Mid Market - Sensex continues to float in negative terrain Analysis for Feb 22, 2012

The Indian benchmark indices witnessed choppy session during the day"s trading so far, reversing the early gains after market participants went for profit booking. The 30-share barometer index of Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), Sensex saw hefty selling pressure across banks, realty, consumer durables and metals stocks, which dragged the market to day"s low. The Indian stock market seemed to lose its ground after smart performance in the last few days and continued to float in the negative terrain. However, moderate gains in the index heavyweights, ONGC, Reliance Industries, Tata Consultancy Services, and Hero MotoCorp helped to trim the market losses to some extent. On the sectoral front, all the sectoral indices, except oil&gas, healthcares, technology, and Teck, were trading in red, led by the bankex, realty and consumer durables stocks.

Today, the Indian stock market opened the day on positive note but cannot hold the gains for longer due to profit booking across most of the sectoral indices. During the day"s trading so far the BSE Sensex touched intraday high of 18,523.78 and intraday low of 18,339.15 The NSE Nifty touched intraday high of 5,629.95 and intraday low of 5,573.35.

At 12:26 hours, BSE SENSEX was at 18,359.72 down by 68.89 points or by 0.37 per cent and then NSE Nifty was at 5,588.4 down by 18.75 points or by 0.33 per cent. The BSE MIDCAP was at 6,520.01 down by 84.33 points or by 1.28 per cent, while the BSE SMLCAP was at 7,123.9 down by 78.22 points or by 1.09 per cent.

On the global front, most of the Asian markets were trading in green paring their early losses post the news that China has reduced the reserve requirements for its banks. The US markets ended on a mixed note yesterday after the market sentiments were slightly depressed by WalMart"s earnings results. The earning numbers of the company for the last quarter fell short of the market expectations. On the other hand, the European Markets ended in red yesterday due to persistent selling pressure as market participants went for profit booking. Meanwhile, oil prices continued to rise yesterday on growing concerns of the Iranian situation exacerbating. If the trend continued, then Indian markets may feel the heat, mounting pressure on the stocks of aviation and oil marketing companies.

Back on the corporate front, shares of Kingfisher surged up 0.56 per cent after country"s largest lender SBI announced to grant Rs 1,650 crore loan package to help troubled airlines overcome a cash crunch.

Shares of Sesa Goa were trading up 2.4 per cent at Rs 253 on reports of the merger of the company with its group company Sterlite Industries.

Shares of index heavyweights, L&T, Bharti Airtel, State Bank of India, DLF, Jindal Steel & Power, Sterlite Industries, ICICI Bank were on the losing side, registering loss between 1 to 4 per cent. The Market breadth, indicating the overall strength of the market, was weak. On BSE out of total shares traded 2,878, shares advanced were 1,014 while 1,747 shares declined and 117 were unchanged.

The top losers of the BSE Sensex pack were DLF Ltd. (Rs. 246.55, 4.70%), State Bank of India (Rs. 2342.00, 4.48%), Sterlite Industries (India) Ltd. (Rs. 123.10, 4.13%), Jindal Steel & Power Ltd. (Rs. 625.50, 2.80%), ICICI Bank Ltd. (Rs. 969.00, 2.22%), among others.

Among the sectoral indices in BSE, Realty index was at 2,109.7 down by 60.26 points or by 2.78 per cent. DLF Ltd. (Rs. 247.00, 4.52%), Prestige Estates Projects Ltd. (Rs. 107.40, 3.89%), Sobha Developers Ltd. (Rs. 292.00, 3.09%), Housing Development & Infrastructure Ltd. (Rs. 126.85, 2.98%), Indiabulls Real Estate Ltd. (Rs. 78.75, 2.96%).

Following the Realty index, BSE_CDS index was at 6,688.27 down by 177.61 points or by 2.59 per cent. Titan Industries Ltd. (Rs. 233.15, 4.52%), Videocon Industries Ltd. (Rs. 174.10, 2.79%), TTK Prestige Ltd. (Rs. 2929.05, 2.46%), VIP Industries Ltd. (Rs. 121.95, 2.32%), Blue Star Ltd. (Rs. 194.65, 1.32%).

Meanwhile, most of the Asian peers were trading in green, paring their early losses post the news that China has reduced the reserve requirements for its banks. Japan"s Nikkei 225 was up 0.91 per cent. The Hang Seng moved up 0.14 per cent. The Shanghai composite was up 0.74 per cent whereas Taiwan Weighted was surging 1.01 per cent above the benchmark.