Sensex, Nifty holds early gains on sustained buying

After opening on a firm note this morning, Indian equity markets remained well placed in positive territory and currently holding early gains on sustained buying at several front line counters. However, investors were expecting some positive announcement from the government following the finance minister's assurance on Monday. Meanwhile some good numbers from Indian companies and a firm trend in global markets amid easing worries about the financial situation in Europe also contributed to market's positive show. In currency markets, rupee appreciated against American currency on increased capital inflows. On sectoral front information technology stocks were trading higher. Automobile stocks were also moving ahead on strong buying support. Realty, metal and bank stocks too were mostly up with smart gains. In global markets, Asian shares were trading mixed. Back home, the market breadth favoring positive trend; there were 1,318 shares on the gaining side against 995 shares on the losing side while 122 shares remained unchanged.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 17,524.91 up by 111.95 points or 0.64% after touching a high of 17,549.36 and a low of 17,417.92. There were 25 stocks advancing against 5 declines on the index.

The broader indices were trading on a positive note; the BSE Mid cap index was up 0.55%, while Small cap index was up 0.55%.

The top gainers on the BSE sectoral space were, IT up by 1.41%, TECk up by 1.32%, Auto up by 1.32%, Realty up by 0.93% and Bankex up by 0.84%, while Oil & Gas down 0.16% and Consumer Durables down 0.11% were top losers on the index.

Tata Motors up by 3.48%, Jindal Steel up by 1.91%, Bajaj Auto up by 1.81%, TCS up by 1.51% and ICICI Bank up by 1.47% were major gainers on the Sensex, while Hero MotoCorp down by 1.50%, Reliance Industries down by 0.57%, NTPC down by 0.24%, HDFC Bank down by 0.23% and ITC down by 0.02% were major losers on the index.

Meanwhile, in an attempt to boost investors’ confidence, Minister of Commerce & Industry of India, has decided to seek cabinet’s approval on new norms for the revival of special economic zones (SEZs). Several developers had surrendered their projects, after the levying of Minimum Alternative Tax (MAT) and Dividend Distribution Tax (DDT) on SEZs in 2010-11.

The SEZs had experienced a drastic slowdown after the levying of taxes. While, profit-linked benefits were the main attractions of the SEZ scheme. The government is planning incentives for developers who want to set up SEZs in remote and undeveloped areas and also to consider loosen up minimum land area requirement for different categories of SEZ, besides extending the benefits of export schemes to SEZ units in order to attract more investments in the sector.

Exports from SEZs were at Rs 3.65 lakh crore in 2011-12. With investment of Rs 2.02 lakh crore, these zones provided employment to over 8.45 lakh. The overseas shipments from the 153 operational tax-free havens have come down to 12 per cent in the country's total exports from about 30 per cent in the previous years.

The S&P CNX Nifty is currently trading at 5,315.75, up by 33.20 points or 0.63% after trading in a range of 5,324.25 and 5,281.65. There were 40 stocks advancing against 10 declines on the index.

The top gainers on the Nifty were IDFC up by 3.29%, Tata Motors up by 3.27%, HCL Tech up by 2.47%, Axis Bank by 2.41% and Jindal Steel up by 2.04%. While, Hero Moto down by 1.43%, BPCL down by 1.36%, Power Grid down by 1.33%, Cain down by 0.88% and Reliance down by 0.60% were top losers on the index.

Asian indices were trading mixed; Kospi Composite Index up 0.05%, Hang Seng index up by 0.18%, Straits Times up by 0.06%, Nikkei 225 up 0.88% and Taiwan Weighted up by 0.13%, while Shanghai Composite down by 0.11%, Jakarta Composite down by 0.04% and KLSE Composite down by 0.18%.