Post session - Quick review

After flip-flopping for the entire trading session, barometer gauges once again managed to pull out slender gains, to conclude the apparently uninspiring day of trade, on an optimistic note. Sustaining previous session’s rally, barometer gauges closed flat, although late hour profit booking, showed investor’s cautiousness ahead of the release of May month’s inflation data, due to be released tomorrow.30 scrip sensitive index, Sensex, after sneaking past the 16900 level, shied away from it during the dying hours of trade, but settled above the 16850 bastion. Meanwhile, 50 share index, Nifty, managed to hold the 5100 mark by the closing bell. However, broader indices trading listlessly exhibited mixed trend.  Sanguine leads from regional counterparts, also contributed to the furtherance of Indian equity markets as most of the Asian pacific shares managed to pull off a decent rally despite escalating worries over contagion from Spain's banking sector, which were highlighted after the country's bond yields hit record peaks. However, European shares continued to reel under pressure due to growing jitters ahead of Greece election over weekend.

Closer home, investors squared off positions from the rate sensitive Automobile counter amid reports that the government is contemplating the idea of imposing an additional tax on Rs 1,70,000 on small diesel cars and Rs 2,55,000 on medium and large diesel fuelled vehicles. Stocks of auto majors like Maruti and Mahindra & Mahindra took severe beating in the session as they plunged over two and half a percent. Additionally, banking sector holding in green for the entire trading session capitulated to the selling pressure in the late hours of the trade, to shut shop in red. However, significant buying interest was witnessed in high beta-Capital Goods and defensive- Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) and Health Care counters. Meanwhile, Telecom stocks buzzed loud after Reserve Bank of India (RBI) approved the proposal to allow telcos to mortgage airwaves that would permit these companies to use spectrum as collateral and raise funds from banks for the upcoming auctions. The market breadth on the BSE ended positive; advances and declining stocks were in a ratio of 1407:1294 while 148 scrips remained unchanged. (Provisional)

The BSE Sensex gained 20.59 points or 0.12% and settled at 16,883.39. The index touched a high and a low of 16,944.11 and 16,792.87 respectively. 12 stocks were seen advancing against 18 declining ones on the index (Provisional)

The BSE Mid-cap index lost 0.20% while Small-cap index was up 0.15%. (Provisional)

On the BSE Sectoral front, Capital Goods up 1.54%, FMCG up 1.26%, IT up 0.56%, Health Care up 0.54% and TECk up 0.32% were the top gainers while Auto down 1.49%, Realty down 1.40%, Consumer Durables down 1.14%, Power down 0.86% and Metal down 0.50% were the top losers.

There top gainers on the Sensex were HUL up 3.19%, ONGC up 2.45%, L&T up 2.39%, Sun Pharma up 2.37% and Jindal Steel up 1.67% while, Maruti Suzuki down 3.43%, Sterlite Industries down 2.31%, NTPC down 2.09%, Tata Motors down 2.04% and Hero MotoCorp down 1.86% were the top losers in the index. (Provisional)

Meanwhile, Pranab Mukherjee, the Union Finance Minister, in his review meeting of the Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) of Public Sector Banks (PSBs) and Financial Institutions (FIs), urged public sector banks and financial institutions to employ various measures at their command and keep a tight control over their non-performing assets (NPAs) in accordance with the guidelines of the Reserve Bank of India. Appreciating their performance in the last quarter ending March 2012, he directed them to keep up the momentum and continue to take efforts to reduce the bad loans, known as NPAs in industry parlance.

While cautioning the financial institutions to check the steep rise of bad loans in their portfolio, the finance minister also instructed them not to choke the flow of credit to the sectors which require the uninterrupted flow of credit. Commending PSBs’ pro-activeness and good performance, Mukherjee cited recent decisions on restructuring of loans to the textile sector and power distribution companies are good examples of NPA management.

Stating that banks have managed to bring down their NPAs to 3.1 percent in the January-March period of 2011-12 from 3.18 percent in the previous quarter, the finance minister also underscored that priority sector lending grew by 16.37% as against 13.49% last year; recovery against outstanding dues in the last quarter of year 2011-12 was unprecedented; net profit grew to Rs.49,512 crores as against Rs.44,900 crore last year, registering an increase of 10.27%.

Highlighting Oriental Bank of Commerce’s recent decision to waive charges for electronic banking transactions like real time gross settlement (RTGS) and national electronic fund transfer (NEFT), Pranab Mukherjee also called other PSBs to follow this initiative and waive all charges for electronic banking transactions.

India VIX, a gauge for market’s short term expectation of volatility gain 0.66% at 24.36 from its previous close of 24.20 on Tuesday. (Provisional)

The S&P CNX Nifty gained 6.10 points or 0.12% to settle at 5,122.00. The index touched high and low of 5,144.90 and 5,095.45 respectively. 23 stocks advanced against 27 declining ones on the index. (Provisional)

The top gainers on the Nifty were Ambuja Cment up 3.66%, HUL up 3.36%, L&T up 2.80%, ONGC up 2.64% and Sun Pharma up 2.45%.On the other hand, Maruti Suzuki down 3.37%, Sterlite Industries down 2.87%, Tata Motors down 2.43%, NTPC down 2.35% and Tata Power down 2.08% were the top losers. (Provisional)

The European markets were trading in red, with France's CAC 40 down 0.13%, Germany's DAX down 0.49% and Britain’s FTSE 100 down 0.05%.

All the Asian equity indices barring Straits Times ended the day’s trade in the positive on Wednesday as traders remained optimistic amid speculation the Federal Reserve will stimulate the economy and after the European Central Bank endorsed a plan to guarantee bank deposits, although a slump in shares of European retailer Esprit capped the gains. Meanwhile, Hong Kong and Chinese indices rose 0.82% and 1.27% respectively, by strong led gains among Chinese insurers and utilities. The China’s two biggest insurers China Life Insurance and Ping An Insurance gained 7.20% and 6.50%, respectively, on reports that China’s insurance regulator is planning to reduce limitations on insurers' investments in infrastructure bonds. Moreover, Gains in a few large cap stocks boosted Japanese Nikkei up by 0.60%, but the broader market was weak as investors remained concerned about Spain’s struggle to finance its debt and looming elections in Greece.