Nifty closes inches behind 6000; Power, Bankex up 1%

The 50-stock Nifty on Thursday closed inches behind the 6000 mark after the FDI in multibrand retail debate found favours from BSP Supremo Mayawati . The market which had opened weak, slipped into the red as sell-offs accelerated. The turning point came towards the fag end of the trading day when Mayawati's googly left the BJP cornered and isolated. With government getting Mayawati's support, the FDI in retail vote on Friday may be a mere formality.

The instant change in investor mood was reflected in the way market reversed its losses. The Sensex ended up 94.94 points or 0.49 percent at 19486.80, and the Nifty closed up 37.50 points or 0.64 percent at 5938.00.
 
Top Nifty gainers include Jaiprakash Associates, DLF, Axis Bank, Reliance Infra and Tata Motors, gained 2-4 percent. Among the sectoral indices, the BSE Realty Index gained 1.8 percent whlie the BSE Auto Index and the BSE Metal Index pared all its losses with closing 0.79 percent higher. The IT index, however, remained in the red.

The Bank and Power indices too rebounded in late trade, gaining more than 1 percent.

Country's largest lenders State Bank of India and ICICI Bank climbed 1.7 percent and 1.4 percent, respectively.

Private oil & gas producer Reliance Industries extended gains for the third consecutive session, rising 1.3 percent.

Commercial vehicle major Tata Motors and steel producer Sterlite Industries gained 2 percent each. Cigarette major ITC was up 1 percent while housing finance company HDFC rose 0.7 percent.

Infosys, India's second largest software services exporter dropped 1.8 percent, extending losses for the second straight day post brokerage downgraded technology sector. Its rival TCS was down 1.1 percent.

Top telecom operator Bharti Airtel declined 1.6 percent.

Advancing shares outnumbered declining by 1551 to 1279 on the Bombay Stock Exchange.

With BSP supremo Mayawati lending her support to the government in Rajya Sabha on the contentious issue of FDI in retail , the 50-share NSE benchmark Nifty touched a 20-month high of 5,937.40.

At 15.06 pm, the Sensex was up 78.5 points at 19470, and the Nifty up 23 points at 5923.4. The Sensex witnessed a 300-point reversal intra-day. Broader markets too are witnessing marked upmove with huge volumes being traded.

After a thumping victory in the Lok Sabha, FDI in multi-brand retail battle has shifted to Rajya Sabha. Mayawati's move today has clearly strengthened UPAs hands, and it appears the voting on Friday will go in favour of the ruling party. Political experts say the government has very tactfully played Samajwadi against the BSP, which helped in it getting closer to the number needed to win the Rajya Sabha vote.

Top Nifty gainers include Jaiprakash Associates, DLF, Axis Bank, Reliance Infra and Tata Motors. Among the sectoral indices, the BSE Realty Index gained, the BSE Auto Index and the BSE Metal Index pared all its losses. The IT index, however, remained in the red.

Indian equity benchmarks continued to reel under selling pressure due to profit booking. The rally seen last week of 4.5 percent may have already priced in the news of FDI in retail cleared in Lok Sabha.

The 30-share BSE Sensex fell 123.24 points to 19,268.62, weighed down by technology, banks, FMCG and capital goods stocks. Meanwhile, the 50-share NSE Nifty slipped 39 points to 5,861.60.

Experts feel the picture not only on the internal components of Nifty or sectors but, the global markets everywhere else also is extremely weak and poor.

"Right now, there is a unique global regime which I noticed this morning and in the very short run, correlations are particularly weak ," Sushil Kedia, President of ATMA said.

Commercial vehicle maker Tata Motors, steel producer Sterlite Industries and two-wheeler maker Bajaj Auto outperformed, rising 1 percent each. Housing finance company, which experts always feel a defensive stock, gained 0.7 percent.

Technology stocks have been falling since yesterday after experts downgraded earnings of IT companies. Shares of Indian software services firms could decline in the near to medium term because of likely weak profits, feels R. Sukumar, MD and Chief Investment Officer,  Franklin Asian Equities, Franklin Templeton Investments.

Infosys, country's second largest software services exporter tanked 2.5 percent while its rivals TCS and Infosys were down 1-2 percent.

Top lenders State Bank of India and ICICI Bank plummeted 0.65 percent while their rival HDFC Bank was down 1.3 percent.

Engineering conglomerate Larsen & Toubro, utility vehicle major Mahindra & Mahindra and telecom operator Bharti Airtel moved down over 1 percent.

All-round selling led by IT and TECk stocks pushed Equity benchmarks deep into the red. At At 11.18 am, the 30-share BSE index Sensex was trading down 183.38 points (0.95 percent) at 19,208.48 and the 50-share NSE index Nifty was down 56.45 points (0.96 percent) at 5,844.05. Broader makets too have turned red even as cues from Asian markets remain firm.

The Indian tech sector, which took a beating even yesterday, reacted to Cognizant's fears of a slow down in revenue growth in FY13. In its SEC filing, the Nasdaq-listed Cognizant said its senior executives will get 100 percent of their performance-linked stock units only if the company meets a sales target of $8.52 billion. This means the IT services company's 16 percent growth expectation will be met only after it meets its full-year revenue guidance of $7.34 billion for 2012.

Following the news which indicates 2013 may be another year of hardship, Indian IT stocks nosedived. Infosys remains top loser in the sector with 2.62% cut, followed by HCL Tech, TCS and Wipro.

Key benchmarks Sensex and Nifty opened sluggish Thursday, but investors continued to keep faith in mid and small cap shares, betting them to be reasonably valued compared to their large cap counterparts.

The BSE Sensex was down 128 points at 19263 and the Nifty was down 43 points at 5857. Market breadth was negative on the NSE with over 600 stocks declining, compared to 550 stocks that gained.

Nifty December futures were quoting at a premium of 27 points to spot, an indication that traders are betting the uptrend to resume shortly.

Shares of retail firms were up in early trade after the Bill to allow foreign direct investment in retail was passed in the Lok Sabha on Thursday. Shoppers Stop was up 4% at Rs 482 and Pantaloon Retail was up 3 percent at Rs 244.

IT shares continue to slide after Cognizant's guidance of 16% growth in revenues for 2013 has stoked concerns of a slowdown in outsourcing projects to Indian software services firm.

Shares of Infosys and HCL tech were down over a percent each.