Markets maintain gaining momentum; PSU zooms

Key Indian benchmarks maintained their gaining momentum in late morning session, with Sensex up over 300 points following a mega recapitalisation package for banks and a Rs 7 lakh crore infra booster. The Union Cabinet on Tuesday approved a Rs 2.11 lakh crore recapitalisation plan for state-run banks and massive road infrastructure investment of nearly Rs 7 lakh crore over five years. Traders also took some encouragement with Economic Affairs Secretary Subhash Garg’s statement that the reforms initiated by the government like demonetisation and Goods and Services Tax (GST) have been biggest growth contributors. Adding some optimism, the government’s revenue collection remained robust with growth of 1.63 percent to Rs 92,150 crore collected as Goods and Services Tax (GST) in September 2017 as against Rs 90,669 crore in August. Some support also came with Finance Minister Arun Jaitley’s statement that the Indian economy is on a strong wicket with sound macro-economic fundamentals.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly in green following the overnight gains on Wall Street as upbeat corporate earnings results and optimism about global economic growth boosted investors’ sentiments. Investors were also awaiting the announcement by Chinese President Xi Jinping later in the day of new members of the Politburo Standing Committee, the country's supreme political body.

Back home, in scrip specific development, Fineotex Chemical soared after the company along with its Malaysian Subsidiary BT Biotex Sdn Bhd launched its new product called Aquastrike VCF: The Ecofriendly, nontoxic solution for Mosquito outbreak in several countries.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 32936.55, up by 329.21 points or 1.01% after trading in a range of 32804.60 and 33117.33. There were 21 stocks advancing against 10 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.18%, while Small cap index was up by 0.05%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were PSU up by 6.63%, Bankex up by 3.45%, Capital Goods up by 3.23%, Industrials up by 1.71% and Power up by 1.35%, while Consumer Durables down by 0.91%, Realty down by 0.55%, Metal down by 0.54%, Telecom down by 0.40% and Healthcare down by 0.19% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were SBI up by 22.65%, ICICI Bank up by 10.64%, Larsen & Toubro up by 5.22%, Axis Bank up by 3.49% and Tata Motors - DVR up by 1.56%. On the flip side, Kotak Mahindra Bank down by 4.21%, HDFC Bank down by 3.89%, HDFC down by 2.56%, Asian Paints down by 1.27% and Lupin down by 1.12% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, in the third month of new indirect tax regime roll out, the government’s revenue collection remained robust with growth of 1.63 percent to Rs 92,150 crore collected as Goods and Services Tax (GST) in September 2017 as against Rs 90,669 crore in August. Out of the total, Rs 14,042 crore is on account of Central GST, while State GST is to the tune of Rs 21,172 crore.

The government also collected Rs 48,948 crore from Integrated GST in September of which the tax from imports is Rs 23,951 crore. Receipts from compensation cess in September amounted to Rs 7,988 crore of which Rs 722 crore is from imports. The total number of GSTR 3B returns filed for the month of September is 42.91 lakh as on October 23, 2017. As per the data, GST collections for the maiden month of July were over Rs 95,000 crore, while for August the figure was over Rs 91,000 crore.

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has said that revenue collection under new indirect tax regime has been consistent between Rs 93,000- 94,000 crore in taxes every month on back of encouraging response from the industry. He also indicated rationalisation of GST tax slabs once revenue stream stabilises. He said trade response towards GST is encouraging and if in first three months the number of registrants increase 30-35 percent, then it is a positive signal.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 10266.25, up by 58.55 points or 0.57% after trading in a range of 10240.90 and 10340.55. There were 30 stocks advancing against 20 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were SBI up by 23.19%, ICICI Bank up by 9.81%, Larsen & Toubro up by 4.84%, Ultratech Cement up by 4.23% and Axis Bank up by 4.04%. On the flip side, Indusind Bank down by 4.61%, Indiabulls Housing Finance down by 4.33%, HDFC Bank down by 3.89%, Kotak Mahindra Bank down by 3.76% and Yes Bank down by 3.14% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in green; Shanghai Composite increased 1.8 points or 0.05% to 3,390.05, KOSPI Index increased 2.14 points or 0.09% to 2,492.63, Taiwan Weighted increased 6.79 points or 0.06% to 10,750.57, Jakarta Composite increased 31.2 points or 0.52% to 5,983.28 and Hang Seng increased 61.49 points or 0.22% to 28,216.46.

On the flip side, Nikkei 225 decreased 95.37 points or 0.44% to 21,709.80 and FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI decreased 0.86 points or 0.05% to 1,735.28.