Markets pare initial gains at high points of the day

Indian equity markets have given up some gains from the high points of the day but are still managing to hold their crucial 15,900 (Sensex) and 4,750 (Nifty) mark. Most of the sectoral gauges continue to remain in cheerful mood. On the global front, most of the Asian equity indices were trading in the green at this point of time following a slew of encouraging US economic reports, amid hopes that the world’s largest economy is gradually gaining momentum. On the domestic turf, Indian benchmarks continue to hold their crucial levels supported by auto stocks which rose ahead of the beginning of the 11th Auto Expo 2012 scheduled to be held from 7 to 11 January 2012 at Pragati Maidan in New Delhi. Moreover, Capital goods stocks extended recent gains triggered by bargain hunting after a steep sell-off last month. The broader indices continue to out perform benchmark and the overall market breadth on BSE is in the favour of advances which have thrashed declines in the ratio of 1303:673, while 84 shares remained unchanged.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 15,925.87, up by 43.23 points or 0.27%. The index has a touched a high and low of 15,980.17 and 15,875.08 respectively.  There were 19 stocks advancing against 11 declines on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap and Small cap indices jumped 0.53% and 0.75% respectively.

The top gainers on the index were Capital Goods up 1.03%, Auto up 0.96%, Consumer Durables up 0.88%, HealthCare up 0.79% and Power up 0.58% while Realty down 1.34%, FMCG down 0.57%, PSU down 0.17%, TECk down 0.13% and IT down 0.01% were the only losers on the index.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Hero MotoCorp up by 2.29%, Cipla up by 2.23%, Bajaj Auto up 1.67%, Sun Pharma was up by 1.57% and Tata Steel up by 1.39%.

On the flip side, DLF down by 3.05%, Maruti Suzuki down 0.99%, Bharti Airtel down 0.98%, HUL down 0.97% and ITC down 0.53% were the top losers on the Sensex.

Meanwhile, India’s net direct tax collections grew at a feeble pace during April-December period of the fiscal 2011-12 as it increased by 8.3% in the first nine months of the fiscal, raising worries that it would be not possible for the government to meet its estimate of Rs 5.32 lakh crore in this fiscal through direct taxes. The government needs direct tax collections to grow by 35% in the last quarter of this fiscal year to achieve the Budget estimates since the situation has now worsened from the beginning of this fiscal when a growth of 19% was needed to achieve the target.

According to the Central Board of Direct Taxes data, direct tax collections during the nine month of this fiscal rose by 14.54% at Rs 3,96,529 crore as against  Rs 3,46,182 crore in the corresponding period last fiscal, largely  because of an increase in corporate tax mop-up. Meanwhile, gross collection of corporate tax was increased 12.49% at Rs 2,69,850 crore in April-December as compared to Rs 2,39,883 crore in the same period of the previous fiscal.

In the first three quarters of the fiscal year 2011-12, personal income tax collection rose 19.06% at Rs 1,25,998 crore. Wealth tax grew by 54.18% at Rs 646 crore against Rs 419 crore collected last year. With the Sensex down by nearly 4,000 points during April-December, Securities transaction tax (STT) collections also plunged by over 26% during the period under review.

The S&P CNX Nifty is currently trading at 4,760.05, higher by 10.40 points or 0.22%. The index has touched a high and low of 4,774.90 and 4,745.50 respectively. There were 31 stocks advancing against 19 declines on the index.

The top gainers of the Nifty were Cairn up by 3.41%, Hero MotoCorp up by 2.29%, Cipla up by 2.06%, Bajaj Auto up by 1.79% and Sun Pharma up by 1.67%.

On the flip side, DLF down by 3.15%, GAIL down by 1.94%, Ambuja Cement down 1.43%, ACC down 1.20% and Siemens down by 1.16% remained the top losers on the index.

Most of the Asian equity indices were trading in the green; Shanghai Composite was up 4.12 points or 0.19% to 2,173.51, Hang Seng was up 83.07 points or 0.44% to 18,810.38, Jakarta Composite was up 10.70 points or 0.27% to 3,918.12, Straits Times was up 17.74 points or 0.65% to 2,728.76, Seoul Composite was up 1.47 points or 0.08% to 1,867.83 and Taiwan Weighted was up by 25.75 points or 0.36% to 7,109.38.

On the flip side, Nikkei 225 was down by 75.69 points or 0.88% to 8,484.42.