NEGATIVE BIAS

Indian benchmarks, after making a flat-to-positive start are struggling for direction in early morning trade on Wednesday due to lack of favourable domestic cues. On the global front, overnight, the US stocks rose after Coca-Cola and Goldman Sachs joined the growing roster of S&P companies that beat profit forecasts and as Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke left the door open to more stimulus while, the Asian markets were trading on a mixed note. Back home, investors remained concerned over the Government's ability to push through pending reforms like FDI in multi-brand retail, diesel decontrol, reduction in fertilizer subsidy and clearance of financial sector bills. On the sectoral front metal witnessed the maximum gain in trade followed by technology and public sector undertaking while, auto, capital goods and consumer durables remained the top losers on the BSE sectoral space. The broader indices too were trading cautiously. The market breadth on the BSE was negative; there were 710 shares on the gaining side against 840 shares on the losing side while 66 shares remained unchanged.

The BSE Sensex opened at 17,113.37; about 9 points higher compared to its previous closing of 17,105.30, and has touched a high and a low of 17,147.75 and 17,078.01 respectively.

The index is currently trading at 17,094.29, down by 11.01 points or 0.06%. There were 12 stocks advancing against 18 declines on the index.

The overall market breadth has made a negative start with 43.94% stocks advancing against 51.98% declines. The broader indices too were trading flat; the BSE Mid cap and Small cap indices down by 0.08% and 03.02% respectively.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were, IT up by 0.40%, Metal up by 0.29%, TECk up by 0.28%, PSU up by 0.22% and Oil and Gas was up by 0.21%. While, Auto down by 1.08%, CG down by 0.66%, CD down by 0.45%, Realty down by 0.41% and Power down by 0.32% were the top losers on the index.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Coal India up by 1.69%, Tata Power up by 1.10%, ONGC up by 1.02%, Wipro up by 0.68% and Infosys was up by 0.52%.

On the flip side, Hero MotoCorp was down by 1.74%, Tata motors was down by 1.62%, BHEL was down by 1.13%, M&M was down by 1.11% and Bajaj Auto was down by 1.03% were the top losers on the Sensex.

Meanwhile, the Government has slapped 10 % customs duty on raw sugar imports and also raised the import duty on flat alloy steel products like hot and cold rolled alloys to 7.5% than its previous 5 per cent. The Food Ministry had proposed 10% import duty on sugar after zero duty regime expired on June 30. Earlier, with an anticipation of shortfall in output, the government had allowed a duty free import of raw sugar during the 2009-10 sugar seasons. I

ndia's sugar production is estimated to reach 26 million tonnes in 2011-12 marketing year (October-September) against 22 million tonnes of annual domestic consumption. India now with surplus output has emerged as one of the major exporters by shipping 2.5 million tonnes of sweetener in the current season. 

As per Finance Ministry's notification, import duty on certain flat steel products too has been raised in order to close the loop hole occurred in product classification, which will help both alloy and non-alloy steel to attract same level of import duty. In the April-June quarter, steel imports have reported a 40% hike on behalf of rising domestic consumption.

The S&P CNX Nifty opened at 5,199.10; about 7 points higher compared to its previous closing of 5,192.85, and has touched a high and a low of 5,204.20 and 5,183.45 respectively.

The index is currently trading at 5,188.30, down by 4.55 points or 0.09%. There were 17 stocks advancing against 33 declines on the index.

The top gainers of the Nifty were Coal India up by 1.85%, ONGC up by 1.16%, Axis Bank up by 1.16%, Tata Power up by 1.04% and BPCL up by 1.02%.

On the flip side, Tata Motors down by 1.57%, Hero MotoCorp down by 1.43%, M&M down by 1.38%, BHEL down by 1.26% and Siemens down by 1.21%, were the major losers on the index.

Asian markets trade mixed at this point of time, Hang Seng index lost 138.18 points or 0.71% to 19,317.15, Straits Times was down by 2.21 points or 0.08% to 3,012.99 and Seoul Composite declined by 11.88 points or 0.59% to 1,810.49 and Taiwan Weighted was down by 43.29 points or 0.61% to 7,083.87.

On the other hand Shanghai Composite rose 0.58 points or 0.03% to 2,156.15, Jakarta Composite added 16.15 points or 0.40% to 4,096.46, KLSE Composite was up by 2.84 points or 0.17% to 1,641.99 and Nikkei 225 was up by 18.70 points or 0.21% to 8,773.70.