Benchmarks continue lackadaisical trade below neutral line

Indian equities continued lackadaisical trade below neutral line in the late morning session. On the global front, all the Asian markets were trading in the negative terrain on Euro zone concern and weak export data from Japan. Back home, traders were seen piling up position in TECk, IT and FMCG sector, while selling was witnessed in CG, Realty and Power sector. TCS, Bharti Airtel, Wipro, HCL Tech, ZEE Entertainment Enterprises and Idea Cellular from TECk, pack were seen trading in green edging the markets higher. ITC, Hindustan Unilever, Colgate-Palmolive (India) and United Breweries from FMCG pack were seen trading firm in green.CG majors - L&T, BHEL, Siemens, Crompton Greaves and ABB were capping the markets’ gains while Realty majors DLF, Unitech, HDIL, Oberoi Realty and India bulls Real Estate too were pressurizing the markets.

However, the markets managed to pare some of their losses immediately on hopes that the government may get support from Samajwadi party (SP) and Bahujan Samaj party (BSP) to stay in power. Moreover, some amount of strength also came in from public sector oil marketing companies as shares of companies like BPCL, HPCL and IOC all edged higher on the back of continuously fall in international crude prices.

In the scrip specific development, TCS gained on ranking as leader in banking application outsourcing by Everest Group.  Mahindra Satyam rose on unveiling REIMS. HCL Tech surged on inking multi-million dollar deal with Free scale Semiconductor. Persistent Systems edged higher on expanding SMB social enterprise services. Glenmark Pharma jumped as its arm secured USFDA approval for Rizatriptan Benzoate Tablets. ONGC gained on plans to raise natural gas production by over 7.22 mmscmd.

The NSE Nifty and BSE Sensex were managing to hold their psychological 5550 and 18,300 levels respectively.

The market breadth on BSE was negative, in the ratio of 835:1249.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 18389.21 down by 106.80 points or 0.58% after touching a high of 18423.65 and low of 18291.93. There were 11 stocks advancing against 19 declines on the index.

The broader indices were trading in red; the BSE Mid cap index was down by 0.72% and Small cap index was down by 0.60%.

On the BSE sectoral space, TECk up by 0.71%, IT up by 0.67%, FMCG up by 0.27% and HC up by 0.01% were the gainers. While CG down by 1.86%, Realty down by 1.49%, Power down by 1.18% and CD down by 1.13% and Metal down by 1.12% were the losers on the index.

The top gainers on the Sensex were TCS up by 2.01%, Bharti Airtel up by 1.66%, ONGC up by 1.10%, Maruti Suzuki up by 1.00% and Wipro up by 0.91%. On the flip side, BHEL down by 3.16%, Gail India down by 2.67%, HDFC down by 2.49%, Sterlite Industries down by 2.45% and L&T down by 1.98% were the losers on the Sensex. 

Meanwhile, exports from the European Union (EU) to India have reportedly declined 6% to 19.3 billion euro from 20.6 billion euro for January-June 2012 as against the same period last year. However, EU's import pattern was mixed. The largest increases for imports were from Norway 11%, South Korea and the US both 9%.

Indian exports to the 27-member EU, declined by 11% to 18.4 billion euro from 20.6 billion euro in the period January-June 2012 as compared to the same period last year. The largest fall was recorded with India (- 11%) and Japan (- 5%).

On the other hand, EU exports to most of its major clients grew in the same period, excepting India (-6%) and Turkey (-2%). Russia and South Korea both registering 18%, Japan 16% and Brazil 15% were notable increases for exports for the EU. 

The S&P CNX Nifty is currently trading at 5,564.80, down by 35.25 points or 0.63% after trading in a range of 5,571.40 and 5,534.90. There were 16 stocks advancing against 34 declines on the index.

The top gainers of the Nifty were BPCL up by 2.83%, TCS up by 2.05%, HCL Tech up by 1.48%, Bharti Airtel up by 1.47% and ONGC by 1.39%. On the flip side, Reliance Infra by 3.41%, BHEL down by 3.02%, GAIL down by 2.60%, Sterlite Industries down by 2.60% and HDFC down by 2.43% were the losers on the index.

All the Asian indices were trading in red; Nikkei 225 down by 1.35%, Jakarta Composite down by 0.45%, Hang Seng index down by 0.65%, Taiwan Weighted up down 0.82%, Shanghai Composite down by 1.01%, Straits Times down by 0.47% and Kospi Composite Index down by 0.73% and KLSE Composite up by 1.25% were the losers.