Markets trade steady retaining early gains

Indian markets are managing to retain their early gains amid firm global cues, though the bourses have stabilized near the highs of the day and are trading in a range, but there is no sign of any profit taking. Markets are encouraged by the good growth in core sector, which constitutes almost 38 percent of the industrial production. Also traders got some support with Moody's Investors Services projecting stable growth rate for India and stating that the economy would grow at 7.5 percent in the current fiscal and improve marginally in the following year. Sensex was up by over 100 points while the Nifty after reclaiming its 8100 level was trading tad lower to it. Apart from blue-chips broader markets too were witnessing good buying. While there were no losers on the sectoral front the metal, power, IT and healthcare stocks outperformed. IT stocks have surged despite rupee recovering against dollar on fresh selling of the American currency by exporters and banks. Earnings impact too was guiding the markets and United Spirits gained over 3 per cent on strong margin expansion in the September. Adani Enterprises too was up by over one per cent, while Tech Mahindra and DLF gained nearly 1 per cent ahead of the earnings announcement later in the day.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 26678.69, up by 119.54 points or 0.45% after trading in a range of 26630.59 and 26732.24. There were 22 stocks advancing against 8 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.39%, while Small cap index gained 0.76%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Metal up by 1.18%, Power up by 0.85%, IT up by 0.62%, PSU up by 0.61%, Bankex up by 0.58%.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Hindalco up by 3.09%, Vedanta up by 2.22%, NTPC up by 1.92%, Tata Steel up by 1.57% and Sun Pharma Inds. up by 1.24%. On the flip side, GAIL India down by 1.92%, Bharti Airtel down by 0.56%, Maruti Suzuki down by 0.47%, ITC down by 0.44% and BHEL down by 0.27% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, in a bid to speed up corporate tax reforms, the finance ministry is preparing a road map to deal with the problem of a large number of tax litigations. Revenue Secretary Hasmukh Adhia has said that tax related litigations; including out of court settlement will be dealt through it. Adhia further said that the Justice RV Easwar panel will look at ways to simplify Income Tax laws though it will not specifically deal with the issues concerning retrospective tax amendment.

Adhia said terms of reference for the Committee for simplification of tax laws are there and they will work accordingly, besides, the tax department is also contemplating increasing the threshold limit for litigation of tax cases to reduce the number of such cases at various levels. On a roadmap to phase out corporate tax exemptions and a gradual reduction of the tax rate to 25 per cent over four years, Adhia said the road map for tax cuts and the rollback could come by the end of the next month.

Recently, in its bid to further simplify the Income Tax laws and ease of doing business, the government has set up a 10-member panel under a former Delhi High Court judge to suggest simplification of over 50-year-old Income Tax Act. The panel will identify clauses that lead to litigations and suggest modifications to bring predictability and certainty in tax laws. The term of the committee is for one year and the first report is expected by January 2016.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 8081.05, up by 30.25 points or 0.38% after trading in a range of 8069.90 and 8100.35. There were 34 stocks advancing against 16 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Hindalco up by 2.96%, Vedanta up by 2.32%, NTPC up by 1.88%, PNB up by 1.62% and Power Grid Corpn. up by 1.55%. On the flip side, Asian Paints down by 1.49%, GAIL India down by 1.06%, Bharti Airtel down by 0.56%, Maruti Suzuki down by 0.53% and ITC down by 0.40% were the top losers.

Barring the Chinese market all theres are trading higher in the Asian region, FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI was up by 7.06 points or 0.42% to 1,671.13, KOSPI Index gained 10.74 points or 0.53% to 2,045.98, Jakarta Composite was higher by 67.49 points or 1.51% to 4,532.45, Taiwan Weighted gained 97.56 points or 1.13% to 8,712.33 and Hang Seng surged by 272.83 points or 1.22% to 22,642.87

On the other hand Shanghai Composite was down by 5.5 points or 0.17% to 3,319.59.