Indian equities come off session’s highs on European markets’ daunting opening

The optimism in Indian equity markets got tempered in afternoon trades on Friday and the frontline indices came off to some extent from the intraday highs as optimism got tempered by discouraging European market opening. The attempt of frontline indices to climb to higher levels met with severe resistance around the psychological 5,050 (Nifty) and 16,900 (Sensex) levels in early afternoon trades as major European indices traded with large cuts in the range of 1-2% following losses on Wall Street and in major Asia peers, as market participants awaited the release of US nonfarm payrolls figures amid signs that the US economy is losing momentum. Nevertheless, domestic benchmarks are trading with good amount of gains on a day when equity markets across the globe are reeling under the hefty selling pressure with notable losses. On the BSE Sectoral front, the metal counter remained amongst the favorites of the marketmen as it soared over two percent, being the top gainer in the space followed by Oil and Gas and Consumer Durables pockets which amassed 1.94% and 1.47% gains. On the other hand, the information technology pack witnessed a lot of selling pressure and languished at the bottom of the table with over a percent loss, tracking the global sell-off in technology shares post disappointing finish in the US session. The capital goods and Power sectors too remained amid the worst performers in the session. Meanwhile the shares of automobile and cement companies kept buzzing in the session as they released monthly sales numbers. Stock like Tata Motors, Mahindra and Mahindra, TVS Motors and ACC garnered a lot of traction and surged 1-3.5% post announcing good monthly sales numbers.

Moreover, the broader markets too lost a lot of ground from the high point of the day but held their head above the water with marginal gains. The bourses climbed on good volumes while the market breadth on BSE was in favor of advances in the ratio of 1581:1004 while 104 scrips remained unchanged.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 16,794.22 up by 117.47 points or 0.70% after trading as high as 16,989.86 and as low as 16,704.71. There were 21 stocks advancing against 9 declines on the index.

The broader indices were trading on a positive note; the BSE Mid cap index gained 0.46% and Small cap rose 0.07% respectively.

On the BSE sectoral space, Metal up 2.09%, Oil & Gas up 1.94%, Consumer Durables up 1.47%, Auto up 1.38% and Realty up 1.06% were the major gainers while IT down 1.19%, Power down 0.76%, TECk down 0.52% and CG down 0.46% were the only losers on the index.

Sterlite Industries up 4.08%, M&M up 3.42%, RIL up 2.85%, Tata Steel up 2.58% and DLF up 2.34% were the major gainers on the Sensex, while BHEL down by 1.91%, Maruti Suzuki down 1.68%, Tata Power down 1.56%, TCS down 1.31% and Infosys down 1.16% were the major losers on the index.

Meanwhile, government may introduce the much awaited Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Bill 2011, in this monsoon session of parliament as Union Cabinet is expected to approve the draft bill by next week. To speed up the clearance process, Minister of Rural Development Jairam Ramesh met nine cabinet ministers to finalize the draft bill. The cabinet is expected to meet on September 5, to discuss the bill.

As per the rural development ministry official, the government has expedited the process to get the land acquisition bill cleared. It is likely to be tabled in this session and be cleared in the winter session.' After being tabled in parliament, the land acquisition bill is likely to be referred to the parliamentary standing committee.  Presently, the land acquisition is governed by an old legislation passed in 1894. As of now there is no central legislation to mandate compensation norms.

In recent times, the issue of land acquisition gained importance after farmers' stiff protest against the land acquisition for development purposes. The new draft land acquisition bill proposed by the ministry of rural development, has been heavily favoring farmers and land owners, by introducing clause to ensure high compensation for land owners. Besides, the proposed compensation norms mentioned in the draft bill would be applicable to both government and industry agencies, who will acquire land for development purposes.

The draft bill also mandates 80% consensus of the project-affected people for land acquisition by government and private agencies. Land buyers will have to shell out up to twice the registration of stamp duty value of land in urban areas and up to six times in case of rural areas.

The draft bill proposal also includes a subsistence allowance of Rs 3,000 per family for a year and an annuity of Rs 2,000 per family per month for 20 years. Along with this, land owner will get 20% of the appreciation in value of their land every time their land changes hands for 10 years. The proposed bill also contains employment provisions.

For the loss of irrigated land, the draft bill, recommends an acre of irrigated land will have to be provided as compensation over and above annuity. For tribals, draft bill had made special proposition, which will get additional 5 acres of land in case of loss of irrigated land. The proposed bill by the rural development ministry, also seeks to make compensation for people whose livelihoods depends on the land being acquired.

The S&P CNX Nifty is currently trading at 5,030.40, higher by 29.40 points or 0.59% after trading as high as 5,113.70 and as low as 5,006.90. There were 31 stocks advancing against 19 declines on the index.

The top gainers of the Nifty were Sterlite up 4.39%, R Com up by 4.27%, M&M up 3.73%, Ambuja Cement up 3.68%, and Tata Steel up 2.93%.

HCL Tech down 3.87%, IDFC down 2.41%, BHEL down 2.06%, Siemens down 1.84% and Tata Power down 1.79% were the major losers on the index.

Asian markets traded on a pessimistic note, Shanghai Composite declined 0.85%, Hang Seng plunged 1.15%, Nikkei 225 plummeted 1.21%, Straits Times declined 0.60%, Seoul Composite slipped 0.69% and Taiwan Weighted eased 0.01%.

On the other hand, KLSE Composite jumped 1.91%.

The stock markets in Indonesia too remained closed in observance of Idul Fitri holiday.

The European markets traded on pessimistic note as France's CAC 40 plummeted 1.51%, Germany's DAX got pounded 2.01% and Britain's FTSE 100 plunged 1.19%. 

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