Indian markets trade lower in early deals

After three consecutive sessions of rally, Indian equity markets have made a choppy start with both the frontline indices dipped into red in early deals on Thursday as investors opted to book their profits ahead of the consumer price index and industrial production data due on May 10, 2013, followed by wholesale inflation data on May 13. However, the losses remain capped as buying in software and technology counters supported the sentiments. Stocks like Infosys, TCS, Wipro and HCL Technologies edged higher on the back of better-than-expected earnings by select US companies indicating that the world's largest economy is on the path of revival.

On the global front, the US markets ended higher overnight, shrugging off the early pessimism on the back of some good earnings announcement and better economic data from China, all the major indices were up by about half a percent each. Asian markets too were trading higher with Japanese Nikkei  trading within striking distance of fresh five-year highs while, South Korean Kospi edged higher by over a percent after the central bank of Korea unexpectedly cut interest rates by 25 basis points to 2.50%, the first cut in seven months.

Back home, on the sectoral front, software witnessed the maximum gain in trade followed by technology and fast moving consumer goods while, capital goods, banking and metal remained the top losers. The broader indices were outperforming benchmarks while, the market breadth on the BSE was positive; there were 668 shares on the gaining side against 627 shares on the losing side while 58 shares remain unchanged.

The BSE Sensex opened at 20,015.86; about 25 points higher compared to its previous closing of 19,990.18, and has touched a high and a low of 20,058.48 and 19,948.45 respectively.

The index is currently trading at 19,967.14, down by 23.04 points or 0.12%. There were 13 stocks advancing against 17 declines on the index.

The overall market breadth has made a strong start with 49.37% stocks advancing against 46.34% declines. The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap and Small cap indices up by 0.04% and 0.17% respectively. 

The only gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were, IT up by 0.87%, Teck up by 0.73%, FMCG up by 0.51% and Consumer Durables up by 0.20% while, Capital Goods down by 0.79%, Bankex down by 0.73%, Metal down by 0.65%, Health Care down by 0.60% and Realty down by 0.54% were the top losers on the sectoral index.

The top gainers on the Sensex were TCS up by 1.46%, Wipro up by 0.84%, Hero MotoCorp up by 0.83%, HDFC up by 0.78% and Bajaj Auto up by 0.65%.

On the flip side, Sun Pharma was down by 1.67%, Sterlite Industries was down by 1.42%, Tata Motors was down by 1.41%, L&T was down by 1.14% and  ICICI Bank was down by 1.01% were the top losers on the Sensex.

Meanwhile, stressing the proposed hike in Stowing Excise Duty (SED) would push up power tariff, a parliament panel has asked the government not to pass the burden to electricity consumers and ensure it is absorbed by the coal companies. After examining the Coal Mines (Conservation & Development) Amendment Bill, 2012, which proposes such a hike, the panel said that steps taken by the government to ensure 20-30 percent increase in SED should be absorbed by the coal companies and should not be passed on to power consumers. Meanwhile, the SED is levied on total raw coal dispatches from mines.

By adding further, panel said that the government has miserably failed to utilise the fund collected earlier under SED and has endorsed the present increase in upper limit for collecting SED from Rs 10 to Rs 50 per tonne on all coal raised and dispatched. Following the decision, the coal ministry had hiked it from Rs 10 a tonne to Rs 20 a tonne for the time being. Panel also noted that against a total SED collection of Rs 2,463.22 crore during the 11th Plan period, the expenditure under the Conservation and Development Advisory CCDA schemes was Rs 756.57 crore against an allocation of Rs 862 crore.  

Further, the panel cleared that CCDA committee, which is constituted to advise the government has not played effective role in disbursement of SED proceeds and failed miserably in monitoring the expenditure of SED. Therefore, the panel strongly recommends the government to fully utilise the 35 percent of funds generated by collection of SED for different schemes and also expect the enhanced funds that be available after necessary amendment to the Act will be fully utilized.  

The CNX Nifty opened at 6,078.35; about 9 points higher as compared to its previous closing of 6,069.30, and has touched a high and a low of 6,084.70 and 6,053.95 respectively.

The index is currently trading at 6,060.70, down by 8.60 points or 0.14%. There were 18 stocks advancing against 32 declines on the index.

The top gainers of the Nifty were HCL Tech up by 2.75%, Asian Paints up by 1.22%, Hero MotoCorp up by 1.17%, TCS up by 1.14% and UltraTech Cement up by 1.10%.

On the flip side, Axis Bank down by 2.10%, Sun Pharmaceuticals down by 1.80%, Ranbaxy down by 1.61%, Tata Motors down by 1.37% and NMDC down by 1.17%, were the major losers on the index.

Most of the Asian equity indices were trading in green; Nikkei 225 rose 33.58 points or 0.24% to 14,319.27, Straits Times surged 19.19 points or 0.56% to 3,432.21, KOSPI Composite soared 20.82 points or 1.06% to 1,977.27 and Taiwan Weighted was up by 27.04 points or 0.33% to 8,294.13.

On the flip side, Shanghai Composite declined 14.65 points or 0.65% to 2,231.65, Hang Seng contracted 64.83 points or 0.28% to 23,179.52 and KLSE Composite was down by 5.85 points or 0.33% to 1,768.15.

Indonesian market remained shut for the trade today.