Markets in limbo; eye all-party meeting to resolve the stalemate over FDI in retail

Awaiting some reform announcement with Government calling an all-party meeting today to resolve the stalemate over FDI in retail, Indian equity markets are currently in limbo after both houses of Parliament were adjourned till Tuesday. In the choppy session of trade, however, benchmark equity indices have not gained any additional traction. Further, traders also have adopted some cautious approach with the start of the F&O expiry week, eyeing the release of second quarter GDP figures, on Friday. However, much of the strength is being rendered by the stocks belonging from Consumer Durable, Metal and Health Care counters.  Thus, after starting positive, 30 share barometer index, Sensex, is currently comfortably trading above 18500 psychological level, while 50 share index, Nifty, hanging on in green, is holding off its 5600 level. The broader indices too are trading with gains of over half a percent.

On the global front, Asian pacific shares are mostly trading in green territory on the hopes of Greece avoiding a near-term bankruptcy, with euro-zone finance ministers meeting later in the day, but a regional Spanish vote favouring separatist parties, that clouded Madrid's push for fiscal austerity, weighed on the sentiment to extent. Meanwhile, European stock index futures are pointing to a slightly lower open on Monday, as investors are set to take a breather following a sharp five-day rally, ahead of a meeting of euro zone finance ministers on Greece.

Closer home, Aviation stocks are flying higher. Both Jet Airways and Spicejet have rallied in the range of 10-15% on stale sale talks. On the flip side, stocks from PSU, Bankex and Power have emerged as major pockets of weakness. The market breadth favoring positive trend; there were 1260 shares on the gaining side against 834 shares on the losing side while 109 shares remain unchanged.

The BSE Sensex index is currently trading at 18525.86, up by 19.29 points and has touched a high and a low of 18590.33 and 18508.79 respectively. There were 20 stocks advancing against 10 declines on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap and Small cap indices rose 0.68% and 0.58% respectively.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were, CD up by 1.57%, Metal up by 1.15%, HC up by 0.89%, TECk up by 0.82% and IT up by 0.64%. While, PSU down by 0.58%, Bankex down by 0.34%, Power down by 0.12% Oil & Gas down by 0.06% and Auto down by 0.06% were the only losers on the index.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Sterlite Inds up by 2.91%, Hindalco up by 2.04%, Tata Steel up by 2.02%, Hindustan Unilever up by 1.82%, and Tata Motors up by1.61%.

On the flip side, Mahindra & Mahindra down by 2.70%, NTPC was down by 1.38%, BHEL was down by 1.16%, Sun Pharma was down by 1.06% and HDFC was down by 0.72% were the top losers on the Sensex.

Meanwhile, Ahead of the release of GDP figures for second quarter on November 30, by the Central Statistical Organisation (CSO), the Finance Minister P Chidambaram has indicated that growth of the economy slowed to 5.5 percent in July-September quarter of the current fiscal from 6.9 percent during the same period last year. The growth remained 5.5 percent in first quarter too and the FM stated that 'When our growth declined to 5.5 percent in the first quarter of this financial year, and when growth is likely to be around 5.5 percent in the second quarter of this financial year, it goes without saying that we face a difficult situation.'

Lots of international and local agencies have scaled down the growth target of the Indian GDP; even the Reserve Bank has scaled down India's economic growth prospects for the fiscal to 5.8 percent from 6.5 percent. Chidambaram has called upon the banks to play an active role in reviving the economy and has said that there is a need to find innovative ways to increase output of goods and services to overcome the difficult economic situation.

However, regarding fiscal deficit he said that the government would stick to the borrowing programme announced in the Union Budget for the current financial year and will remain in the limit of the budgeted Rs 5.7 lakh crore for the entire financial year.

The S&P CNX Nifty is currently trading at 5,626.90, up by 0.30 points or 0.01% and has touched a high and a low of 5,649.20 and 5,623.45 respectively. There were 27 stocks advancing against 21 declines and 2 remain unchanged on the index.

The top gainers of the Nifty were Sesa Goa up by 2.02%, Hindalco up by 1.99%, Tata Steel up by 1.89%, Hindustan Unilever up by 1.74% and IDFC up by 1.65%. On the flip side, Mahindra & Mahindra down by 2.73%, Ultratech cement down by 1.61%, BHEL down by 1.42%, Ambuja cement down by 1.35% and NTPC down by 1.22% were the major losers on the index.

Most of Asian markets were trading in green; Seoul Composite gained 0.15%, Jakarta Composite was up by 0.32%, Nikkei 225 gained 0.24%, Straits Times gained 0.39%, and Taiwan Weighted surged by 1.11%.

On the other hand, Shanghai Composite was down 0.40%, Hang Seng up by 0.27%, KLSE Composite down by 0.26%.