Benchmarks trade in fine fettle in noon deals

Indian equity benchmarks were trading in fine fettle in noon deals as sentiments remained up-beat after a better-than-forecasted monsoon reignited the optimism among market participants that a rate cut by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) may be a possibility. Besides, fresh capital inflows by foreign funds at the domestic bourses and a firming trend in global markets on hopes of a Greek bailout deal too boosted the sentiment. Global cues too remained supportive with European markets making a positive start and CAC, DAX and FTSE all trading in green in early deals. Asian shares extended gains on Tuesday after a gauge of Chinese factory activity suggested signs of stabilisation, and Greece’s latest budget proposals raised hopes it would stave off a debt default and reach a deal with lenders later this week.

Back home, there was broad based buying witnessed in the markets and apart from the blue chips, the broader markets too participated in the rally. On the sectoral front, metal, capital goods and oil and gas witnessed the maximum gain in trade, while software, technology and consumer durables remained the top losers on the BSE sectoral space. The market breadth on the BSE was positive; there were 1,284 shares on the gaining side against 1,069 shares on the losing side while 123 shares remain unchanged.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 27820.62, up by 90.41 points or 0.33% after trading in a range of 27666.59 and 27882.66. There were 21 stocks advancing against 9 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.19%, while Small cap index up by 0.35%.

The gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Metal up by 1.42%, Capital Goods up by 1.39%, Oil & Gas up by 1.12%, PSU up by 1.09% and Infrastructure up by 0.50%, while IT down by 0.81%, TECK down by 0.61% and Consumer Durables down by 0.56% were the losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Coal India up by 2.56%, Larsen & Toubro up by 1.68%, Cipla up by 1.61%, Bharti Airtel up by 1.43% and GAIL India up by 1.22%. On the flip side, Infosys down by 1.82%, Lupin down by 1.63%, Hero MotoCorp down by 1.55%, ICICI Bank down by 0.52% and NTPC down by 0.47% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, Government in its initiative to encourage electronic payments and moving towards cashless economy and reduction in tax avoidance, has proposed tax benefits to merchants for accepting electronic payments and income tax rebates to consumers for paying a certain proportion of their expenditure through electronic means.

Finance ministry in a ‘Draft Proposals For Facilitating Electronic Transactions’ has said that an appropriate tax rebate can be extended to a merchant if at least say 50 per cent value of the transactions is through electronic means. Alternatively, 1-2 per cent reduction in value added tax could be considered on all electronic transactions by the merchants. The proposals said that tax benefits in terms of income tax rebates to be considered to consumers for paying a certain proportion of their expenditure through electronic means.

To enable policy for e-transactions in government collections, the draft proposals said the feasibility of removing the prevailing convenience fee/service charge/surcharge levied by government departments and PSUs for making e-transactions to essential commodities, utility services, petrol pumps and railway ticket counter/IRCTC.

The draft proposal also mandates settling of high value transactions of more than Rs 1 lakh, only by electronic means. In other measures to promote wider adoption of e-transactions, the ministry proposed reduction in the Merchant Discount Rate (MDR) and the rationalisation of the distribution of the MDR across different stakeholders. At present, there is an MDR of 0.75 per cent on debit card transactions up to Rs 2,000 and 1 per cent on all transactions above Rs 2,000.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 8386.15, up by 33.05 points or 0.40% after trading in a range of 8334.95 and 8398.45. There were 36 stocks advancing against 14 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were PNB up by 3.88%, Coal India up by 2.63%, Ultratech Cement up by 2.60%, Bank of Baroda up by 1.95% and Larsen & Toubro up by 1.76%. On the flip side, Infosys down by 1.87%, Hero MotoCorp down by 1.78%, Lupin down by 1.45%, Tata Power down by 1.41% and Idea Cellular down by 1.26% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading in the green; FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI rose 0.33 points or 0.02% to 1,733.09, Jakarta Composite increased 3.19 points or 0.06% to 4,962.44, Straits Times gained 21.59 points or 0.65% to 3,336.72, KOSPI Index surged 26.04 points or 1.27% to 2,081.20, Taiwan Weighted advanced 49.37 points or 0.53% to 9,391.14, Shanghai Composite soared 69.97 points or 1.56% to 4,548.33, Hang Seng added 236.08 points or 0.87% to 27,316.93 and Nikkei 225 was up by 381.23 points or 1.87% to 20,809.42.

European Markets were trading in the green; France’s CAC surged 0.80%, UK’s FTSE gained 0.16% and Germany’s DAX was up by 0.77%.