MARKETS FLAT

Bulls after showcasing a power-packed performance in the previous session appear to be currently resting as the bourses are doing little to budge from their current levels. The domestic bourses, on the contrary, have pared some of its gains as fresh shorts created in the Healthcare, Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) and Metal counters are meddling in the upmove of the bourses. However, the heart-warming factor remains that both the barometer gauges on Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) and National Stock Exchange (NSE)-Sensex and Nifty- are trading above their long lost psychological level of 17k and 5100 mark respectively. Ascend of the equities in the early trade was on the back of the hopes that euro zone leaders will be able to hammer out a solution to the debt crisis. Sentiment was lifted by news that Slovakia's political parties had agreed to hold a new vote this week that could see the expansion of the eurozone emergency fund approved by Friday. However, the cautiousness continues to prevail as traders have kept their eyes glued on the earnings and the other on developments in the euro zone. On the global front, U.S. stocks rose on Wednesday as Europe's progress toward bolstering its financial rescue fund brought more battle-weary investors back into the market.  Meanwhile, US stocks taking a lead from the positive close of Wall Street extended the previous session's rally. The US future indices too were showing an uptick in the screen trade. Back home, stocks from Bankex, Information Technology and TECk counters were struggling to keep the markets in fine fettle.  The 30 scrip sensitive index- Sensex- sustaining gains of over 50 points, was trading above its 17k level, while the 50 share index- Nifty-gaining over 10 points is hovering around its neutral line. The overall market breadth on BSE is in the favour of advances which have thumped declines in the ratio of 1314:787, while 88 shares remained unchanged.
The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 17,028.63, up by 70.24 points or 0.41%. The index has touched a high and low of 17,084.07 and 16,974.18 respectively.  There were 15 stocks advancing against 15 declines on the index.
The broader indices were out performing benchmarks; the BSE Mid cap and Small cap indices surged 0.62% and 0.63% respectively.
The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were, Bankex up by 1.58%, IT up by 1.09%, TECk up by 0.72%, Realty up by 0.63% and Power up by 0.45%. While, HC down by 0.31%, FMCG down by 0.23% and Metal down by 0.22% were the losers on the index.
The top gainers on the Sensex were ICICI Bank up by 2.52%, SBI up by 2.44%, HDFC Bank up by 1.25%, BHEL up by 1.19% and TCS up by 1.15%.
On the flip side, Jindal Steel was down by 2.19%, Hindalco Industries down by 1.28%, Maruti Suzuki was down by 0.93%, Sun Pharma down by 0.89% and L&T down by 0.82% were the top losers on the Sensex.
Meanwhile, the slowdown in the industrial production has raised concerns of the government. Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee accepted that the IIP slowdown may affect the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth in the second quarter. Mukherjee said, it may impact India's July-September quarter GDP. 'It (IIP) is not encouraging. It is a bit disappointing and it may affect the GDP of second quarter.'
The Index of Industrial Production (IIP) for month of August grew by 4.1% compared to 3.8% in July and for the first five months of current financial year cumulative growth of IIP was 5.6% compared to 8.7% in April-August 2010.
Finance minister, however, did not comment on the extent to which the subdued IIP numbers will impact on the GDP growth in the second quarter of 2011-12. He said, 'to what extent it (slowdown in IIP) would affect, it would be premature to make any assessment.'
For the first quarter of 2011-12, country's GDP growth fell to six quarter low at 7.7% compared to 8.8% in the same period of 2010-11. For the current fiscal year, government expects Indian economy to grow by 8.5%. However, many agencies including Reserve Bank of India (RBI), have done downward revision in their estimates for the current financial year, because of the slowdown in global economy and hovering inflation, which is affecting the demand, hence the growth.
Although, July IIP data has been revised upwards from 3.3% to 3.8%, on this upward revision finance minister said that 'the silver lining is that IIP has improved from July figure... But compared to corresponding period of previous year, it is quite low.'
Meanwhile, the economic affairs secretary R Gopalan said that the slowdown in the IIP numbers is a matter of concern but expressed confidence that the figures would improve from here. 'It is a cause of concern. But as we go along, if you see the previous year, always second half IIP numbers have been good,' he added. 
The S&P CNX Nifty is currently trading at 5112.45, higher by 13.05 points or 0.26%. The index has touched a high and low of 5,136.95 and 5,102.35 respectively.  There were 24 stocks advancing against 26 declines on the index.
The top gainers of the Nifty were HCL Tech up by 2.46%, ICICI Bank up by 2.39%, SBI up by 1.92%, TCS up by 1.19% and Reliance Power up by 1.07%.
On the flip side, Jindal Steel down by 2.00%, Hindalco Industries down by 1.51%, Dr Reddy down by 1.40%, ACC and Cairn India were down by 1.24%, were the major losers on the index.

All the Asian equity indices were trading in the green; Shanghai Composite was up by 0.58%, Hang Seng up by 1.91%, Jakarta Composite was up by 1.56%, KLSE Composite was up by 0.97%, Nikkei 225 was up by 0.98%, Straits Times was up by 0.47%, Seoul Composite was up by 1.36% and Taiwan Weighted was up by 0.54%.