Benchmarks manage to keep their head above water; trade with slender gains

Indian equity markets in the extremely volatile session of trade were just managing to hold their neck in green, with slender gains that kept Sensex and Nifty above psychologically crucial 28,950 and 8,750 levels respectively. Gains were limited on account of incremental profit-booking activities in select blue chip stocks like Reliance Industries, ITC and HDFC, combined with financials stocks that were trading lower on prevailing caution ahead of Budget 15-16, which is scheduled to be presented on February 28.  Meanwhile, broader indices succumbing to selling pressure were trading with losses in the range of 0.15-0.55%. Prevailing risk-off sentiment ahead of Yellen's appearance before the US Senate Banking Committee and cautiousness ahead of F&O expiry on Thursday was also weighing on the sentiment.

On the global front, Asian share markets crept higher on Tuesday as Tokyo scored another 15-year peak, though gains were hostage to what Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen might say later in the day about the likely lift-off date for US rate hikes.  Meanwhile, European bourses are expected to open a shade softer as time ticks away for Greece to deliver a list of reforms after missing the initial deadline on Monday.

Closer home, most of the sectoral indices on BSE were trading in negative territory, nevertheless stocks from Oil & Gas, Metal and Public Sector Undertaking (PSU) counters were the worst performers of the session, so far. On the flip side, much of buying was witnessed in stocks from Fast Moving Consumer Goods, followed by Realty and Capital Goods counter. Meanwhile, telecom stocks too were in focus after Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) in a move to boost fixed line phone connections in the country, removed charges that a landline service provider has to pay to the other service providers for transmitting its customers' phone calls. The overall market breadth on BSE was in the favour of declines, which have thumped advances in the ratio of 1524:1000; while 106 shares remained unchanged.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 28991.38, up by 16.27 points or 0.06% after trading in a range of 28917.63 and 29054.82. There were 17 stocks advancing against 13 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in red; the BSE Mid cap index was down by 0.15%, while Small cap index declined by 0.56%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were FMCG up by 1.07%, Realty up by 0.85%, Capital Goods up by 0.49%, IT up by 0.49%, TECK up by 0.32% while, Oil & Gas down by 1.20%, Metal down by 0.75%, PSU down by 0.34%, Auto down by 0.26%, Bankex down by 0.15% were the losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Hindustan Unilever up by 1.68%, NTPC up by 1.54%, ITC up by 1.33%, BHEL up by 1.19% and Larsen & Toubro up by 1.04%. On the flip side, Sesa Sterlite down by 2.83%, ONGC down by 2.71%, Tata Steel down by 1.51%, Tata Motors down by 1.39% and Reliance Industries down by 1.17% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, addressing the joint sitting of Parliament at the start of the Budget Session, President Pranab Mukherjee underscored that NDA government was committed to optimum utilization and transparency in allocation of natural resources, including coal, the auction for which have started and would reduce the power costs in the country since this would provide adequate fuel to increase power generation.

He further stated that this auction, would provide huge resources from allotment of mines to the mineral and coal bearing states particularly in eastern areas for accelerated development of the region and had it not been for swift and timely decision of the government to auction these mines, several mines would have been shut down and would have rendered thousand jobless.

He further said that the government in the coming years would make focused efforts to expand exploration capacity and to increase domestic coal production to 1,000 million tonnes per annum (MTPA).

So far, the government has sold 19 coal blocks in the first phase of coal auctions, which is expected to fetch six states over Rs 1 lakh crore. The auction that started on February 14 and concluded on February 22 is expected to benefit States like Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Odisha, West Bengal, and MP the most. Lastly, the second round of auction in which government has put on sale 21 mines will begin from February 25.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 8760.65, up by 5.70 points or 0.07% after trading in a range of 8736.90 and 8777.40. There were 26 stocks advancing against 24 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Zee Entertainment up by 2.09%, Kotak Mahindra Bank up by 1.93%, Hindustan Unilever up by 1.79%, NTPC up by 1.47% and ITC up by 1.35%. On the flip side, Jindal Steel & Power down by 3.38%, Cairn India down by 3.05%, Sesa Sterlite down by 3.01%, Bank Of Baroda down by 2.91% and ONGC down by 2.65% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in green; with FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI trading higher by 4.18 points or 0.23% to 1,813.57; KOSPI Index trading higher by 6.94 points or 0.35% to 1,968.39; Straits Times trading higher by 11.61 points or 0.34% to 3,432.91;  Jakarta Composite trading higher by 15.62 points or 0.29% to 5,418.90; Shanghai Composite trading higher by 24.54 points or 0.76% to 3,246.91;Taiwan Weighted trading higher by 99.86 points or 1.05% to 9,629.37 and Nikkei 225 trading higher by 136.56 points or 0.74% to 18,603.48. On the flip side,  Hang Seng was trading lower by 108.97 points or 0.44% to 24,727.79