Markets on recovery path; pare most of their losses

Domestic equity markets have slowly started recovering, though still trading marginally in red. There are not much supportive cues from global or domestic front but some buying interest in IT and technology stocks due to better than expected performance of the IT bellwether TCS has helped the markets to gain strength. On consolidated basis, TCS has posted a rise of 49.25% in its net profit at Rs 3434.37 crore for the quarter ended September 30, 2012. The company also managed to beat estimates on the volume and pricing front. There was other result related actions keeping the markets buzzing and Cairn India and L&T were trading up ahead of their numbers. Traders were getting some boost with SEBI targeting to complete investigations in the market within a year. Though, PSU stocks were in somber mood ahead of an Inter-Ministerial Group meeting to decide on the appointment of merchant bankers to manage the stake sale of Power Grid Corporation.

The broader indices were trading mixed at this point of time while, the market breadth on the BSE was equally distributed; there were 785 shares on the gaining side against 796 shares on the losing side while 82 shares remain unchanged. 

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 18672.91, down by 9.40 points or 0.05%. There were 17 stocks advancing against 13 declines on the index.

The overall market breadth has turned in favour of advances with 50.57% stocks advancing against 45.26% declines.

The broader indices too have recovered from their initial fall and were marginally trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was tad higher by 0.01% while, Small cap index gained 0.10%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were, IT up by 0.80%, TECk up by 0.54%, HC up by 0.43%, Bankex up by 0.17% and CD was up by 0.14%. On the other hand FMCG down by 0.95%, Realty down by 0.83%, Metal down by 0.68%, CG down by 0.59% and Auto down by 0.51% were the top losers.

The top gainers on the Sensex were TCS up by 2.22%, ICICI Bank up by 1.49%, Dr Reddy’s lab up by 1.415, NTPC up by 1.17% and Cipla was up by 1.07%.

On the flip side, Tata Motors down by 1.45%, ITC down by 1.45%, Jindal Steel down by 1.12%, Sterlite Industries down by 1.10% and Hero MotoCorp down by 0.89% were the top losers on the Sensex.

Meanwhile, capital market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) putting an end to actions getting delayed for years, has set a one-year target to complete investigations, saying that the long-drawn probe processes are a thing of past and manipulators can’t escape the long arm of the law.

SEBI is targeting not to keep any case pending for beyond a year. SEBI chairman UK Sinha has also warned market manipulators of strong action and has said that market manipulators remaining scot-free or the enforcement actions getting delayed for years are all matters of the past. He said that the regulator will always keep an upper edge over them with a robust surveillance system and safeguard mechanism for the markets and the investors.

On the issue of Mutual Funds, the regulator has said that there is a case for consolidation in the asset management industry owing to the presence of some non-serious players because of very easy entry situation, but clarity on this course will emerge only after the national mutual fund policy is put in place. SEBI has recently announced a slew of reform measures for the mutual fund industry to expand their reach across the country and also to safeguard the interest of investors. At present, there are around 40 mutual fund companies in the country.

The S&P CNX Nifty is currently trading at 5,675.20, down by 9.05 points or 0.16%. There were 20 stocks advancing against 30 declines on the index.

The top gainers of the Nifty were TCS up by 2.12%, Cipla up by 1.32%, Cairn up by 1.21%, Dr Reddy up by 1.21% and ICICI Bank was up by 1.21%. On the flip side, Ambuja Cement down by 1.98%, ITC down by 1.55%, Jindal Steel down by 1.39%, Tata Motors down by 1.28% and Sesa Goa down by 1.24%, were the major losers on the index.

Some of the Asian markets have bounced back, Hang Seng was up 0.37%, Jakarta Composite was marginally up by 0.09% and Nikkei 225 was up by 0.25%.

On the other hand, Shanghai Composite was down by 0.52%, KLSE Composite was lower by 0.10%, Straits Times declined by 0.18%, Kospi Composite lost 0.16% and Taiwan Weighted was down by 0.57%.