Benchmarks trade with marginal gains in early deals

Indian equity benchmarks have made a positive opening and are trading slightly in green in early deals amid sanguine global cues. Traders also took some encouragement with report that the Government’s revenue collection during April-January FY17 has shown healthy growth. Indirect tax collection jumped 23.9 percent to Rs 7.03 lakh crore on the back of robust central excise mop-up, while direct tax collection rose by 10.79 percent to Rs 5.82 lakh crore. However, gains remained capped as traders remained cautious, as industrial production data contracted by 0.4% in December 2016 from the same period a year ago, due to a sharp decline in production of consumer goods. The cumulative IIP growth for April-December was 0.3% against 3.2% for the same period in 2015. Traders also remained on sidelines ahead of Consumer Price Index (CPI) to be released later today.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly in green at this point of time, tailing the gains in US markets and as recent actions by President Donald Trump helped soothe investor worries about ties between the U.S. and its key Asian trading partners. The US markets moved higher in last session and the indices registered fresh records and posted a third straight weekly gain.

Back home, stocks related to infra counter remained on buyers’ radar, as the Road Transport, Highway and Shipping Minister Nitin Gadkari has said that the government’s road and highway building programme has enough cash to build the crucial infrastructure. He said as many as 101 projects are ready for take-off and funding the same would not be a problem.

The market breadth indicating the overall health of the market was firm, with 1086 shares gaining and 1028 shares declining, while a total of 102 shares were unchanged.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 28364.16, up by 29.91 points or 0.11% after trading in a range of 28321.93 and 28458.80. There were 16 stocks advancing against 14 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index gained 0.14%, while Small cap index was up by 0.02%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Metal up by 1.06%, IT up by 0.40%, Power up by 0.39%, TECK up by 0.35% and Oil & Gas was up by 0.23%, while PSU down by 0.28%, Capital Goods down by 0.18%, Consumer Durables down by 0.16%, FMCG down by 0.05% and Realty was down by 0.03% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Tata Steel up by 1.64%, GAIL India up by 1.06%, Power Grid up by 1.03%, NTPC up by 1.00% and Mahindra & Mahindra was up by 0.84%. On the flip side, Coal India down by 2.16%, Hero MotoCorp down by 0.41%, SBI down by 0.40%, ITC down by 0.29% and Cipla was down by 0.28% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, the Government’s revenue collection during April-January, 2016-17 has shown healthy growth, indirect tax collection jumped 23.9 percent to Rs 7.03 lakh crore on the back of robust central excise mop-up, while direct tax collection rose by 10.79 percent to Rs 5.82 lakh crore. The total direct and indirect tax collections at the end of January stood at Rs 12.85 lakh crore, more than half the Rs 16.26 lakh crore target for 2016-17.

In Indirect tax collections, Central Excise collections during April-January, 2016-17 climbed 40.5 percent to Rs 3.13 lakh crore as compared to Rs 2.23 lakh crore during the corresponding period in the previous year. Service Tax collections in the same period rose 22 percent to Rs 2.03 lakh crore as compared to Rs 1.66 lakh crore during the same period of previous year. Net Tax collections on account of Customs during April-January 2016-17 stood at Rs 1.86 lakh crore as compared to Rs 1.77 lakh crore in the same period a year ago, registering a growth of 4.7 percent. Till January 2017, about 82.8 percent of the Revised Estimates (RE) of indirect taxes for Financial Year 2016-17 has been achieved.

On the direct tax front, it includes corporate and personal income tax. The gross collection of corporate income tax (CIT) grew at 11.7 percent, while under personal income tax (PIT), it was 21 percent over the corresponding period last fiscal. After adjusting for refunds, however, the net growth in CIT collections is 2.9 percent while under PIT, it is 23.1 percent. Refunds amounting to over Rs 1.41 lakh crore have been issued during April-January, up 41 percent from a year ago. Direct tax collections till January 2017, are 68.7 percent of the total Budget Estimates for FY 2016-17.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 8803.15, up by 9.60 points or 0.11% after trading in a range of 8786.45 and 8826.90. There were 28 stocks advancing against 23 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Hindalco up by 2.80%, Kotak Mahindra Bank up by 2.07%, Bharti Infratel up by 1.72%, Yes Bank up by 1.56% and Tata Steel was up by 1.42%. On the flip side, Bank of Baroda down by 6.49%, Idea Cellular down by 3.12%, Coal India down by 2.05%, BHEL down by 1.68% and Aurobindo Pharma was down by 1.28% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in green; FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI gained 8.11 points or 0.48% to 1,707.05, Shanghai Composite increased 20.13 points or 0.63% to 3,216.83, Jakarta Composite jumped 31.34 points or 0.58% to 5,403.01, Taiwan Weighted rose 34.52 points or 0.36% to 9,700.11, Nikkei 225 added 91.92 points or 0.47% to 19,470.85 and Hang Seng was up by 119.82 points or 0.51% to 23,694.80.

On the flip side, KOSPI Index was down by 0.15 points or 0.01% to 2,074.93.