Indian equities trim losses; CPI inflation enters the double digit at 10.03%

Indian equities trimmed losses to trade in green in the late morning session. While, on the global front, the majority of Asian markets were trading in red due to European debt crisis and worsening dispute between Japan and China. Back home, August CPI combined inflation came at 10.03% compared to 9.86% in the month of July. August CPI food inflation came at 12.03%. The corresponding provisional inflation rates for rural and urban areas for August 2012 were 9.90% and 10.19% respectively. The General Indices for rural, urban and combined stood at 124.3, 121.1 and 122.9 respectively. Traders were seen piling up position in Power, PSU and TECk sector, while selling was witnessed in Oil & Gas, Metal and Auto sector. Power Grid Corporation of India, Bharat Heavy Electricals, Reliance Infrastructure, Siemens, Reliance Power, Crompton Greaves and ABB from Power pack were seen trading in green edging the markets higher. State Bank of India, Gail (India), Bank of Baroda, Punjab National Bank, Bharat Petroleum Corporation and NMDC from PSU pack were seen trading firm in green. Oil & Gas majors RIL, ONGC and Cairn India were capping the markets’ gains while Metal majors Tata Steel, Coal India, Jindal Steel, Hindalco Industries and Sterlite Industries too were pressurizing the markets.

In the scrip specific development, Financial Technologies surged after Blackstone increased stake to over 6%. Lanco Infratech surged as arm declared commercial operation of Thermal Power Project Unit-2.Tech Mahindra jumped on acquiring 51% stake in Comviva Technologies. Cords Cable Industries gained on securing order worth $2.18 million from OTV International.  Reliance Infra rose as its arm entered into cement market under brand name ‘Reliance Cement’. Indo Rama jumped on plans to set up 30 MW wind turbine project in Maharashtra.

The NSE Nifty and BSE Sensex were managing to hold their psychological 5600 and 18,500 levels respectively.

The market breadth on BSE was positive, in the ratio of 1442:754.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 18546.01 up by 3.70 points or 0.02% after touching a high of 18580.48 and low of 18480.96. There were 13 stocks advancing against 17 declines on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.96% and Small cap index was up by 0.71%.

On the BSE sectoral space, Power up by 0.99%, PSU up by 0.93%, TECk up by 0.77%, FMCG up by 0.77% and CG up by 0.59% were the gainers. While Oil & Gas down by 0.35%, Metal down by 0.29% and Auto down by 0.09% were the losers on the index.

The top gainers on the Sensex were BHEL up by 2.44%, SBI up by 2.26%, Gail India up by 1.95%, Infosys up by 1.69% and ITC up by 1.38%. On the flip side, Wipro down by 1.73%, HDFC down by 1.41%, Hindalco Industries down by 1.41%, ICICI Bank down by 0.96% and Tata Motors down by 0.65% were the losers on the Sensex. 

Mean while , despite the hue and cry by the allies of the government and opposition, Finance Minister P Chidambaram has ruled out rolling back decisions on diesel, LPG and FDI in retail and has expressed confidence that the government faces no threat from allies either inside or outside.

Not only this, the Finance Minister said that the government will take more policy steps in the next one-and-half months to revive growth, ‘I am very confident that between now and October 30, the government is expected to take a number of additional policy measures and also lay out a plan of fiscal consolidation.’

Chidambaram also appreciated the RBI’s initiative of reduction in CRR by 0.25 per cent to unlock Rs 17,000 crore of banking funds and said that the response of RBI on October 30 will be far more supportive of growth. The Reserve Bank is scheduled to come out with second quarter monetary policy review on October 30.

However, he raised his apprehensions about fiscal deficit target not being achieved and said that we will be lucky if we can achieve the fiscal deficit target of 5.1 percent of GDP and conceded that there could be some slippage. 

The S&P CNX Nifty is currently trading at 5,610.60, up by 0.60 points or 0.01% after trading in a range of 5,620.55 and 5,586.45. There were 24 stocks advancing against 25 declines while 1 stock remains unchanged on the index.

The top gainers of the Nifty were PNB up by 4.49%, BHEL up by 2.36%, IDFC up by 2.10%, GAIL up by 1.80% and SBI by 1.80%. On the flip side, Cairn down by 2.52%, Hindalco down by 1.71%, HDFC down by 1.71%, Wipro down by 1.70% and DLF down by 1.51% were the losers on the index.

Most of the Asian indices were trading in red; Nikkei 225 down by 0.14%, Jakarta Composite down by 0.40%, Hang Seng index down by 0.14%, Taiwan Weighted up down 0.41%, Shanghai Composite down by 0.64%, Straits Times down by 0.22% and Kospi Composite Index down by 0.08% while KLSE Composite up by 0.13% was only the gainer.