Benchmarks continue lackluster trade slightly in green

Indian equity benchmarks continued their lackluster trade slightly in green in the afternoon deals, as healthy buying was witnessed in Realty, Consumer Durables and FMCG stocks. Sentiment remained positive with industry body PHD Chamber’s statement that the Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act, if implemented with a positive approach can boost the GDP of the country. The RERA came into force from April 1 with a promise of protecting the right of consumers and ushering in transparency. Domestic sentiment was also buoyed as India’s exports grew 8.32 percent to $24.01 billion in May, mainly on account of robust performance by sectors like petroleum, chemicals, engineering goods as well as gems and jewellery. However, gains were muted with the current account deficit soaring to $ 3.4 billion, or 0.6 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP), in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2017, from $ 0.3 billion a year ago. In scrip specific development, Havells India was up by around a percent on plan to raise funds through issue of Commercial Papers (CPs) to Yes Bank for an amount of Rs 150 crore.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly in green, shrugging off technology-led declines overnight in the US, as a stronger US dollar boosted export stocks in the region. The Bank of Japan kept interest rates on hold and tweaked its view of the economy upwards in a steady-as-she-goes decision on monetary policy.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 31102.80, up by 27.07 points or 0.09% after trading in a range of 31059.41 and 31182.73. There were 15 stocks advancing against 15 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.15%, while Small cap index was up by 0.33%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Realty up by 1.75%, Consumer Durables up by 0.78%, FMCG up by 0.77%, Basic Materials up by 0.37% and Industrials up by 0.36%, while Healthcare down by 1.39%, IT down by 0.51%, TECK down by 0.39% and Power down by 0.01% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were ITC up by 1.87%, Tata Motors up by 1.11%, GAIL India up by 1.05%, Coal India up by 0.94% and Mahindra & Mahindra up by 0.81%. On the flip side, Lupin down by 4.06%, Dr. Reddys Lab down by 2.26%, Sun Pharma down by 2.07%, Wipro down by 2.05% and Cipla down by 1.85% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, with an aim to curb corruption and harassment of taxpayers, the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) has formed a 13-member task force to chart the road map for its proposal of a jurisdiction-free I-T assessment system and e-scrutiny of taxpayers. Task force has been asked to submit its report on the new tax assessment process to the CBDT by July 31.

The CBDT, which frames policy for the tax department, has said that it formed the task force after it had agreed with the recommendations of an earlier committee that suggested changes in the age-old methods of assessment and scrutiny done by the taxman. The committee had suggested to the CBDT that departmental databases such as permanent account number (PAN) should be used to better the tax assessment system in the favour of the tax-paying public.

For conducting scrutiny assessments, the Income Tax Department has said that different category of taxpayers should be ‘segmented’ and a ‘new ecosystem’ should be created. The board also said that it had agreed for having a flexible function-specific jurisdiction for certain actions and pre- verification of information mismatch before full-fledged scrutiny.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 9583.65, up by 5.60 points or 0.06% after trading in a range of 9575.40 and 9615.85. There were 24 stocks advancing against 26 stocks declining on the index, while 1 stock remained unchanged.

The top gainers on Nifty were ITC up by 1.97%, Bharti Infratel up by 1.61%, NTPC up by 1.10%, Tata Motors - DVR up by 1.10% and Aurobindo Pharma up by 1.03%. On the flip side, Lupin down by 3.74%, Dr. Reddys Lab down by 2.38%, Sun Pharma down by 2.10%, Wipro down by 2.07% and Cipla down by 1.95% were the top losers.

The Asian markets were trading mostly in green; KOSPI Index increased 0.18 points or 0.01% to 2,361.83, FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI added 2.63 points or 0.15% to 1,792.64, Taiwan Weighted rose 68.38 points or 0.68% to 10,156.73, Hang Seng was up by 78.64 points or 0.31% to 25,643.98 and Nikkei 225 surged 111.44 points or 0.56% to 19,943.26.

On the flip side, Jakarta Composite decreased 27.61 points or 0.48% to 5,748.67 and Shanghai Composite was down by 4.86 points or 0.16% to 3,127.62.