Benchmarks continue firm trade in late morning session

Indian equity markets continued their firm trade in the late morning trade on account of buying in front line blue chip counters. The sentiments were on optimistic note after the Centre’s receipts from customs, central excise and service tax rose 24.3% in November this year at Rs 55,297 crore against Rs 44,475 crore in the same month last year. During April-November, the collection of these indirect taxes stood at Rs 4.38 lakh crore, up 34.3% from the same period a year ago. Traders were seen piling position in Metal, Realty and Oil & Gas stocks while selling was witnessed in Auto and Bankex sector stocks. Hectic buying activity was witnessed in realty sector stocks after the union cabinet has approved 20 major amendments to the real estate regulatory bill that seeks to protect home buyers as well as help investments in the real estate industry grow. In the scrip specific development, Electrosteel Steels was trading in green after the board of debt-ridden company has taken on record the strategic debt restructuring package approved by its lenders in July this year.

On the global front, the Asian markets were trading mostly in red. Back home, the NSE Nifty and BSE Sensex were trading above the psychological 7,600 and 25,000 levels respectively. The market breadth on BSE was positive in the ratio of 1257:800 while 143 scrips remained unchanged.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 25088.50, up by 52.45 points or 0.21% after trading in a range of 25063.19 and 25175.82. There were 20 stocks advancing against 10 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green and red; the BSE Mid cap index was down by 0.13%, while Small cap index up by 0.36%.

The gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Metal up by 1.25%, Realty up by 0.98%, Oil & Gas up by 0.67%, FMCG up by 0.50% and IT up by 0.40%, while Auto down by 0.37% and Bankex down by 0.33% were the losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were GAIL India up by 2.72%, Hindalco up by 2.37%, Reliance Industries up by 2.06%, Vedanta up by 1.76% and NTPC up by 1.57%.

On the flip side, Lupin down by 2.56%, Sun Pharma down by 2.38%, Mahindra & Mahindra down by 1.50%, Maruti Suzuki down by 1.16% and Tata Motors down by 1.13% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, showing a strong growth, Indirect tax collections during the month of November surged by 24 percent to Rs. 55,297 crore compared with collections made in November 2014 of Rs   44,475 crore, on the back of growth in excise mobilisation, reflecting an uptick in industrial activity. This increase shows that the government is on course to exceed the budget target, making up some of the shortfall in the direct tax collection and disinvestment. Indirect taxes include customs duty, central excise duty and service tax.

These collections reflect in part increase due to additional measures taken by the Government from time to time, including the excise increases on diesel and petrol, the increase in clean energy cess, the withdrawal of exemptions for motor vehicles, capital goods and consumer durables and an increase in service tax rate to 14 per cent from the earlier 12.36 per cent.

As per the data of ministry of finance, Service tax collection increased 16.1 per cent to Rs 14,789 crore against Rs 12,739 crore in November, 2014. This is an achievement of 60.9% of the target fixed at BE 2015-16. The customs duty collection, however, increased marginally 1.7% to Rs. 17,475 crore compared to Rs.17, 185 crore during November 2014, providing a mixed picture of the economy. This is an achievement of 67.2% of the target fixed for BE 2015-16.

Bulk of the growth in indirect taxes came from excise duty collections which increased by 58.3% to Rs.  23,033 crore in the month of November against Rs 14,551 crore in same period last year .The strong increase in excise duty collection is largely because of the higher duty imposed on petrol and diesel and phasing out of tax exemptions given to the select sectors such as automobile.

Indirect tax collections rose by 34.3% to Rs 4,38,291 crore for the first eight months of the current fiscal as compared to Rs 3,26,273 crore in the same period last fiscal. The government managed to collect 67.8% of the budgeted target for indirect taxes in 2015-16. Excise duty collection was up 67 per cent during this period, while customs duty collection rose by 14.7 per cent. Service tax collection showed an increase of 25 per cent in the April-November period.

As per the Budget estimate for FY16, indirect taxes is pegged at Rs 6, 46,267 crore, requiring a monthly growth rate of 18.8%. India's GDP grew 7.4% in the second quarter of 2015-16 on the back of a robust 9.3% increase in gross value added in the manufacturing sector.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 7624.25, up by 11.75 points or 0.15% after trading in a range of 7616.10 and 7651.50. There were 30 stocks advancing against 20 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were GAIL India up by 2.54%, Hindalco up by 2.51%, Reliance Industries up by 2.09%, Vedanta up by 1.70% and NTPC up by 1.69%.

On the flip side, Lupin down by 2.89%, Sun Pharma down by 2.42%, Zee Entertainment down by 1.79%, Yes Bank down by 1.67% and Mahindra & Mahindra down by 1.49% were the top losers.

The Asian markets were trading mostly in red; Nikkei 225 decreased 216.1 points or 1.12% to 19,084.97, Hang Seng decreased 14.09 points or 0.06% to 21,789.67, FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI decreased 6.77 points or 0.41% to 1,652.59, Taiwan Weighted decreased 6.33 points or 0.08% to 8,223.29 and Jakarta Composite decreased 4.33 points or 0.1% to 4,459.86.

On the other hand, KOSPI Index increased 0.26 points or 0.01% to 1,948.50 and Shanghai Composite increased 6.61 points or 0.19% to 3,479.05.