Benchmarks trade in fine fettle in noon deals

Indian equity benchmarks are trading in fine fettle in noon deals with frontline gauges recapturing their crucial 25,100 (Sensex) and 7,650 (Nifty) levels. Continued buying by investors and inflows by foreign funds mainly helped the improved the market sentiments. Sentiments also remained up-beat on hopes that the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) will cut rates in its monetary policy review on April 5. On the global front, most Asian stock markets were trading mostly in red at this point of time after three consecutive weeks of gains as a retreat in oil prices made investors cautious, but losses were tempered by hopes that China may soon cut interest rates again as pressure on the yuan eases.

Closer home, banking shares mainly public sector banks (PSB) were trading higher on the bourses after the government announced a steep cut in interest rates on small savings schemes. Jewellery stocks remained on buyers’ radar after the 18-day long strike by jewellers ended on Saturday night.  Meanwhile, the government will begin the payment of salaries and pensions to its 48 lakh employees and 52 lakh pensioners based on the seventh pay commission recommendations from July along with six months’ arrears. This will in turn boost the consumption and led to a powerful rally in the FMCG stocks.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 25123.04, up by 170.30 points or 0.68% after trading in a range of 24988.27 and 25143.96. There were 17 stocks advancing against 13 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.87%, while Small cap index up by 1.00%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Realty up by 1.81%, Industrials up by 1.50%, Capital Goods up by 1.31%, Basic Materials up by 1.24%, FMCG up by 1.14% and Bankex up by 1.13% while, IT down by 0.14% and Metal down by 0.03% were the only losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were SBI up by 2.30%, Bharti Airtel up by 2.15%, Tata Motors up by 2.15%, ITC up by 1.88% and Hindustan Unilever up by 1.76%. On the flip side, Asian Paints down by 2.23%, Hero MotoCorp down by 1.46%, Lupin down by 1.22%, BHEL down by 0.97% and Dr. Reddys Lab down by 0.81% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, after protesting for 18-days against the levy of 1% excise duty on gold jewellery, jewellers and gold associations across the country have called off their strike, after the government's assurance that they will not be harassed by the tax officials. The government also assured the jewellers that it will form a three-member committee to address the concerns, which will submit a report in the next 60 days. It has been reported that the committee will be headed by former chief economic advisor Ashok Lahiri and will have three industry representatives, a law expert and Central Board of Excise and Customs officials as members.

It was also reported that the Central Board of Excise and Customs has instructed that jewellers will not need to declare their stocks to excise officials, who have also been asked not to visit jewellers to verify stock and records.

The jewelers were on an indefinite strike from the start of March after government reintroduced a 1-percent excise duty on gold jewellery after four years. The duty was earlier imposed in 2012, but was later rolled back by the government after the jewellers had called for a strike. As per the new revision, jewellers having an annual turnover over Rs 12 crore will be eligible for paying tax duty, while those having turnover below Rs 6 crore in the previous fiscal will be eligible for exemptions up to Rs 50 lakh during March 2016.

Meanwhile, the Gems and Jewellery Export Promotion Council (GJEPC) has said that the strike had caused losses of Rs 60-70,000 crore to the industry. India's February gold imports dropped to $1.44 billion, from $2.91 billion in January.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 7650.75, up by 46.40 points or 0.61% after trading in a range of 7617.70 and 7662.55. There were 31 stocks advancing against 18 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Ultratech Cement up by 3.52%, PNB up by 2.97%, Bharti Airtel up by 2.56%, Bosch up by 2.48%, ACC up by 2.45%. On the flip side, Asian Paints down by 2.38%, Hero MotoCorp down by 1.35%, Wipro down by 1.32%, Lupin down by 1.09% and BHEL down by 0.97% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in red; Nikkei 225 declined 211.57 points or 1.25% to 16,724.81, Hang Seng slipped 22.04 points or 0.11% to 20,649.59, FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI dipped 6.73 points or 0.39% to 1,709.61, Jakarta Composite shed 6.26 points or 0.13% to 4,879.45 and KOSPI Index was down by 2.36 points or 0.12% to 1,989.76.

On the flip side, Taiwan Weighted increased 1.99 points or 0.02% to 8,812.70 and Shanghai Composite was up by 59.66 points or 2.02% to 3,014.81.