CONSOLIDATION

After garnering hefty profit in previous two sessions, domestic benchmarks are consolidating at pre close levels ahead of Reserve Bank of India's (RBI) quarterly monetary policy review, to be released later in the day. The RBI, however, is unlikely to cut policy rates considering the inflation above its comfort level. The headline inflation in June rose to 7.25 percent, while consumer price inflation was above the 10 percent mark. On the global front, markets in Asia extended on hopes that the Federal Reserve and the European Central Bank may signal some stimulus to ramp up growth. Though, US markets closed marginally lower overnight, cooling off after two days of rally, as the mood of investors turned cautious to see if central bankers later this week will suggest more stimulus. Back home, rate sensitive stocks like banks and auto traded lower. Capital goods stocks, which are also affected by high interest rates, traded in the red. Meanwhile, software stocks like TCS, Wipro and HCL Technologies edged higher after Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has set up a panel headed by N Rangachary to review taxes in information technology and R&D sectors. The broader indices too were trading flat at this point of time. The market breadth on the BSE was positive; there were 783 shares on the gaining side against 601 shares on the losing side while 65 shares remained unchanged.

The BSE Sensex opened at 17,186.61; about 43 points higher compared to its previous closing of 17,143.68, and has touched a high and a low of 17,208.45 and 17,161.33 respectively.

The index is currently trading at 17,161.33, up by 17.65 points or 0.10%. There were 17 stocks advancing against 13 declines on the index.

The overall market breadth has made a strong start with 54.04% stocks advancing against 41.48% declines. The broader indices too were trading flat; the BSE Mid cap and Small cap indices rose 0.01% and 0.10% respectively.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were, HC up by 0.78%, FMCG up by 0.74%, Oil and Gas up by 0.46%, CD up by 0.40% and Realty up by 0.25%. While, CG down by 0.53%, Power down by 0.29%, Auto down by 0.27%, TECk down by 0.22% and Metal down by 0. 17% were the top losers on the index.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Cipla up by 2.03%, Wipro up by 2.03%, ONGC up by 1.25%, TCS up by 1.08% and M&M up by 0.92%.

On the flip side, Bharti Airtel was down by 1.73%, Hero MotoCorp was down by 1.17%, BHEL was down by 0.95%, Tata Motors was down by 0.92% and Infosys was down by 0.88% were the top losers on the Sensex.

Meanwhile, Coal Ministry has urged Independent power producers (IPP) with coal block allocations to take part in bids for power procurement called for by discoms - the distribution utilities that take care of power procurement and distribution. Albeit, almost all power producers have long-term power purchase agreements with discoms.

The ministry had noticed that the power producers, who were been allocated coal blocks are not participating in the bids and are quoting higher tariff almost similar to projects that had coal linkages. It also, urged them to pass on benefits of low cost of coal from the blocks to the consumers in the form of lower electricity tariff.

This move by the ministry comes at a time when the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) is likely to come out with its final report. The CAG has also criticized on the allocation of coal blocks to IPPs and captive power producers and has confirmed that it is in the way of estimating the inappropriate benefits granted to them.

The S&P CNX Nifty opened at 5,214.85; about 15 points higher compared to its previous closing of 5,199.80, and has touched a high and a low of 5,218.35 and 5,199.50 respectively.

The index is currently trading at 5,200.35, higher by 0.55 points or 0.01%. There were 23 stocks advancing against 27 declines on the index.

The top gainers of the Nifty were Wipro up by 2.43%, Cipla up by 2.06%, Ranbaxy up by 1.35%, ONGC up by 1.23% and TCS up by 1.06%.

On the flip side, Bharti Airtel down by 2.01%, BHEL down by 1.43%, Hero MotoCorp down by 1.36%, Bank of Baroda down by 1.33% and JP Associates down by 0.29%, were the major losers on the index.

Most of the Asian equity indices were trading in the green; Hang Seng surged by 164.92 points or 0.84% to 19,750.32, Jakarta Composite gained 15.57 points or 0.40% to 4,115.70, Nikkei 225 added 61.53 points or 0.72% to 8,697.35, Kospi Composite gained 26.62 points or 1.43% to 1,869.92 and Taiwan Weighted added 37.89 points or 0.53% to 7,196.11.

On the flipside, Shanghai Composite was down by 1.43 points or 0.07% to 2,108.49, KLSE Composite was down by 1.57 points or 0.10% at 1,630.90 and Straits Times was down by 6.43 points or 0.21% to 3,026.03.