Benchmarks trade in positive territory in early deals on Thursday

After witnessing a fall of about a percent, Indian equity benchmarks are trading in the positive trajectory. However, the upside remain capped in the early deals due to sluggish global leads. The US markets made a mixed closing overnight though there was good earnings report from the top two banks and slew of upbeat economic data, traders still remain concerned about the global economic growth outlook. While, most of the Asian equity indices were trading in the red at this point of time as investors opted for a cautious approach ahead of the Chinese GDP numbers announcement tomorrow.

Back home, some strength came in the markets from buying in PSU space on the buzz that the government is expected to take up a proposal to alter the nature of the National Investment Fund (NIF), which was initially set up to finance selected social sector schemes and meet the capital investment requirements of profitable and revivable PSUs. Rally in software pack too supported the sentiments after HCL Technologies reported better-than-expected Q2 numbers. The company has registered rise of 46.71% in its net profit at Rs 724.72 crore for the quarter ended December 31, 2012 as compared to Rs 493.97 crore for the same quarter in the previous year. Total income has increased by 26.60% at Rs 2806.14 crore for quarter under review as compared to Rs 2216.53 crore for the quarter ended December 31, 2011.

On the sectoral front, realty witnessed the maximum gain in trade followed by software and technology while, metal, capital goods and fast moving consumer goods remained the top losers on the BSE sectoral space. The broader indices were trading in-line with benchmarks while, the market breadth on the BSE was positive; there were 1102 shares on the gaining side against 682 shares on the losing side while 86 shares remain unchanged.

The BSE Sensex opened at 19,846.42; about 28 points higher compared to its previous closing of 19,817.63, and has touched a high and a low of 19,889.98 and 19,783.41 respectively.

The index is currently trading at 19,854.68, up by 37.05 points or 0.19%. There were 13 stocks advancing against 17 declines on the index.

The overall market breadth has made a positive start with 59.37% stocks advancing against 35.86% declines. The broader indices were going neck0to-neck with benchmarks; the BSE Mid cap and Small cap indices rose 0.38% and 0.45% respectively.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were, Realty up by 1.40%, IT up by 1.23%, TECk up by 0.87%, Auto up by 0.87% and Oil & Gas up by 0.61%. While, Metal down by 0.22%, Capital Goods down by 0.09%, FMCG down by 0.06% and Power down by 0.02% were the few losers on the index.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Wipro up by 2.75%, Tata Motors up by 1.84%, Maruti Suzuki up by 1.08%, Bajaj Auto up by 1.07% and Dr Reddys Lab up by 0.79%.

On the flip side, Hindalco Industries was down by 1.34%, Hero MotoCorp was down by 0.90%, Jindal Steel was down by 0.81%, Gail India was down by 0.64% and Bharti Airtel was down by 0.61% were the top losers on the Sensex.

Meanwhile, the apex auto lobby, Society of Indian Auto Industry (SIAM) has asked the Indian government to stop providing subsidies on diesel and demanded for deregulation of diesel prices. As per the automotive body, instead of providing subsidy on diesel, the government can offer subsidy to farmers by providing credit.

According to SIAM, this move will probably bring down the gap between the prices of petrol and diesel, which might lead to a positive impact on the Indian economy. Further, SIAM reported that industry experts are also expecting a hike in diesel prices in the declaration of Union Budget 2013, which is expected to come soon.

On auto sector outlook, SIAM is not expecting any important improvement in the Indian auto sector in last quarter of current fiscal year as the auto sales declined in last quarter of 2012 as well as last year. Further apex auto lobby added that the next year's sales depend on the action that government will take in coming budget regarding the infrastructure spending.

The S&P CNX Nifty opened at 6,001.25; flat compared to its previous closing of 6,001.85, and has touched a high and a low of 6,023.70 and 5,988.10 respectively.

The index is currently trading at 6,017.40, up by 15.55 points or 0.26%. There were 27 stocks advancing against 22 declines and one remains unchanged on the index.

The top gainers of the Nifty were HCL Tech up by 5.51%, Wipro up by 2.73%, DLF up by 2.33%, Tata Motors up by 1.86% and BPCL up by 1.70%.

On the flip side, ACC down by 1.48%, Hindalco Industries down by 1.42%, UltraTech Cement down by 1.03%, Jindal Steel down by 0.93% and Reliance Infrastructure down by 0.91%, were the major losers on the index.

Most of the Asian equity indices were trading in red; Shanghai Composite declined 25.55 points or 1.11% to 2,283.95, Hang Seng dropped 86.04 points or 0.37% to 23,270.95, KLSE Composite slipped 0.07 points to 1,682.88, Nikkei 225 tumbled 142.56 points or 1.34% to 10,457.88, Straits Times contracted 13.96 points or 0.44% to 3,194.54, KOSPI Composite decreased 8.87 points or 0.45% to 1,968.58 and Taiwan Weighted was down by 27.59 points or 0.36% to 7,672.84.

On the flip side, Jakarta Composite was up by 6.35 points or 0.14% to 4,417.32.