Benchmarks trade firm as Greece reaches bailout deal

Indian equity markets added gains and continued their firm trade hovering near the highest point of the day in late afternoon session on account of buying in frontline blue chip counters. The sentiments were on up-beat mood after euro zone leaders clinched a deal with Greece to negotiate a third bailout to keep the near-bankrupt country in the euro zone after a whole night of haggling at an emergency summit. Finance Minister Arun Jaitley statement that tax revenues are expected to be higher this year while improving macroeconomic fundamentals and ongoing reforms make 8-10% growth eminently achievable too provided some upside support. Traders were seen piling position in IT, TECK and Auto stocks. In scrip specific development, Sanghi Industries was trading firm on its plans to invest up to Rs 1,500 crore in the next 2-3 years to double its production capacity to 8.2 million metric tonnes per annum (MMTPA).

On the global front, the Asian markets were trading in green, while the European markets were trading on optimistic note. Back home, the NSE Nifty and BSE Sensex were trading above the psychological 8,450 and 27,900 levels respectively. The market breadth on BSE was positive in the ratio of 1678:951 while 109 scrips remained unchanged.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 27985.78, up by 324.38 points or 1.17% after trading in a range of 27635.06 and 28001.83. There were 28 stocks advancing against 2 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 1.18%, while Small cap index up by 1.04%.

The gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were IT up by 1.71%, TECK up by 1.65%, Auto up by 1.40%, FMCG up by 1.37% and Power up by 1.07%

The top gainers on the Sensex were GAIL India up by 3.51%, HDFC up by 2.54%, Sun Pharma up by 2.44%, Cipla up by 2.39% and Maruti Suzuki up by 2.16%.

On the flip side, ONGC down by 1.17% and Larsen & Toubro down by 0.38% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, showing a healthy growth, Indirect tax revenues grew 37.5 per cent to nearly Rs 1.54 lakh crore in the first quarter of the current fiscal, powered by a robust show in excise collections. The growth in collections indicates that the underlying momentum in the economy is improving across all sectors including manufacturing as reflected in healthy excise tax collections.

As per the government data, Indirect tax collections in April-June quarter increased to Rs 1,53,980 crore from over Rs 1.12 lakh crore in the year-ago period. In the quarter central excise collections surged by 81 percent to Rs 61,661 crore, from Rs 34,067 crore a year earlier. Customs collections were up 20.2 percent to Rs 47,080 crore, from Rs 39,175 crore in April-June 2014, while Service tax collections went up by 16.4 percent to Rs 45,239 crore in April-June 2015. For the month of June, the overall indirect tax collections surged by 33.3 percent to Rs 57,357 crore. Excise tax was up 67 per cent at Rs 22,717 crore for the month, while Service tax inflows were up 14 percent on year at Rs 17,546 crore and customs collections were up 21 percent at Rs 17,094 crore.

The government has stated that the growth in underlying indirect tax collections of 14.5 per cent suggests a healthy increase in nominal GDP (gross domestic product) growth which constitutes the tax base for indirect tax collections. The indirect tax collections reflect in part the effect of the additional measures taken by the central government, including the excise hike on diesel and petrol, the increase in clean energy cess and withdrawal of exemptions for motor vehicles and consumer durables, besides service tax rate hike to 14 per cent. For the full year the government is targeting Rs 6.46 lakh crore from indirect taxes this financial year, a growth of 18.8 percent compared with previous financial year.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 8461.70, up by 101.15 points or 1.21% after trading in a range of 8355.40 and 8467.05. There were 47 stocks advancing against 3 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were HCL Tech. up by 3.69% and Zee Entertainment up by 3.42% and GAIL India up by 3.38% and Asian Paints up by 2.98% and HDFC up by 2.54%.

On the flip side, ONGC down by 1.24%, Larsen & Toubro down by 0.51% and Yes Bank down by 0.17% were the top losers.

The Asian markets were trading mostly in green; FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI increased 1.66 points or 0.1% to 1,717.24, Jakarta Composite increased 30.05 points or 0.62% to 4,889.09, KOSPI Index increased 30.35 points or 1.49% to 2,061.52, Straits Times increased 32.16 points or 0.98% to 3,312.04, Shanghai Composite increased 92.59 points or 2.39% to 3,970.39, Taiwan Weighted increased 119.79 points or 1.34% to 9,033.92, Nikkei 225 increased 309.94 points or 1.57% to 20,089.77 and Hang Seng increased 322.73 points or 1.3% to 25,224.01.

The European markets were trading in green; UK’s FTSE 100 increased 47.04 points or 0.7% to 6,720.42, France’s CAC increased 94.23 points or 1.92% to 4,997.30 and Germany’s DAX increased 168.93 points or 1.49% to 11,484.56.