Benchmarks pare most initial losses on bargain hunting

The Indian equity benchmarks came off the low point of the day and trading flat at this point of time, as investors kept themselves busy in buying fundamentally strong stocks at lower level. Moreover, Asian peers were trading mostly in the positive territory too providing some strength to the domestic bourses. Back home, BSE’s Sensex and NSE’s Nifty recaptured their crucial 15,350 mark and 4,600 level respectively supported by index heavyweights HDFC Bank, ONGC and Infosys. On sectoral front, FMCG, healthcare and software are providing some strength to the market sentiments. While, capital goods, metal and auto stocks witnessing some selling pressure. Meanwhile, banking stocks extended their recent losses as investors were disappointed after the central bank left cash reserve ratio unchanged after the mid-quarter monetary policy review on December 16, 2011. The local market breadth favoring the negative trend; there were 813 shares on the gaining side against 1,521 shares on the losing side while 115 shares remained unchanged.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 15,368.00, down by 11.34 points or 0.07%. The index has touched a high and low of 15,448.13 and 15,280.23 respectively. There were 10 stocks advancing against 20 declining on the index.

The broader indices have continued their southbound journey; the BSE Mid cap and Small cap indices were down by 0.82% and 0.73% respectively.

The top gainers on the BSE sectoral index were, FMCG up by 0.88%, HC up by 0.46%, IT up by 0.39%, TECk up by 0.20% and Oil and Gas up by 0.13% while, CG down by 1.86%, Metal down by 1.53%, Auto down by 1.46%, CD down by 1.43% and Realty down by 1.39% were the top losers on the index.

ONGC up by 2.30%, HDFC Bank up by 2.27%, ITC up by 1.42%, HDFC up by 0.98% and HUL up by 0.85% were the top gainers on the index.

While, Jaiprakash Associates down by 4.67%, Hero Motocorp down by 3.28%, Jindal Steel down by 3.10%, L&T down by 2.72% and Tata Steel down by 2.46% were remained the top losers on the index.

Meanwhile, the Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA) Bill, which was held up for years, is likely to be tabled in Parliament this week. As the government has reached out to the main Opposition BJP and secured its approval for some key provisions of the draft legislation. Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee held a discussion with the opposition leaders on the PFRDA Bill as well as Companies Bill and accepted some of the suggestions made by them.

The government is understood to have agreed to the Opposition’s demand for inclusion of assured returns to retired employees in Pensions Bill. The Standing Committee on Finance, headed by Yashwant Sinha, had recommended for an assured return option to new subscribers. Further, the government also agreed for defining the quantum of FDI in PFRDA in the Act itself instead of bringing it through an Executive decision.

Earlier, the panel had sought a specified FDI limit in the Bill while the government was of the view that FDI limit in the pension should be at 26% at par with the insurance sector. The amended legislation will now fix the ceiling of 26% FDI in the bill itself, besides making provisions for guaranteed returns and easy withdrawal norms.

At present, pension funds of over 10 lakh employees in the country are managed by domestic players such as Life Insurance Corporation of India, State Bank of India, Kotak Mahindra Bank and Reliance Capital, but foreign companies have showed interest in the country’s pension market.  The PFRDA bill, if passed, will open country’s profitable pension sector to foreign players.

The PFRDA Bill will be moved in Lok Sabha for consideration and passing on December 21 while a new Companies' Bill will be re-drafted and introduced in Parliament.

The S&P CNX Nifty is currently trading at 4,604.65, down by 8.45 points or 0.18%. The index touched a high and a low of 4,637.25 and 4,580.20 respectively. There were 17 stocks advancing against 33 declining ones on the index.

The top gainers of the Nifty were ONGC up by 2.41%, HDFC Bank up by 2.25%, Ranbaxy up by 1.84%, BPCL up by 1.84% and ITC up by 1.37%.

Jaiprakash Associates down by 4.42%, Hero Motocorp down by 3.52%, Axis Bank down by 3.24%, Jindal Steel down by 3.00% and Kotak Bank down by 2.82% were the major losers on the index.

Most of the Asian indices were trading in the green; Shanghai Composite was up 0.66 points or 0.03% to 2,218.90, Hang Seng was up 88.45 points or 0.49% to 18,158.66, Nikkei 225 was up 40.36 points or 0.49% to 8,336.48, Seoul Composite was up 16.13 points or 0.91% to 1,793.06 and Taiwan Weighted was up 29.31 points or 0.44% to 6,662.64.

On the flip side, Jakarta Composite was down 9.03 points or 0.24% to 3,761.26 and Straits Times was down by 2.01 points or 0.08% to 2,616.08.