Indian equities gain strength to trade in positive terrain

Indian equities trim losses to continue its firm trade in green in the late afternoon session on back of buying in the front line counters. The investors were however, cautious and adopted a wait and watch policy on the concluding day of derivative expiry. The near-month February 2012 F&O contracts expires today, February 23, 2012. Traders were seen piling up positions in Power, FMCG and Oil & Gas sector while selling was witnessed in Realty, Metal and Auto sector. Also, the recent sharp spurt in international crude oil prices has set alarm bells ringing, stoking nervousness not only among market participants but also the policy makers. The rally in oil prices would certainly have spiraling effect on the Indian economy as the nation imports more than 70% of the commodity for domestic requirements, thus re-fuelling the inflationary concerns. In the scrip specific development, Lupin rose after the company stated that it settled a pending patent litigation for Glumetza generic. PSU OMCs HPCL, BPCL and IOC were seen trading firm in green on reports that the prices of auto and cooking fuels are likely to shoot up steeply in the first week of March 2012 once the assembly elections are over. On the global front, Asian markets were trading in red barring Shanghai Composite and Nikkei while the European markets were trading in green on optimistic note. Back home, the NSE Nifty and BSE Sensex were trading above their psychological 5,500 and 18,100 levels respectively. The market breadth on BSE was in favor of declines in the ratio of 891:1819 while 114 scrips remained unchanged.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 18,170.05 up by 24.80 points or 0.14% after trading as high as 18,209.56 and as low as 18,005.28. There were 16 stocks advancing against 14 declines on the index.

The broader indices were trading on a negative note; the BSE Mid cap index plunged 0.47% while Small cap plummeted 1.10%.

On the BSE sectoral space, Power up 1.28%, FMCG up 0.88%, Oil & Gas up 0.88%, IT up 0.57% and TECk up 0.21% were the top gainers while Realty down 1.59%, Metal down 1.02%, Auto down 0.44%, Capital Goods down 0.22% and Health Care down 0.13% were the only losers in the space.

Tata Power up 2.39%, HUL up 2.14%, BHEL up 2.12%, SBI up 1.64% and RIL up 1.55% were the major gainers on the Sensex, while Sterlite Industries down 4.17%, Hero MotoCorp down 2.69%, Bharti Airtel down 1.35%, ONGC down 1.27% and DLF down 1.13% were the major losers in the index.

Meanwhile, describing introduction of Goods and Services Tax (GST) as the most significant reform in the history of indirect taxes in the country, Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee affirmed that once implemented it will bring about a paradigm shift in the arena of indirect taxation. With India being at the door step of implementing the crucial reform, the finance minister remained confident that GST will prove to be a more efficient system of taxation and is likely to give a boost to the tax revenues of the Centre and the States by removing barriers amongst States and converting the entire country into a common market.

Commending the performance of the Central Customs and Excise Department in adapting quickly and successfully to the changing economic environment, the finance minister stated the Central Excise revenue has more than doubled over the last ten years from Rs. 68,282 crore in 2000-01 to Rs 137,427 crore in 2010-11, which is 40% of the total revenue from Indirect Taxes. However, he said that still further efforts are required to ensure to meet the target of indirect tax collections for the current fiscal.

With India’s indirect tax collections increasing to Rs 317,233 crore till January 2012 in the current financial year, which is 15% more as compared to the revenues of the corresponding period last year, the government was optimistic that the Budget Estimates for the financial year will be completely met.

The S&P CNX Nifty is currently trading at 5,507.55, higher by 2.20 points or 0.04% after trading as high as 5,519.55 and as low as 5,460.80. There were 22 stocks advancing against 28 declines on the index.

The top gainers on the Nifty were BPCL up 4.91%, Power Grid up 3.14%, HUL up 2.25%, BHEL up 2.22% and Tata Power up 2.17%.

JP Associates down 4.68%, Sterlite Industries down 4.10%, Ambuja Cement down 2.75%, Hero MotoCorp down 2.54% and ACC down 1.92% were the major losers on the index.

In the Asian space, Hang Seng sank 0.78%, Jakarta Composite shed 0.84%, KLSE Composite dropped 0.15%, Straits Times plunged 0.99%, Seoul Composite plummeted 1.03% and Taiwan Weighted slumped 0.80%. On the flipside only, Shanghai Composite gained 0.25% and Nikkei 225 gained 0.44%.

The European markets were trading in green with, France’s CAC 40 ascended 0.34%, Germany’s DAX added 0.36% and Britain’s FTSE 100 jumped 0.20%.