Indian equities buck sanguine global leads; consolidate in noon trades

Indian equity markets are trading on an unenthusiastic note in Tuesday afternoon trades as the frontline indices are currently hovering around the psychological 4,850 (Nifty) and 16,100 (Sensex) levels. The bourses showed signs of consolidation after Monday’s massive three percent rally as marketmen overlooked the sanguine cues that Asian equity indices exhibited since the start of trade. All Asian indices sustained the positive momentum as investors took heart in an undervalued market amid hopes that the Euro-zone policy makers are pushing towards new measures to rescue the currency union from a terrible debt debacle. However, investors back home remained on the sidelines lacking any significant upside triggers from the domestic front. Meanwhile, the row over FDI in retail continued to disrupt the functioning of Parliament with both Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha adjourned after a united opposition refused to allow any proceedings for the sixth day. On the BSE sectoral space, the Oil & Gas counter got pummeled by about a percent in the session so far after heavyweights Reliance Industries plunged by over one and half a percent. While the software and technology pockets too got dragged by over half a percent. On the other hand, the defensive Healthcare sector remained the top gainer in the space with three fourth of a percent gains while the rate sensitive Automobile and Bankex counters too witnessed buying interests.

Moreover, the broader markets though showed some resilience and traded in the positive territory with moderate gains of around half a percent and outperformed their larger peers. The bourses consolidated on good volumes of over Rs 0.50 lakh core. The market breadth on BSE was in favor of advances in the ratio of 1271:1106 while 125 scrips remained unchanged.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 16,127.00 up by 40.13 points or 0.25% after trading as high as and 16,210.37 as low as 15,995.57. There were 15 stocks advancing against 15 declines on the index.

The broader indices were trading on a positive note; the BSE Mid cap index gained 0.34% and Small cap rose 0.38%.

On the BSE sectoral space, Healthcare up 0.78%, Auto up 0.54%, FMCG up 0.48%, Capital Goods up 0.34% and Bankex up 0.23% were the major gainers while Oil & Gas down 0.98%, TECk down 0.78%, IT down 0.65%, Consumer Durables down 0.47% and PSU down 0.06% were the major losers in the space.

Tata Steel up 2.31%, JP Associates up 1.56%, M&M up 1.49%, HUL up 1.48% and BHEL up 1.34% were the major gainers on the Sensex, while Bharti Airtel down 2.59%, RIL down 1.67%, Infosys down 1.45%, Hindalco down 1.33% and Tata Power down 1.22% were the major losers in the index.

Meanwhile, in its bid to revive, reform and restructure the Indian handloom sector, the Indian government has given its go ahead to a centrally sponsored debt waiver package of Rs 38.84 billion for handloom weavers, said Commerce and Industry Minister Anand Sharma, who holds additional charge of Textiles Ministry. The Union Cabinet headed by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh approved the debt restructuring package under which funds will be provided for repayment of 100 percent of principal and 25 percent of interest, which is overdue as on March 31, 2010 in respect of viable and potentially viable primary weavers` cooperative societies and apex societies.

The commerce minister also said that out of the total package, share of the Centre will be 31.37 billion while that of the state government will be Rs 7.47 billion. According to Anand Sharma, the package will benefit 13 lakh weavers, including two lakh in Uttar Pradesh, a state headed for Assembly elections next year. India’s handloom sector is reeling under stress for quite some time now on account of stiff competition and credit unavailability.

The Centre had earlier announced that it would implement Rs 62.34 billion package out of which it has earmarked Rs 38.84 billion for debt restructuring and the remaining Rs 23.50 billion is for a six-fold strategy to uplift weavers during the 12th Plan (2012-17). The statement said there would be an overall ceiling of Rs 50,000 per individual beneficiary as far as funding under the scheme is concerned in respect of waiver of over-dues of individual handloom weavers. The scheme will help 15,000 weavers' cooperative societies besides individual weavers.

The S&P CNX Nifty is currently trading at 4,845.45, lower by 5.85 points or 0.12% after trading as high as 4,866.10 and as low as 4,802.85. There were 27 stocks advancing against 23 declines on the index.

The top gainers on the Nifty were Ranbaxy up 2.83%, Dr Reddy’s up 2.36%, Tata Steel up 2.29%, HUL up 1.83% and JP Associates up 1.80%.

Bharti Airtel down 2.34%, Reliance down 1.73%, Hindalco down 1.69%, ACC down 1.54% and Infosys down 1.26% were the major losers on the index.

Asian markets traded on an encouraging note, Shanghai Composite surged 1.12%, Hang Seng soared 1.55%, Jakarta Composite jumped 1.48%, KLSE Composite ascended 1.48%, Nikkei 225 spurted 2.30%, Straits Times gained 0.46%, Seoul Composite rallied 2.27% and Taiwan Weighted garnered 1.30%.