Indian equities trim gains to hover near neutral line

Indian equities trimmed its gains to trade near neutral line in late afternoon session. The market pared gains after hitting fresh intraday highs on account of profit booking by investors. Traders were seen piling up positions in Bankex, Health Care and Capital Goods sector while selling was witnessed in Realty, IT and FMCG sector. Kotak Bank, Axis Bank, ICICI Bank, SBI and PNB from Banking counters were seen trading firm in green pulling the markets higher. DLF from Realty sector continued to reel under immense selling pressure after Vertias Investment Research reports flagged concerns about the company's financial health. Infosys, TCS and HCL Technologies from IT pack were trading in red pushing markets down. ITC and HUL from FMCG sector was trading in red drifting the markets lower. Meanwhile, automobile and cement sector stocks kept buzzing in the session as major companies reported their monthly sales numbers. In the scrip specific development, ONGC was trading weak in red as one-day auction of 5% government stake-sale in the firm just scraped through on Thursday, March 01, 2012. GMR Infrastructure jumped after the company won Rs 537 crore payment due case from Tamil Nadu electricity board. On the global front, Asian markets were trading in green while the European markets were trading on a mix note. The sentiments were buoyant on reports that the region’s leaders agreed to speed up payment to the permanent bailout fund. Back home, the NSE Nifty and BSE Sensex were trading below their psychological 5,350 and 17,600 levels respectively. The market breadth on BSE was in favor of advances in the ratio of 1401:1318 while 140 scrips remained unchanged.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 17,591.89 up by 7.92 points or 0.05% after trading as high as 17,731.88 and as low as 17,504.38. There were 14 stocks advancing against 16 declines on the index.

The broader indices were trading on a positive note; the BSE Mid cap index gained 0.02% while Small cap rose 0.07%.

On the BSE sectoral space, Bankex up 1.34%, Health Care up 0.98%, Capital Goods up 0.80%, Metal up 0.31% and Consumer Durables up 0.29%, were the only gainers while Realty down 2.49%, IT down 0.74%, FMCG down 0.65%, PSU down 0.40% and Oil & Gas down 0.37% were the top losers in the space.

Sun Pharma up 3.03%, ICICI Bank up 2.00%, L&T up 1.98%, Jindal Steel up 1.73% and Bharti Airtel up 1.52% were the major gainers on the Sensex, while DLF down 5.85%, ONGC down 2.29%, Bajaj Auto down 1.41%, ITC down 1.26% and Hindalco Industries down 1.10% were the major losers in the index.

Meanwhile, given that the global economy recovery is suffering a setback, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has suggested that emerging economies like India should be cautious while easing their economic policies given high levels of inflation and public debt.

It has noted that global recovery has suffered a setback and the euro area is still expected to enter a mild recession. The advanced economies too may experience weak and uneven growth. Also emerging economies may witness moderating growth, reflecting past policy tightening and adverse spillovers from advanced economies.

IMF has called for collective actions to address global imbalances to help ensure a return to a strong, sustainable, and balanced growth. It has said that in the emerging economies, the focus should be on responding to moderating demand, while dealing with volatile capital flows. It has further cautioned that risks to global growth remain squarely to the downside, although recent policies and financial market developments have lowered the probability of a sharp global slowdown.

The S&P CNX Nifty is currently trading at 5,341.90, higher by 2.15 points or 0.04% after trading as high as 5,392.55 and as low as 5,315.05. There were 25 stocks advancing against 25 declines on the index.

The top gainers on the Nifty were Sun Pharma up 3.20%, Ambuja Cement up 2.43%, IDFC up 2.41%, Kotak Bank up 2.28% and Jindal Steel up 2.24%.

DLF down 5.61%, ONGC down 2.48%, BHEL down 2.10%, ITC down 1.38% and Siemens down 1.37% were the major losers on the index.

In the Asian space, Shanghai Composite surged 1.43%, Hang Seng climbed 0.81%, Jakarta Composite advanced 0.82%, KLSE Composite gained 0.46%, Nikkei 225 ascended 0.72%, Straits Times rose 0.31%, Seoul Composite added 0.22% and Taiwan Weighted moved up 0.32%.

The European markets were trading on a mix note with, France’s CAC 40 ascended 0.08%, Germany’s DAX dropped 0.03% while Britain’s FTSE 100 shed 0.03%.