Benchmarks gyrate around neutral line

After making subdued opening, Indian equity markets are gyrating around neutral line in the late morning session. Most of the Asian equity indices were trading in the red at this point of time weighed by worries over the risk of a recession in the world's largest economy as the United States faces fiscal crisis. Back home, traders were seen piling up position in Realty, Power and FMCG sector while selling was witnessed in IT, TECk and Oil & Gas sector. DLF, Unitech, HDIL, Oberoi Realty, Indiabulls Real Estate from Realty pack were seen trading in green. While, NTPC, Power Grid Corp, Tata Power, Reliance Infra and Reliance Power from Power pack were in green. However IT stocks - Infosys, TCS, HCL Tech and Tech Mahindra were capping the markets’ gains. Oil & Gas majors Oil and Natural Gas Corporation, Bharat Petroleum Corporation, Hindustan Petroleum Corporation and Petronet LNG were pressurizing the markets.

In the scrip specific development, Sun Pharmaceutical rose as arm entered into a definitive agreement with DUSA Pharmaceuticals.  Tata Power gained as arm acquired 26% stake in PT Baramulti Suksessarana Tbk, Indonesia. Urja Global soared on inking MoU with Chhattisgarh Govt. United Breweries jumped on reporting 75% rise in Q2 net profit. Titan Industries edged higher on introducing new watch collection under Tycoon range. Panoramic Universal surged on plan to dilute equity stake in Seaview Homes. Infinite Computer zoomed on launching new suite of products and platform.

The NSE Nifty and BSE Sensex were managing to hold their psychological 5,700 and 18800 levels. The market breadth on BSE was positive, in the ratio of 1210:855.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 18852.07 up by 5.81 points or 0.03% after trading in a range of 18846.72 and 18736.45. There were 19 stocks advancing against 11 declines on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.13% and Small cap index was up by 0.50%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were, Realty up by 0.74%, Power up by 0.51%, FMCG up by 0.36%, Metal up by 0.32% and CD up by 0.24% while, IT down by 0.52%, TECk down by 0.26% , Oil & Gas down by 0.15% , CG down by 0.11%  and PSU down by 0.02% were the  top losers on the index.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Tata Power up by 1.52%, Hindalco up by 1.23%, Sun Pharma up by 1.06%, Jindal Steel up by 0.82% and Bharti Airtel up by 0.74%.

On the flip side, ONGC was down by 1.60%, Hero MotoCorp was down by 1.14%,  Infosys was down by 0.92%, Sterlite Industries was down by 0.58%, and  Tata Motors was down by 0.46% were the top losers on the Sensex.

Meanwhile , amid concerns raised by the telcos that the government is trying to jack-up the auction prices, the Supreme Court has asked the government to immediately explain why it is restricting the sale of airwaves in the upcoming auctions, and not selling all spectrum vacated by the 122 licences whose permits were cancelled earlier this year.

Earlier, Idea Cellular and the Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI), the industry body representing GSM operators, had challenged the government's decision to restrict the sale of airwaves in the upcoming sale. It was stated in the petition that 431 MHz of second generation airwaves was vacated by the apex court's February 2 verdict, but the government had only put 271 MHz up for auction.

The COAI had also asked the court to direct the government to include 83.6 MHz of GSM spectrum in the 1800 MHz band given to Tata Teleservices on the same date as the now-quashed 122 licences. But the court said it would deal with this issue separately.

In a related development, the Supreme Court expressed its displeasure that the Delhi High Court was hearing the matters relating to the 2G spectrum scam despite its order restraining courts below the apex court from adjudicating issues arising out of the case.

The S&P CNX Nifty is currently trading at 5,738.25, down by 0.50 points or 0.01% after trading in a range of 5,751.70 and 5,729.95. There were 28 stocks advancing against 22 declines on the index.

The top gainers of the Nifty were Tata Power up by 1.45%, DLF up by 1.29%, Hindalco up by 1.27%, Power Grid up by 1.01% and Sun Pharma up by 0.98%.

On the flip side, ONGC down by 1.66%, Ranbaxy down by 1.11%, Hero MotoCorp down by 1.09%, Infosys down by 0.98% and Siemens down by 0.97% were the major losers on the index.

Most of the Asian equity indices were trading in the red; Kospi Composite down by 0.53%, Jakarta Composite down by 0.22%, Straits Times down by 0.06%, KLSE Composite down by 0.22%, Hang Seng down by 0.42% and  Nikkei 225 down by 0.75% while Taiwan Weighted up by 0.72% and Shanghai Composite was up by 1.15% were the gainers.