Weakness persist on Dalal Street; IT stocks decline

The local bourses after getting a soft start are now oscillating around their day's low point as investor's continue to book profit in the wake of rising crude oil prices. The investor's are seen locking profits past two consecutive trading sessions after the stupendous up move that saw the benchmark indices rise 10 per cent in 10 days. However, on the global front, after overnight modest surge on Wall Street, Asian shares are mixed with Tokyo falling despite a weaker yen and progress in stopping radioactive leaks at the stricken Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant. Back Home on the BSE Sectoral front, the day's slide was led by selling in Information Technology, TECk, Bankex shares, while Real estate, Capital Goods and Power stocks outperformed other sectors as investor's preferred investing in them considering their lower valuations. However, the investor's interest in the broader market remains intact as both small cap and mid cap indices are garnering gain of 0.50% each. Meanwhile, the 30 share index is currently trading below its 19600 mark while S&P CNX Nifty too has slipped far away from its 5600 level. The overall market breadth on BSE was in the favour of advances which thumped declines in the ratio of 1511:805, while, 81 shares remained unchanged.

The stocks that are buzzing hard in trade today include Cairn India and Sesa Goa. Cairn India and Sesa Goa fell on the bourses after the government further delayed a decision on Vedanta Resources' deal to buy Cairn Energy's Indian unit by referring it to a panel of ministers for further review. The cabinet committee on economic affairs on Wednesday decided to send the deal for vetting by a ministerial group headed by finance minister Pranab Mukherjee. Corporate affairs minister Murli Deora and law minister Veerappa Moily may be co-opted in the group. Meanwhile, Maruti Suzuki, fell by 1.60% to Rs 1,273.95 on fresh selling after the company recalled 13,157 units of three diesel models.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 19,539.40, down by 72.80 points or 0.37 %. The index touched a high of 19,620.88 and a low of 19,537.02. There were 13 stocks advancing against 17 declines on the index.

The broader indices were outperforming benchmarks; the BSE Mid cap and Small cap indices gained 0.62% and 0.81% respectively. 

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were, Realty up by 1.27%, Capital Goods (CG) up by 0.34%, Power up by 0.16%, Health Care (HC) up by 0.15% and Consumer Durables (CD) up by 0.11%. While Information Technology (IT) down by 0.96%, TECk down by 0.91%, Bankex down by 0.55%, Auto down by 0.46% and Oil & Gas down 0.15% were the only losers on the index.

The top gainers on the Sensex were HDFC up by 1.09%, Tata Power up by 0.96%, Hindalco up by 0.92%, Tata Steel up 0.66% and DLF up by 0.57%.

On the flip side, Bharti Airtel down by 1.91%, TCS down by 1.62%, Maruti Suzuki down by 1.44%, HDFC Bank down 1.38% and NTPC down by 1.31% were the top losers on the index.

Meanwhile, India's telecom industry continues to add subscriber numbers at a scorching pace notwithstanding the ongoing controversies relating to 2G spectrum issue. According to the latest data released by the telecom regulatory authority of India (TRAI), the industry added 20.2 million new subscribers in February. 

Total mobile subscriber base increased to 791.38 million at the end of February from 771.18 million in the preceding month, said the TRAI in a press release on Wednesday. On a month on month basis, the growth rate of subscribers stood at 2.62%, which also means that India continues to remain the fastest growing market for wireless telecom business.

Looking at the cross section trends, the growth in the wireless category was led by Vodafone which added 3.5 million users, taking its total subscriber base to 130.92 million by end of February 2011. Reliance Communications followed closely and added 3.3 million customers taking its total subscriber base to 132.18 million. Market leader Bharti Airtel also added 3.2 million new subscribers, taking its user base to 158.99 million.

Among the rest, Idea Cellular and Aircel added 2.5 million and 1.66 million users respectively. The total subscriber base of two companies now stands at 86.80 million 53.60 million respectively. Tata Teleservices added 1.6 million users in the month under review taking its total subscriber base to 87.65million. State-controlled BSNL and MTNL respectively added 1.4 million and 22,532 new subscribers in February.

Wireline category however continued to see a negative growth with its total subscriber base declining to 34.87 million at the end of February from 34.94 million in the previous month. Total telephone subscriber number (wireless and wireline) as a result reached 826.25 million. With the latest addition, the overall tele-density or number of telephones subscribers per 100 people in the country increased to 69.29%.

The S&P CNX Nifty is currently trading at 5875.95, lower by 15.80 points or 0.27%. The index has touched a high of 5,889.80 and a low of 5,866.25 respectively. There were 23 stocks advancing against 27 declines on the index.

The top gainers of the Nifty were BPCL up by 1.63%, Hindalco up by 1.15%, Tata Power up by 1.02%,  HDFC up by 1.01% and Ranbaxy up by 0.89%.

Sesa Goa down by 1.95%, Bharti Airtel down by 1.87%, Cairn India down 1.77%, Maruti Suzuki down by 1.50% and NTPC was down by 1.46%, were the major losers on the index.

Most of the Asian markets were trading  in green; Shanghai Composite gained 0.11%, Jakarta Composite added 0.12%, KLSE Composite was up 0.31%, Nikkei 225 rose 0.15% and Taiwan Weighted surged 0.23%.

On the flip side, Hang Seng declined 0.04%, Straits Times shed 0.21% and Seoul Composite was down by 0.61%.

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