GAP DOWN

Pressurized by feeble global cues, Indian equity benchmarks made a gap-down start with Sensex and Nifty declining below their crucial 19,500 and 5,900 levels. Overnight Wall Street ended lower as traders grew concerned that the US Federal Reserve could bring an early end to its huge stimulus programme. Minutes from the Fed's most recent policy board meeting showed some members in favour of cutting short the $85 billion-a-month bond-buying introduced last year to support the economy and which has helped lift global shares. While, most of the Asian markets too were trading in the red with Japanese Nikkei tumbling by over a percent in early deals as exporters and construction equipment makers dropped, tugging the market slightly below a 52-month high tapped the previous day.

Back home, cautious approach adopted by investors ahead of first day of Budget Session of Parliament also influenced the trading sentiment. Some pressure also came in after metal stocks like Hindalco, JSW Steel, Jindal Steel, Sesa Goa and Sterlite Industries all declined as LMEX, a gauge of six metals traded on the London Metal Exchange, fell 0.92% to 3,482.10 on February 20, 2013. On the sectoral front, metal witnessed the maximum loss in trade followed by capital goods and fast moving consumer goods while there were no gainers on the BSE sectoral space. The broader indices too were feeling the selling pressure while, the market breadth on the BSE was negative; there were 589 shares on the gaining side against 1,276 shares on the losing side while 82 shares remain unchanged.

The BSE Sensex opened at 19,549.05; about 93 points lower compared to its previous closing of 19,642.75, and has touched a high and a low of 19,554.65 and 19,463.86 respectively.

The index is currently trading at 19,475.13, down by 167.62 points or 0.85%. There were 3 stocks advancing against 26 declines on the index.

The overall market breadth has made a week start with 32.36% stocks advancing against 63.91% declines. The broader indices were trading in-line with benchmarks; the BSE Mid cap and Small cap indices decline 0.89% and 0.69% respectively.

The top losing sectoral indices on the BSE were, Metal down by 1.81%, Capital Goods down by 1.41%, FMCG down by 1.20%, Realty down by 1.04% and Auto down by 0.92% while, there were no gainers on the index.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Wipro up by 0.63%, Cipla up by 0.34% and Bajaj Auto up by 0.18%.

On the flip side, Sterlite Industries was down by 2.89%,  Hindalco Industries was down by 2.10%, Tata Motors was down by 2.06%,  Tata Steel was down by 1.89% and L&T was down by 1.83% were the top losers on the Sensex.

Meanwhile, the government is likely to push key economic reform bills in areas such as insurance, pension and corporate law in the Budget Session of Parliament beginning on February 21. The budget for FY14, which will be preceded by economic survey, is scheduled to be announced on February 28 by Finance Minister P Chidambaram, will also address key issues like declining industrial output, widening fiscal deficit and decelerating economic growth.

The government's economic agenda includes passage and consideration of bills on insurance, pension and Food Security Law, which has been pending from long time. The insurance and pension bills is seeking to raise foreign direct investment (FDI) cap in the sector from 26 percent to 49 percent, while the Food Security Bill seeks to provide subsidized food grain to people below poverty line.

However, more than 70 items, including 16 new Bills, are part of the government's business for the budget session of parliament. The session, which will have 34 sittings in two laps, will begin on Feb 21. Other important economic reforms bills on the economic agenda includes Forward Contracts (Regulation) Amendment Bill, Agricultural Bio Security Bill, the Biotechnology Regulatory Authority of India Bill and the Companies Bill, which is yet to be vetted by the Rajya Sabha.

The S&P CNX Nifty opened at 5,909.65; about 33 points lower as compared to its previous closing of 5,943.05, and has touched a high and a low of 5,921.15 and 5,901.15 respectively.

The index is currently trading at 5,901.25, lower by 41.80 points or 0.70%. There were 6 stocks advancing against 44 declines on the index.

The top gainers of the Nifty were Wipro up by 0.72%, HCL Tech up by 0.70%, Grasim up by 0.51%, Cipla up by 0.48% and Bajaj-Auto up by 0.28%.

On the flip side, Jaiprakash Associates down by 2.75%, Sesa Goa down by 2.38%, Hindalco down by 1.97%, IDFC down by 1.97% and Tata Motors down by 1.96%, were the major losers on the index.

Most of the Asian equity indices were trading in the red; Shanghai Composite tumbled 65.57 points or 2.74% to 2,331.61, Hang Seng declined 409.78 points or 1.76% to 22,897.63, KLSE Composite dipped 8.73 points or 0.54% to 1,604.60, Nikkei 225 dropped 150.67 points or 1.31% to 11,317.61, Straits Times contracted 18.28 points or 0.55% to 3,290.61, KOSPI Composite decreased 10.98 points or 0.54% to 2,013.66 and Taiwan Weighted was down by 65.26 points or 0.81% to 7,963.84.

On the flip side, Jakarta Composite was up by 6.84 points or 0.15% to 4,641.29.