Markets comes into consolidation mood pressured by selling in IT

Indian bourses after showing outperformance in early deals are consolidating in the noon trade, coming off their high points of the day. Profit booking at the higher levels has dragged the markets lower, however the major indices are managing to remain in green supported by buying in the banking and metal counters, though there is considerable weakness in the IT and technology sector stocks, as after Infosys, another IT bellwether Tata Consultancy Services signaled a weaker Q4 based on potential impact from seasonally slower demand in its biggest markets and continued demand volatility at home that the company flagged back in November. Though, markets were holding up in green taking support from the report of Standard & Poor's Ratings Services that Indian companies are improving their credit profiles by selling equity and assets, or using free operating cash flows to reduce debt. There is not much enthusiasm in the PSU OMCs despite the report that loss on sale of diesel has reduced by more than Rs 1 to Rs 7.16 per litre due to softening of international crude oil price. The broader indices were once again outperforming the benchmarks.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 21,848.68 up by 16.07 points or 0.07% after trading in a range of 21895.83 and 21795.94. There were 21 stocks advancing against 9 declines on the index.

The broader indices were outperforming the benchmarks; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.48% and Small cap index gained 0.51%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on BSE were,Metal up by 2.43%, Realty up by 1.02%,FMCG up by 0.81%, Bankex up by 0.73% and Healthcare up by 0.59%, while IT down by 2.45% and TECK down by 1.77% were the two losers on the sectoral index.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Hindalco Inds up by 4.83%, Tata Steel up by 4.26%, SSLT up by 2.58%, Axis Bank up by 2.55% and Bharti Airtel  up by 1.56%. On the flip side, TCS down by 4.28%, Infosys down by 2.52%, ONGC down by 1.66%, Tata Power down by 1.19% and M&M down by 1.17% were the top losers on the Sensex.

Meanwhile, concerned over the increasing legal expenses as many of its orders getting challenged in tribunal and courts, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) will soon consider a proposal to recover legal expenses incurred in such litigations from penalties imposed by it on defaulters before crediting the amount to the government's coffers. Over the past three financial years, capital markets regulator has incurred average litigation expenditure in the range of Rs 4-5 crore per annum, however, such expenses are expected to be much higher in the current fiscal year.

Further, SEBI may also consider charging 'processing fees' for various service requests from market intermediaries, companies and stock exchanges as most of the services are being provided free by SEBI in spite of bearing significant cost of such matters. However, fees are not proposed on investor complaints, in accordance with the processing time, cost and procedures involved. 

The proposal, which is based on recommendations made by a Committee on Rationalisation of Financial Resources (CRFR) is likely to be considered by SEBI board later this week. The proposal has been made to enhance SEBI's financial resources to help it meet expenses for its various regulatory and investor-centric activities.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 6,526.15 up by 9.50 points or 0.15% after trading in a range of 6,541.20 and 6,506.00. There were 36 stocks advancing against 14 declines on the index.

The top gainers of the Nifty were Hindalco up by 4.83%, Tata Steel up by 4.34%, SSLT up by 2.64%, Axis Bank up by 2.54% and ACC was up by 2.48%. On the flip side, TCS down by 4.40%, Infy down by 2.55%, ONGC down by 1.66%, Tata Power down by 1.54% and M&M down by 1.16% were the top losers on the index.

The Asian equity indices were trading mostly in red; Shanghai Composite was down by 0.20%,Hang Seng down by 0.09%, KLSE Composite was lower by 0.19%, Straits Times lost 0.62%, Seoul Composite declined by 0.13% and Taiwan Weighted was down by 0.49%.

On the other hand Jakarta Composite gained 0.62% and Nikkei 225 was up by 0.36%.