Benchmarks recuperate from intra-day’s low; Sensex back in green

Recovering from intra-day’s low level, 30 share index, Sensex, has bounced back in positive territory on account of hectic buying activity in Auto, Public Sector Undertaking (PSU) and Oil & Gas counters and also on the back of positive global cues. Oil stocks rose by as much as 4 percent in early trade following the Oil Ministry's proposal to hike diesel rates by Rs 3-4.50 per litre. However, bit of profit taking, which took place in BPCL, HPCL and IOC, with few of market -participants anticipating the rally as overdone, has also weighed on the sentiment.

Further, even sentiment took a hit with reports, which stated HSBC slashing India GDP forecast further for FY13, FY14. Additionally, selling pressure from Capital Goods, Power and Fast Moving Consumer Goods stocks too have capped the upside chances of Indian equity markets. Nevertheless, recuperation from low’s, Sensex, is trading above 19650 level albeit with slender gains. Similarly, widely followed index, Nifty too is trading above 5950 bastion. However, broader indices still have kept their head below water in red terrain.

On the global front, stronger than expected Chinese data was keeping the trend positive for Asian market, however bit of caution ahead of European Central Bank (ECB) meeting later in the day, had pared some bourses gains. China's exports grew 14.1 percent in December from a year ago to hit a seven-month peak, handsomely beating market expectations of a 4 percent rise.

Closer home, telecom stocks were trading lower after reports suggested of government likely fetching over Rs 23,000 crore from levy of one-time spectrum fee on existing operators for holding radio waves beyond a prescribed limit. Additionally, shares of select Power companies, namely Indiabulls Power and BHEL dropped after Barclays Capital and Citigroup warned that the two thermal power projects with which the two companies were involved with could have been held up for financial irregularities. The overall market breadth on BSE is in the favour of declines which thumped advances in the ratio of 1448:1195, while 136 shares remained unchanged.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 19687.72, up by 21.13 points or 0.11% after trading in a range of 19783.75 and 19649.86. There were 14 stocks advancing against 16 declines on the index.

The broader indices were also trading lower; the BSE Mid cap and Small cap indices were trading lower by 0.09% and 0.17% respectively.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were, Auto up by 0.97%, PSU up by 0.69%, Oil & Gas up by 0.55%, Bankex up by 0.43% and Consumer Durables up by 0.15% and while, Capital Goods down by 0.34%, Power down by 0.29%, FMCG down by 0.27% Health Care down by 0.23% and TECk down by 0.13% were the only losers on the index.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Tata Motors up by 2.63%, ONGC up by 2.50%, Coal India up by 1.73%, HDFC Bank up by 1.37%, Maruti Suzuki up by 0.97%.

On the flip side, BHEL down by 1.60%, HUL down by 1.17%, Bharti Airtel down by 1.08%, Sterlite Industries down by 0.98% and ICICI Bank down by 0.92% were the top losers on the Sensex.

Meanwhile, the government is expected to get over Rs 23,000 crore from levy of one-time spectrum fee on existing operators for holding radiowaves beyond a prescribed limit. The government in this regard has issued notices to telecom companies including Bharti Airtel, Vodafone and BSNL, MTNL, Aircel and Reliance Communications for the excess spectrum they hold beyond the prescribed limit. 

To be more precise, the government is expected to get Rs 4,251.83 crore from retrospective charges, Rs 18,925.82 crore from prospective charges. In all Rs 23,977.65 crore is expected from levy of one-time spectrum fee.

State-owned BSNL will have to pay around Rs 6,912 crore, Bharti Airtel - Rs 5,201 crore, Vodafone - Rs 3,599 crore, MTNL - Rs 3,205 crore, Idea Cellular - Rs 2,113 crore (includes Rs 231.5 crore of Spice), Aircel - Rs 1,365 crore (includes Rs 14 crore of Dishnet), Loop Mobile - Rs 606 crore and Reliance Communications - Rs 173 crore.

Earlier, for pan-India operations, telecom firms were given 4.4 MHz spectrum with license for Rs 1,658 crore and later were permitted to get another 1.8 MHz on fulfillment of certain subscriber-base criteria. However, in November, the government decided that the telecom operators will have to pay charges for holding spectrum above 6.2 MHz retrospectively, for the period of July 2008 to January 1, 2013. For spectrum above 4.4 MHz, they would have to pay for the remaining period of their licences starting January 1, 2013.

The S&P CNX Nifty is currently trading at 5,974.55, up by 3.05 points or 0.05% after trading in a range of 6,005.15 and 5,964.90. There were 26 stocks advancing against 24 declines on the index.

The top gainers of the Nifty were Tata Motors up by 2.40%, ONGC up by 2.38%, HCL Tech up by 2.09%, Coal India up by 1.83% and Kotak Bank up by 1.65%.

On the flip side, Grasim Industries down by 1.66%, BHEL down by 1.63%, Ambuja Cement down by 1.37%, Bharti Airtel down by 1.20% and Lupin down by 1.12% were the major losers on the index.

Most of the Asian equity indices were trading in the green; Shanghai Composite rose 0.02%, Hang Seng surged 0.66%, Nikkei 225 soared 0.70%, KOSPI Composite added 0.75% and Taiwan Weighted was up by 0.94%, while Jakarta Composite declined 0.57%, KLSE Composite was down by 0.09% and Straits Times descended by 0.16%.