Markets pare early gains to trade in red in morning deals

Indian markets after making a positive start have pared all their gains and were trading in red. Cautiousness ahead of the rail budget and the February series F&O expiry has gripped the markets with traders opting to remain on sidelines. Union minister Suresh Prabhu will be presenting his maiden railway budget and though he has said that best efforts are being made to fulfill people's aspiration in the NDA government's first full-fledged Rail Budget. Market is expecting a positive railway budget with more focus on increasing the railway capacity with existing infrastructure.

Meanwhile, the mixed global cues failed to give any support to the markets as the US markets ended mostly flat, while some of the Asian markets gave up their early gains and were trading with modest losses after some last session gains, others are trading higher after upbeat US housing and Chinese factory data.

Back home, the markets are likely to take direction with the Railways Budget, however rail stocks are still showing mixed trend as the traders offloaded their position before the budget due to uncertainty, Kernex Microsystems, Rexmaco Rail & Engineering was down by around 2% on the other hand Titagarh Wagons and Hind rectifiers were up by over a percent. Meanwhile, almost all the sectoral indices were trading in red on the BSE, some buying has appeared in the power sector after the  government has approved the setting up of 15,000 MW grid-connected solar photo voltaic power projects through state-run NTPC under the National Solar Mission.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 28932.97, down by 75.02 points or 0.26% after trading in a range of 28900.48 and 29069.13. There were 11 stocks advancing against 18 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in red; the BSE Mid cap index was down by 0.29%, while Small cap index lost 0.23%.

The gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Metal up by 0.37%, Oil & Gas up by 0.14%, Power up by 0.01%, while Realty down by 0.50%, IT down by 0.49%, TECK down by 0.47%, INFRA down by 0.44%, Auto down by 0.42% were the losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Sesa Sterlite up by 1.78%, Tata Steel up by 0.77%, ONGC up by 0.71%, Tata Motors up by 0.53% and ICICI Bank up by 0.47%. On the flip side, Sun Pharma Inds. down by 2.04%, Bajaj Auto down by 1.28%, Infosys down by 1.19%, Cipla down by 1.15% and Axis Bank down by 1.09% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, ahead of Budget, results of Business Confidence Survey, conducted by industry body FICCI showed a marginal dip in the proportion of respondents anticipating 'moderately to substantially better' performance over the near-term at economy, industry and firm level. Around 83% of the participants in the current survey cited a `moderately to substantially better` overall economic situation over the next six months, compared to 84% stating likewise in the last round.

The survey drew responses from about 150 companies with a turnover ranging from Rs 3 crore to Rs 10,000 crore and belonging to a wide array of sectors - chemicals, steel, paper products, textiles, automotive, electric machinery, pharmaceutical, food processing and hospitality.

Although the survey pointed better situation as compared to last year, it showed that sustainable turnaround remained elusive on investments, profits and exports. According to Ficci's poll, measures announced by the government over the course of last seven to eight months did have a positive impact on the sentiment of the business community, but continued implementation of these reforms were required by sustain the buoyancy.

The survey also found that the industry was confident about the government continuing pursuing its broad economic agenda to push reforms and take tangible steps towards its completion.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 8742.40, down by 24.85 points or 0.28% after trading in a range of 8733.85 and 8786.05. There were 18 stocks advancing against 30 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Sesa Sterlite up by 1.78%, Jindal Steel & Power up by 1.56%, Ambuja Cement up by 1.03%, ONGC up by 0.66% and Power Grid Corpn up by 0.52%. On the flip side, Sun Pharma Inds down by 1.92%, Bank Of Baroda down by 1.35%, Axis Bank down by 1.34%, Bajaj Auto down by 1.19% and Infosys down by 1.14% were the top losers.

Asian markets were showing mixed trend in morning trade, FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI was up by 1.16 points or 0.06% to 1,817.02, Shanghai Composite gained 45.01 points or 1.39% to 3,273.85, Nikkei 225 surged by 169.31 points or 0.91% to 18,754.51 and Hang Seng increased 194.6 points or 0.79% to 24,972.88.

On the other hand, Taiwan Weighted declined by 62.75 points or 0.65% to 9,636.79, Straits Times was down by 13.93 points or 0.4% to 3,426.90, Jakarta Composite lost 9.87 points or 0.18% to 5,435.24 and  KOSPI Index  was down by 2.25 points or 0.11% to 1,988.22.