Markets trade with solid gains of over 0.50%; Nifty oscillates past 8,750 mark

Going from strength to strength, local equity markets were trading firmly in green with solid gains of over half a percent on sustained buying activities by funds and retail investors after three consecutive sessions of drubbing and notably ahead of the release of crucial macro-economic data, February CPI and January IIP data, later in the day. Both, Sensex and Nifty continuing to stage recovery were trading above crucial 28, 800 and 8,750 levels respectively. Meanwhile, broader indices outperforming larger counterparts by fat margins were up with gains of around a percent.

On the global front, Asian shares rose on Thursday as an unexpected rate cut in South Korea and better-than-expected jobs data from Australia helped to offset a lackluster lead from Wall Street overnight. The Bank of Korea surprised markets by cutting its base rate for the first time in five months by 25 basis points to a record low of 1.75 percent. The move came on the back of other rate cuts in the region, such as Thailand, India, Singapore and China, which have taken advantage of lower oil prices to ease monetary policy in a bid to spur sluggish growth.

Closer home, with gains being broad-based, all the sectoral indices on BSE were trading into positive territory, nevertheless stocks from Power, Infrastructure and Metal counters were the prominent gainers. In stock-specific action, Insurance stocks rose after the Congress party agreed to support passage of the insurance bill in Rajya Sabha which seeks to raise the foreign direct investment (FDI) cap in insurance ventures from the existing 26% to 49%. Meanwhile, FMCG counter’s gains were led by ITC stocks which rallied on buzz of likely cigarette price hike. Moreover, four telecom stocks rose after bidding intensity slowed in past few days in the ongoing auction of 2G and 3G telecom spectrum. The overall market breadth on BSE was in the favour of advances which thumped declines in the ratio of 1549:1017; while 110 shares remained unchanged.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 28841.39, up by 182.22 points or 0.64% after trading in a range of 28772.71 and 28912.96. There were 22 stocks advancing against 8 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.94%, while Small cap index up by 1.02%.

The gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Power up by 1.58%, INFRA up by 1.57%, Metal up by 1.45%, FMCG up by 1.40% and Auto up by 1.02%

The top gainers on the Sensex were NTPC up by 3.44%, Sesa Sterlite up by 3.19%, Tata Steel up by 2.73%, Hindalco up by 2.64% and ITC up by 2.63%. On the flip side, Hindustan Unilever down by 1.26%, Bajaj Auto down by 1.14%, Dr. Reddys Lab down by 1.02%, Wipro down by 0.99% and Mahindra & Mahindra down by 0.58% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, the government has achieved the 88.5 percent of the indirect taxes revised target for the entire fiscal in period April-February. Indirect tax revenue (provisional) collections have increased to Rs 4,78,630 crore during April-February 2014-15, an increase of 7.4 percent over the corresponding period in the previous fiscal. Total indirect tax collection in February 2015 was Rs 50,464 crore, 15.9 percent higher than Rs 43,543 crore collected in February 2014.

The Finance Ministry has further stated that the central excise duty collection was Rs 1.62 lakh crore in April-February in the ongoing fiscal, 8.9 percent higher from Rs 1.49 lakh crore in the same period of the previous fiscal. Customs duty collection stood at Rs 15,695 crore in February 2015, up by 3.9 percent on an annual basis. For the period April-February the collection was Rs 1.70 lakh crore, 8.2 percent higher than Rs 1.57 lakh crore in the same period of the previous fiscal.

Service tax collections grew by 3.5 percent to Rs 12,646 crore in February 2015 compared to Rs 12,221 crore in the same month in 2014. Service tax collection was at Rs 1.45 lakh crore in April-February of the ongoing fiscal, 8.1 percent higher from Rs 1.34 lakh crore in the same period of previous fiscal.

The Budget 2014-15 targeted the revenue collection from indirect taxes at Rs 6.23 lakh crore, which was later revised downwards to 5.40 lakh crore. Collection from direct taxes increased by 10.67 per cent to Rs 6.12 lakh crore in the first 11 months of the current financial year. The budget for 2014-15 had set a direct-taxes target of Rs 7.36 lakh crore;  however, it too was lowered to 7.05 lakh crore in the revised estimate.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 8754.40, up by 54.45 points or 0.63% after trading in a range of 8732.90 and 8773.60. There were 36 stocks advancing against 14 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Cairn India up by 4.58%, NTPC up by 3.97%, Sesa Sterlite up by 3.40%, Hindalco up by 2.92% and Tata Steel up by 2.71%. On the flip side, Tech Mahindra down by 1.44%, Hindustan Unilever down by 1.20%, Wipro down by 1.05%, Bajaj Auto down by 1.02% and Dr. Reddys Lab down by 0.82% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in green; with FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI trading higher by 10.17 points or 0.57% to 1,788.33; Jakarta Composite trading higher by 12.4 points or 0.23% to 5,431.96; Shanghai Composite trading higher by 62.87 points or 1.91% to 3,353.77; Taiwan Weighted trading higher by 72.82 points or 0.76% to 9,596.00; Hang Seng trading higher by 132.82 points or 0.56% to 23,850.79 and Nikkei 225 trading higher by 267.59 points or 1.43% to 18,991.11. On the flip side, Straits Times down by 13.05 points or 0.39% to 3,365.54 and KOSPI Index down by 10.24 points or 0.52% to 1,970.59 were the top losers of Asian pack.