Benchmarks continue to trade in fine fettle in noon deals

Indian equity benchmarks continue to trade in tight-band in afternoon deals with a gain of quarter a percent, as investors indulged in enlarging positions driven by positive domestic as well as global cues. Sentiments remained up-beat on the back of above-normal monsoon which has reignited rate cut hopes. Global cues too remained supportive with European counters making a firm start with CAC, DAX and FTSE all trading in green in early deals. Asian markets were trading mostly in green at this point of time, with Japan’s Nikkei 225 Stock Average headed for a more-than 18-year high. Chinese markets too strengthening further from their correction were up by over two percentage points.

Back home, some support came in with Finance Minister Arun Jaitley’s statement that progress of monsoon in India has improved compared to the predictions, bettering prospects for agriculture and putting the economy on a stronger footing. On the sectoral front, fast moving consumer goods, realty and power witnessed the maximum gain in trade, while infrastructure, auto and metal remained the top losers on the BSE sectoral space. The broader indices too were going neck-to-neck with benchmarks, while the market breadth on the BSE was positive; there were 1,292 shares on the gaining side against 1,084 shares on the losing side while 115 shares remain unchanged.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 27878.05, up by 73.68 points or 0.26% after trading in a range of 27784.44 and 27920.60. There were 14 stocks advancing against 16 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.18%, while Small cap index up by 0.25%.

The gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Healthcare up by 1.19%, FMCG up by 0.93%, Realty up by 0.47%, Power up by 0.40% and Bankex up by 0.21% while, Infrastructure down by 0.49%, Auto down by 0.35%, Metal down by 0.31%, Oil & Gas down by 0.13% and TECK down by 0.04% were the losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were BHEL up by 4.20%, Hindustan Unilever up by 2.69%, Lupin up by 1.90%, Sun Pharma Inds. up by 1.89% and Wipro up by 1.06%. On the flip side, Hindalco down by 1.77%, Mahindra & Mahindra down by 1.21%, Bharti Airtel down by 0.98%, Tata Steel down by 0.97% and NTPC down by 0.72% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, Chief Economic Advisor Arvind Subramanian suggesting systemic changes to check generation of black money has said that the current system of chasing illicit funds is actually compounding the problem because the taxation rules are being seen as arbitrary. He has asked the Centre to focus on the origins of black money rather than chasing it in all corners of the globe if it wants to avoid giving out a 'wrong perception about India'.

He also said that the perception of the tax system being somewhat arbitrary can play a role in this regard. Subramanian said that “For me black money is much more important in terms of what it signals...Arbitrariness, tax rules, discretion and corruption, all these things. We need to be very serious about addressing them. What we are doing currently that gives rise to black money.”

Subramanian said that one of the problems in addressing the issue of black money was that India's tax system was perceived as being arbitrary and added that the danger is that in trying to address that, you could actually compound some of the perceptions about India. He said that it was more important to understand why we create black money in the first place and address those things. Black money, he said, needed to be thought of as a stock problem rather than a flow problem.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 8403.25, up by 21.70 points or 0.26% after trading in a range of 8376.10 and 8414.30. There were 26 stocks advancing against 24 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were BHEL up by 4.41%, Hindustan Unilever up by 2.62%, Zee Entertainment up by 2.37%, Lupin up by 2.07% and Sun Pharma up by 1.95%. On the flip side, PNB down by 1.92%, Hindalco down by 1.85%, Bank of Baroda down by 1.60%, Mahindra & Mahindra down by 1.47% and Bharti Airtel down by 1.22% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in green; KOSPI Index increased 4.33 points or 0.21% to 2,085.53, Taiwan Weighted rose 6.17 points or 0.07% to 9,397.31, Straits Times gained 8.09 points or 0.24% to 3,347.87, Jakarta Composite surged 23.41 points or 0.47% to 4,961.06, Hang Seng advanced 48.16 points or 0.18% to 27,381.62, Nikkei 225 added 58.61 points or 0.28% to 20,868.03 and Shanghai Composite was up by 92.59 points or 2.02% to 4,669.08. On the flip side, FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI was down by 1.46 points or 0.08% to 1,725.40.

European Markets were trading in the green; France’s CAC rose 0.04%, UK’s FTSE gained 0.11% and Germany’s DAX was up by 0.24%.