sensitive Realty counter too remained amid the thick of things and advanced 3.14% on the back of gains in stocks like DB Realty which was up 18.79% and Unitech up 5%. All the paper stocks rallied in the session after the unexpected reports that International Paper Company, the US based paper and packaging giant, bought 53.5% in Andhra Pradesh Paper Mills from its promoters for around Rs 1160 crore, the valuation comes well over 175% from its closing in previous session. Gains in index bellwether Reliance Industries too lifted local mood as it amassed a percentage point by the end of trade. 

On the global front, majority of Asian equity indices finished on an optimistic note led by Japanese Nikkei which surged more than two and a half percent as Japanese companies began resuming production and companies in China reported earnings that beat estimates. The European markets too traded on a sanguine note as France's CAC, Germany's DAX and Britain's FTSE exhibited positive trends. On the other hand, the screen trading for US index futures also indicated that the Dow could open in the green zone.

Earlier on Dalal Street, the benchmark got off to a steady start, in line with Asian peers which traded with conviction tracking optimistic leads from overnight Wall Street where equities closed higher on reports that consumer confidence dropped less than feared. Thereafter, the indices gradually kept gathering momentum through the day's trade as investors continued to aggressively pile up positions in beaten down stocks. The frontline indices hit the intraday high levels in the early hours of second half however the benchmarks came off the day's high level in the mid afternoon session as investors booked partial profits a day ahead of the March series F&O contract expiry. Eventually the bourses snapped seventh straight session in the positive terrain and settled a tad below the psychological levels of 5,800 and 19,300. The markets registered lower volumes compared to Tuesday of over Rs 1.68 lakh crore while the turnover for NSE F&O segment was at over Rs 1.49 lakh crore as India and Pakistan descended on to the battlefield and crossed swords at Mohali in the World Cup semi final, the mother of all sporting encounters in this part of the world. Market breadth remained optimistic as there were 2057 shares on the gaining side against 801 shares on the losing side while 93 shares remained unchanged.

Finally, the BSE Sensex surged by 169.38 points or 0.89% to settle at 19,290.18 while the S&P CNX Nifty climbed 51.30 points or 0.89% to end at 5,787.65.

The BSE Sensex touched a high and a low of 19,357.10 and 19,178.77 respectively. The BSE Mid-cap and Small-cap indices surged by 1.51% and 2.20%, respectively.  Cipla up 5.17%, Jaiprakash Associate up 4.19%, DLF up 3.83%, Mahindra & Mahindra up 3.46% and SBI up 3.27% were the major gainers on the Sensex.

On the flip side, Hindalco Inds down 1.15%, ITC down 0.84%, BHEL down 0.47%, Tata Power down 0.30% and ONGC down 0.28% were the Major losers on the index.

In a move that will help boost the prospects of Indian textile players in an increasingly competitive global export market, the government has on Tuesday increased the allocation for modernization of the textiles industry to Rs 15,404 crore from earlier sanction of Rs 8,000 crore to be disbursed within the current Five Year Plan ending March 2012.

Not only has it increased the allocation for the Technology Upgradation Fund Scheme (TUFS) but has also restructured the same to make it more effective. A wider gamut of players and particularly the smaller players will be able to get greater benefit and improve their scale of operations from the revised and restructured scheme according to the textile ministry. A decision to this effect was cleared by the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) on Tuesday.

As per the restructured scheme, out of the fresh allocation a total of Rs 1972 crore would be available for fresh sanctions while the remaining Rs 5,432 crore will be utilized for meeting the already made commitments. Following the meeting of the CCEA, textile ministry stated that the approval from Cabinet will enable immediate lifting of the pause button imposed on the scheme by it since June 29, 2010. The scheme was put on hold last year following lack of funds.

According to the textile players, one way through which the restructuring will improve the reach of the scheme is the fact that capital ceiling under the margin money has been raised and this would encourage the weaving sector to go in for more number of looms and thus would also boost large-scale investments as well. So far, most of the investments were into second-hand looms.

TUFS was launched in 2007-08 to help the industry upgrade to advanced technology in order to improve competitiveness against other exporting countries.  The scheme mainly provides for reimbursement of 5% interest charged by the financial institutions/banks for technology up gradation projects in conformity with the policy. In case of overseas loans, it gives the option of availing a cover for exchange rate erosion of up to 5% per annum instead of 5% interest support. As per the changes made in the scheme the government under the re-structured scheme, 10% capital sops would also be provided on brand new looms.

Consumer Durables (CD) up 3.98%, Realty up 3.14%, Health Care (HC) up 1.95%, Bankex up 1.67%, and Auto up 1.49% were the major gainers in the BSE sectoral space. FMCG down 0.38% was the only loser in the BSE sectoral space.

In a positive development for the coal and mining projects awaiting a nod from the environment ministry, the second meeting of the group of ministers (GoM) on coal mining in go and 'no-go' areas will be held early next months, according to the information released by the coal ministry.

The second meeting of the 12-member GoM was earlier planned to be held on March 25 but was postponed due to the extended Parliament session. The group had earlier met on February 18 but could reach a conclusion on the extent of 'no-go' areas although there were signs from the forest and environment ministry that it would not mind granting some relaxation in the overall 'no-go' areas computation.

'The second meeting of the GoM is likely to take place either on April 7 or April 8,' said the Union Coal Minister Sriprakash Jaiswa on Tuesday. He added that the first meeting of the group, despite having failed to reach a conclusion, was very productive and both the coal and environment ministries were able to narrow down on their differences on some of the crucial issues concerning coal mining in the country.

The issues between the ministry of environment on one side and ministry of coal on other started at the beginning of the last calendar year when the former approached the latter seeking a clarity on how much of India's seven big coalfields will be able to get green node. The environment ministry said that out of the total 6.50 lakh, only 3.50 lakh would be considered for mining as the rest had sensitive forests above them.

The decision was strongly protested by the coal ministry and it got good support of the power and steel ministries as well. At this point, the PMO and the finance ministry intervened and got a large chunk of the 'no go' areas back into the 'go zones'. Now, as many as six central ministries backing the coal ministry in the tussle, the latter is looking to get even greater chunk of coal beds into the 'go zone', a move that can provide a major boost to India's power sector.

The S&P CNX Nifty touched a high and a low of 5,803.15 and 5,753.90 respectively.

The top gainers on the Nifty were Ambuja Cement up 9.42%, DLF up 4.70%, PNB up 4.68%, JP Association up 4.52% and ACC up 4.03%.

The top losers on the index were Hindalco down 1.15%, Cairn down 1.14%, SAIL down 1.09%, IDFC down 0.57% and Reliance capital down 0.55%.

European markets were trading in mix on Wednesday. France's CAC 40 surged 0.90%, Germany's DAX climbed by 1.61% and Britain's FTSE 100 increased by 0.53%.

All the Asian equity indices barring Shanghai Composite finished the day's trade in the positive terrain on Wednesday led by Japanese Nikkei which surged more than two and a half percent as Japanese companies began resuming production and those in China reported earnings that beat estimates. Seoul Composite gained about one percent today, taking support from gains in technology and banking stocks and continued buying by foreign investors. However, Chinese index closed lower, with lingering worries over further monetary tightening, possibly next month, keeping a lid on the market.

NIFTY OSCILLATES AROUND 5800

The Indian equity markets are trading firm in the afternoon session and it seems bulls are not going to stop, continuing their gains for seventh straight day in a row helping the benchmark scale its new nine week high. Mirroring their larger counterparts, broader markets too are trading in the green with BSE Mid-cap and Small-cap indices gaining 1.20% and 1.95%, respectively. While, the US markets closed on the higher note overnight all other Asian peers are trading in the positive terrain indicating strong investors' sentiments except Shanghai Composite which is marginally down. The market breadth on the BSE was in favour of advances in the ratio of 1980:675 while 83 scrips unchanged.

Meanwhile, In a move that will help boost the prospects of Indian textile players in an increasingly competitive global export market, the government has on Tuesday increased the allocation for modernization of the textiles industry to Rs 15,404 crore from earlier sanction of Rs 8,000 crore to be disbursed within the current Five Year Plan ending March 2012. In a positive development for the coal and mining projects awaiting a nod from the environment ministry, the second meeting of the group of ministers (GoM) on coal mining in go and 'no-go' areas will be held early next months, according to the information released by the coal ministry. All the textile companies are in jubilant mood with the decision, Arvind was up by 14.32%, Alok Industries was up by 5.19%, Abhishek Inds was up by 6.85% and Indo Rama Synthetics was up by 2.72%.

The BSE Sensex surged 183.86 points or 0.96% at 19,304.66. The index touched a high and a low of 19,340.93 and 19,178.77, respectively.

The BSE Mid-cap and Small-cap indices soared 1.20% and 1.95%, respectively.

All the sectoral indices on the BSE were trading in the green barring FMCG which is down by 0.19%. Consumer Durable up 3.64% Realty up 1.75%, Capital Goods up 1.56%, Auto up 1.43% and Health Care up 1.23% were the major gainers.

The top gainers on the Sensex were M&M up 3.34%, JP Associates up 2.26%, Cipla up 2.20%, L&T up 2.18% and DLF up 1.84%.

On the flip side, ITC down 0.78%, Bharti Airtel down 0.32% and Hindalco down by 0.07% were the only losers on the index. 

Meanwhile, India's core sector, comprising of six infrastructure industries, has registered a growth of 6.8% in the month of February, raising hopes that the performance of the overall index of industrial production (IIP) will also be better in the month under review. The core sector has a weight of 26.7% in the overall IIP and includes crude oil, petroleum refinery, coal, electricity, cement and steel.

Looking at the individual performance, crude oil with a weight of 4.17% in the IIP recorded the best show with a strong growth of 12.2% in February 2011 against a growth rate of 4.0% in February 2010. Cumulative production of crude production grew 11.9% during April-February period of current financial year against 0.3% during the same period of the last fiscal.

Electricity generation (weight of 10.17% in IIP) has also been showing good performance off late and recorded a growth of 7.2% in the month under review against a growth rate of 6.9% in February 2010. On a cumulative basis electricity generation has grown 5.4% during April-February 2010-11 period compared to 6.0% during the same period of 2009-10.

Cement and steel were two better performing sectors indicating that infra activity was finally picking up in country after showing significant slowdown in second half of last year. Cement production (weight of 1.99% in IIP) recorded a growth of 6.5% in the month under review as compared with 7.9% in the same month a year ago. Production of finished steel (weight of 5.13 per cent in IIP) on the other hand recorded a growth of 11.5% in February 2011 against a negative (-) 0.2% in February 2010.The cumulative growth in the two industries stands respectively at 4.3% and 8.1%.

However, petroleum refinery production that has a weight of 2.0% in IIP continued its poor run showing a growth if just 3.2% against a growth of 0.7% in the year-ago period. In the financial year so far, petroleum refinery production has recorded a growth of 2.5% against (-) 0.4% during the same period of 2009-10.

Coal was the worst performing sector (weight of 3.2 per cent in IIP) where production recorded a negative growth at (-) 5.7% in February 2011 against a growth rate of 6.7% in February 2010. Coal production has grown just 0.1% during April-February 2010-11 against an increase of 7.9% during the same period of 2009-10. If coal production continues to remain poor in coming months as well, it can impact electricity production as well which is otherwise showing significant traction.

The S&P CNX Nifty gained 54.80 points or 0.96% at 5791.15. The index touched high of 5800.10 and a low of 5753.90, respectively.

The top gainers on the Nifty were M&M up 3.34%, Ambuja Cement up 3.32%, L&T up 2.45%, JP Associates up 2.32% and SBI up 2.20%.

On the other hand, HCL Tech down 1.25%, ITC down 0.59%, Bharti Airtel down 0.55%, Cairn down 0.45% and Hindalco down 0.34% were the major losers on the index.

The much awaited draft guidelines for giving new banking licenses would be released by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) in the next few days itself, said the Indian government on Monday. The same will be put in public domain for comments and after taking into account the response of various stakeholders to the draft guidelines, final guidelines will be released.

All the Asian markets are trading in green barring Shanghai Composite. Shanghai Composite down 0.10%, Hang Seng advances 1.63%, Jakarta Composite up 1.16%, KLSE Composite up 0.76%, Nikkei 225 advanced 2.64%, Straits Times up 1.49%, Seoul Composite advances 0.93% and Taiwan Weighted up 0.58%.