Bourses extend splendid performance; Sensex, Nifty hit lifetime highs

Domestic benchmarks extended their splendid performance in the early noon session with Sensex and Nifty hitting lifetime highs due to heavy and sharp buying by investors in capital goods, industrials and energy stocks. Larsen & Toubro, Tata Motors and ONGC were gaining the most on the NSE and BSE. Meanwhile, the Indian rupee recovered sharply against the US dollar, which also provided support to the Indian markets. Besides, traders took some encouragement with a report that foreign investors have pumped in Rs 7,577 crore into the Indian capital markets so far this month due to better corporate earnings coupled with improvement in crude oil prices. The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) informed that India's Income-Tax (I-T) collection peaked a record high of Rs 10.03 lakh crore during the financial year 2017-18, also boosted the domestic sentiments.  

On the global front, most of the Asian counters were trading in green as investors were encouraged by news that China and the US will hold lower-level trade talks in August, offering hope that they might resolve an escalating tariff war. Back home, stocks related to gems and jewellery sector were in focus after a report stated that troubled gem and jewellery sector has managed to sign deals worth Rs 8,000 crore at the recent India International Jewellery show organised by the Gem and Jewellery Export Promotion Council in Mumbai. In scrip specific development, L&T jumped after the Mumbai-headquartered company said that it will consider its first-ever share buyback on Thursday.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 38244.63, up by 296.75 points or 0.78% after trading in a range of 38050.69 and 38266.95. There were 26 stocks advancing against 5 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index rose by 0.77%, while Small cap index up by 0.29%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Capital Goods up by 3.15%, Industrials up by 2.02%, Energy up by 1.74%, Oil & Gas up by 1.26% and Healthcare up by 0.90%, while IT down by 1.17% and TECK down by 0.99% were the only losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Larsen & Toubro up by 5.59%, Tata Motors up by 3.24%, ONGC up by 3.07%, Tata Motors - DVR up by 2.79% and Reliance Industries up by 1.87%. On the flip side, Infosys down by 2.99%, Maruti Suzuki down by 0.64%, Bharti Airtel down by 0.63%, Power Grid Corpn. down by 0.35% and TCS down by 0.12% were the top losers.

The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) has informed that India's Income-Tax (I-T) collection peaked a record high of Rs 10.03 lakh crore during the financial year 2017-18. CBDT member, Shabri Bhattasali has indicted that a record number of 6.92 crore I-T returns were filed during 2017-18, which was 1.31 crore more than 5.61 crore returns filed in 2016-17. She also noted that the income tax department added 1.06 crore new return filers during 2017-18 and is aiming to add 1.25 crore new tax payers in the current financial year. She added that this number was 1.89 lakh in the North Eastern Region.

Chief Commissioner of the Income Tax Department (North Eastern Region) LC Joshi Ranee has stated that Rs 7,097 crore tax was collected from the region during 2017-18. He also said that this is 16.7 percent higher than Rs 6,082 crore collected in the preceding year. Besides, he mentioned that the target in the region for 2018-19 has been fixed at Rs 8,357 crore, 17.75 percent more than last year’s collection.

Stating that the department is committed to meet the target tax collection, Ranee said increase taxpayer base and deliver superior services, 'Aaykar Seva Kendras' have already been opened in 22 out of 29 stations in NER. He added that new offices are being opened in far-flung areas to deliver taxpayer services

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 11541.85, up by 71.10 points or 0.62% after trading in a range of 11499.65 and 11545.30. There were 36 stocks advancing against 14 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Larsen & Toubro up by 5.55%, ONGC up by 3.07%, Tata Motors up by 3.06%, Reliance Industries up by 1.93% and HPCL up by 1.87%. On the flip side, Infosys down by 2.73%, GAIL India down by 2.22%, Titan Co down by 1.21%, HCL Tech. down by 1.00% and UPL down by 0.81% were the top losers.

Most of the Asian counters were trading in green; Straits Times increased 3.34 points or 0.1% to 3,212.78, Hang Seng surged 222.05 points or 0.81% to 27,435.46, KOSPI added 0.10 points or 0% to 2,247.15, Taiwan Weighted climbed 8.09 points or 0.08% to 10,699.05 and Jakarta Composite was up 99.17 points or 1.69% to 5,882.97.

On the other hand, Nikkei 225 decreased 71.38 points or 0.32% to 22,199.00 and Shanghai Composite was down 6.31 points or 0.24% to 2,662.66.