Indian equities continue lackadaisical trade amid bout of volatility

Indian equities trimmed minor loss but continued its weak trade below neutral line amid bout of volatility in the late afternoon session as investors became skeptical in absence of any positive triggers and on subdued European counterparts. Also, lack of additional stimulus measures announcement after the conclusion of Federal Reserve's two days meeting has mainly left the markets high and dry. Traders were seen piling up position in FMCG, Capital Goods and Power sector while selling was witnessed in Oil & Gas, Bankex and Metal sector. In the scrip specific development, Cummins India, a manufacturer of diesel and natural gas engines, was seen trading firm in green with gain of around seven percent after reporting stronger than expected numbers in first quarter of FY13. NIIT Technologies slipped on stake sale after the exchange showed 3.92 million shares, or 6.53% of the market capitalization changed hands. Deccan Chronicle extended its fall on reports that Karvy Stock Broking has filed a criminal complaint against the company.

On the global front, the Asian markets were trading mostly in red while the European markets were trading on a mixed note. The ECB President Mario Draghi is attempting to build consensus among governments and central bankers for a plan to ease borrowing costs in Spain and Italy before policy makers convene a meeting. Separately, Euro-zone manufacturing recession deepened at start of the third quarter, final data from Markit Economics showed the manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index for the euro-zone fell to a 37-month low of 44, down from 45.1 in June and below the earlier flash estimate of 44.1. On the home turf, the NSE Nifty and BSE Sensex were trading below their psychological 5,250 and 17,200 levels respectively. The market breadth on BSE was positive in the ratio of 1325:1139 while 141 scrips remained unchanged.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 17,186.37 down by 71.01 points or 0.41% after touching a high of 17246.01 and a low of 17,157.28. There were 9 stocks advancing against 21 declining ones on the index.

The broader indices manage to sustain gains; the BSE Mid cap index held up by 0.06%, while Small cap index was trading higher by 0.33%.

On the BSE sectoral space, FMCG up by 0.54%, Capital Goods up by 0.48%, Power up by 0.44% and Consumer Durable up by 0.29%, while Oil & Gas down by 1.15%, Bankex down by 0.63%, Metal down by 0.63%, Auto down by 0.48% and PSU down by 0.30% were the top losers on the index.

NTPC up by 2.89%, Jindal Steel up by 1.34%, ITC up by 0.99%, BHEL up by 0.77% and L&T up by 0.53% were the top gainers on the Sensex, while Tata Motors down by 2.20%, Sterlite Industries down by 2.17%, Tata Power down by 1.66%, ONGC down by 1.50% and SBI down by 1.26% were the major losers in the index.

Meanwhile, amidst intensifying competition and newcomers starting operations, the subscriber addition has only accelerated. The number of telephone subscriber in the country grew from 926.53 million at the end of December 2011 to 951.34 million as at the end of March 12, registering a growth of 2.68% over the previous quarter as against 2.16% during the quarter ended December-11. These figures also reflect year-on-year (Y-O-Y) growth of 12.41% over the same quarter of last year. The overall tele-density in India has reached 78.66 as of March 31, 2012.

Further, in Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) released report on ‘Indian Telecom Services Performance Indicators (January-March, 2012),’ Gross revenue and adjusted gross revenue of telecom service sector for the quarter has been Rs 49,242.99 crore and Rs 34,457.07 crore respectively. Meanwhile monthly average revenue per user (ARPU) for GSM service increased by 1.66% to reach Rs 97 at the end of March 2012 from Rs 96 at the end of December 2011.

With 25.33 million net additions during the quarter, total wireless (GSM + CDMA) subscriber base registered a growth of 2.83% over the previous quarter and increased from 893.84 million to 919.17 million at the end of March 2012. The year-on-year (Y-O-Y) growth rate of Wireless subscribers for Mar-12 is 13.26%. Unlike the wireless segment, the wire-line segment’s subscriber base witnessed a decline from 32.69 million in December 2011 to 32.17 million at the end of March 2012, showing a shift from wire-line to the wireless. Subscription in urban areas grew from 611.19 million at the end of December 2011 to 620.52 million at the end of March 2012, taking urban tele-density from 167.85 to 169.55. Meanwhile, rural subscription increased from 315.33 million to 330.82 million, and rural tele-density increased from 37.48 to 39.22.

In terms of market share, as at end-March 2012, Bharti Airtel undoubtedly maintained its leadership position with a user base of 184.55 million at the end of March 2012. However, in terms of net additions during the quarter, Idea was number one having added the maximum users, followed by Uninor and Airtel. Idea added 6.34 million new users while Uninor and Airtel added 6.13 million and 5.58 million, respectively.

The S&P CNX Nifty is currently trading at 5,217.10, down by 23.40 points or 0.45% after trading in a range of 5,236.90 and 5,209.95. There were 14 stocks advancing against 34 declines while 2 stocks remained unchanged on the index.

The top gainers on the Nifty were NTPC up by 3.02%, Asian Paints up by 1.52%, Jindal Steel up by 1.23%, Reliance Infrastructure up by 0.90% and ITC up by 0.77%. While, Sterlite Industries down by 2.36%, Tata Motors down by 2.33%, Cairn India down by 2.20%, Ambuja Cement down by 1.91% and Sesa Goa down by 1.91% were the major losers on the index.

Asian indices continued reeling in red; Kospi Composite Index slid 0.56%, Jakarta Composite lost 0.79%, Hang Seng index offloaded 0.66%, Straits Times shed 0.47% and Shanghai Composite plunged by 0.57% while, KLSE Composite inched higher by 0.04% and Nikkei 225 up 0.13%, were the only gainers.

The European markets were trading on a mixed note with, France’s CAC 40 descending 0.02%, Germany’s DAX dropped 0.31% and the United Kingdom’s FTSE 100 added 0.19%.