RECOVERY PATH

Local equity markets are showing some recovery in late morning session after the huge sell off in the morning session as Asian stocks fell, extending the biggest global share slump in two months, while the dollar, yen and oil gained as anti-government protests rocked Egypt for a sixth day and investors opted to take the refuge in safe heaven. Most of the Asian markets are also trading in the negative terrain today. The US index futures were also showing downtick in screen trade. Back home index biggies like ONGC and RIL helped the domestic benchmark indices to recover from their earlier losses. Meanwhile, among the sectoral indices Reality, TECk , IT , FMCG and Bankex are among the ones taking a severe beating; however, Oil & Gas,Capital goods ,Power, PSU and Consumer Durables (CD)counters are finding good support. Meanwhile, broader indices have further slipped into red with the BSE Mid-cap and Small-cap indices loosing around 1.15% and 1.13%, respectively. The market breadth on the BSE continued to remain negative; the losers outpaced the gainers in a ratio of 1738:923 while 69 scrips remained unchanged.

The BSE Sensex trimmed 161.55 points or 0.88% at 18,234.42. The index touched a high and a low of 18,258.45 and 18,038.48, respectively.

The BSE Mid-cap and Small-cap indices plummeted 1.15% and 1.13%, respectively.

In the BSE sectoral space  Oil & Gas  up  1.93%, Capital Goods up 1.23%, Power up 0.64%,PSU up  4.67%, and Consumer Durables (CD) up  0.25% were the top gainers .

While Reality down 1.96%, TECk down 1.74%, IT down 1.64%, FMCG down 1.32% and Bankex down 1.09% were the main losers in the BSE sectoral space

The top gainers on the Sensex were ONGC up 5.76%, HUL up 1.03 %, RIL up 0.93%, BHEL up 0.85% M&M up 0.31%.

On the other hand HDFC down 4.51%, JP associates down 4% Bharti Airtel down 3.97% TCS down 3.68% and Sterlite Industries were the top losers on the index.

India and Malaysia are all set to sign the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreements (CEPA) next month, said a minister of Malaysian government. Second finance minister of Malaysia Ahmad Husni said the move will help boost trade and economic activities between the two countries as well as explore new areas of co-operation.

The pact, for which the two sides have conducted seven rounds of discussions since February 2008, aims to enhance the $7.1 billion trade between the two countries. According to the Malaysian minister, everything has been agreed and only signifying was left now. However, while it will be signed next month, the deal will possibly be implemented only from July 1, 2011.

As per the agreement reached between the two countries, India has exempted 1,225 Malaysian items from tariff reductions, compared with 1,298 under its free trade pact with the 10 member group Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN), whose Malaysia is a member. The CECA with India will give Malaysia some additional concessions for export of palm oil and related products which have been not granted to the ASEAN as a whole.

As the negotiations on the multilateral deal under the Doha round of world trade organisation (WTO) looking to get extended into 2012, India has been focusing on bilateral trade agreements with countries and regions and has already entered into pacts with South Korea besides the ASEAN. The CEPA with Japan is completely ready to be signed while negotiations are at advance stages with the European Union. Besides, India is beginning negotiations on FTA with Australia and Canada as well. 

The S&P CNX Nifty decreased by 53.30 points or 0.97% to 5,458.85. The index touched a high and a low of 5,481.30 and 5,416.55, respectively.

The top gainers of the Nifty were Siemens up by 15.11%, ONGC up by 5.83%, Dr Reddy up 2.97% ,GAIL up by 2.19% and Power grid up 1.61%.

The top losers of the index were JP Associates down by 4.12%, HDFC down 4%, Bharti Airtel down by 3.90%, BPCL down by 3.71%, TCS down by 3.37% and ITC down by 3.06%.

All the regional peers  barring Shanghai Composite were trading in the red; Hang Seng decreased 1.12%, Jakarta Composite plunged 2.31%, KLSE Composite dropped 0.19%, Nikkei 225 lost 1.18%, Straits Times tumbled 1.27% and Seoul Composite declined by 1.81% while Shanghai Composite surged 1.11% .