Post session - Quick review

Indian equity markets remained in a rally mood for the second consecutive day and added another over half a percent to their gains, supported by the jubilation in the global markets. The mood of the markets looked positive since morning, tailing the gains in the peers on hopes of more stimulus measures by the central banks across the globe, there were some positive economic news too that aided the strength in the markets. While, chief economic advisor Raghuram Rajan’s statement in Singapore that India intends to be friendly to foreign investors and continue with the existing policy for them, seemed to have filled some confidence in the markets.

The US markets surged overnight and all the major indices peaked to the highest levels of last many years. On the same time the regional peers taking cues, too moved higher, as the recovery in US economy will lead to more export from the region. Moreover the European markets too surged, extending gains to their last session’s rally.

Back home, the domestic markets rally was majorly induced by the surge in broader markets, though the blue chips too remained in action but the beaten down broader markets witnessed a good amount of buying interest at the lower levels. Markets also took some support on report that the government is likely to drop a contentious phrase about Tax Residency Certificates (TRC) coined in the Budget. The TRC has rattled the foreign investors and there has been clarification from the finance ministry too, after the budget, but with little success. The high beta realty sector stocks were the big movers of the day, lifting the markets spirit up on expectation of a rate cut by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) at its policy meet on March 19. Almost all the stocks of the realty index surged on the BSE with companies like HDIL gaining over 12%, Sobha Developers around 7%, Oberoi Realty up by around 6% and DLF gaining around 4%. The other sectoral indices that remained in upbeat mood since beginning were Capital Goods and Metal, up by over 2%.Though, the day turned of profit booking for the defensive FMCG sector that lost over a percent, Consumer Durables too witnessed some selling. There was cautiousness among the telecom stocks ahead of the EGoM meet scheduled later in the day to discuss the third round of spectrum auction.

The market breadth on the BSE ended positive; advances and declining stocks were in a ratio of 1728:1120, while 129 scrips remained unchanged. (Provisional)

The BSE Sensex gained 109.44 points or 0.57% to settle at 19252.61.The index touched a high and a low of 19293.39 and 19195.47 respectively. 18 stocks were up, while 12 stocks declined on the index. (Provisional)

The BSE Mid cap and Small cap indices rose by 1.14% and 1.50% respectively. (Provisional)

On the BSE Sectoral front, Realty was up by 4.52 %, Capital Goods was up by 2.47%, Metal up by 2.20%, IT up by 1.32% and TECk up by 1.04% were the only gainers, while FMCG down by 1.05% and Consumer Durables down by 0.44% were the only losers in the space. (Provisional)

The top gainers on the Sensex were Sterlite Industries up by 4.60%, Hindalco Industries up by 3.25%, Tata Motors up by 2.88%, L&T up by 2.86% and  Tata Steel up by 2.59%, while, Mahindra & Mahindra down by 2.16%, Hindustan Unilever down by 1.98%, ITC down by 1.57%, Maruti Suzuki down by 1.21% and Gail India down by 0.83% were the top losers in the index. (Provisional)

Meanwhile, In a move to have a stable tax system, the finance ministry has urged public sector enterprises to ensure that service tax collected on the services availed by them are deposited to the exchequer. Several firms including telecom companies, collect service tax as part of their regular billing, but do not deposit the collected taxes to the government. 

In FY14 Budget, the government has made non-deposit of service tax of Rs 50 lakh or more a cognisable offence, which could lead to the arrest. This provision has put trade industry in a spot as they fear harassment, given that this provision could be misused and lead to their arrest.

However, to allay fears of trade, Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBEC) chairperson Praveen Mahajan said enough safeguards were in place to ensure that the provision was not misused. The basic thrust is to have stable tax system and, therefore, we resisted the temptation of hiking tax rates to 14 per cent.

By adding further she said, ‘we have ensured that the power of arrest is vested with a high ranking official at a level of commissioner. Penal provisions were already there and we have only made the offences cognisable. The number of arrests as a percentage of offences is below one per cent.’ 

India VIX, a gauge for markets short term expectation of marginally gained 0.07% at 13.40 from its previous close of 13.41 on Tuesday. (Provisional)

The CNX Nifty gained 34.35 points or 0.59% to settle at 5,818.60. The index touched high and low of 5,828.70 and 5,795.05 respectively. 30 stocks advanced against 20 declining ones on the index. (Provisional)

The top gainers on the Nifty were JP Associate up by 5.67%, IDFC up by 4.75%, DLF up by 3.92%, Sesa Goa up by 3.41% and Hindalco was up by 3.30%. On the other hand, Hindustan Unilever down by 2.10%, M&M down by 1.96%, ITC down by 1.71%, BPCL down by 1.12% and Power Grid down by 1.01% were the top losers. (Provisional)

Most of the European markets were trading in green with, Germany’s DAX up by 1.06%, the United Kingdom’s FTSE 100 up by 0.27% and France’s CAC 40 up by 0.35%.

Asian markets ended with excellent gains on Wednesday following a record-breaking performance by shares amid better than expected economic data from the United States. Japan's Nikkei 225 closed higher after touching its highest intraday level since September 2008, ahead of Bank of Japan’s policy meetings on March 7. Meanwhile, China stocks went home with green mark continuing to recover from Monday's sharp drop, with the annual session of the National People's Congress in full swing. Hong Kong, also ended on a positive note as Standard Chartered gained sharply after the emerging markets-focused bank posted a tenth consecutive year of record profits.