Indian equities continue firm trade; Nifty above 5,900 mark

Indian equities added gains to continue its firm trade in the late afternoon session on account of buying in frontline counters ahead of its monthly expiry in the derivatives segment. Traders were seen piling some position in Capital Goods, Realty and Bankex sector. The market may remain volatile this week as traders may roll over positions in F&O segment from near month contract i.e. December 2012 series to next month contract i.e. January 2013 series. In the scrip specific development, Suzlon Energy was trading under pressure after its promoter led by chairman Tulsi Tanti, sold 3.75 crore shares amounting to about 2.11% of company’s paid-up capital in the wind turbine maker for Rs 63 crore. Jindal Stainless was trading firm as the company is going to issue 2.7 crore shares at Rs 74 a share on preferential basis to promoter. Credit Analysis and Research (CARE) was trading firm on debuting on the bourses today since the credit rating service provider attracted strong response for its $98 million initial public offering. On the global front, all the Asian markets were trading in green barring Taiwan Weighted while the European markets were closed today for the day. Back home, the NSE Nifty and BSE Sensex were trading above their psychological 5,900 and 19,400 levels respectively. The market breadth on BSE was positive in the ratio of 1515:1216 while 139 scrips remain unchanged.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 19452.99, up by 197.90 points or 1.03% after trading in a range of 19468.40 and 19274.07. There were 22 stocks advancing against 7 declines while 1 stock remains unchanged on the index.

The broader indices were also trading in green; the BSE Mid cap and Small cap index were trading higher by 0.75% and 0.54% respectively.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were, Capital Goods up by 1.83%, Realty up by 1.46%, Bankex up by 1.42%, Power up by 1.25% and Metal up by 1.05% while, there were no losers on the index.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Bharti Airtel up by 2.56%, ICICI Bank up by 2.24%, L&T up by 2.22%, Jindal Steel up by 2.21% and Bajaj Auto up by 2.05%.

On the flip side, Hindustan Unilever was down by 1.05%, Hero Moto Corp down by 0.63%, Tata Motors down by 0.29%, Wipro down by 0.29% and Dr Reddy’s Lab down by 0.09% were the top losers on the Sensex.

Meanwhile, the Finance Ministry is going to take help from the Financial Intelligence Unit-India (FIU-India) in tracking the evasion of central excise duty and service tax. In situations, where the tax defaulters are not traceable, the financial data of the FIU-India would be helpful to track the financial transactions or assets of defaulters of Central excise duty and service tax.

According to the finance ministry, once the data receive this will be used with the help of the concerned zonal chief commissioner, for realizing amount overdue of defaulters. It has been reported that the entire exercise is being closely monitored at the ‘highest level’ in the Ministry and any information shared with or received from FIU will be kept confidential and will not be used for evidential purposes.

FIU-India established in 2004 is the central, national agency responsible for receiving, processing, analyzing and disseminating information relating to suspect financial transactions to enforcement agencies and foreign FIUs.

The government is facing extreme pressure on the revenue collection, as tax collection is much lower than the budgeted target. During April-November period of the current fiscal total indirect tax collection stood at Rs 2.92 lakh crore, growing by 16.8 per cent against the budgeted target of 27 per cent.

The S&P CNX Nifty is currently trading at 5,910.15 up by 54.40 points or 0.93% after trading in a range of 5,917.30 and 5,859.55. There were 40 stocks advancing against 10 declines on the index.

The major gainers of the Nifty were JP Associates up by 2.77%, Bharti Airtel up by 2.66%, IDFC up by 2.29%, ICICI Bank up by 2.23% and Jindal Steel up by 2.22%.

On the flip side, Hindustan Unilever down by 1.29%, Hero Moto Corp down by 0.49%, Infosys down by 0.34%, Tata Motors down by 0.31% and Wipro down by 0.29% were the major losers on the index.

All the Asian equity indices were trading in green barring Taiwan Weighted down by 0.03%, while Jakarta Composite advanced 0.09%, Nikkei 225 strengthened 1.49%, Straits Times surged 0.34%, KOSPI Composite added 0.02%, Shanghai Composite rose 0.25% and KLSE Composite added 0.01%.