Kingfisher biggest loser on frozen bank a/cs, Sensex ends flat

4:00 pm: Sensex ended without much movement after yesterday down just 27 points at 17,145 points. Nifty was absolutely flat at 5220 points.

Markets are expected to remain range bound due to the Congress’s weakened political position after the five state election results were out yesterday. All eyes are now set on the Annual Budget and the RBI policy review, both in mid March, which are expected to indicate big bang economic reforms hereafter.

Real estate, banks and IT companies managed to gain more than half a percent each on a relatively quite day in the market. Metals and oil and gas were two biggest losers who shed 1.5 percent each. Oil companies HPCL (-3.6 percent), BPCL (-1.4 percent), IOC (-2.4 percent), due to no petrol price hike that was expected today.

Adani Enterprises, IRB Infra, Manappuram Finance and Sterlite were other major losers today.

IT, pharma buck negative trend, Sterlite biggest loser

I-T dept freezes 19 Kingfisher accounts, stock down 6.8%

2:30 pm The income-tax department has frozen 21 accounts of Kingfisher Airlines. Sources have told CNBC-TV18 that the department has recovered only Rs 23 crore from the Vijay-Mallya led airline and will decide whether to attach Kingfisher’s properties or not. The Service Tax department too had earlier ffrozen 44 accounts of the debt-laden airline. Reacting to the news, the airline’s stock slipped 5.5 percent on the BSE. I-T department says TDS dues pending are over Rs 300 crore. Sources also said I-T dept is likely to freeze UB group accounts .

Moody’s has downgrades Bank of India on poor asset quality. The stock is down 2 percent at Rs 345.60.

The Sensex, meanwhile, is trading at 17080, down 92 points, while the Nifty is at 5201.only IT and Pharma indices have managed to buck the negative trend in the market today. Metals, Oil & Gas, Power, PSU and Capital Goods indices are the top loses, down 1% to 2.5%. Sterlite Industrieswas the biggest loser among largecaps, falling 5 percent.Index heavyweight Reliance Industries, state-run BHEL and country’s top automaker Maruti Suzuki dropped 3-3.6 percent.

IT companies gain on rupee depreciation

1:30 pm Indian markets continue to remain volatile with the Sensex and Nifty slipping into negative territory again. Most investors are reluctant to take risks at the moment given that the Indian markets are closed for Holi tomorrow and outlook for world markets has deteriorated too.

Meanwhile, IT companies are cashing in on the rupee’s depreciation. As the rupee hits a seven-month low, Infosys gains 1 percent at Rs 2,875, while Wipro is up almost 2 percent at Rs 438.95.

SP triumph pulls sugar stocks higher on hopes of sops

12:30 PM UP-based sugar mills gain on Samajwadi Party’s win in Utaar Pradesh on hopes of more incentives for the industry.Shares of Balrampur Chini are up 1 percent at Rs 51, while, Bajaj Hindusthan and Dwarikesh are flat of hopes of investor-friendly sugar policies in the state.

These companies are hoping that Mulayam Singh’s dream of making the state India’s largest sugar producer will result in the new government offering fresh sops.

Tata Steel gains on hiking prices

Tata Steel advances on hiking long products’ prices by Rs 1,000 per metric tonne. The stock is up nearly 1 percent at Rs 428.

Metal stocks decline for the third straight day after China’s Premier Wen Jiabao cut the growth target of the world’s second-largest economy to 7.5 percent for 2012, from the 8 percent goal in place since 2005.Major losers were Jindal Steel (2.96 percent), DLF (1.95 per cent), Sterlite Ind (1.62 per cent), Hindalco (1.40 percent), RIL (1.20 per cent), Bharti Airtel (1.19 per cent), M&M (1.19 per cent), SBI (1.14 percent), BHEL (1.07 percent) and

HDFC (1.06 percent).

Staff salary woes pulls Jet down 4%, market sustains losses

11:30 am Indian markets continue to sustain losses incurred for third consecutive session as results of state assembly elections on Tuesday triggered sell off at Dalal Street.The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 17,111.13, down by 62.16 points or 0.36 percent.

Meanwhile Jet Airways has lost over 4 percent as its pilots threaten to strike today because of salary woes. The jet staff is receiving salaries 15 days later every month, say reports.

Tata Motors is up 1 percent at Rs 268.35 after Ratan Tata denied reports for Saab bid. Earlier reports had suggested that Tata Motors had placed a bid for the assets of bankrupt Swedish carmaker, Saab, for around $350 million.Tata Motors also launched a concept version of an electric car called Tata Megapixel at the 82nd Geneva Motor Show on Tuesday.

CESC a clear winner as it hikes power tariffs by 13 percent

10:30 am CESC is up 3 percent at Rs 271 on reports the West Bengal State Electricity Regulatory Commission has allowed the company to hike electricity tariff in Kolkata by over 13% for 2011-12.For its 25 lakh consumers, the average unit cost is likely go up by over 13% from Rs 5.19 to Rs 5.88 a unit. Consumers of state power utility in Salt Lake and rest of the state will continue to pay according to the existing rate.

The hike would come into effect retrospectively from April 2011. The arrears for the past 12 months would be collected in 48 monthly installments. The hike would enable CESC to rake in an additional Rs 552 crore for 2011-12, reports suggest.

Pantaloon frowns as SP win means no retail FDI

Meanwhile retail stocks like Pantaloon are down 4 percent because of the poor perforamnce of Congress during the polls. Now that SP has won a majority in UP, chances of any reforms in the retail space are slim.

MoserBaer India is up 4.37 percent at Rs 19.10 as lenders have proposed to scarify about Rs 265 crore debt including forgoing part of the interest income as part of the restructuring of the company’s debt.

Elder Pharma is down 4 percent as Income Tax officials on Tuesday raided the offices and residential premises of senior executives of the company.

Hexaware Techonologies is up 2.33 percent on news that capital goods maker L&T ’s information technology arm is planning to buyout Hexaware.According to reports, the promoters expect the company’s value to be $700-800 million (Rs 3,500-4,000 crore.)

Hotel Leelaventure is up 1.3 percent at Rs 35.10 after the hotel was referred to the corporate debt restructuring cell for its loan dues of around Rs4000 crore.

ADAG stocks make a comeback in a sluggish market

9:30 am The BSE Sensex opens flat. The Sensex is down 60 points at 17100 while Nifty opens just below 5200,as a poor performance by the Congress party in the assembly elections knocks confidence and investors look to the upcoming budget to gauge the government’s commitment to reform.

The Congress party flop in the politically vital state of Uttar Pradesh on Tuesday is a blow to the government of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, reducing his scope to re-launch reforms and reverse a slowdown in economic growth. Many market experts feel this might force the UPA to go slow on a number of important economic reforms, particularly those needing a Parliament approval.

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India is set to unveil the annual budget on March 16.

“(The poll) raises the risks to the current rally, as expected reforms may stall; the macro could strain, and capex may slow. In effect, economic revival gains that the market has started factoring in - could be challenged,” wrote Citi Investment Research & Analysis in a research note.

However, ADAG stocks which ended lower yesterday as a result of profit booking have made a comeback today. Reliance Infra is up 2/22 percent at Rs 632 while RPower is up almost 3 percent at Rs 129.30.

Infosys, Ranbaxy, Cairn, Reliance Infra, Sun Pharma, Hero MotoCorp, Cipla were among the notable leaders in the Sensex and the Nifty.

Stocks like Aurobindo Pharma, Power Grid and Pantaloon are the major losers in opening trade, down 3 to 5 percent, followed by BHEL,Tata Steel, M&M and Jindal Steel.

Hotel Leela is up 2.5 percent after sources reclaimed that company was referred to CDR by SBI.

State-run oil retailers Indian Oil Corp , Hindustan Petroleum Corp and Bharat Petroleum Corp are trading lower after the Hindu Business Line reported the government had given the companies Rs 7,000 crore as compensation for selling fuel at below-cost prices. IOC is down 1.3 percent at Rs 276.65, while Bharat Petroleum is down 1 percent at Rs 622. HPCL is the biggest loser out of the three, down 1.56 percent.

Era Infra Engineering is up 0.7 percent at Rs 140.70 after the company said late on Tuesday that it won a contract worth Rs 560 crore from Delhi Metro Rail Corporation.

Fertiliser companies like Coromandel International , Zuari Industries , Gujarat Narmada Valley are all trading lower after they deferred imports of over 2 million tonnes of potash on low demand.