Benchmarks make positive opening after six day losing streak

After falling for last many sessions, Indian benchmarks have made a positive opening and are trading in fine fettle in early deals on the back of value buying in some beaten down blue chip stocks. The sentiment got a boost on report that indirect tax collection jumped 34.3 percent to Rs 4,38,291 crore during the first eight months of current financial year.  However, gains remained capped on report that foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) sold shares worth a net Rs 527 crore yesterday as per provisional data released by the stock exchanges.  Besides, Minister of State for Finance Jayant Sinha said that meeting 1 April 2016 deadline for goods and services tax (GST) rollout seems to be challenging amid ongoing political turbulence.  Cautiousness is likely to prevail in the markets ahead of the October's industrial production data, which will be announced tomorrow after market hours.  On the sectoral front, traders were seen piling up position in Realty, Metal, FMCG, IT and TECK, while selling was witnessed in Healthcare, Auto, Consumer Durables, Oil & Gas and PSU.

In the scrip specific development, Future Consumer Enterprise surged over 10 per cent after 3.6 per cent equity shares of the company changed hands in five block deals on the bourses.

On the global front, the US stocks ended lower as oil resumed its decline, fuelling investor worries about global economic growth and causing the S&P 500 index to track the move in the commodity. Asian markets were trading mostly in red as weak oil prices continued to feed global growth worries.

Back home, the NSE Nifty and BSE Sensex were trading above the psychological 7,600 and 25,050 levels respectively. The market breadth on BSE was positive in the ratio of 1034: 610 while 87scrips remained unchanged.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 25090.31, up by 54.26 points or 0.22% after trading in a range of 25078.95 and 25175.82. There were 19 stocks advancing against 11 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading mixed; the BSE Mid cap index was down by 0.37%, while Small cap index up by 0.21%.

The gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Realty up by 0.82%, Metal up by 0.66%, FMCG up by 0.44%, IT up by 0.34% and TECK up by 0.15%, while Healthcare down by 1.08%, Auto down by 0.25%, Consumer Durables down by 0.23%, Oil & Gas down by 0.16% and PSU down by 0.13% were the losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Hindalco up by 1.90%, Reliance Industries up by 1.40%, NTPC up by 1.08%, Vedanta up by 1.03% and HDFC up by 0.99%. On the flip side, Lupin down by 3.18%, Sun Pharma Inds. down by 1.22%, Maruti Suzuki down by 0.95%, Tata Motors down by 0.88% and BHEL down by 0.74% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, the Union Cabinet after rounds of meetings with all stakeholders and incorporating recommendations of the parliamentary panels has approved the Real Estate (Regulation & Development) Bill, 2015. The Bill which is applicable both for commercial and residential real estate projects will now be taken up for consideration and passing by the Parliament.

The government approved 20 changes in the Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Bill including a proposal for insurance of land title to protect buyers and developers from the risk of land fraud, since there is little protection for consumers in the present framework. The government has said that the Bill will provide uniform regulatory environment to ensure speedy adjudication of disputes and orderly growth of the real estate sector.

The Bill has proposed a jail term up to three years or penalty or both in case of builders, one year for real estate agents and buyers for violating the orders of appellate tribunals. The legislation also puts the condition of keeping 70% of the sale proceeds for a particular project in a separate account to meet the construction cost of that project, including the land cost. This has been done to minimize diversion of funds and ensure timely completion of projects.

In order to make states comply with the norms, the bill says states will have to make the rules within six months of notification of the proposed Act. Each state will establish the real estate regulator and the appellate tribunal as per the rules. The tribunal will be the final arbiter in case of disputes between a buyer and builders or promoters. Either party can approach the tribunal if the dispute is not settled by the real estate regulator.

The other features of the Bill includes mandatory disclosure of all registered projects, including details of the promoter, project, layout plan, land status, approvals, agreements along with details of real estate agents, contractors, architect, structural engineer etc and registration of real estate projects and real estate agents with the Authority.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 7625.70, up by 13.20 points or 0.17% after trading in a range of 7620.95 and 7651.50. There were 28 stocks advancing against 22 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Hindalco up by 2.10%, Reliance Industries up by 1.59%, NTPC up by 1.19%, Vedanta up by 1.09% and HDFC up by 1.08%. On the flip side, Lupin down by 2.87%, Zee Entertainment down by 1.92%, BPCL down by 1.33%, Ultratech Cement down by 1.28% and Sun Pharma down by 1.21% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in red, Nikkei 225 decreased 210.1 points or 1.09% to 19,090.97, Taiwan Weighted decreased 58.45 points or 0.71% to 8,171.17, FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI decreased 5.58 points or 0.34% to 1,653.78, Hang Seng decreased 4.48 points or 0.02% to 21,799.28, KOSPI Index decreased 2.53 points or 0.13% to 1,945.71.On the flip side, Jakarta Composite increased 2.16 points or 0.05% to 4,466.34, Shanghai Composite increased 6.61 points or 0.19% to 3,479.05.