Benchmarks continue volatile trade

Indian markets are showing volatile trend in the late morning session of trade. On the global front, the majority of Asian markets were trading in red ahead of the ECB meeting which may announce bond-buying program. The Chinese market was up despite Goldman Sachs Group Inc. cutting its growth estimates. Goldman Sachs cut its forecast for economic growth in China this year to 7.6 percent from 7.9 percent. Back home the traders were seen piling up position in IT, Teck and Realty sector, while selling was witnessed in FMCG, CG and Power sector. On the other hand, Infosys, TCS, Wipro, and HCL Tech from IT pack were seen trading in green edging the markets higher. DLF, Oberoi Realty, Sobha Developers and Indiabulls Real Estate from Realty pack were seen trading firm in green, holding the markets from dipping further.ITC, Hindustan Unilever, and United Spirits, from FMCG sector were trading in red exerting pressure on the market, while CG majors Larsen & Toubro, Bharat Heavy Electricals, ABB and Pipavav Defence and Offshore Eng too were pressurizing the markets. Meanwhile, stocks of two-wheeler sector like Bajaj Auto, Hero MotoCorp and TVS Motor edged lower as sales fell for the first time in 42 months in August due to a combination of surging petrol prices and high interest costs. In the scrip specific development, AIA Engineering jumped on acquiring 30% stake in DCPL Foundries. JSW Steel gained on reporting production for August 2012 increased by 15% at 7.63 lakh tonnes against 6.64 lakh tonnes in August 2011. GAIL India rose on inking MoU with UPSIDC. WABCO India edged higher on inaugurating second world-class manufacturing facility at Chennai. The NSE Nifty and BSE Sensex were managing to hold their psychological 5200 and 17300 levels respectively.

The market breadth on BSE was positive, in the ratio of 1138: 779.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 17310.35 down by 2.99 points or 0.02% after touching a high of 17339.25 and low of 17294.74. There were 15 stocks advancing against 15 declines on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.42% and Small cap index was up by 0.18%.

On the BSE sectoral space, IT up by 1.66%, TECk up by 1.01%, Realty up by 0.79%, Bankex up by 0.48 and Metal up by 0.34 were the gainers. While FMCG down by 1.16%, CG down by 0.53% Power down by 0.47%, Auto down by 0.33% and Oil &Gas down by 0.15% were the top losers on the index.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Infosys up by 2.25%, Jindal Steel up by 1.76%, Sterlite Industries up by 1.39%, Wipro up by 1.24% and ICICI Bank up by 1.23%. On the flip side, BHEL was down by 2.50%, Bharti Airtel  was down by 2.48%, ITC  was down by 1.87%, Hero MotoCorp  was down by 1.29% and Sun Pharma  was down by 0.99%, were the top losers on the Sensex. 

Meanwhile, India was placed at 59th position in the Global Competitiveness Index (GCI) 2012-13, three places lower from the last survey of the World Economic Forum (WEF) due to unsatisfactory performance in the fundamental factors supporting competitiveness. India has lost 10 places since peaking at 49 in 2009 and lags behind China by a margin of 30 positions.

In the latest survey, Switzerland tops the position for the fourth consecutive year in the global list. Singapore occupies the second position followed by Finland, Sweden, Netherlands, Germany, US, UK, Hong Kong and Japan occupies the 10th position.

WEF reported that India’s infrastructure is generally 'insufficient' and 'ill-adapted' to the requirements of the economy and the country also faces dilemma areas such as corruption and bureaucracy. Hence it fails to satisfy the fundamental factors and gets penalized for its performance.

However, it was found India possess a number of strengths in the more advanced and complex drivers of competitiveness. This “reversed” pattern of development is characteristic of India. It can rely on a fairly well developed and sophisticated financial market (21st) that can channel financial resources to good use, and it boasts reasonably sophisticated (40th) and innovative (41th) businesses.

 The S&P CNX Nifty is currently trading at 5,222.25, down by 3.45 points or 0.07% after trading in a range of 5,231.05 and 5,217.65. There were 26 stocks advancing against 24 declines on the index.

The top gainers of the Nifty were Infosys up by 2.40%, Jindal Steel up by 1.86%, JP Associaties up by 1.64%, Wipro up by 1.59% and HCL Tech up by 1.15%. On the flip side, Bharti Airtel down by 2.87%, BHEL down by 2.48%, ITC down by 1.77%, Power Grid down by 1.75% and Hero Moto Co down by 1.50%, were the major losers on the index.

Most of the Asian indices were trading  in red; Nikkei 225 down by 0.34%, Hang Seng index down by 0.07%, , Taiwan Weighted down by 0.54%, Straits Times down by 0.53% and KLSE Composite down by 1.45% while Shanghai Composite up by 0.01%, Kospi Composite Index up by 0.42% and Jakarta Composite up by 0.36% were the gainers.