Benchmarks trim gains albeit a positive European market start

Benchmark equity indices have pared some of their gains in the early noon deals, however the resilience of Indian equity markets after previous session’s colossal losses still continues to persist, in light of positive start of European counterparts. Meanwhile, Asian counterparts appear set for a mixed close. Much of the support seems to be coming from stocks belonging to Health Care, Capital Goods and Consumer Durable counters, which have kept the 30 share index, Sensex, near to its 18800 level, while 50 share index, Nifty, despite cooling off its high point, is trading above the 5700 mental level. Additionally, broader indices too have witnessed profit booking.

In sector specific action, telecom stocks fell up to 4 per cent after an Empowered Group of Ministers recommended a one-time fee on existing operators for spectrum they hold beyond 4.4 MHz. To list a few, Idea Cellular plunged 4 per cent, Bharti Airtel was down 1.62 per cent and lastly, Reliance Communications lost 1.34 per cent. On the flip side, banks have enticed some gains led by private sector lenders on expectations their July-September earnings will prove more resilient than their public sector counterparts. Major Beneficiaries were ICICI Bank, which gained 1.4 percent and HDFC Bank that added up to 0.8 percent. The overall market breadth on BSE is in the favour of advances that have thrashed declines in the ratio of 1580:1016, while 114 shares remained unchanged.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 18846.78, up by 137.80 points or 0.74% after trading in a range of 18,885.84 and 18,796.25. There were 23 stocks advancing against 6 declines on the index, while 1 stock remained unchanged.

The broader indices pared some of their gains in the noon deals; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.86% and Small cap index was up by 0.79%.

On the BSE sectoral space, HC up by 1.49%, CG up by 1.47%, CD up by 1.34%, Metal up by 1.14% and Bankex up by 0.99% were the top gainers. While, there was no loser on the sectoral space.

The top gainers on the Sensex were L&T up by 2.45%, Tata Power up by 2.02%, Dr Reddys Lab up by 1.89%, Jindal Steel up by 1.84% and Sterlite Industries up by 1.74%. On the other hand, Bharti Airtel down by 1.35%, NTPC down by 0.99%, BHEL down by 0.87%, Gail India down by 0.75% and Bajaj Auto down by 0.71% were top losers on the Sensex. 

Meanwhile, overseas direct investment by Indian companies fell by 30 per cent to $1.36 billion in September over the previous month, as per the RBI’s data on overseas direct investment, both under automatic route and the approval route, for the month of September 2012. The domestic firms invested a sum of $1.95 billion in August.

A total of 406 deals took place during September by the Indian companies to carry out the outward foreign direct investment. Meanwhile, companies namely Bharti Airtel, JK Cement, Dr Reddy's emerged among the major investors.

Telecom major, Bharti Airtel invested $150.02 million in it’s wholly- owned venture in Mauritius, which is involved in transport, storage and communication services. While, major cement manufacturer J K Cement made an investment of $104.30 million in its wholly-owned subsidiary in United Arab Emirates. Last but not the least, drug maker Dr Reddy's Laboratories invested $58.97 million in its wholly-owned company in Cyprus.

The S&P CNX Nifty is currently trading at 5,718.35, up by 42.35 points or 0.75% after trading in a range of 5,718.35 and 5,702.00. There were 39 stocks advancing against 10 declines on the index, while 1 stock remained unchanged.

The top gainers of the Nifty were L&T up by 2.64%, Tata Power up by 2.37%, Ultra Cement up by 2.21%, Ranbaxy Sun Pharma were up by 2.00%. While, Bharti Airtel down by 1.28%, NTPC down by 1.25%, Bajaj-Auto down by 1.06%, BHEL down by 0.92% and Wipro down by 0.66% were top losers on the index

Asian equity indices were trading mixed; Straits Times declined 0.16%, Kospi Composite lost 0.14%, Nikkei 225 plunged 1.06% and Taiwan Weighted slid 0.31%. While Jakarta Composite added 0.38%, Shanghai Composite spurted 1.91%, Hang Seng advanced 0.96%, KLSE Composite rose 0.19%, were the gainers.

European markets too started on a positive note; CAC 40 added 0.27%, FTSE 100 advanced 0.18% and DAX inched higher by 0.20%.