Benchmark continue weak trade; Realty, Auto down

Indian benchmarks- Sensex, Nifty were trading down by about 0.65% in the late morning session due to selling pressure, mainly in realty, auto, banking sectors ahead of Reserve Bank of India's (RBI) third quarter monetary policy review on January 29. On the global front, most of the Asian equity indices were trading in the red despite a report showed China's manufacturing exceeded estimates. Back home, the traders were seen piling up position in IT, FMCG and TECk while selling was seen in Realty, Auto and Capital Goods sectors. In scrip specific development, Jaypee Infratech jumped as the company has withdrawn its offer-for-sale of equity shares that was scheduled to open for subscription on 24 January 2013. State-controlled oil & gas producer Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) edged higher on hopes for hike in natural gas prices. Tata Motors slumped as Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) stated that it is likely to report a lower earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) margin in the October-December quarter compared with the previous two quarters due to exchange rate fluctuations and a higher mix of Evoque sales.

The NSE Nifty and BSE Sensex were managing to hold their psychological 6,000 and 19800 levels respectively.

The market breadth on BSE was negative; advances: declines in the ratio of 496:1576.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 19896.21 down by 130.40 points or 0.65% after trading in a range of 20072.28 and 19889.25. There were 9 stocks advancing against 21 declines on the index.

The broader indices were trading in red; the BSE Mid cap index was down by 1.98% and Small cap index was down by 1.60%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were IT up by 0.88%, FMCG up by 0.27% and TECk up by 0.27%. While, Realty down by 4.25%, Auto down by 3.03%, Capital Goods down by 2.26%, Metal down by 1.66%, Power down by 1.48% and were the top losers on the index.

The top gainers on the Sensex were TCS up by 1.42%, ONGC up by 1.40%, Wipro up by 0.96% ITC up by 0.87%, and Dr Reddys Lab up by 0.77%.

On the flip side, Tata Motors was down by 6.99%, Gail India was down by 4.07%, Mahindra & Mahindra was down by 2.68%, Sterlite Industries was down by 2.44% and Hindalco was down by 2.25% were the top losers on the Sensex.

Meanwhile, Supreme Court, in a relief to passengers, has restrained the Federation of Indian Airlines from levying extra money who book air tickets through agents. “The transaction fee shall not be collected from any passenger in any form or under any other name,” a bench of justices D K Jain and Madan B Lokur said.

The Bench gave the ruling came on an appeal against a Delhi High Court order that rejected the plea of a petitioner challenging the levy. The apex court also directed the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) to examine the tariff structure of the airlines in view of their wide range of base prices for air tickets. The base price was in several bands, ranging in some cases from Rs 1,120 to Rs 36,566.

Counsel for the petitioner said the airlines introduced the transaction fee after they adopted a zero commission policy for their agents. Under transaction fee, the agents charged customers an amount of their choice, and it was not uniform

The S&P CNX Nifty is currently trading at 6,008.60 down by 45.70 points or 0.75% after trading in a range of 6,065.30 and 6,007.95. There were 9 stocks advancing against 41 declines on the index.

The top gainers of the Nifty were TCS up by 1.60%, ONGC up by 1.07%, Dr Reddys Lab up by 0.87%, Wipro up by 0.81% and Infosys up by 0.80%.

On the flip side, Tata Motors down by 7.33%, JP Associate down by 4.10%, GAIL down by 3.95%, L&T down by 2.90% and Sesa Goa down by 2.82%, were the major losers on the index.

Most of the Asian equity indices were trading in the red; Shanghai Composite slipped 1.73 points or 0.07% to 2,319.18, Hang Seng dipped 40.90 points or 0.17% to 23,594.20, KOSPI Composite declined 12.80 points or 0.65% to 1,966.82 and Taiwan Weighted was down by 45.96 points or 0.59% to 7,698.22.

On the flip side, Nikkei 225 surged 90.25 points or 0.86% to 10,577.84 and Straits Times was up by 15.97 points or 0.49% to 3,247.97.

Stock markets in Indonesia and Malaysia remained close for the trade today.