Indices Shed Early Morning Gains

The Indian markets have pared their gains in the afternoon trading session on the back of profit booking and weak global cues. The Nifty is trading flat with a positive bias, up by 7 points at 6071. Sensex is higher by 44 points at 20081. Both indices are trading up in the range of 0.11%-0.22%.

The advance-decline ratio has turned negative. On the NSE, 723 shares are trading in the red and 684 shares are in the green.

Top 5 NSE Gainers: Reliance Infrastructure has surged ahead to take the top spot so far, with gains of 3.22%. It is followed by Reliance Industries, BHEL, Hindustan Unilever and Maruti Suzuki India.

Top 5 NSE Losers: DLF is among the highest losers as of now, down by 2.91%. Others in the list include UltraTech Cement, Sun Pharma, Cipla and Mahindra & Mahindra.

5 of the 13 sectoral indices are trading firm in the afternoon session. Oil & Gas and CG are the best performers, up between 1.03%-1.41%. Realty and Auto are witnessing selling pressure, lower by 0.55%-1.22%.

The peers Asian markets are continuing to see mixed trades. Shanghai Composite and Straits Times are in gains, while Nikkei 225, Taiwan Weighted and Hang Seng are in the negatives.

Buzzers: Finolex Industries rose 7.97% to Rs 65.70 after it reported a net profit of Rs 30.61 crore for the quarter ended Dec 2012 against a loss of Rs 1.76 crore in the corresponding quarter a year ago. This was due to higher Other Income and lower interest costs.

TV18 Broadcast has rallied by more than 4% to Rs 36.80 after reporting a consolidated net profit at Rs 21.3 crore in the third quarter against a net loss of Rs 53.5 crore in the year ago quarter due to higher revenues and a fall in operating expenditure.

Going ahead, we expect the Nifty to consolidate in the range of 6000-6090.