REVERSED DIRECTION

Local equity market after gaining substantial momentum in initial trade has reversed direction and have slipped deep into red owing to the profit booking at higher level amidst the concerns of rising crude oil prices which have been casting shadow over investor's mind. Since the surge in crude oil prices over the past few months has sparked inflation and interest rates worries thereby prompting investors to expect that Reserve Bank of India (RBI) may raise its key short term policy rates by 25 basis points at its annual 2011-2012 monetary policy review on May 3,2011. ICE Brent crude on Friday surged to a 2-1/2-year high above $123 a barrel as unrest in Libya and the Middle East offset a major aftershock in Japan. Meanwhile, corporate scams too seem to be shaking the investor's confidence as the report stating more names to be rolled out in 2nd CBI charge sheet related to 2G scam are keeping investors wary. In connection to the 2G scam, the PAC has already quizzed industrialist Ratan Tata, Anil Ambani and corporate lobbyist Niira Radia, while the second CBI charge sheet is likely to be filed on April 25. On the global front, after overnight gains of US markets over Good jobs and retail sales data, Asian shares are mostly trading in green, however. The US future indices are showing mixed trend on the screen trade.

Backhome, the decline this session is also contributed by the broader indices, besides larger counterparts, as both midcap and small cap index after showcasing strong resilience for past few sessions have edged lower on profit taking. On the BSE Sectoral front, only FMCG stocks are trading in green on expectation of good Q4 results, while rest all the indices are down in red, However, performing worst among them are stocks from Realty, Auto and PSU counters. The benchmark indices are trading below their physiological level of 19500 (Sensex) and 5600 mark (Nifty) respectively. The overall market breadth on BSE was in the favour of declines which thrashed advances in the ratio of 1505:928, while 73 shares remained unchanged.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 19,497.05, down by 94.13 points or 0.48%. The index has touched a high of 19,697.21 and a low of 19,472.36.There were 5 stocks advancing against 25 declines on the index.

The broader indices too have slipped in red; the BSE Mid cap and Small cap indices were down by 0.71% and 0.73% respectively. 

All the sectoral indices on BSE were in red with an exception of FMCG which was up by 0.51%, however, the top loosers among them were Realty down by 1.61%, Auto down by 1.34%, Public Sector Undertaking down by 1.12%, Metal down by 0.87% and Power down by 0.84%.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Bharti Airtel up 1.29%, ITC up by 0.77%, Sterlite Industries up by 0.52%, HDFC Bank up by 0.22% and HUL up by 0.16%

On the flip side, JP Associates down 2.34%, Wipro down by 2.07%, Tata Motors down by 1.85%, Hindalco Industries down by 1.53% and ONGC down by 1.52% were the top losers on the index.

Meanwhile, India and the four-member European Free Trade Association (EFTA) have agreed to conclude the ongoing negotiations for a free trade agreement (FTA) by end of the current year, said the Indian government on Thursday. The minister for Commerce and Industry Anand Sharma said that the two sides have been working swiftly on the matter and had reached at common point on most of the issues. He was in Switzerland recently and had a bilateral meeting with Johann Schneider-Ammann, Federal Councilor Minister for Economic Affairs of Switzerland. 

So far the two sides have completed seven rounds of negotiations. In fact the FTA would have already been concluded by now but the global economic slowdown delayed it a bit. Nonetheless, both sides have given strong signals regarding their commitment and analysts believe that deadline for end of the year is pretty much likely to be met.

The EFTA include four states including Switzerland, Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway. It was established in 1960 as a trade bloc-alternative for European states who were either unable to, or chose not to, join the then-European Economic Community (EEC) which has now become the European Union (EU). While Switzerland has concluded bilateral agreements with the EU, the other three members are now part of the European Union Internal Market through the Agreement on a European Economic Area (EEA).

The two sides had launched negotiations on the trade and investment agreement following an initial study group set up in December 2006. India's bilateral trade with the four countries is close to $30 billion and has shown good growth over recent years despite global economic slowdown. Switzerland is also one the major investors in India Swiss companies have been proactive in expanding operations in the country.

The S&P CNX Nifty is currently trading at 5,851.30, declined 34.40 points or 0.58%. The index has touched a high of 5,926.95 and a low of 5,841.10 respectively.  There were 9 stocks advancing against 41 declines on the index.

The top gainers of the Nifty were Ranbaxy up by 1.34%, Bharti Airtel up by 1.15%, Sunpharma up by 0.90%, ITC up by 0.66% and Sterlite Industries up by 0.52%.

BPCL down by 2.71%, Reliance Power down 2.65%, JP Associate down by 2.24%, Wipro down by 2.21%, and Ambuja Cement down by 2.01% were the major losers on the index.

Asian counterparts were mostly in the green; Shanghai Composite was up 0.31%, Hang Seng gained .057%, Jakarta Composite added 0.26%, Nikkei 225 surged 1.52%, Straits Times rose 0.09%,

 On the flip side Seoul Composite lost 0.10%, Taiwan Weighted declined 0.44%and KLSE Composite was down by 0.02%.