Markets consolidate ahead of FDI vote

M&M, TCS lead declines while RIL, BHEL gained on BSE

Indian shares consolidated and traded in a narrow range in late morning session on looming uncertainty over impending US fiscal cliff issue which may push world's biggest economy into recession and amid caution ahead of FDI vote in Parliament that will test the Congress-led UPA government's ability to push through key reforms.

At 11:30AM, the Bombay  Stock Exchange's Sensex fell 17 points to 19,322, while National Stock Exchange's Nifty-50 index declined 6 points to 5,876 in the late morning trades.

Investors were cautious ahead of the the outcome of Parliament voting on foreign direct investment (FDI) in multi-brand retail in today's session after Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's minority UPA government bowed to opposition pressure last week ending days of deadlock in Parliament.

Meanwhile, India's factory output accelerated to five-month high in November, beating analyst's expectations on back of surge in  export orders, data showed today.

Global risk appetite was frail as the stalemate in US budget talks coupled with drop in U.S. manufacturing activity hurt investors sentiments.

The Hang Seng rose 0.17% to 21,805, Straits Times down 0.17% to 3,060, Nikkei fell 0.23% to 9,436 while Taiwan Weighted declined 0.1% to 7,599.

MSCI's broadest index of Asia Pacific shares outside Japan rose 0.01% to 864.31 in Asian trades.

Back home, real-estate, power and PSU indexes were leading gains while consumer durables, IT and FMCG sectors led declines on BSE.

Among key Sensex stocks, Bharat Heavy Electricals,  Jindal Steel and Reliance Industries rose over 1% each while among laggards, Mahindra and Mahindra, Tata Consultancy Services and Bharti Airtel dropped nearly 1% in late morning trades.

Reliance Industries gained on reports that the oil ministry may sson approve company's investment plans for the controversial KG-D6 block.

The other notable stock movers include, Shares of Jaipraksh Associates and Jaiprakash Power Ventures are trading higher by more than 2% each on the BSE after getting final forest clearance for coal block in Madhya Pradesh (MP).

Aviation stocks - Jet Airways, Kingfisher Airlines and SpiceJet took off in morning trades after oil company Indian Oil Corporation announced a cut in aviation fuel in all four metros with effect from December 01, 2012.

Hotel stocks such as Taj GVK, Hotel Leela and Viceroy Hotels gained between 2-10% in early morning trades on sales optimism after government relaxed norms on tourist visas which had mandated a two-month gap between consecutive visits by overseas nationals.

IndusInd Bank is trading higher by 1.2% at Rs 426 extending its past one week rally after the private lender has successfully raised Rs 2,000 crore by issuing shares to qualified institutional buyers (QIB).

The BSE mid-cap and small-cap indices rose 0.5-0.7% each.

The overall breadth is strong as 1,495 stocks have advanced while 942 stocks declined on the BSE.