Nifty trades rangebound

Continuing range bound day of trade, the benchmark equity indices struggled for direction in late afternoon session due to lack of significant triggers from the home front which appears to have turned a section of investors extremely cautious this afternoon. The European markets were trading in green while the US index futures were trading flat. The other Asian markets settled in mixed territory. Back home, in BSE sectoral space, stocks from realty, metal and information technology sectors trade firm with strong gains; while PSU and Capital Goods stocks are showing some negativity. The broader markets were also choppy in trade; the BSE Mid-cap index climbed 0.49% and Small-cap index advanced 0.56%. The market breadth on the BSE was in favor of advances in the ratio of 1477:1189 while 152 scrips remained unchanged.

The BSE Sensex gained 55.90 points or 0.30% at 18,454.93. The index touched a high and a low of 18,580.30 and 18,454.93 respectively.

The BSE Mid-cap index climbed 0.49% and Small-cap index advanced 0.56%.

On the BSE sectoral front, Realty up 1.35%, Metal up 1.14%, Auto up 0.81%, IT up 0.73% and TECk up 0.61% were the major gainers.

On the flipside, PSU down 0.12% and CG down 0.05% were the only laggards in the space.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Hero Honda up 3.44%, DLF up 2.50%, Sterlite up 1.69%, Tata Motors1.47% and SBI up 1.42%.

On the flip side NTPC down 1.80%, Maruti Suzuki down 1.59%, Tata Power down 1.55%, ONGC down 1.28% and L&T down 0.83% were the major losers on the index.

Meanwhile, India and New Zealand have concluded very successfully the two day talks on the roadmap to propel forward trade and economic relationship between the two nations and accelerate the process of Free Trade agreement (FTA) negotiations. Citing the below potential economic linkages between the two countries, Indian Minister of Commerce and Industry, Anand Sharma and his New Zealand counterpart jointly underscored the need to ramp up the two-way trade between the nations to $3 billion annually by 2014 from the existing $1.2 billion a year, with combined efforts and reduced trade barriers.

Both ministers have committed to an eight to ten months timetable for establishing the Comprehensive Economic Co-operation Agreement (CECA) in trade, investment and services which will be "much more than just a Free Trade Agreement." The Indian commerce minister, who is leading a FICCI business delegation in New Zealand, emphasized upon the trade complementarities in the agricultural sector and stressed upon deepening the relationship between the two countries in the services trade, bilateral investment, innovation and technology transfer. He invited co-operation in the fields of pharmaceuticals, engineering goods, textiles, spice trade and film making.

Sharma indicated that India's service sector constituted a major portion of GDP as well as exports and consequently India hoped that New Zealand would provide a growing market for India's IT enabled service sector. He mentioned that productivity in agriculture in India is still low and accordingly India was looking for technical solutions to enhance its productivity. Sharma noted that India welcomed investment in a broad range of sectors, including agri-processing, food processing, post-harvest technology transfer in refrigeration, cold chains, storage and logistics for minimizing post production losses. He specifically stressed that the Indian pharmaceutical industry has established itself in world markets for its high quality, at the same time ensuring availability of generics in a manner that makes health care more affordable for vulnerable sections of the world population.

India is experiencing a rapid economic growth of around 8% - 9% of each year, while New Zealand struggles to grow by as much as 2% annually. New Zealand's Trade Minister Tim Groser highlighted their nation's interests in enhancing the export of agricultural products, including dairy, horticulture and wine and industrial goods, over and above the traditional export of coking coal and wood from New Zealand to India. New Zealand also wants India to lower tariff barriers that add costs to export items like wool for carpet-making.

The S&P CNX Nifty advanced 15 .75 points or 0.28% at 5,557. The index touched high and low of 5,561.90 and 5,525.00, respectively.

The top gainers on the Nifty were Ranbaxy up 5.44%, Hero Honda up 3.93%, DLF up 2.46%, SBI up 1.75% and Sterlite up 1.69% were the major gainers. On the other hand, Maruti down 2.14%, NTPC down 2.02%, Tata Power down 1.84%, IDFC down 1.59% and ONGC down 1.30% were the major losers on the index.

The other Asian markets settled in mixed note. Composite climbed 0.99%, KLSE Composite surged 0.83%, Nikkei 225 advanced 0.46%, Straits Times rose 0.66% and Seoul Composite jumped 1.28%. On the flipside, Shanghai Composite fell 0.23%, Hang Seng down 0.19% and Taiwan Weighted slipped 0.03%.

The European markets were trading in the green.CAC 40 added 0.55%, DAX added 0.65% and FTSE 100 added 0.17%.

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