Markets erase all its early losses; Nifty rose 0.4%

Indian equity markets recovered almost all early losses and currently trading near high point of the day on buying support from some blue chip counters. The 50-share NSE Nifty rose 0.4%, while Sensex crossed 17,500 mark. Investors were eyeing the decision of a meeting between France and Germany and Greek PM Papandreou before the G-20 meet starts tomorrow. The meeting was after the Greece's abrupt call for a referendum on EU bailout deal, which has spooked global markets since yesterday. On sectoral front, shares of state run oil marketing companies were up on reports of a likely hike in petrol prices. A few stocks from healthcare and FMCG, power, IT and banking sectors have posted notable gains. Automobile and capital goods stocks started off on a highly negative note, but have edged up from their lows and currently trading in positive. Metal stocks were trading weak. On the global front, most of the Asian markets continued trading in red as investors shed riskier assets after Greece's abrupt call for a referendum rekindled fears about the viability of a European debt deal reached just last week.  Back home, the market breadth favoring the positive trend; there were 1,298 shares on the gaining side against 1,089 shares on the losing side while 125 shares remained unchanged.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 17,571.70, up by 90.87 points or 0.52%. The index has touched a high and low of 17,586.98 and 17,337.65 respectively. There were 21 stocks advancing against 9 declines on the index.

The broader indices after a cautious start are now trading in fine fettle; the BSE Mid cap and Small cap indices were up by 0.40% and 0.30% respectively.

Top gaining sectoral indices on BSE were Oil & Gas up by 1.33%, Health Care (HC) up by 0.76%, FMCG up by 0.52%, Power up by 0.51% and IT up by 0.44%. On the flip side, Metal down by 0.06% was the only loosing sectoral index on the BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Bajaj Auto up by 1.46%, Reliance up by 1.45%, M&M up by 1.21%, ONGC up by 1.17% and HDFC Bank up by 1.12%.

On the flip side, Hero MotoCorp down by 1.79%, Coal India down by 0.85%, Bharti Airtel down by 0.72%, Tata Motors down by 0.72% and Tata Steel down by 0.64% were the top losers on the index.

Meanwhile, in a move to protect domestic exporters from the uncertainties of the global economy, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has extended the flexibility to exporters to repatriate their remittances upto one year. Earlier in June 2008, the RBI had liberalized the norms for repatriation of payments to be received by exporters of goods and services. For such payments, the RBI extended the period from six months to a year from the date of export.

The relaxed norms will be continuing till September 30, 2012. In a statement, RBI said it has been decided to further extend by one year from October 1, 2011 till September 30, 2012, the relaxation with respect to the period of realization and repatriation to India, of the amount representing the full value of goods or software exported, from six months to 12 months from the date of export.

The exporters have welcomed the move, as they expect that it would help them in marketing their products and services, as the longer credit period will attract more buyers in overseas market.

As the economies in west, which are major markets for Indian exports are going through difficult times. Due to slowdown in United States and European nations, the buyers from these countries are playing safe. Exporters are of the view that the RBI’s decision of extending the relaxations will help in order to attract them.

Further, the provisions in regard to period of realization and repatriation to India of the full export value of goods or software exported by a unit situated in a Special Economic Zone (SEZ) as well as exports made to warehouses established outside India remain unchanged, RBI said in a notification.

Country’s merchandise exports totaled around $246 billion and 11 services, inducing mainly if Information technology and IT-enable job exports were aggregated $131 billion in last financial year.

The S&P CNX Nifty is currently trading at 5,282.90, up by 24.95 points or 0.47%. The index has touched a high and low of 5,290.00 and 5,204.95 respectively. There were 38 stocks advancing against 12 declines on the index.

The top gainers of the Nifty were RCom up by 3.42%, Reliance Infra up by 2.59%, HCL Tech up by 2.11%, SAIL up by 1.81% and Dr Reddy up by 1.66%.

PNB down by 3.54%, Hero MotoCorp down by 1.63%, Axis Bank down by 0.64%, Tata Steel down by 0.64% and Bharti Airtel down by 0.63% were the major losers on the index.

Most of the Asian equity indices were trading in the red; Shanghai Composite plunged 0.04%, Hang Seng declined 0.48%, KLSE Composite descended by 0.75%, Nikkei 225 plummeted by 1.96%, Seoul Composite knocked down 0.63% and Taiwan Weighted was down by 0.31%.

However, Jakarta Composite was trading at its neutral line, while Straits Times gaining 0.43% was the only gainer among Asian pack.