Indian bourses continue to trade in positive territory

Key benchmark indices continued to trade in positive territory in the afternoon session led by gains in frontline blue chip stocks. Sentiments were on optimistic note after Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said that government will offer tax benefits to small scale business engaged in cashless transactions. He also said that the move would enable small businesses having annual turnover of Rs 2 crore will save up to 30 percent in tax payments. Besides, recovery in the rupee value also aided the sentiment. The rupee strengthened by 20 paise to 67.85 against the US dollar in early trade as investors shrugged off geopolitical tensions and turned their focus to the prospects of faster U.S. economic growth. The upside was however capped after Crisil in its latest report said that the government's surprise move to demonetise of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes may yield lasting economic benefits but its immediate impact has been stunningly disruptive, with cash shortages roiling business plans. In scrip specific development, Reliance Communications was up by around 8 percent after signing binding agreement with the US asset management company to sell tower business.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly in red as investors remained cautious over the geopolitical concerns in Turkey, Germany and Switzerland. Back home, the BSE Sensex is currently trading at 26360.48, up by 52.50 points or 0.20% after trading in a range of 26296.26 and 26394.14. There were 21 stocks advancing against 9 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.27%, while Small cap index was up by 0.36%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Realty up by 1.44%, Metal up by 1.06%, Power up by 0.81%, PSU up by 0.67% and Auto up by 0.53%, while FMCG down by 0.41%, IT down by 0.14%, TECK down by 0.12% and Consumer Durables down by 0.05% were the losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Mahindra & Mahindra up by 1.67%, Bajaj Auto up by 1.21%, ICICI Bank up by 1.15%, HDFC up by 1.05% and Coal India up by 0.98%. On the flip side, Sun Pharma Inds. down by 0.98%, TCS down by 0.76%, ITC down by 0.63%, GAIL India down by 0.62% and Tata Motors down by 0.59% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, the government has notified that developers of new special economic zones (SEZs) will require National security clearance from Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) before setting up of new SEZs in specified cases.

The Commerce Ministry has said that the development commissioners (DCs) have to indicate whether proposal would require National Security Clearance from MHA before sending the same to the Department for consideration of the Board of Approval (BOA). It also said that in case where this clearance is not needed, the same may be confirmed. It further added that without this information no proposal for setting up of new SEZ will be entertained.

As per Commerce Ministry's data, as of March 31, 2016, these zones have attracted investments worth Rs 3.76 lakh crore and generated employment for 15.91 lakh people. In 2015-16, exports from SEZs recorded a marginal growth of 0.77 per cent to Rs 4.67 lakh crore. The exports from such 204 zones stood at Rs 4.63 lakh crore in 2014-15. SEZs are export hubs which contribute about 20% to the country's total exports and units in these zones enjoy certain tax benefits.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 8093.00, up by 10.60 points or 0.13% after trading in a range of 8075.85 and 8112.55. There were 33 stocks advancing against 18 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Hindalco up by 1.82% and Bosch up by 1.80% and Mahindra & Mahindra up by 1.70% and HDFC up by 1.20% and Eicher Motors up by 1.17%. On the flip side, Bharti Infratel down by 1.85%, Sun Pharma Inds. down by 1.00%, GAIL India down by 0.97%, TCS down by 0.90% and Zee Entertainment down by 0.88% were the top losers.

The Asian markets were trading mostly in red; Nikkei 225 decreased 50.04 points or 0.26% to 19,444.49, Taiwan Weighted declined 38.15 points or 0.41% to 9,204.26, KOSPI Index was down by 3.98 points or 0.19% to 2,037.96 and FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI decreased 0.66 points or 0.04% to 1,633.86. On the flip side, Jakarta Composite increased 0.06 points or 0% to 5,162.53, Shanghai Composite rose 25.06 points or 0.81% to 3,127.93 and Hang Seng was up by 134.53 points or 0.62% to 21,863.59.