Markets continue to trade in green zone

Key Indian benchmarks continued to trade in green zone in early afternoon session, on sustained buying in Metal, Consumer Durables, Basic Materials and Healthcare stocks. Strengthening rupee also supported the upward move in the domestic stock markets. Sentiments got boost with report that the subscribers of the retirement fund body Employees' Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) may get an option in the new year to invest more of their savings in equity market, besides a host of other social security benefits and digital tools to manage their funds. At present, EPFO invests up to 15 per cent of its investible deposits into the exchange traded funds (ETFs) and so far such investments total about Rs 55,000 crore. Markets pared some of their gains with a report that inflation seems to have become a double-edged sword for policy makers with political opponents attacking the government over farmers getting hit due to low prices for agricultural produce, even as the rate of price rise in 2018 has mostly been contained within the targeted comfort zone. On a net basis, foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) sold shares worth Rs 119.60 crore Friday, while domestic institutional investors (DIIs) were net buyers to the tune of Rs 1,199.40 crore, according to the provisional data available with BSE.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading in green as hints of progress on the Sino-US trade standoff provided a rare glimmer of optimism in what has been a rough year-end for equities globally. Back on street, in scrip specific development, Hero MotoCorp gained as the company has maintained its leadership position in the domestic two-wheeler segment in November. Besides, Piramal Enterprises surged on planning to raise funds up to Rs 100 crore via MLDs.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 36116.05, up by 39.33 points or 0.11% after trading in a range of 36106.67 and 36285.46. There were 22 stocks advancing against 9 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index rose 0.66%, while Small cap index was up by 0.53%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Metal up by 1.48%, Consumer Durables up by 1.01%, Basic Materials up by 0.99%, Healthcare up by 0.66% and Auto was up by 0.59%, while Energy down by 0.33%, Utilities down by 0.32%, Oil & Gas down by 0.24% and Power was down by 0.04% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Tata Steel up by 1.89%, Vedanta up by 1.23%, Tata Motors up by 1.08%, Tata Motors - DVR up by 0.98% and Sun Pharma was up by 0.94%. On the flip side, Power Grid Corporation down by 0.63%, Reliance Industries down by 0.52%, NTPC down by 0.50%, Kotak Mahindra Bank down by 0.49% and Coal India was down by 0.43% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, the government has detected Goods and Services Tax (GST) evasion worth Rs 38,896 crore in 6,585 cases during the first seven months of 2018-19. Minister of State for Finance Shiv Pratap Shukla has said that while central excise evasion of Rs 3,028.58 crore in 398 cases was unearthed during the April-October period, service tax evasion of Rs 26,108.43 crore was detected in 3,922 cases.

Shukla has noted that customs evasion was detected in 12,711 cases involving Rs 6,966.04 crore. He also indicated that the total amount of evasion in indirect taxes (GST, service tax, excise and customs) during April-October adds up to about Rs 75,000 crore.

According to Minister, during the seven-month period, the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) recovered evasion worth Rs 9,480 crore in GST, Rs 3,188 crore in service tax, Rs 1,600.84 crore in customs and Rs 383.5 crore in central excise.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 10877.40, up by 17.50 points or 0.16% after trading in a range of 10872.35 and 10923.55. There were 34 stocks advancing against 15 stocks declining, while 1 stock remained unchanged on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were JSW Steel up by 2.31%, Tata Steel up by 2.08%, Hindalco up by 1.61%, Titan up by 1.43% and Vedanta was up by 1.25%. On the flip side, Bharti Infratel down by 0.87%, NTPC down by 0.80%, Reliance Industries down by 0.52%, Cipla down by 0.49% and HDFC wad down by 0.38% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading in green; Hang Seng increased 341.50 points or 1.34% to 25,845.70 and Straits Times was up by 15.33 points or 0.5% to 3,068.76.