Benchmarks continue weak trade; IT, TECk counter drag

Indian benchmark- Sensex, Nifty shed about 0.7% in the late morning session today due to all-round selling led by IT and TECk stocks. While, Asian markets continued to trade mixed as political wrangling continued in the United States over billions of dollars of upcoming tax hikes and spending cuts. On the home turf, the traders were seen piling up position in Consumer Durables, Auto and Realty sector, while selling was being seen in IT, TECk and Bankex sector. In the scrip specific development, shares of Information technology (IT) companies continue to be under pressure for second day in a row after Cognizant Technology Solutions stated that it expects 16% revenue growth in 2013 as against its projected 20% growth for the current year 2012. RIL inched up as Ex-Im Bank to extend $2.1 billion credit. Meanwhile, the retail stocks were trading in green after the government won a crucial vote in the lower assembly of Parliament on allowing 51 per cent FDI in multi-brand retail. The NSE Nifty and BSE Sensex were managing to hold their psychological 5,850 and 19200 levels respectively. The market breadth on BSE was positive, in the ratio of 1047:1030.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 19241.29 down by 150.57 points or 0.78% after trading in a range of 19491.60 and 19217.06. There were 5 stocks advancing against 25 declines on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.23% and Small cap index was up by 0.18%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were, Consumer Durables up by 0.64%, Auto up by 0.08%, and Realty up by 0.05% while IT down by 1.61%, TECk down by 1.38%, Bankex down 0.70%, Power down by 0.69% and Capital Goods down by 0.64% were the major losers on the BSE.

The three gainers on the Sensex were Bajaj Auto up by 1.62%, Tata Motors up by 0.56%, Jindal Steel was up by 0.36%, HDFC was up by 0.16% and Tata Steel was up by 0.01%.

On the flip side, Infosys down by 1.99%, Bharti Airtel down by 1.61%, TCS down by 1.55%, ONGC down by 1.44% and Hindustan Unilever was down by 1.33% were the top losers on the Sensex.

Meanwhile, despite a cool response to the recently concluded 2G spectrum auction, the telecom minister Kapil Sibal has said that the government does not intend to change the policy to auction spectrum for mobile phone operators.

In Lok Sabha, replying to a question to whether the government would return to the policy of 'first come, first serve’, the minister reiterated that government has no intention of doing so. He further stated that there was a drop of 27.82 million mobile phone subscribers in the July-September period and the number was expected to touch 208 million, decline was mainly due to removal of inactive mobile telephone connections.

Further he added that the tele-density in the country was 680 million and 500 million still do not have a mobile phone. He admitted that poor connectivity on state-run BSNL network is due to the outdated networks but BSNL is trying to complete the tendering process to set up its second core network.

 The S&P CNX Nifty is currently trading at 5,857.10, down by 43.40 points or 0.74% after trading in a range of 5,927.75 and 5,846.45. There were 10 stocks advancing against 40 declines on the index.

The top gainers of the Nifty were JP Associates up by 2.33%, Bajaj Auto up by 1.54%, BPCL up by 0.66%, Jindal Steel up by 0.56% and Tata Motors was up by 0.29%.

On the flip side, Infosys down by 2.01%, Bharti Airtel down by 1.74%, TCS down by 1.63%, ONGC down by 1.57% and HCL Tech down by 1.53%, were the top losers on the Nifty.

Asian markets continue to trade mixed, Shanghai Composite was down by 0.32%, Hang Seng lost 0.11%, Straits Times was down by 0.17% and Taiwan Weighted was trading down by 0.33%.

On the other hand, Jakarta Composite was higher by 0.23%, KLSE Composite was up by 0.19%, Nikkei 225 was up by 0.62% and Seoul Composite was up by 0.07%.