Markets slip into red again; Nifty below 5,900 mark

Indian equities pared gains to show weak trade, hovering near lowest point of the day in the late afternoon session in absence of any positive upside triggers. Earlier, the markets had slipped into red despite IIP number expanding by 8.2% at 171.3 for the month of October 2012 against contraction of 0.4% in the previous month. However, there was some respite after another report emerged that some consensus for banking bill is being chalked upon in Parliament. Traders were seen piling some position in Auto, IT and Realty sectors, while selling was witnessed in Capital Goods, Power and PSU sectors. In the scrip specific development, M and B Switchgears was trading in green after the company fixed December 24, 2012 as the record date for the purpose of sub-division / stock split of equity shares. AGC Networks was trading in green after the company fixed December 20, 2012 as the record date for the purpose of issuance of bonus shares. Kingfisher Airline is locked at the upper circuit limit on news that the company is in discussions with several investors for equity partnership, including Gulf-based Etihad Airways.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading in green barring Jakarta Composite while the European markets were showing mixed trend. In Europe, finance ministers from the 17 European Union countries that use the euro conferred on the results of a key bond buyback designed to ease Greece’s crippling debt load and unlock vital rescue loans. Besides, German investor confidence jumped more than forecast to a seven-month high in December on speculation Europe’s largest economy will gather momentum next year. Back home, the NSE Nifty and BSE Sensex were trading below their psychological 5,900 and 19,400 levels respectively. The market breadth on BSE was negative in the ratio of 1308:1479 while 115 scrips remained unchanged.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 19321.24 down by 65.90 points or 0.34% after trading in a range of 19478.79 and 19317.23. There were 10 stocks advancing against 20 declines on the index.

The broader indices were trading on a mixed note; the BSE Mid cap was down by 0.04% and Small cap indices was trading higher by 0.12%.The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were, Auto up by 0.93%, IT up by 0.29%, Realty up by 0.24%, TECk up by 0.20%  and Consumer Durables up by 0.19%.

On the other hand, Capital Goods down by 1.22%, Power down by 0.70%, PSU down by 0.63%, Metal down by 0.61% and Bankex down by 0.35% were the top losers on the Sensex.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Mahindra & Mahindra up by 2.11%, Bajaj Auto up by 1.70%, Hero MotoCorp up by 1.52%, Sun Pharma up by 1.24% and Reliance Industries up by 0.69%. On the flip side, HDFC down by 2.14%, Hindustan Unilever was down by 2.09%, BHEL down by 2.00%, GAIL India down by 1.91% and Hindalco Industries was down by 1.50% were the top losers on the Sensex.

Meanwhile, oil Secretary G.C. Chaturvedi has said that the Government is likely to announce a shale gas exploration policy by December-end. Ruiling out any further delay Chaturvedi said “I am very confident that we will be able to bring out a shale gas policy by the end of this fiscal year as we are sticking to it”.

Due to the shortage of natural gas in the country and a projected increase in demand, the government is keen on shale gas exploration which would be an important new source of energy.

Currently, India does not allow the commercial extraction of shale gas. Public sector explorers ONGC and Oil India have taken up preliminary surveys to estimate the shale gas potential in the country. To bridge the growing demand-supply gap for petroleum products government is making all efforts for exploration of oil and gas in Indian sedimentary basins and abroad.

Further, Chaturvedi said the Open Acreage Licensing Policy is the way forward for exploration of conventional oil and gas blocks and launch of OALP has been delayed because of the National Data Centre, a prerequisite for the process, is yet to be set.

The S&P CNX Nifty is currently trading at 5,875.10, down by 23.70 points or 0.40% after trading in a range of 5,924.60 and 5,874.90. There were 16 stocks advancing against 34 declines on the index.

The top gainers of the Nifty were M&M up by 1.92%, Reliance Infrastructure up by 1.54%, Bajaj Auto up by 1.54%, JP Associates up by 1.40% and Sun Pharma up by 1.28%.

On the flip side, HDFC down by 2.31%, Hindustan Unilever down by 2.28%, GAIL India down by 2.21%, BHEL down by 2.09% and BPCL down by 1.78% were the top losers on the index.

All the Asian markets were trading in green barring Jakarta Composite, which was down by 0.09%, on the other hand Hang Seng gained 0.80%, KLSE Composite rose 0.36%, Straits Times surged 0.59%, Seoul Composite gained 0.55%, Nikkei 225 climbed 0.59%, Taiwan Weighted surged 1.00% and Shanghai Composite too was trading in green with gains of 0.39%.

The European markets were trading on a mixed note with, France’s CAC 40 lost 0.15%, Germany’s DAX gained 0.12% while the United Kingdom’s FTSE 100 dropped 0.09%.