Benchmarks pare gains; December IIP contracts by 0.6%

Indian equities pared gains but continued firm trade in green in the late morning session. Sentiments got dampen after India's annual industrial output growth measured by index of industrial production (IIP), contracted by 0.6% at 179.3 for the month of December 2012, versus the expectations of 1 per cent growth and against contraction of 0.1% in the previous month. The cumulative growth for the period April-December 2012-13 over the corresponding period of the previous year stands at 0.7%. The indices of Industrial Production for the Mining, Manufacturing and Electricity sectors for the month of December 2012 stand at 131.3, 191.3 and 157.6 respectively, with the corresponding growth rates of  (-) 4.0%, (-) 0.7% and 5.2% as compared to December 2011. Also, the released by the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM) added to the woes. The domestic passenger car sales were down for the third month in a row this fiscal in January while commercial vehicles have been in the negative territory all the 10 months of the fiscal.

The traders were seen piling up position in Oil & Gas, PSU and Auto while selling was seen in Realty, IT and TECk sectors. In scrip specific development, Bangalore-based IT Company MphasiS soared on completing the acquisition of US-based Digital Risk LLC. Britannia Industries surged on reporting rise of 5.34% in net profit to Rs 56.96 crore for the third quarter ended December 31, 2012. In the same period last fiscal, the company had posted a profit of Rs 54.07 crore. Jindal Steel and Power was trading under pressure ahead of its October-December earnings later in the day. Jaiprakash Associates plunged on disappointing Q3. Unitech shares dropped after the CBI removed its lawyer in the 2G spectrum allocation scam case for allegedly colluding with Unitech's managing director Sanjay Chandra, who is an accused in the scam. The NSE Nifty and BSE Sensex were managing to hold their psychological 5900 and 19,500 levels respectively.

The market breadth on BSE was positive; advances: declines in the ratio of 824: 1222.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 19508.64 up by 48.07 points or 0.25% after trading in a range of 19521.72 and 19465.33. There were 20 stocks advancing against 10 declines on the index.

The broader indices were trading in red; the BSE Mid cap index was down by 0.71% and Small cap index was down by 0.55%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Oil & Gas up by 0.78%, PSU up by 0.78%, Auto up by 0.54%, Health Care up by 0.47% and Bankex up by 0.41%. While, Realty down by 5.17%, IT down by 0.74%, TECk down by 0.71%, Power down by 0.66% and Metal down by 0.53% were the top losers on the index.

The top gainers on the Sensex were ONGC up by 2.77%, Bajaj Auto up by 1.44%, Dr Reddys Lab up by 0.94%, Sun Pharma up by 0.92%, HDFC up by 0.82% and

On the flip side, Jindal Steel was down by 2.33%, Sterlite Industries was down by 1.50% ,Infosys was down by 1.44%, Tata Power was down by 1.02%, and Hindalco Inds was down by 0.45% were the top losers on the Sensex.

Meanwhile, in order to increase cooperation and encourage investment opportunities in the steel and mining sectors, India and Brazil have signed a letter of intent (LoI) to strengthen cooperation between the two nations in steel and mining sectors. The decision was taken during a visit of Steel Minister Beni Prasad Verma-led Indian delegation to Brazil last week.

The letter of intent aims to focus on strengthening the supply chain and facilitating the exchange of technical expertise for the growth of the steel industry. Further, it also aims to focus on growth for pelletisation plants in both the countries and also promoting and expanding the bilateral relation.

As these two countries have been showing robust growth in the consumption of steel, the Steel Minister-led delegations also explored the possibility of signing a memorandum of understanding (MoU) during the forthcoming visit of the President of Brazil to India. Moreover, India and Brazil have emerged as large markets after China in terms of their growth potential among the developing countries.

The S&P CNX Nifty is currently trading at 5,909.40 up by 11.55 points or 0.20% after trading in a range of 5,913.30 and 5,892.95. There were 31 stocks advancing against 18 declines while 1 stock remains unchanged on the index.

The top gainers of the Nifty were ONGC up by 2.76%, HCL Tech up by 1.29%, Bajaj Auto up by 1.23%, Dr Reddy's Laboratories up by 1.11% and Coal India up by 0.89%.

On the flip side, JP Associate down by 3.16%, Jindal Steel down by 2.18%, DLF down by 2.06%, Infosys down by 1.40% and Reliance Infrastructure down by 1.38%, were the major losers on the index.

Most of the Asian equity indices were trading in the green; Jakarta Composite surged 27.60 points or 0.61% to 4,530.85 and Nikkei 225 soared 257.08 points or 2.30% to 11,410.24.

On the flip side, KOSPI Composite was down by 2.05 points or 0.11% to 1,948.85.

Hong Kong, China, Taiwan, Singapore and Malaysia are all closed. Hong Kong and Singapore will resume trading on February 13 and Taiwan will reopen on February 14.