Benchmarks gyrating range-bound sustain gains; Nifty oscillates above 5950 bastion

Gyrating in the range-bound trade, benchmark equity indices currently are holding their fort upright in green, though bit of profit-booking has crept in, nevertheless that’s negligible enough to deter the upward trajectory of benchmark equity indices, which drawing positive cues from global set-up are trading in green since early deals. Sustained buying in Metal, Consumer Durable and Oil & Gas counters are mainly fuelling the uptrend of the bourses. However, besides Bankex, Capital Goods counter on BSE too has succumbed to selling pressure.  Thus, in the range-bound session of trade, barometer 30 share index, Sensex, is trading above the psychological 19700 level, with gains of over quarter percentage points. Likewise, 50 share index, Nifty, too gaining over 3/10 percent, was the holding the fort above 5950 bastion. However, broader indices pared part of their gains.

On the global front, Japanese index, Nikkei 225, gains are driving Asian shares higher on Wednesday after yen slid to a near three-year low following the early resignation of the Bank of Japan governor, Masaaki Shirakawa. Some investors are of the view that whoever replaces Shirakawa would comply with pressure from the government to ease monetary policy to help stimulate economic growth. Further, positive economic data from both US and Europe also boosted sentiment.

Closer home, sugar sector stocks continue to remain in limelight on reports that food minister will seek a cabinet approval for sugar decontrol, a first proposal that will be taken to the highest decision-making body of the government since the sector was brought under strict regulation 50 years ago. The market breadth on BSE was positive; advances: declines in the ratio of 1349:711.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 19709.95, up by 50.13 points or 0.25% after trading in a range of 19767.25 and 19692.91. There were 21 stocks advancing against 8 declines on the index, while 1 stock remained unchanged.

The broader indices too pared some gains; the BSE Mid cap and Small cap index were trading up by 0.37% and 0.51% respectively.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were, Metal up by 1.08%, Consumer Durables up by 0.68%, Oil & Gas up by 0.60%, Realty up by 0.41%, TECk up by 0.40% and PSU up by 0.35% while, Bankex down by 0.14% and Capital Goods down by 0.08% were the losers on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were HDFC up by 2.28%, Jindal Steel up by 1.93%, Maruti Suzuki up by 1.67%, Tata Steel up by 1.57% and Hindalco Industries up by 1.23%.

On the flip side, NTPC down by 1.80%, Hindustan Unilever was down by 1.59%, Cipla down by 1.08%, ICICI Bank down by 0.76% and HDFC Bank was down by 0.54% were the top losers on the Sensex.

Meanwhile, disappointed over the seven percent cut in HRD Ministry's revised budget for this fiscal, Human Resource Department minister M M Pallam Raju has written a letter to Finance Minister P Chidambaram, terming the step as 'unjustified'.

In view of economic slowdown, the finance ministry, in last month, imposed cut of about seven percent in the Rs 45,000 crore school education and literacy budget to control expenditure. HRD minister, Raju especially highlighted the Rs 209 crore slash in funds allocated for the centrally-sponsored scheme of teacher education for the 2012-13 fiscal.  Moreover, budget for higher education sector has also been reduced by about 13 per cent, which had got Rs 15,458 crore, he added.

Demanding retention of the funds allocated for this scheme, he said that funds under this programme have been reduced from Rs 500 crore to Rs 292 crore. 'This appears unjustified as the revised scheme of teacher education was approved by the cabinet committee on economic affairs in March 2012 and the revised guidelines and annual work format prepared after a nationwide consultation were circulated to all states'.

The minister mentioned that the reduction of the budget at revised estimate stage comes at a time when special effort is being made to revamp the teacher education system, which is critical to improve the quality of education. Further he said that the cut would hamper delivery of the scheme as the ministry would require more than the budget earmarked under it.

The S&P CNX Nifty is currently trading at 5,976.50, up by 19.60 points or 0.33% after trading in a range of 5,990.90 and 5,967.70. There were 34 stocks advancing against 15 declines while 1 stock remained unchanged on the index.

The top gainers of the Nifty were Bank of Baroda up by 2.52%, HDFC up by 2.46%, Jindal Steel up by 1.97%, UltraTech Cement up by 1.94% and Maruti Suzuki up by 1.86%.

On the flip side, Hindustan Unilever down by 1.67%, JP Associates down by 1.64%, NTPC down by 1.58%, Siemens down by 0.91% and CIPLA down by 0.75, were the major losers on the index.

Most of the Asian equity indices were trading in the green; Hang Seng surged 0.61%, Jakarta Composite rose 0.28%, Nikkei 225 soared 3.77%, Taiwan Weighted added 0.25% and Straits Times up by 0.07%. On the flip side, Shanghai Composite dipped 0.10% and KLSE Composite declined 1.20% and KOSPI Composite shed 0.10%.