Key benchmark equity indices managed to settle in the green on Thursday even after remaining subdued till early noon trades. Markets started the day on a weak note tracking bleak global cues and remained quiet in the negative terrain till noon trades but after that the buying activity intensified which pulled the key benchmark indices in the positive zone. The BSE Sensex recovered over 150 points from the day's low to end near the 17,200-mark. Meanwhile, the markets lacked steam to conquer their intermediate highs as index heavyweight -- Reliance Industries (RIL) -- saw some profit booking towards the end. The central bank's move of tightening foreign borrowing rules for companies also hurt sentiments in trade. Investors remained cautious as rising food inflation is putting pressure on the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to take corrective steps sooner than later. Capital goods, banking and power counters witnessed some value picking in the day's trade while consumer durables counter was targeted by the bears. Among non-index stocks Mahindra Satyam surged over 5% after the company settled all its disputes with Upaid. Finally, the BSE Sensex gained 64.09 points or 0.37% to end at 17,189.31, while the S&P CNX Nifty added 22.65 points or 0.44% to close at 5134.65. The market breadth on the BSE was strong; the gainers thrashed the losers in a ratio of 1.45:1 while 88 shares remained unchanged in trade. The 30-share BSE Sensex touched a high and a low of 17,231.05 and 17,032.30, respectively. Bharti Airtel up 3.43%, BHEL up 2.78%, ICICI Bank up 2.45%, RCom up 2.15% and L&T up 1.95% were the major gainers on the benchmark index. While, Sun Pharma down 1.79%, Hero Honda down 1.70%, Grasim Inds down 1.39%, HUL down 1.25% and Maruti Suzuki down 1.14% were the major losers on the Sensex. The BSE Mid-cap and Small-cap indices advanced 0.28% and 0.89%, respectively. The government on Thursday released the WPI for the week ending November 28 in respect of 'Primary Articles' and commodities in the broad group 'Fuel, Power, Light & Lubricants'. The Primary Articles Index which has a weight of 22.02% in the overall WPI rose by 0.9% to 284.4 from 281.9 in the previous week. According to the release, the annual rate of inflation, calculated on point to point basis, stood at 12.53% as compared to 11.57% for the previous week and 12.28% during the corresponding week of the previous year. Inflation in the Primary Article group has been on the rise for last many weeks. In the BSE sectoral space Capital Goods (CG) up 1.63%, Bankex up 0.75%, Power up 0.71%, Public Sector Undertaking (PSU) up 0.55% and TECk up 0.47% were the main gainers. Praj Inds (up 3.44%) from CG, Indusind Bank (up 5.39%) from Bankex, BHEL (up 2.78%) from Power, Dena Bank (up 5%) from PSU and NIIT (up 4.76%) from TECk were the main gainers on the respective indices. Consumer Durables (CD) down 0.85%, Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) down 0.69%, Auto down 0.65%, Information Technology (IT) down 0.37% and Healthcare (HC) down 0.13% were the main losers in the BSE sectoral space. The Reserve Bank of India said on Wednesday that it would take a tough action in case inflation continues to build up. Inflationary tendencies have been on the rise in the economy, particularly in the food commodities segment. Pressure on the Indian monetary authority to go for price stability increased even more after the country registered upside surprise in growth in September quarter, suggesting that economy was out of woods. Talking about the rising inflation, Governor of the RBI said on Wednesday that if inflationary pressure persisted for a long time, it could fuel inflationary expectations and monetary policy would have to take a nuanced view on it. The RBI chief added that while the wholesale price index was quite modest, the consumer price index was rather high adding that the divergence between the two indices created a dilemma in managing the situation. The 50-share S&P CNX Nifty touched a high and a low of 5146.45 and 5084.65, respectively. Idea up 4.21%, Bharti Airtel up 3.46%, BHEL up 2.74%, ICICI Bank up 2.53% and GAIL up 2% were the top gainers on the Nifty. On the other hand, Cipla down 1.99%, HCL Tech down 1.97%, Sun Pharma down 1.92%, Grasim Inds down 1.73% and Maruti Suzuki down 1.62% were the top losers on the benchmark index. In a move aimed at containing the surging capital inflows into the country, the Reserve Bank on Wednesday tightened the guidelines for external commercial borrowings by withdrawing relaxations provided to companies to raise money from overseas debt markets. The apex bank had relaxed the norms last year when the global financial system faced acute crunch and the world economy started slowing sharply. The Indian monetary authority on Wednesday reintroduced the ceiling on interest rates that Indian companies pay for external commercial borrowing. Indian companies can now raise debt for three to five years by paying up to 300 basis points above the London Inter-bank Offered Rate (Libor). For loans of over five years, maximum premium allowed over Libor would be 500 basis points. European markets were trading in the green. France's CAC 40 soared 0.28%, Germany's DAX added 0.34% and Britain's FTSE 100 gained 0.23%. In a move that will lead to increase in competition for the incumbent operators for the forthcoming auction of third generation (3G) spectrum, the department of telecommunications (DoT) is contemplating a move to provide 2G spectrum as well to the stand-alone winners of auction. As per the revised memorandum issued by the DoT in October, along with the incumbent operators which have the Unified Access Service License (UASL), any player having experience of running 3G services is allowed to bid. The clause is primarily meant for the foreign operators. The DoT has also clarified that foreign operators can bid stand-alone and arrange a minority partner later. Asian markets ended mixed on Thursday. Surge in the Yen led to Japanese market shutting shop in the negative terrain for third day in a row. Taiwan Weighted also witnessed over one and a half percent cut in trade. Hang Seng plunged 41.72 points or 0.19% to 21,700.04, Nikkei 225 tumbled 141.90 points or 1.42% to 9,862.82, Straits Times shed 15.35 points or 0.55% to 2,781.86 and Taiwan Weighted plummeted 119.51 points or 1.53% to 7,677.91. On the other hand, Shanghai Composite added 14.70 points or 0.45% to 3,254.26, Seoul Composite advanced 18.56 points or 1.14% to 1,652.73, Jakarta Composite surged 5.14 points or 0.21% to 2,486.44 and KLSE Composite gained 4.14 points or 0.33% to 1,259.90. | 
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