Indian benchmark share indices ended slightly higher for the third straight session on Monday, after December headline inflation fell to a 2-year low of 7.47%, led by gains in Infosys.
The 30-share Sensex provisionally ended up 52 points at 16,206 and the 50-share Nifty ended up 8 points at 4,874.
___________________________________________________
(Updated at 14:20hrs)
Markets are trading on a flat note today after a bout of volatility in the first half of the day. The Sensex is flat at 16,142. Nifty is trading unchanged at 4,860.
Asian stocks fell after Standard & Poor's cut the rating of nine European nations. Stalled debt talks in Greece also dampened investor sentiments globally. The Nikkei shed 1.4% to 8,378, Hang Seng dropped 1% and Shanghai Composite ended down 1.7%.
Meanwhile, headline inflation fell to a two-year low of 7.47% in December 2011 on cheaper food items, a factor which may prompt the Reserve Bank to cut policy rates in the upcoming review. Taking a cue from this, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee said the declining rate of price rise indicates improvement in macro-economic parameters and projected March-end numbers at 6-7%.
Moreover, India's December exports rose an estimated annual 6.7% to $25 billion, while imports for the month were at $37.8 billion, leaving a trade deficit of $12.8 billion, Trade Secretary Rahul Khullar said on Monday.
BSE IT index has gained 1.5% to 5,565 after the rupee weakened against the dollar. FMCG, capital goods and metal shares were marginally in the green.
"Last week was a bad week for IT stocks. Post Infosys' guidance, INFY and TCS both declined by close to 10% last week. Today's rise could be a reaction to last week's fall. Also, TCS' results are due tomorrow. Recently TCS has been reporting better results than Infosys. Both stocks still remain in medium term uptrends. Traders should hold on both INFY and TCS until TCS results are out, and take a decision thereafter. If TCS does not disappoint, these stocks may continue to buck the broad market. WIPRO is having problems maintaining its position in the industry. Technically, the stock is still in a medium term uptrend, but is likely to follow, rather than lead the other IT majors," said Hormuz Maloo, Technical Analyst, Geojit BNP Paribas Securities.
Meanwhile, oil & gas index is down 1.4% at 7,712. bankex and realty indices slipped 1% each to 10,195 and 1,567, respctively.
Market heavyweight, Reliance dropped on news that Securities & Exchange Board of India (Sebi) is examining whether RIL made proper disclosure about the acquisition of significant stakes in ETV channels. Shares of Reliance was down 2% at 717. The company announces results on Friday, January 20.
Real estate stocks fell on worries that higher interest rates and slow sales volume growth would lead to dissapointing numbers this quarter. DLF slipped 1.7%.
Among other losers were NTPC, HDFC bank, Hindustan Unilever and Jindal Steel.
Meanwhile, BHEL advanced 2.3% to 273. TCS rose 2% ahead of its results tomorrow. Sterlite, Infosys, Maruti and Tata Steel have added around 2% each.
BSE market breadth was neutral with 1,318 shares declining and 1,261 shares on the advancing side. A total of 2,690 shares have been traded so far.
