Indian equities trade on an unenthusiastic note around previous closing levels

Indian equity markets are displaying subdued trends in the Tuesday afternoon trades as investors chose to take some profits off the table after the recent sharp rally in equities. Sluggish global cues have kept domestic market participants cautious which is evident since the frontline indices are moving in a tight range in the session. The key gauges even tested the psychological 17,800 (Sensex) and 5,400 (Nifty) levels in the session but hefty profit booking at higher levels dragged the indices near session’s lows. Profit booking was largely evident in the Power counter which plunged about a percent followed by the high beta Realty counter which too traded with similar amount of losses. However, the index heavyweight Reliance Industries made its presence felt in the session by surging close to two percent and giving the much needed support to the markets. Furthermore, gains in Oil & Gas and Banking bellwethers too have done their bit in preventing the downside for the markets. Meanwhile, stocks from Aviation pocket including Kingfisher Airlines, Jet Airways and SpiceJet skyrocketed in the range of 9-15 percent in the session after the empowered group of ministers gave their green signal to the decision to allow airlines to directly import Air Turbine Fuel from abroad. On the global front, Asian markets exhibited mixed trends while the European stock futures too indicated a cautious opening for the markets there after both French President and German Chancellor cautioned Greece that it was running out of time to reach a consensus on the bailout loan package aimed at preventing the eurozone member nation from defaulting on its debts.

Moreover, the broader markets traded on sluggish note with moderate gains, trading in tandem with their larger peers. The bourses rose on good volumes of over Rs 0.50 lakh crore while market breadth on BSE was marginally in favor of advances in the ratio of 1317:1307 while 123 scrips remained unchanged.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 17,741.29 up by 33.98 points or 0.19% after trading as high as 17,832.04 and as low as 17,700.21. There were 15 stocks advancing against 15 declines on the index.

The broader indices were trading on a positive note; the BSE Mid cap index rose 0.15% and Small cap added 0.39%.

On the BSE sectoral space, Oil & Gas up 1.38%, Consumer Durables up 1.12%, Bankex up 0.76%, PSU up 0.31% and IT up 0.24% were the major gainers while Power down 0.97%, Realty down 0.77%, Capital Goods down 0.53%, TECk down 0.24% were the major losers in the space.

RIL up 1.90%, Jindal Steel up 1.77%, Hero Moto up 1.24%, ICICI Bank up 1.12% and ITC up 0.99% were the major gainers on the Sensex, while Bharti Airtel down 2.51%, Sun Pharma down 2.11%, BHEL down 1.90%, HUL down 1.77% and GAIL India down 1.68% were the major losers in the index.

Meanwhile, the growth in GDP at factor cost during 2011-12, at 2004-05 prices, is estimated at 6.9 percent as compared to the growth rate of 8.4 percent in 2010-11. The ‘agriculture, forestry and fishing’ sector has shown a sharp decline in growth rate as it expanded merely by 2.5 percent in its GDP during 2011-12, as against the growth rate of corresponding period last year of 7.0 percent. In addition, there was contraction of 2.2 percent during 2011-12 in mining and quarrying sector growth.

The GDP in manufacturing sector is estimated at 3.9 percent during 2011-12 which is also consistent with the growth in IIP Index of manufacturing registering growth rates of 4.1 per cent during April-Nov, 2011-12. GDP in electricity sector is estimated at 8.3 percent during 2011-12. The construction industry is estimated to grow by 4.8 percent in 2011-12. The key indicators of construction sector, namely, production of cement registered growth rate of 5.3 percent and consumption of finished steel registered growth rate of 4.4 percent, during April-Dec, 2011-12.

The GDP growth in trade, hotels, transport and communication sector during 2011-12 is estimated at 11.2 percent. Financing, real estate and business services is estimated to grow 9.1 percent. Community, social and personal services is estimated to grow 5.9 percent. The growth in GDP at market prices during 2011-12 is estimated at 7.5 percent as compared to the growth rate of 9.6 percent in 2010-11. Private final consumption expenditure is estimated to show a growth rate of 6.5 percent. Gross Fixed Capital Formation, which is an important indicator of investment in the economy is estimated to grow by 5.6 percent.

The S&P CNX Nifty is currently trading at 5,371.75, higher by 10.10 points or 0.19% after trading as high as 5,413.35 and as low as 5,356.35. There were 26 stocks advancing against 24 declines on the index.

The top gainers on the Nifty were Cairn up 3.60%, Jindal Steel up 2.12%, ACC up 1.86%, Reliance up 1.80% and Kotak Bank up 1.65%.

Bharti Airtel down 2.58%, Sun Pharma down 2.22%, BHEL down 2.01%, GAIL down 1.93% and HUL down 1.81% were the major losers on the index.

In the Asian space, Shanghai Composite plunged 1.68%, Hang Seng eased 0.17%, Jakarta Composite declined by 0.82% and Nikkei 225 slipped 0.13%.

On the flipside, Straits Times ascended 0.33%, Seoul Composite rose 0.43% and Taiwan Weighted garnered 0.25%.