Domestic bourses trade slightly in positive on Thursday

Indian benchmarks have made a muted start despite firm global cues. Asian shares hit a seven-month high as a slew of Chinese data pointed to stabilization in the world’s second largest economy, and positive US housing data helped ease worries about a sharper slowdown in global growth. China's third-quarter gross domestic product grew 7.4 percent from a year earlier, the slowest pace since the first quarter of 2009 and marking the seventh straight quarter of slower growth, but matching expectations. Though, the US markets made a flat closing overnight after a day of rally; there were some disappointment from the earnings front that overshadowed good housing starts data.

Back home, Sensex gained more than 50 points in early trade following positive global cues, but could not sustain those gains due to weakness in heavyweights like Infosys, Bharti Airtel, Reliance and Wipro. PSU oil marketing companies supported the sentiments as stocks like IOC, BPCL and HPCL edged higher in the beginning with Finance Minister P Chidambaram’s statement signaling end to cheap fuel. He has said that the current pricing system of petroleum product is not conducive for economic policy decisions. However, the gains remain capped in the morning deal after Telecom stocks dropped after the Telecom Commission on October 17, 2012, recommended that all spectrum given to operators in the 900-MHz band should be refarmed to the 1,800-MHz band at the time of renewal of licences, beginning 2014.

On the sectoral front, auto witnessed the maximum gain in trade followed by realty and consumer durables while, technology, software and fast moving consumer goods remained the top losers on the BSE sectoral space. The broader indices were going neck-to-neck with benchmarks while, the market breadth on the BSE was positive; there were 980 shares on the gaining side against 579 shares on the losing side while 83 shares remain unchanged.

The BSE Sensex opened at 18,653.60; about 43 points higher compared to its previous closing of 18,610.77, and has touched a high and a low of 18,667.02 and 18,616.73 respectively.

The index is currently trading at 18,633.98, up by 23.21 points or 0.12%. There were 23 stocks advancing against 7 declines on the index.

The overall market breadth has made a positive start with 59.68% stocks advancing against 35.26% declines. The broader indices too were trading in-line with benchmarks; the BSE Mid cap and Small cap indices rose 0.39% and 0.35% respectively.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were, Auto up by 0.57%, Realty up by 0.53%, CD up by 0.47%, Bankex up by 0.43% and Power up by 0.35%. While, TECk down by 0.26%, IT down by 0.13%, FMCG down by 0.03% and HC down by 0.02% were the few losers on the index.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Tata Power up by 2.51%, ICICI Bank up by 0.90%, Tata Motors up by 0.79%, Hindalco up by 0.77% and Tata Steel up by 0.54%.

On the flip side, Bharti Airtel was down by 1.94%, Jindal Steel was down by 1.21%, Sun Pharma was down by 1.12%, Wipro was down by 0.45% and Infosys was down by 0.18% were the top losers on the Sensex.

Meanwhile, as per the industry body ASSOCHAM, the government by placing importance on Public-Private-Partnership (PPP) mode to build infra, should spend at least 15% of its entire expenditure budget on creating capital assets. It has laid emphasis on PPP mode to build infrastructure such as roads, ports and airports.

Out of the total expenditure of Rs 14.90 lakh crore budgeted for the current fiscal, only Rs 2.04 lakh crore would be spent on building the capital assets. Further, to restore the country's economy, the government should enhance basic infrastructure as otherwise manufacturing, services and the social sectors could suffer.

The only option left is to go for the PPP model of development for which a greater clarity is required in terms of assuring transparency, sensible return to investors and a fair deal to the users of infrastructure like highways, airports. PPP mode projects should be further explored in sectors like education and healthcare.

The S&P CNX Nifty opened at 5,675.30; about 15 points higher compared to its previous closing of 5,660.25, and has touched a high and a low of 5,678.70 and 5,660.75 respectively.

The index is currently trading at 5,664.90, up by 4.65 points or 0.08%. There were 34 stocks advancing against 16 declines on the index.

The top gainers of the Nifty were Tata Power up by 2.16%, Ambuja Cement up by 1.62%, ACC up by 1.29%, JP Associates up by 0.99% and ICICI Bank up by 0.98%.

On the flip side, Bharti Airtel down by 2.07%, Sun Pharma down by 1.23%, Jindal Steel down by 1.13%, Grasim down by 0.81% and Infosys down by 0.47%, were the major losers on the index.

Most of the Asian equity indices were trading in green; Shanghai Composite surged by 21.73 points or 1.03% to 2,127.35, Hang Seng gained 120.90 points or 0.56% to 21,537.54, Jakarta Composite was up by 14.93 points or 0.34% to 4,352.58, KLSE Composite added 3.55 points or 0.21% to 1,664.22, Nikkei 225 surged by 146.13 points or 1.66% to 8,952.68, Straits Times gained 15.31 points or 0.52% to 3,060.52 and Kospi Composite was up by 3.57 points or 0.17% to 1,958.50.

Taiwan Weighted was the lone loser, down by 7.73 points or 0.10% to 7,458.42.