Benchmarks gyrate in a tight band; Sensex down 63 points

The key equity indices gyrated in a tight band with a negative bias in the mid-morning session tracking downtick on majority of the Asian counterparts. On the Dalal Street, the BSE Sensex and the NSE Nifty were trading marginally above the psychological 19,900 and 5,950 levels, respectively. Auto, oil & gas and banking counters were dragging the bourses lower in trade while buying in consumer durables, fast moving consumer goods and metal stocks was keeping the downside in check. The broader indices were hovering around the neutral line in trade. Meanwhile, the tyre makers were hogging the limelight at this point of time on the back of the government's decision to slash import duty on natural rubber to 7.5% for dispatches to the tune of 40,000 tonnes until March 31, 2011. The market breadth on the BSE was strong; the gainers outpaced the losers in a ratio of 1380:1154 while 103 shares were unchanged.

The BSE Sensex declined 63.30 points or 0.32% to 19,919.58. The index touched a high and a low of 19,978.60 and 19,880.36, respectively.

The BSE Mid-cap index shed 0.04% while the Small-cap index gained 0.03%.

The main gainers in the BSE sectoral space were Consumer Durables (CD) up 1%, Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) up 0.59%, Metal up 0.44%, Capital Goods (CG) up 0.09% and Healthcare (HC) up 0.03%.

The main losers in the BSE sectoral space were Auto down 1.25%, Oil & Gas down 0.54%, Bankex down 0.53%, Public Sector Undertaking (PSU) down 0.47% and Information Technology (IT) down 0.24%.

Meanwhile, the Indian government said on Thursday that it would ensure the availability of adequate amount of spectrum for the telecom industry to meet the projected demand in second-generation (2G) as well as third-generation (3G) services. It also pledged to resolve the security related issues which have clouded the launch of much awaited 3G services. 

'Currently, the spectrum demand is central to the industry, we will look into the need to increase the amount of spectrum available to distribute,' , Union Telecommunications Minister Kapil Sibal said on Thursday on the sidelines of an event organised by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry. 'If additional spectrum is available, one-third of the industry's problems will be automatically solved,' he added.

Sibal also stated that the security concerns on 3G video calls will be resolved soon. Last week, the government had asked the telecom operators including the Tata Teleservices and RCom to stop their recently launched 3G calls facility till they were able to fulfill the security requirements specified by the home ministry. Other companies which are about to launch services including the market leader Airtel have also been told to wait for security clearance.  

The major gainers on the Sensex were Hindalco Inds up 1.48%, ITC up 1.02%, Sterlite Inds up 0.89%, Wipro up 0.47% and HUL up 0.41%.

The major losers on the index were Tata Motors down 2.48%, Maruti Suzuki down 1.44%, ICICI Bank down 1.40%, Cipla down 1.24% and ONGC down 1.09%.

Even as the shipments from India continue to show reasonable growth at over 20%, the Commerce and Industry Minister Anand Sharma  has said that fresh sops for exporters, particularly those working in labour intensive sector, will be unveiled next month. The minister stated that Directorate-General of Foreign Trade and the Commerce Secretary have done sectoral reviews and sops will be based on it.

The commerce ministry was now conducting a final performance analysis to see what segments were still struggling. The minister said that labour intensive sectors such as apparel and handicrafts were still facing some problems due to the weak demand in traditional markets such as Europe. "Concerns remain. Intervention will be made in January first half; and where further incentives are required, they will be announced," he said.

The objective is to further improve the employment scenario in the country as well as to help push the overall pace of export growth in order to cut down the trade gap and hence the current account deficit which has been threatening to reach unsustainable levels. Carpets, tea, textiles and apparel, leather, handicrafts and small engineering goods are among the sectors that are likely to get additional exports.

The S&P CNX Nifty slid 18.35 points or 0.31% to 5,961.65. The index touched a high and a low of 5,977.20 and 5,940.25, respectively. 

The top gainers on the Nifty were Siemens up 2.94%, Hindalco Inds up 1.60%, Sesa Goa up 1.44%, Sun Pharma up 1.27% and ITC up 1.14%.

The top losers on the index were Tata Motors down 2.82%, BPCL down 2.57%, SAIL down 1.56%, Maruti Suzuki down 1.44% and ICICI Bank down 1.21%.

Other Asian markets were trading mostly in the red.Shanghai Composite trimmed 0.35%, Hang Seng slid 0.30%, KLSE Composite shed 0.16%, Seoul Composite decreased 0.36% and Taiwan Weighted was down by 0.40% while Straits Times gained 0.19%.  

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