Benchmarks continue firm trade in afternoon session

Indian equity markets continued to trade firm in afternoon session on the back of sustained buying activities by both funds and retail investors. The benchmark indices continue to trade above important psychological 8,750 and 28,250 levels and are holding on to half a percent gain in noon session. The sentiments got a push with report that India’s exports continued to grow for the fifth straight month, expanding by 4.32 percent to $ 22.11 billion in January against $ 21.19 billion in the same month of 2016. Imports also rose, by 10.70 percent to $ 31.95 billion, during the month under review. Markets were maintaining gains supported by buying in Realty, IT and Consumer Durables sector stocks. In scrip specific development, Resonance Specialties was up by over two percent on entering into an agreement with Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), to avail its iON manufacturing Solution.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly in red as a weaker U.S. dollar and profit-taking sent major stock indexes lower, despite a strong overnight lead from Wall Street. Back home, the BSE Sensex is currently trading at 28297.78, up by 142.22 points or 0.51% after trading in a range of 28146.19 and 28305.55. There were 20 stocks advancing against 10 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.82%, while Small cap index was up by 0.98%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Realty up by 2.35%, IT up by 1.76%, TECK up by 1.43%, Consumer Durables up by 1.09% and Auto up by 1.05%, while FMCG down by 0.55% was the lone losing index on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Sun Pharma up by 3.01%, Infosys up by 2.66%, Maruti Suzuki up by 2.17%, GAIL India up by 1.80% and Tata Motors up by 1.48%. On the flip side, ITC down by 1.34%, Dr. Reddys Lab down by 0.69%, Larsen & Toubro down by 0.61%, ICICI Bank down by 0.50% and Bajaj Auto down by 0.49% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, following the launch of ambitious e-nivaran facility for online redressal of taxpayers' grievances, the Income Tax (I-T) Department has now opened these windows at its 60 special offices throughout the country. Such facility will soon be launched at more than 100 special tax offices, named Aaykar Sampark Kendras (ASKs), as there has been a slight delay in operationalization at a few centres because of infrastructure issues. 

The taxpayer will have the option to register I-T related grievance on the e-nivaran link of the department's e-filing portal or go in person to an ASK and register such a complaint. They will have to fill a simple one-page form and they will subsequently be provided with a unique number to follow the progress of the case.

The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) had launched e-nivaran (electronic solution) system to help taxpayers register their all complaints related to delay in refunds, filing of e-returns, tax deducted at source, permanent account number (PAN) issues, those pertaining to their assessing officer (AO) or any other issue at this facility. The roll out started some time back and till now about 60 ASKs have started the facility and 104 more such ASKs will soon have the facility. CBDT is also planning to roll out a faster method to obtain a PAN, powered by the Aadhaar database, even as a mobile application is being prepared for filing of I-T returns and other services.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 8771.85, up by 47.15 points or 0.54% after trading in a range of 8719.60 and 8776.75. There were 35 stocks advancing against 15 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Sun Pharma Inds. up by 2.88% and Bank Of Baroda up by 2.51% and Infosys up by 2.49% and GAIL India up by 2.05% and Maruti Suzuki up by 1.97%. On the flip side, ITC down by 1.41%, Bharti Infratel down by 1.19%, Zee Entertainment down by 0.96%, Dr. Reddys Lab down by 0.66% and BPCL down by 0.64% were the top losers.

The Asian markets were trading mostly in red; Nikkei 225 decreased 90.45 points or 0.47% to 19,347.53, Taiwan Weighted declined 28.51 points or 0.29% to 9,771.25, FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI slipped 2.98 points or 0.17% to 1,706.81, Jakarta Composite decreased 2.82 points or 0.05% to 5,377.85 and KOSPI Index was down by 2.02 points or 0.1% to 2,081.84.

On the flip side, Shanghai Composite increased 8.17 points or 0.25% to 3,221.16 and Hang Seng was up by 112.75 points or 0.47% to 24,107.62.