Benchmarks remain in positive territory amid volatility

Following a listless opening, Indian equity markets remained in positive territory with modest gains in the late morning session. The Sensex up by 38.69 points, while Nifty trading higher by 13.05 points. Investors were hopeful for a rate cut by the RBI, which also boosted the market sentiments. In currency market, rupee appreciated against dollar and trading near three-months high following the government’s stunt of increasing gold import tax by 2% points to 6%, as gold import-related dollar buying is the main cause of dollar demand after oil in currency markets. This move is expected to decline gold purchases and rein-in a ballooning fiscal deficit. On sectoral front, all rate sensitive stocks were trading higher, while consumer durables, IT and tech stocks were trading lower. In global markets, Asian shares were trading mixed on Tuesday, while the yen strengthened and Japanese stocks fell after the Bank of Japan announced the results of its latest policy meeting. Back home, the market breadth favoring positive trend; there were 1,211 shares on the gaining side against 1,210 shares on the losing side while 153 shares remain unchanged.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 20,140.51 up by 38.69 points or 0.19% after trading in a range of 20,156.86 and 20,090.22. There were 15 stocks advancing against 15 declines on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.25% and Small cap index was up by 0.23%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Bankex up by 0.66%, Metal up by 0.39%, Power up by 0.27%, Realty up by 0.12% and Health Care up by 0.11%. While, Consumer Durables down by 0.57%, IT down by 0.28%, TECk down by 0.18% and PSU down by 0.03% were the top losers on the index.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Sun Pharma up by 1.91%, NTPC up by 1.70%, Hindustan Unilever up by 1.35%, Wipro up by 1.17% and ICICI Bank up by 1.15%.

On the flip side, Gail India was down by 3.65%, Tata Motors was down by 0.91%, Hero MotoCorp was down by 0.83%, Hindalco was down by 0.81% and Tata Power was down by 0.65% were the top losers on the Sensex.

Meanwhile, Parliamentary Standing Committee, headed by senior BJP leader Yashwant Sinha on January 21 scrutinized the 12th Five Year Plan (2012-17) document that aims to achieve average growth rate of 8%. The committee discussed the document with Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia and other members of the Commission that besides achieving 8% growth rate, aims to generate 50 million new jobs and increase investments in the infrastructure sector. Further, there will be another round of meeting and after that the Committee will finalize its report.

Last month, the country's apex policy making body National Development Council (NDC) had approved the 12th Plan strategy document. The 12th plan document has projected 6.7% growth rate in the current fiscal. However, the finance ministry has projected GDP expansion at 5.7-5.9% in 2012-13. The document has also pegged the aggregate Plan resources at Rs 37.16 lakh crore during the five year period starting 2012-13.

Further, the other target of the 12th plan includes increasing green cover by one million hectare every year and adding 30,000 MW of renewable energy generation capacity in the Plan period. The Plan also seeks to reduce emission intensity of the GDP in line with the target of 20-25 reduction by 2020 over 2005 levels. Additionally, the full Plan period also aims to increase the manufacturing sector growth to 10% and agriculture output to 4%. The 12th plan also wants all the states to set higher targets of growth than what was achieved in the 11th Five Year Plan. It also includes Centre's assistance to various states and Union Territories Plans.

The S&P CNX Nifty is currently trading at 6,095.35 up by 13.05 points or 0.21% after trading in a range of 6,101.30 and 6,078.80. There were 30 stocks advancing against 19 declines on the index and one remains unchanged.

The top gainers of the Nifty were Asian Paints up by 3.06%, NTPC up by 1.95%, Sun Pharma up by 1.86%, ACC up by 1.83% and Bank of Baroda up by 1.73%.

On the flip side, Gail down by 3.61%, BPCL down by 1.76%, HCL Tech down by 1.62%, Tata Motors down by 0.85%, and Hero MotoCorp down by 0.79% were the major losers on the index.

Asian equity indices were trading mixed; Hang Seng jumped 0.16%, KOSPI Composite added 0.56%, Straits Times was up by 0.07% and Taiwan Weighted was up by 0.44%.

On the flip side, Shanghai Composite down by 0.21%, Jakarta Composite declined 0.65%, KLSE Composite dropped 0.76% and Nikkei 225 declined 0.07%.