Benchmarks relinquish most of their gains; Sensex slips below 18700

Benchmark equity indices paring most part of their gains are barely managing to hold in green terrain on sustained selling pressure by triggered by political uncertainties amidst weak global set up. Extending the losses to eight consecutive sessions, Sensex, is trading below the 18700 level. Likewise, Nifty though trading a little above its neutral line is sub 5650 level. Meanwhile, broader indices too, due to accentuated selling pressure have relinquished all their gains and are currently trading with cut of over 0.25%. On the global front, select Asian pacific shares too were trading bit cautious on Tuesday as investors worried about potential future fallout from the Cyprus bailout scheme, were booking some profit. Back home, gains of Fast Moving Consumer Goods, Consumer Durable and Auto counters, were mainly keeping the benchmark 30 share index afloat in green terrain, while Realty, Oil & Gas and Capital Goods counters facing intense selling pressure were the worst performers of the session. The overall market breadth on BSE is in the favour of declines which thumped advances in the advances in the ratio of 1313:1057, while 131 shares remained unchanged.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 18699.15, up by 17.73 points or 0.09% after trading in a range of 18,730.07 and 18,612.37. There were 11 stocks advancing against 19 declines on the index.

The broader indices slipped into negative terrain; the BSE Mid cap index and Small cap index were trading lower by 0.51% and 0.25% respectively.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were FMCG up by 1.06%, Consumer Durables up by 0.92%, Auto up by 0.23%, TECk up by 0.18% and IT up by 0.12%, while Realty down by 2.48%, Oil & Gas down by 1.41%, Capital Goods down by 1.36%, Power down by 0.56% and Metal down by 0.30% were the top losers on the BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Tata Motors up by 1.90%, HUL up by 1.73%, Bharti Airtel up by 1.70%, Coal India up by 1.68% and ITC up by 1.60%.

On the flip side, Gail India down by 3.58%, RIL down by 2.43%, L&T down by 1.66%, Tata Power and Tata Steel down by 1.10% were the top losers on the Sensex

Meanwhile, the government has asked the industry body - ASSOCHAM to provide suggestions on the role of proposed Tax Administration Reform Commission (TARC). At a post-budget conference organized by ASSOCHAM, revenue secretary, Sumit Bose said that the government is working on the TARC and wants suggestion for the proper implementation.

As per Sumit Bose, the TARC would help in uniform application of laws across the country and efforts will be taken to expand the tax base on both direct and indirect taxes front. The Centre has budgeted 19 percent growth in revenue collections for 2013-14. The government is expected to collect over Rs 5.65 lakh crore from tax revenues as per revised estimates, marginally lower than Rs 5.70 lakh crore budgeted for the current fiscal.

Presenting the Union Budget for FY14, the Finance Minister P Chidambaram said that proposed Commission will review the application of tax policies and tax laws. Further, TARC will submit periodic reports that can be implemented to strengthen the capacity of the tax system in the country. Finance Minister had pointed out that an emerging economy must have a tax system that reflects best global practices and the proposed Commission is a step in this direction.The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 5,639.30, up by 5.45 points or 0.10% after trading in a range of 5,649.70 and 5,612.05. There were 22 stocks advancing against 28 declines on the index and one remains unchanged.

The top gainers of the Nifty were Ranbaxy up by 2.33%, HUL up by 1.95%, ITC up by 1.77%, Tata Motors up by 1.66% and Coal India up by 1.63%.

On the flip side, Gail India down by 3.74%, Reliance Infra down by 3.47%, Siemens down by 3.12%, DLF down by 2.91% and Ambuja Cements down by 2.89% were the major losers on the index.

Most of the Asian equity indices were trading mixed; Jakarta Composite rose 1.20%, KLSE Composite strengthened 0.64%, Straits Times increased 0.32%, KOSPI Composite added 0.30% and Taiwan Weighted was trading flat with positive bias.

On the flip side, Shanghai Composite tumbled 1.24%, Hang Seng declined 0.08% and Nikkei 225 was down 0.60%.