Sensex, Nifty trading flat in narrow rage

Indian equity markets erased early gains in the late morning session amid alternate bouts of buying and selling. Investors were trading cautiously and waiting for developments on the banking amendment bill. Key equity benchmarks were flat, as the markets appear to be consolidating in a narrow band. In currency markets, rupee recovered against dollar on Thursday amid selling of the US currency by exporters and banks. On sectoral front, automobile and realty stocks were trading firm. Power, oil, information technology, bank and healthcare stocks were trading positive, while FMCG stocks were weak. In global markets, Asian stocks mostly gained after the US Federal Reserve announced new policy targets and an expansion to its asset-buying programme, after the conclusion of a two-day meeting on interest rates in the United States on Wednesday. Back home, the market breadth favoring positive trend; there were 1,331 shares on the gaining side against 1,144 shares on the losing side while 125 shares remain unchanged.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 19,346.54 down by 8.72 points or 0.05% after trading in a range of 19,421.72 and 19,324.87. There were 14 stocks advancing against 16 declines on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.46% and Small cap index was up by 0.41%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were, Auto up by 1.70%, Bankex up by 0.89%, Realty up by 0.84%, Health Care up by 0.51% and Oil & Gas up by 0.45%. On the other hand, FMCG down by 2.53%, Consumer Durables down by 0.34% and Capital Goods down by 0.26% were the top losers on the Sensex.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Tata Motors up by 4.56%, Bajaj Auto up by 1.92%, Gail India up by 1.58%, ICICI Bank up by 1.55% and Jindal Steel up by 1.37%.

On the flip side, ITC was down by 3.89%, Hindustan Unilever was down by 1.82%, L&T was down by 0.66%, NTPC was down by 0.62% and Hindalco Industries was down by 0.55% were the top loser on the Sensex.

Meanwhile, in a move to bring more clarity, the Revenue Department has submitted amendments to the controversial law against tax avoidance - General Anti Avoidance Rules (GAAR) to the Prime Minister's Office.  While welcoming an Australian delegation, led by Deputy Prime Minister and Treasurer Wayne Swan, Finance Minister P Chidambaram said India is working towards clarity in tax laws, a non-adversarial tax administration and fair mechanism of dispute regulation to promote investor confidence.

GAAR, which was proposed in Budget 2012-13 to prevent tax avoidance, received sharp reactions from foreign as well as domestic investors who feared that uninhibited powers to taxmen would result in harassment of investors. Following which the government deferred GAAR implementation to April 1, 2013. Further, the government appointed Parthasarathy Shome Committee to look into their concerns, which had suggested modification in laws dealing with GAAR and retrospective tax law.

On India-Australia trade partnership, he said that it has led to a rapid expansion in trade and investment ties between two countries and has more than doubled in the past six years to more than $20 billion. By adding further he said, there is a huge opportunity for increase in investments from Australia into India particularly in sectors like mines and minerals based industry, clean and renewable energy, food processing bio-technology, marine and fishery among others.

The S&P CNX Nifty is currently trading at 5,889.55 up by 1.55 points or 0.03% after trading in a range of 5,907.45 and 5,882.80. There were 30 stocks advancing against 20 declines on the index.

The top gainers of the Nifty were Tata Motors up by 4.56%, Bajaj Auto up by 1.87%, GAIL up by 1.81%, Siemens up by 1.70% and PNB up by 1.70%.

On the flip side, ITC down by 3.92%, Hindustan Unilever down by 1.82%, Hindalco down by 0.84%, L&T down by 0.68% and Sesa Goa down by 0.64%, were the top losers on the index.

Asian markets were trading mixed; KLSE Composite was up 0.04%, Nikkei 225 surged by 1.68%, Straits Times was up by 0.42%, Seoul Composite was up by 1.38% and Taiwan Weighted was trading up by 0.87%.

On the other hand, Shanghai Composite was down by 0.73%, Jakarta Composite was down by 0.67% and Hang Seng down by or 0.15%.