Markets remain in consolidation mood in early noon session

Indian markets have pared some of their gains and were trading flat modestly in green in the early noon session taking cues from the mixed trend at other Asian markets. There is not much movement in the market and the penultimate day of F&O expiry is quiet till now. Good buying was witnessed in IT, realty and healthcare stocks in early session on short coving, but slowly profit booking has eaten up the gains and only healthcare stocks were managing to retain in green led by gains in Sun Pharmaceutical Industries and Ranbaxy Laboratories after the merger of Ranbaxy with itself was consummated by Sun following receipt of requisite approvals.  The telecom stocks were mostly in jubilant mood, as the spectrum auction may come to an end today. The government's kitty from the telecom spectrum auction rose to Rs 1.09 lakh crore with the provisional allocation of 89 per cent radiowaves made at the end of the 18th day. Idea Cellular was up by over 2% and Bharti Airtel was up by about 0.50%, however RCom was trading flat.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 28209.98, up by 48.26 points or 0.17% after trading in a range of 28155.08 and 28249.60. There were 14 stocks advancing against 16 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were outperforming the benchmarks and were trading in red; the BSE Mid cap index was down by 0.05%, while Small cap index lost 0.36%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Auto up by 0.35%, Consumer Durables up by 0.30%, FMCG up by 0.28%, Bankex up by 0.26%, TECK up by 0.06%, while Metal down by 1.03%, Capital Goods down by 0.98%, PSU down by 0.77%, Power down by 0.71%, Oil & Gas down by 0.44% were the losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Sun Pharma Inds up by 2.18%, ICICI Bank up by 1.52%, Mahindra & Mahindra up by 1.22%, Tata Motors up by 1.22% and HDFC up by 1.20%. On the flip side, GAIL India down by 2.47%, NTPC down by 2.13%, Coal India down by 1.93%, Larsen & Toubro down by 1.30% and BHEL down by 0.88% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, the Petroleum and Natural Gas Regulatory Board (PNGRB) has sought more time to respond to Petroleum Ministry's move to take away its powers to issue CNG retailing licences. The oil regulator has said that a view on the guidelines will have to be taken by the full Board and it needs 7-10 days more to respond.

The Ministry, on March 5, issued 'Draft Guidelines for Granting Marketing Rights for CNG as Transportation Fuel, including setting up CNG Stations' wherein any entity that has invested Rs 500 crore in oil and gas infrastructure can get rights or licence to retail the fuel to automobiles by setting up CNG stations, while the ministry stated that the companies which invested a minimum of Rs 2,000 crore in oil and gas infrastructure were granted marketing rights for petrol, diesel and ATF through the March 2002 notification. The eligible entities under these guidelines shall apply to the Government for issuance of 'Grant of Marketing Rights for CNG as transportation fuel.

As per earlier practice since 2006, entities applied to PNGRB and not the government for rights to retail CNG alongside selling natural gas as fuel within city limits. As per the draft guidelines, while PNGRB has been issuing the licence to retail CNG as well as piped natural gas (PNG), now it pertains only to rights to sell CNG. The guidelines further states that firms who get CNG marketing rights will get natural gas allocation and can book capacities in existing pipelines to transport the fuel.

PNGRB recently opened fifth round of bidding for city gas distribution (CGD) licences even though it had issued license to entities for only first two rounds. Licences for the remainder are stuck over disputes.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 8552.55, up by 9.60 points or 0.11% after trading in a range of 8537.10 and 8573.75. There were 19 stocks advancing against 31 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Sun Pharma Inds up by 2.43%, ICICI Bank up by 1.70%, BPCL up by 1.67%, Mahindra & Mahindra up by 1.50% and Tata Motors up by 1.36%. On the flip side, NMDC down by 2.59%, GAIL India down by 2.51%, NTPC down by 2.19%, Coal India down by 2.11% and Ambuja Cement down by 1.72% were the top losers.

The Asian markets were showing a mixed trend, KOSPI Index was up by 1.44 points or 0.07% to 2,042.81, Straits Times gained 3.25 points or 0.1% to 3,416.51, FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI added 5.39 points or 0.3% to 1,819.43, Nikkei 225 was up by 32.75 points or 0.17% to 19,746.20 and Hang Seng surged by 101.21 points or 0.41% to 24,500.81.

On the other hand, Taiwan Weighted declined by 63.83 points or 0.66% to 9,667.83, Jakarta Composite lost 40.72 points or 0.75% to 5,406.93 and Shanghai Composite was down by 23.96 points or 0.65% to 3,667.45.