Benchmarks continue firm trade; Metal, Auto lead

Indian equity markets continued their firm trade in the late afternoon session on account of buying in frontline blue chip counters. The sentiments were on optimistic note on strong US job data along with reports suggesting Finance Ministry contemplating on announcing more steps to sting out MAT row. Traders were seen piling position in Metal, Auto and Realty stocks while selling was witnessed in FMCG sector stocks. In scrip specific development, Bank of Baroda was trading firm after its gross bad loans as a percentage of total loans, was lower at 3.72 percent, compared with 3.85 percent in the previous quarter. The bank’s standalone net profit however fell to 5.98 billion rupees for its fiscal fourth quarter to March 31, from 11.57 billion rupees reported a year earlier. Federal Bank was trading in green after the company’s board announced plans to issue bonus shares. Orient Cement was trading in green on reporting better-than-expected earnings.

On the global front, the Asian markets were trading mostly in green while the European markets were trading mostly on pessimistic note. Back home, the NSE Nifty and BSE Sensex were trading above the psychological 8,300 and 27,400 levels respectively. The market breadth on BSE was positive in the ratio of 1712:847 while 101 scrips remained unchanged.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 27461.68, up by 356.29 points or 1.31% after trading in a range of 27231.28 and 27515.45. There were 27 stocks advancing against 3 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 1.98%, while Small cap index up by 1.36%.

The gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Metal up by 3.23%, Auto up by 2.38%, Realty up by 2.29%, PSU up by 2.14% and Bankex up by 2.12% while, FMCG down by 0.46% was the losing on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Vedanta up by 6.81%, SBI up by 4.95%, Hero MotoCorp up by 4.03%, Tata Steel up by 3.45% and Hindalco up by 3.35%.

On the flip side, Hindustan Unilever down by 2.97%, ITC down by 0.69% and Wipro down by 0.26% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, after setting up a high level panel for examining the issue of Minimum Alternate Tax (MAT) on foreign institutional investors, Finance Minister in order to calm jittery nerves is contemplating to announce more steps to sting out of the MAT row.  The finance Ministry is likely to issue a directive to tax authorities in carefully examining the demands on foreign portfolio investors on these issues or for that matter seeking explanations regarding why these tax shouldn’t be levied on them.

Also, the high level panel would be directed to look into other tax issues that are weighing down these investors. These additional steps would be taken in order to send out a strong signal that the government is willing to do its extra bit to provide certainty on the tax front to investors. Notably, certainty of policies for foreign investors as it sought to boost investment had been the pledge of Narendra Modi government right since its victory.

The Ministry has appointed high level committee under the leadership of Commission Chairman AP shah to give its recommendation of the specific issues of MAT on FIIs expeditiously. Post to which government is expected to consider the recommendation of the committee and take an appropriate decision as early as possible.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 8311.35, up by 119.85 points or 1.46% after trading in a range of 8224.65 and 8322.35. There were 47 stocks advancing against 3 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Bank of Baroda up by 15.51%, Vedanta up by 6.68%, Ultratech Cement up by 5.07%, SBI up by 5.06% and Hero MotoCorp up by 4.15%.

On the flip side, Hindustan Unilever down by 2.95%, ITC down by 0.73% and Wipro down by 0.28% were the top losers.

The Asian markets were trading mostly in green; KOSPI Index increased 11.86 points or 0.57% to 2,097.38, Straits Times increased 19.07 points or 0.55% to 3,471.08, Shanghai Composite increased 127.67 points or 3.04% to 4,333.58, Hang Seng increased 140.86 points or 0.51% to 27,718.20 and Nikkei 225 increased 241.72 points or 1.25% to 19,620.91.

On the other hand, Taiwan Weighted decreased 28.28 points or 0.29% to 9,663.72, Jakarta Composite decreased 4.94 points or 0.1% to 5,177.27 and FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI decreased 0.79 points or 0.04% to 1,806.86.

The European markets were trading mostly in red; France’s CAC decreased 70.3 points or 1.38% to 5,020.09, Germany’s DAX decreased 55.15 points or 0.47% to 11,654.58 while, UK’s FTSE 100 increased 30.27 points or 0.43% to 7,077.09.