Markets trade around neutral line

Local equity markets are hovering around neutral line with slightly negative bias in late morning session as profit booking and lack of any strong positive cue from the domestic front, however majority of the other Asian markets were trading in green and US Dow futures was up 43 pints in the screen trade. the benchmarks, BSE Sensex and NSE Nifty are though trading above their crucial levels 18,500 and 5,500 levels respectively but have pared all their early gains. On the sectoral front Realty, Oil & Gas Auto , Metal and CD counters were dragging the markets down while FMCG , IT , TECk , and  HC counter were giving some relief to the indices. The broader indices too have pared gains but were outperforming the benchmarks; the BSE Mid cap and Small cap indices were up by 0.26% and 0.44% respectively. The market breadth on the BSE was negative; the losers outpaced the gainers in a ratio of 1452:1080 while 89 shares remained unchanged.

Raymond spurts 4.46% on plans to sell 12 acres of its former factory land. The company is finally moving into the realty venture which was announced in 2009. The company is now planning to sell 12 acres of its former factory land outside Mumbai for around Rs 250 crore. The total land measures to about 125 acres.

Gujarat Narmada Valley has moved up over one percent on receiving insurance claim of Rs 141.20 crore. The company has received insurance claim from New India assurance (NIA). The claim was in regards to an explosion followed by fire in waste heat boiler (E-703) in ammonia plant of the company. The explosion occurred on February 10, 2010 due to which there was the disruption in the operations of the plant for about 4 months, the company had then lodged a claim with NIA towards loss of profit and also for material damage.

The BSE Sensex declined 3.43 points or 0.02% to 18,506.82.The index touched a high of 18,690.97 and 18,451.82 respectively.

The BSE Mid cap and Small cap indices were up by 0.26% and 0.44% respectively.

In BSE sectoral space Realty down by 1.06%, Oil & Gas down by 0.10%, Auto down by 0.30%, Metal down 0.45% and CD down 0.45% were the main losers.

On the other hand FMCG up 0.63%, IT up by 0.63%, TECk up by 0.23% and  HC up by 0.14% were the only gainers.

The top gainers of the BSE Sensex were HUL up by 2.23%, Wipro up by 1.80%, HDFC Bank was up by 1.53%, Maruti Suzuki up by 1.38% and TCS up 1.38%.

Reliance Infra down by 3.52%, RCom down by 3.10%, ONGC down 2.23%, ONGC down 2.23%, JP associates down 1.88% and Tata Motors down 1.56% were top losers on the BSE Sensex.

India's auto industry has had a dream run over the last 4-6 quarters and has surprised most analysts on the upside. In fact, the unprecedented performance of the industry over last one year point out towards a stylized fact. The size of the Indian economy now seems to have crossed a critical minimum level where the auto demand starts turning around in a big way, as was seen in China in the last decade or the US in 1960s and 1970s.

As such, the industry seems to be on an inflexion point and growth is likely to remain strong for an extended period now. At this crucial juncture, the industry has lined up a number of expectations from the forthcoming General Budget to be presented on Feb 28 by Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee that automakers contend will help push India into big league comparing with the US and China.

The industry has urged the finance ministry to reduce excise duty currently placed at 22% for big cars and remove the additional Rs 15,000 tax imposed on the same. The extent tax structure, according to the auto industry has been fuelling the gulf between small and bigger cars. Big cars are defined as those which are longer than four meters and have more than 1,200 cc engine in case of petrol and 1,500 cc in case of diesel. The ones with a lesser specifications fall in the small car category, and attract 10% excise.

The industry also wants that vehicles meant for rural markets should get some additional excise duty relief in the forthcoming budget.  There is a consensus among most government departments to subsidies some specific vehicles that have a mass use in rural areas. As the rural India becomes increasingly an important customer for India Inc, the industry expects the government to take measures that will further boost rural demand. Not only will this help push auto sales, but also help bridge gap between rural and urban India.

The industry also has high expectations on the front of green business. With Indian government seriously looking to counter pollution and lower India's carbon intensity by 20% till 2020 on a base of 2005, as committed internationally, the auto industry feels there should be more incentives for production of green vehicles.

In fact, autos are a major source of carbon emission and worldwide the trend is producing more hybrid cars that can cut emissions. The society of Indian automobile manufacturers (SIAM) has in this wake urged the government to come up with some tax based incentives for hybrid cars, as it has done in case of electric vehicles, which will reduce the selling prices of such cars and help make them popular. Not only will it help cut carbon emission, but also help lower India's dependence on imported crude oil in long run.

The S&P CNX Nifty trimmed 7.50 points or 0.14% at 5,538.95.The index touched high of 5,599.25 and a low of 5,526.90.

The top gainers of the Nifty were HUL up by 2.34%, IDFC up by 1.82%, Wipro up 1.64%, Maruti up by 1.59% and BHEL up 1.51%.

The top losers of the index were Reliance Infra down by 3.87%,RCom down by 3.10%, Suzlon down by 3.07%, HCL Technology down by 2.87% and ONGC down by 2.70% .

Majority of the Asian markets were trading in green, barring the Shanghai composite which declined by 0.90%.

While Hang Seng surged 1.04%, Straits Times increased   0.06%, Seoul Composite up 1.82%, Taiwan Weighted climbed 1.84%, Nikkei 225 surged 0.06%, KLSE Composite gained 0.62% and Jakarta Composite added 1.76%.

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