Markets make a strong gap-up start to trade at record highs

The Indian markets have made a strong gap up start with bourses surging to their all time high in the opening deal and despite giving up some early gains were trading strong. The jubilation in the market was mainly a reaction to the BJP's emphatic victory in the politically crucial state of UP, as the results will give a boost to the government's reform agenda. The development has raised the chances of increased foreign inflow amid steady rupee, as predictability and stability of the government may help in sustaining high PE Indian equities. Traders were also getting some support from the economy front, with the industrial production bouncing back into expansion in January. Kicking off the financial year’s last quarter on a positive note, the index of industrial production (IIP) rose 2.7% in January from a year ago, the second fastest monthly growth this financial year. Traders have largely overlooked the flat closing of US markets overnight and mixed trade in the regional peers and seemed undeterred with Federal Reserve's expected announcement of a modest interest rate at the culmination for its two-day meeting on Wednesday.
While the broader markets too are going neck-in-neck with the benchmarks, on the sectoral front capital goods and banking pack have taken the lead and only metal was showing some selling pressure, tailing global counterparts. In scrip specific movement, NBCC was up by over 2 percent on signing agreement with the State of Mauritius (Government of Mauritius) and Landscope (Mauritius) for construction of New Supreme Court Building on PMC basis.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 29404.81, up by 458.58 points or 1.58% after trading in a range of 29356.05 and 29561.93. There were 26 stocks advancing against 4 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.94%, while Small cap index up by 0.98%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Capital Goods up by 2.38%, Bankex up by 1.93%, Realty up by 1.81%, Industrials up by 1.57% and FMCG up by 1.54%, while Metal down by 0.53% was the only losing index on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were ICICI Bank up by 4.81%, Larsen & Toubro up by 3.54%, HDFC up by 3.24%, ITC up by 2.17% and Maruti Suzuki up by 1.96%. On the flip side, Coal India down by 5.26%, GAIL India down by 0.24%, Bajaj Auto down by 0.23% and Bharti Airtel down by 0.19% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, the government’s revenue collection during April-February of current fiscal year has shown a healthy growth, indirect tax collection surged by 22.2 percent at Rs 7.72 lakh crore on the back of robust collection in excise duty mop-up, while that of direct tax the rise was 10.7 percent to Rs 6.17 lakh crore led by increase in personal income tax. Total direct and indirect tax collections at the end of February stood at Rs 13.89 lakh crore, 81.5 percent of the target of Rs 16.99 lakh crore, as per the revised estimate for 2016-17.

In indirect tax collections, central excise collections during April-February jumped 36.2 percent to Rs 3.45 lakh crore as compared to Rs 2.53 lakh crore during the corresponding period in the previous financial year. Service tax collations in the same period clocked a growth of 20.8 percent to Rs 2.21 lakh crore as compared to Rs 1.83 lakh crore year-on-year bases. Net Tax collections on account of Customs during April-February 2016-17 stood at Rs 2.05 lakh crore as compared to Rs 1.94 lakh crore during the same period in the previous year, thereby registering a growth of 5.2 percent. The net indirect tax collection till February 2017, achieved 90.9 percent of the Revised Estimates (RE) for FY17.

On the direct tax front, the gross collection of corporate income tax (CIT) grew at 11.9 percent, while under personal income tax (PIT) it was 20.8 percent over the corresponding period last fiscal. However, after adjusting for refunds, the net growth in CIT collections is 2.6 percent, while that in PIT collections is 19.5 percent. Refunds amounting to Rs 1.48 lakh crore have been issued during April 2016- February 2017, up 40.2 percent from a year ago period. Direct tax collection in 11 months of current financial year accounted for 72.9 percent of the total Budget Estimates FY17.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 9064.45, up by 129.90 points or 1.45% after trading in a range of 9060.50 and 9122.75. There were 47 stocks advancing against 4 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were ICICI Bank up by 4.93%, Larsen & Toubro up by 3.23%, HDFC up by 2.93%, Grasim Industries up by 2.70% and Yes Bank up by 2.41%. On the flip side, Coal India down by 5.25%, Bosch down by 0.25%, Bajaj Auto down by 0.16% and Bharti Airtel down by 0.08% were the top losers.

The Asian markets were showing mixed trend, Shanghai Composite was up by 3.54 points or 0.11% to 3,240.57, Hang Seng was higher by 12.72 points or 0.05% to 23,842.39, KOSPI Index increased by 13.36 points or 0.63% to 2,130.95, Jakarta Composite inched higher by 37.3 points or 0.69% to 5,446.67 and Taiwan Weighted was up by 64.44 points or 0.66% to 9,761.78

On the other hand, Nikkei 225 declined by 22.21 points or 0.11% to 19,611.54, FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI was tad lower by 0.18 points or 0.01% to 1,721.92 and Straits Times was down by 1.75 points or 0.10% to 3144.58.