Domestic bourses trade flat in early deal on Tuesday

Indian benchmarks have made a muted start on Tuesday’s morning trade as market participants adopted cautious approach on the penultimate day of F&O October series expiry as tomorrow being a holiday on account of Dussehra. On the global front, the US markets made a flat but positive closing on Monday after witnessing a big fall in last session. Earnings continued disappointing investors, as global manufacturer Caterpillar came up with weak outlook. While, most of the Asian counters were trading in the red at this point of time as concern over slowing corporate earnings growth and European debt crisis continued looming large.

Back home, traders also remained busy in booking their profit after gauges witnessed over half a percent gain in previous session. Meanwhile, Prime Minister will meet the bosses of as many as 25 state-owned companies like Coal India, SAIL, NTPC, IOC, Power Grid and BHEL today. The meeting is expected to focus on several key issues including greater autonomy and empowerment of such firms. However, the downside remain capped as sentiments were supported by Idea Cellular’s second quarter numbers. The company, on consolidated basis, reported 126.97% rise in its net profit after tax at Rs 240.04 crore for the quarter ended September 30, 2012 as compared to Rs 105.76 crore for the same quarter in the previous year. Moreover, Cairn India too beat the street expectation, on consolidated basis, posted a rise of 204.34% in its net profit after tax at Rs 2322.18 crore for the quarter ended September 30, 2012 as compared to Rs 763.03 crore for the same quarter in the previous year.

On the sectoral front, capital goods witnessed the maximum gain in trade followed by realty and public sector undertaking while, consumer durables, fast moving consumer goods and software remained the top losers on the BSE sectoral space. The broader indices were outperforming benchmarks while, the market breadth on the BSE was positive; there were 956 shares on the gaining side against 554 shares on the losing side while 75 shares remain unchanged.

The BSE Sensex opened at 18,803.62; about 10 points higher compared to its previous closing of 18,793.44, and has touched a high and a low of 18,812.93 and 18758.42 respectively.

The index is currently trading at 18,790.07, down by 3.37 points or 0.02%. There were 14 stocks advancing against 16 declines on the index.

The overall market breadth has made a positive start with 60.32% stocks advancing against 34.95% declines. The broader indices were outperforming benchmarks; the BSE Mid cap and Small cap indices rose 0.30% and 0.31% respectively.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were, CG up by 1.24%, Realty up by 0.58%, PSU up by 0.42%, HC up by 0.39% and Bankex up by 0.37%. While, CD down by 0.54%, FMCG down by 0.47%, IT down by 0.30%, Auto down by 0.29% and TECk down by 0.22% were the top losers on the index.

The top gainers on the Sensex were L&T up by 1.57%, ICICI Bank up by 1.18%, Dr Reddy up by 0.81%, SBI up by 0.73% and BHEL up by 0.56%.

On the flip side, Hero MotoCorp was down by 1.52%, Infosys was down by 0.62%, ITC was down by 0.61%, HDFC Bank was down by 0.56% and Sun Pharma was down by 0.37% were the top losers on the Sensex.

Meanwhile, the government amid struggling with reforms to revive the economic growth, the Planning Commission has sought clarity on Coal Ministry’s decision to allocate coal blocks to Public Sector Companies through special dispensation route. The Planning panel has questioned centre on reserve price calculation of coal blocks, criteria for giving additional mines where the firms has already being allocated in the past and issues related to mine closure.

It has also sought details on whether if the state-owned company has already acquired blocks, then what would be the justification criteria required by the firms to apply for more mines. It has urged that the state-owned firms have to provide progressive requirements over a period for life cycle of the end use plan and also has to consider the demand projections for the specified period, to ensure more clarity on the process.

The Plan Commission has also put forth concerns of the coal bearing states that the mines of their state are not to be allocated to a company from other coal bearing state. Also noted that the current proposal do not include norms on mine closures, for both progressive and final. The Coal Ministry had categorized nearly 16 mines with 7.2 billion tonnes to be given to government sector companies, while the total number of coal blocks held for auction is about 54 with nearly 18.22 billion tones.

The S&P CNX Nifty opened at 5,715.65; about 2 points lower compared to its previous closing of 5,717.15, and has touched a high and a low of 5,720.80 and 5,704.70 respectively.

The index is currently trading at 5,714.25, down by 2.90 points or 0.05%. There were 24 stocks advancing against 26 declines on the index.

The top gainers of the Nifty were L&T up by 1.47%, Cairn up by 1.24%, Lupin up by 1.16%, IDFC up by 0.98% and ICICI Bank up by 0.98%.

On the flip side, Hero MotoCorp down by 1.29%, Kotak Bank down by 0.84%, ITC down by 0.70%, Infosys down by 0.67% and HCL Tech down by 0.55%, were the major losers on the index.

Most of the Asian equity indices were trading in the red; Shanghai Composite was down by 13.65 points or 0.64% to 2,119.11, Kospi Composite fell by 8.86 points or 0.46% to 1,932.94, Nikkei 225 was down by 14.33 points or 0.16% to 8,996.38 and Taiwan Weighted was down by 31.19 points or 0.43% to 7,339.90.

On the other hand, Jakarta Composite was up by 2.41 points or 0.06% to 4,343.68, KLSE Composite gained 1.33 points or 0.08% to 1,663.28 and Straits Times declined was up by7.56 points or 0.25% to 3,052.67.

Hong Kong markets are closed for a holiday today.