Benchmarks pare gains; Nifty manages to hold 6000 bastion

Indian equity markets, gyrating in tight range continue to trade firm, although benchmarks equity indices have pared some gains due to slide of Consumer Durable counter in the negative terrain. Nevertheless, hectic buying activity in Information Technology (IT), Oil & Gas and Realty space, continue to support the uptrend of the bourses. Much of the support is being rendered by downstream oil companies, namely, BPCL, HPCL and IOC, which have scooped gains in the range of 2-3% each after the reports suggested Cabinet likely considering petroleum ministry’s proposals to increase diesel, cooking gas and kerosene prices in its ongoing meeting. Mostly negative regional counterparts have started eating into bourses’ gains.

Trading in positive terrain, 30 share barometer index, Sensex, is currently hovering sub 19900 bastion, while 50 share widely followed index, Nifty, has managed to hold its 6000 psychological level. Broader indices too paring substantial gains have managed to keep their head above water.

On the global front, Asian shares, erasing earlier gains, are trading downbeat on Thursday, amid worries about the global growth outlook as investors remained cautious ahead of Chinese data on Friday. Growth-sensitive sectors mainly have dented Hong Kong shares ahead of a slew of key Chinese economic data including fourth-quarter GDP, December industrial output, retail sales and house price, which will offer clues on the health of Asia's biggest economy.

Closer home, lot of traction is being witnessed by CDMA stocks, namely, Tata Teleservices and Reliance Communications, etc, after Union cabinet today approved a 50 per cent reduction in the reserve price of CDMA spectrum that will be put up for auction in March. On the flip side, Capital Goods, Metal and Health Care counters, are limiting the further upside of the bourses. The overall market breadth on BSE is in the favour of declines which have thumped advances in the ratio of 1347:1170, while 130 shares remained unchanged.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 19897.95, up by 80.32 points or 0.41% after trading in a range of 19920.18 and 19783.41. 15 stocks were advancing against 15 declining one’s on the index.

The broader indices too pared some gains; the BSE Mid cap and Small cap index were holding up by 0.08% and 0.04% respectively.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were IT and TECk up by 1.50%, Oil & Gas up by 1.28%, Realty up by 1.23% and Auto up by 0.74%. While, Capital Goods down by 0.75%, Metal down by 0.70%, Health Care down by 0.24%, Consumer Durables down by 0.21% and Power was down by 0.10% were the top losers on the index.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Tata Motors up by 3.19%, Wipro up by 3.06%, Bharti Airtel up by 2.64%, ONGC up by 1.71% and TCS up by 1.47%.

On the flip side, Hero Moto Corp down by 1.55%, Hindalco Industries down by 1.38%, Cipla was down by 1.25%, Sterlite Inds down by 1.12% and HDFC down by 1.07% were the top losers on the Sensex.

Meanwhile, the Coal Minister Sriprakash has said that Finance Minister, P. Chidambaram headed ministerial panel is likely to meet on January 21 to discuss the draft Coal Regulator Bill. The Bill envisages setting up of a regulatory authority for the coal sector.

The ministerial panel was asked to make recommendations on its powers and functions. Earlier at the inaugural session of the 7th International Exhibition & Conference on Power Sector being jointly organised by the Ministry of Power and FICCI, Jaiswal, said that in order to fast track development of coal blocks in the country, the Government has proposed to develop some of the Coal India blocks through mine developer and operator (MDO) and further added that efforts are being made to enhance exploration for enlarging resource base for coal.

Regarding import of coal and price pooling, the Minister said that a proposal to import coal with pooling of prices is suggested to bind over the current shortage situation, however required an in-depth study for a considered view as a number of state governments have expressed their reservation on the proposal.

Moreover, with a view to infusing competition in the coal sector and to review the existing institutional mechanism, it has been proposed to take up the exercise of restructuring of CIL for which expression of interest has been floated by the Ministry for identifying suitable consultants.

The S&P CNX Nifty is currently trading at 6,021.60, up by 19.75 points or 0.33% after trading in a range of 6,029.45 and 5,988.10. There were 27 stocks advancing against 23 declines on the index.

The top gainers of the Nifty were HCL Tech up by 5.15%, Tata Motors up by 3.19%, Wipro up by 3.11%, Bharti Airtel up by 2.42% and DLF up by 2.39%. 

The S&P CNX Nifty is currently trading at 6,021.60, up by 19.75 points or 0.33% after trading in a range of 6,029.45 and 5,988.10. There were 27 stocks advancing against 23 declines on the index.

The top gainers of the Nifty were HCL Tech up by 5.15%, Tata Motors up by 3.19%, Wipro up by 3.11%, Bharti Airtel up by 2.42% and DLF up by 2.39%.

On the flip side, Reliance Infrastructure down by 2.07%, ACC down by 1.83%, Ranbaxy down by 1.65%, Hero Moto Corp down by 1.56% and Hindalco down by 1.54% were the major losers on the index.

Most of the Asian equity indices were trading in red; Shanghai Composite declined 0.95%, Hang Seng dropped 0.08%, Straits Times contracted 0.28%, KOSPI Composite decreased 0.16%, Taiwan Weighted was down by 1.09%, KLSE Composite up 0.11% and Jakarta Composite lost 0.28%.

On the flip side, Nikkei 225 gained 0.09% was the lone gainer amongst Asian pack.