Indian equity markets trimmed losses to continue its firm trade above neutral line in the late afternoon session on account of buying in frontline counters and taking cues from European counterpart. Traders were seen piling some position in Realty, Consumer Durables and Oil & Gas sectors while selling was witnessed in Capital Goods, Auto and Power sectors. The market may remain volatile this week as traders may roll over positions in the futures & options (F&O) segment from the near month i.e. January 2013 series to next month i.e. February 2013 series. The January 2013 F&O contracts will expire on Jan 31. In the scrip specific movement, industry heavyweight RIL was seen trading in green on hopes that the issue related to the Defence Ministry’s classification of KG-D6 areas as ‘no-go’ will be sorted out today. National Aluminium Company (NALCO) was seen trading firm on reporting excellent numbers with the net profit growing 2.3 times year-on-year and 24.8 times quarter-on-quarter to Rs 119 crore in the third quarter of financial year 2012-13. KRBL, world’s largest Basmati rice exporter, was seen trading in green ahead of board meeting for buyback of equity shares. Tata Steel was trading in green after Citigroup retained a buy rating on the company and raised its target price citing inexpensive valuations. Crompton Greaves was trading in red after the power equipment manufacturer reported a loss of Rs 189 crore for the three months ending December 2012.
On the global front, all the Asian markets were trading in green barring KLSE Composite while the European markets were too trading on optimistic note. Back home, the NSE Nifty and BSE Sensex were trading above their psychological 6,050 and 20,000 levels respectively. The market breadth on BSE was negative in the ratio of 1187:1500 while 149 scrips remain unchanged.
The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 20,042.91 up by 52.01 points or 0.26% after trading in a range of 20,073.46 and 19,964.64. There were 15 stocks advancing against 15 declines on the index.
The broader indices were trading on a mixed note; the BSE Mid cap was up 0.15% and Small cap index was trading lower by 0.13%.
The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Realty up by 1.81%, Consumer Durables up by 1.54%, Oil & Gas up by 1.12%, Metal up by 0.94% and Bankex up by 0.74%. While, Capital Goods was down by 0.83%, Auto down by 0.36%, Power down by 0.33%, TECk down by 0.18% and FMCG down by 0.13% were the only losers on the index.
The top gainers on the Sensex were Cipla up by 2.37%, Tata Steel up by 2.19%, Reliance Industries up by 2.09%, Wipro up by 1.80% and Hindustan Unilever up by 1.68%.
On the flip side, Gail India down by 2.95%, Tata Power down by 1.79%, Bharti Airtel down by 1.30%, L&T down by 1.29% and Tata Motors down by 1.05% were the top losers on the Sensex.
Meanwhile, the government has paved the way for the implementation of the proposed Goods & Services Tax (GST) though in a much diluted form as the centre has relented to some of the key demands of the states. A day after clearing Rs 34,000 crore of Central Sales Tax compensation to the states, the Centre has now agreed to make changes to the Constitution Amendment Bill for GST.
Dropping from its earlier stand, the government gave permission to a phased roll-out of GST like the Value Added Tax (VAT). This means that only willing states could implement the new indirect tax system from the beginning. Contrary to the earlier proposal for a uniform GST rates across the country, now the government agreed to have a floor rate of taxation with a narrow band. Also, states will have the flexibility to opt out of it.
Petroleum products would now be made part of GST, which were kept out of GST in constitution amendment bill. Moreover, the states will also get powers to raise additional resources in the time of a natural calamity. There will be a special scheme for North Eastern states and Jammu & Kashmir. Further, some state finance ministers said that every state has its own problems and arriving at a agreement in those areas would be very difficult. However, many states are of the view that a new government at the Centre after 2014 elections should roll-out GST.
The S&P CNX Nifty is currently trading at 6,066.55, up by 16.65 points or 0.28% after trading in a range of 6,071.95 and 6,044.15. There were 29 stocks advancing against 20 declines while 1 stock remains unchanged on the index.
The top gainers of the Nifty were DLF up by 4.08%, Sesa Goa up by 2.62%, Tata Steel up by 2.28%, Cipla up by 2.27% and Axis Bank up by 2.20%.
On the flip side, GAIL down by 2.82%, PNB down by 2.55%, Tata Power down by 1.88%, IDFC down by 1.34% and L&T down by 1.30% were the major losers on the index.
Most of the Asian equity indices were trading in the green; Shanghai Composite added 1.00%, Hang Seng increased 0.71%, Jakarta Composite rose 0.22%, Nikkei 225 soared 2.28%, Straits Times jumped 0.61%, KOSPI Composite added 0.43% and Taiwan Weighted advanced 0.40%. On the flip side, KLSE Composite down by 0.63% was the lone loser amongst Asian pack.
The European markets were trading in green with; France’s CAC 40 added 0.06%, Germany’s DAX jumped 0.12% while the United Kingdom’s FTSE 100 edged higher by 0.07%.
