Markets manage to hold in green

Indian benchmarks were trading marginally in green in the late morning session on selective buying by funds and retailers. On the global front, the Asian equity indices were trading mixed. Back home, the traders were seen piling up position in Realty, PSU and Capital Goods, while selling was seen in  IT, TECk and Consumer Durables sectors. In scrip specific development, BPCL, HPCL and IOC edged higher after a hike in petrol and diesel prices was announced on February 15, 2013 after market hours. Petrol prices were increased by Rs 1.50 per litre, while diesel prices were raised by 45 paise per litre. Shares of Kingfisher Airlines surged on speculation that Etihad may still be considering an investment in it on the other hand Jet Airways India slumped on Etihad Airways chairman’s statement  that the Abu Dhabi-based carrier needs to revise its deal to buy a stake in the Indian carrier.However, the NSE Nifty and BSE Sensex were managing to hold their psychological 5850 and 19,400 levels respectively.

The market breadth on BSE was positive with advances to declines ratio of 1204: 783.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 19495.50, up by 27.35 points or 0.14% after trading in a range of 19514.03 and 19462.92. There were 18 stocks advancing against 12 declines on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.53% and Small cap index was up by 0.61%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were, Realty up by 0.98%, PSU up by 0.69%, Capital Goods up by 0.48%, Health Care up by 0.47% and Oil & Gas up by 0.45%. While, IT down by 0.68%, TECk down by 0.56%, Consumer Durables down by 0.48% , Metal down by 0.25% and FMCG down by 0.02%  were the top  losers on the index.

The top gainers on the Sensex were HDFC up by 1.54%, Hindustan Unilever up by 0.89%, Sun Pharma up by 0.84%, SBI up by 0.81%, and L&T up by 0.81%.

On the flip side, Coal India was down by 1.62%, Jindal Steel was down by 1.33%, Tata Power was down by 1.03%, TCS down by 0.70%  and  Bharti Airtel was down by 0.63% were the top losers on the Sensex.

Meanwhile, as per the Central Electricity Authority (CEA) report, India witnessed power shortage of over 8,200 MW in January when electricity consumption is maximum, mainly on the back of scarcity of fuel. Further, on an average 30 power stations had less than a week's stock of coal at their disposal in this month, the report added.

As per the CEA data, in the month of January this year, the electricity consumption has increased by 9.8 percent or 8,291 MW to 84,616 MW of which 76,325 MW was met. In the nine month period (April-January) of this fiscal, the peak power deficit was close to 9% or 73,381 MW. Even though there is a drop in the peak power deficit in January, a gap of 9.8 percent is alarming.

The total power demand during the period was 833,230 MW of which 759,849 MW was met, while the country had suffered a peak power shortage of 12,295 MW in December last year.

Regarding the power shortage among states, it said that country’s southern region including Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh were the worst affected with 15.6% or 3,852 MW of power deficit. Meanwhile, northern region, which includes Punjab, Haryana and Himachal Pradesh, was the second-most affected with 10.2% power deficit or 2,549 MW. The least affected was eastern region with a mere 3.7% or 313 MW deficit.   The S&P CNX Nifty is currently trading at 5,892.55 up by 5.15 points or 0.09% after trading in a range of 5,896.35 and 5,878.45. There were 28 stocks advancing against 22 declines on the index.

The top gainers of the Nifty were DLF up by 2.13%, HDFC up by 1.68%, BPCL up by 1.53%, JP Associates up by 1.39% and Power Grid up by 1.23%.

On the flip side, Coal India down by 1.63%, Jindal Steel down by 1.36%, Axis Bank down by 1.06%, Ultra Cement down by 1.06%, and Tata Power down by 0.88%, were the major losers on the index. The Asian equity indices were trading in mixed; Shanghai Composite rose 14.87 points or 0.61% to 2,433.40, Jakarta Composite added 2.38 points or 0.05% to 4,612.16, Nikkei 225 soared 223.83 points or 2.00% to 11,396.42, and Taiwan Weighted was up by 36.72 points or 0.46% to 7,943.37.

On the flip side, Hang Seng declined by 84.74 points or 0.36% to 23,359.82, KLSE Composite slipped by 3.69 points or 0.23% to 1,624.24, KOSPI Composite was down by 3.93 points or 0.20% to 1,977.25 Straits Times  decreased 0.11 points or 0.02% to 3,282.20.