BSE Sensex steady; Tata Steel up, banks down
The BSE Sensex was barely changed on Thursday in the absence of no clear direction from Asian markets and as traders awaited weekly food and fuel inflation data due around 0600 GMT.
January 06, 2011 / 19:32 IST
The BSE Sensex was barely changed on Thursday in the absence of no clear direction from Asian markets and as traders awaited weekly food and fuel inflation data due around 0600 GMT.
Rising prices of food and other commodities in recent weeks have strengthened expectations for an interest rate increase when the central bank reviews policy on January 25, and this has dampened investor sentiment.Quarterly earnings that begin from next week have also pushed investors to the sidelines, after the market climbed more than 17% in 2010.Leading lenders State Bank of India and ICICI Bank were down 1.4% and 0.4% respectively. Tata Steel was up 1.1% after New Millennium Capital Corp said it received environmental approval for its iron ore project with the Indian steelmaker and the joint venture partners expect to begin production by the second quarter of 2012. By 10:21 am (0451 GMT), the 30-share BSE index was trading down 0.03% at 20,295.40, with 17 of its components declining."People are cautious ahead of earnings next week," said Deven Choksey, managing director and CEO of KR Choksey Shares. Brokerage Motilal Oswal expects aggregate quarterly profits after tax for Sensex-30 companies to rise 23% from the year before, on the back of a 17% sales growth.A Reuters poll on Wednesday forecast the central bank would raise key rates by at least 25 basis points by the end of this month to tackle rising inflationary pressures. Foreign funds have bought around USD 270 mn of Indian equities in the first two trading sessions this year, after pumping in a record USD 29.3 bn in 2010.Energy giant Reliance Industries, which has the highest weight on the main index, was up 0.5%. The stock had underperformed the main index in 2010, falling nearly 3%.In the broader market, losers and gainers were almost equal in number on volume of 73 mn shares. The 50-share NSE index was almost unchanged at 6,080.45.The MSCI's measure of Asian markets other than Japan was down 0.1% while Japan's Nikkei was trading 1.3% higher.Stocks on the move* Suzlon Energy rose 0.9% to Rs 54.95 after the Indian wind turbine maker said it had signed a USD 191 mn agreement with Hindustan Zinc, a unit of Vedanta Resources, to operate and maintain 150 megawatt wind projects in India.* State-run Power Grid Corp of India was up 1.1% at Rs 99.15 after JPMorgan upgraded the electricity transmission utility to overweight from neutral.Main top three by volume* Suzlon Energy on nearly 3 mn shares* Ravi Kumar Distilleries on 1.8 mn shares* Alok industries on 1.2 mn shares Discover the latest Business News, Sensex, and Nifty updates. Obtain Personal Finance insights, tax queries, and expert opinions on Moneycontrol or download the Moneycontrol App to stay updated!
