Benchmark continue weak trade; Realty, Capital Goods down

Indian equities continued to trade weak in the late morning session as investors preferred to book profits after two sessions of gains as deteriorating federal budget negotiations in US fueled concern that automatic tax increases and spending cuts will be triggered. On the global front most of the Asian counters were trading in the red. Back home, the traders were seen piling up position in Healthcare, FMCG and IT, while selling was seen in Realty, Capital Goods and Bankex sector. BGR Energy Systems gained after getting order for supply of 2 X 800 MW steam turbine and generators for NTPC's Lara Super Thermal Power Project in Chattisgarh. Reliance Power was trading in red after the company stated that the offer for sale (OFS) transaction was completed at a price of Rs 95 per share on a proportionate allocation method. Sterlite Industries (India) , National Aluminium Company and Hindalco Industries  edged lower after global credit rating agency Moody's Investors Services placed its Baa3 rating on US aluminum major Alcoa Inc. on review for downgrade on concerns over falling aluminum prices.  Adani Enterprises was trading under pressure after the promoters of the company on Wednesday, December 19, 2012, announced an Offer for Sale of 2.3 crore equity shares of the company through the stock exchanges mechanism.

The NSE Nifty and BSE Sensex were managing to hold their psychological 5,900 and 19400 levels respectively. The market breadth on BSE was negative, in the ratio of 988:1101.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 19455.28 down by 20.72 points or 0.11% after trading in a range of 19520.51 and 19408.02. There were 7 stocks advancing against 23 declines on the index.

The broader indices were trading on mixed note; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.10% and Small cap index was down by 0.08%. The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were, Healthcare up by 0.96%, FMCG up by 0.31%, IT up by 0.18% and TECk up by 0.14%. While, Realty down by 0.87%, Capital Goods down by 0.62%, Bankex down by 0.46%, Power down by 0.39% and Consumer Durables down by 0.31% were the few losers on the index.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Cipla up by 1.55%, Hindustan Unilever up by 1.00%, Maruti Suzuki up by 0.69%, TCS up by 0.65% and Wipro up by 0.25%.

On the flip side, Sterlite Industries was down by 2.25%, BHEL was down by 1.24%,Tata Steel was down by 1.24%, Bharti Airtel was down by 1.14% and  L&T was down by 1.07% were the top losers on the Sensex.

Meanwhile, Government is fully committed to provide best possible facilities to the tax payers for better tax compliance and revenue augmentation, focusing a reasonably stable tax regime, which is in the interest of both the taxpayers as well as tax collectors, said Finance Minister, P. Chidambaram at the 5th Meeting of Consultative Committee ‘Facilitation for Tax Payers’.

The move comes as a relief for the taxpayers who, in the recent times, have times blamed the government for a series of turnarounds. At the same time Chidambaram clarified that government intends to keep a close eye on tax evaders and will bring in an upgraded tax information system. 'We have moderate rate of income tax as compared to various developed countries. Our peak rate of taxation is 30% at present. Therefore, there is lot of scope for better tax compliance and tax collections,' Chidambaram said.

By adding further Finance Minister said, 'At present, 3.5 crore people are filing income tax returns. Only 14.6 lakh people have declared their income of Rs 10 lakh and above for tax purposes which is not realistic.' Recently, government had pointed out several individuals’ spending/ investment activities being absent from their tax returns and expressed concern on the same. 

The S&P CNX Nifty is currently trading at 5,917.50 down by 12.10 points or 0.20% after trading in a range of 5,937.60 and 5,908.45. There were 17 stocks advancing against 32 declines while 1 stock remains unchanged on the index.

The top gainers of the Nifty were Cipla up by 1.92%, Hindustan Unilever up by 1.42%, Asian Paintup by 1.09%, Maruti Suzuki up by 1.01% and Ranbaxy up by 0.92%.

On the flip side, Ambuja Cement down by 1.35%, JP Associates down by 1.29%, Sesa Goa down by 1.24%, BHEL down by 1.11%, IDFC down by 0.99%, and, were the major losers on the index.

Most of the Asian equity indices were trading in red; Shanghai Composite declined 11.21 points or 0.52% to 2,151.03, Hang Seng contracted 83.09 points or 0.37% to 22,540.28, Jakarta Composite tumbled 38.59 points or 0.90% to 4,237.27, KLSE Composite slipped 1.70 points or 0.10% to 1,663.94, Nikkei 225 dropped 52.03 points or 0.51% to 10,106.39 and Taiwan Weighted was down by 90.33points or 1.17% to 7,587.43.

On the flip side, Straits Times was up 2.93 points or 0.09% to 3,161.50 and KOSPI Composite surged 5.77 points or 0.25% to 1,998.38.