Firm trade continues in Indian markets

The Dalal Street held its positive trade in early afternoon deals, with both Sensex and Nifty trading notably higher, aided by heavy buying at Utilities and Power counters along with positive cues from other Asian markets. Sentiments remained optimistic, after Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal has said that incentives worth Rs 9,721 crore have been claimed under the PLI scheme for nine sectors, including large scale electronics manufacturing and pharmaceuticals. Besides, amid a drop in the household savings ratio, Minister of state for finance Pankaj Chaudhary said that the government’s focus on ease of doing business, skilling, employment generation and infrastructure creation creates a congenial environment for growth of household income and saving.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly in green, as Japan's consumer sentiment increased for the second straight month in July, though marginally. The survey data from the Cabinet Office showed that the seasonally adjusted consumer confidence index rose to a 3-month high of 36.7 in July from 36.4 in June. The latest survey was conducted on July 15 among 8,400 households.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 81674.88, up by 219.48 points or 0.27% after trading in a range of 81434.32 and 81758.02. There were 18 stocks advancing against 12 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index rose by 0.92%, while Small cap index was up by 0.28%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Utilities up by 1.61%, Power up by 1.36%, Healthcare up by 0.88%, Basic Materials up by 0.72% and Metal up by 0.70%, while there were no losing sectoral indices on the BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Asian Paints up by 2.78%, NTPC up by 2.33%, Adani Ports & SEZ up by 1.71%, JSW Steel up by 1.66% and Bharti Airtel up by 1.42%.

On the flip side, Tata Motors down by 0.71%, Infosys down by 0.50%, Axis Bank down by 0.48%, Power Grid down by 0.46% and Reliance Industries down by 0.41% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, the government has garnered Rs 98,681 crore from long term capital gains tax on listed equities in 2022-23, a 15 per cent growth over the previous year. Minister of State for Finance Pankaj Chaudhary gave details of collections from Long Term Capital Gains (LTCG) tax between fiscal 2018-19 and 2022-23. The long term capital gains on equities and units of equity oriented mutual funds were brought in from April 2018. Such gains were taxed at 10 per cent, with gains of up to Rs 1 lakh annually being exempted.

As per the data, Rs 98,681.34 crore was collected from LTCG in 2022-23, up 15 per cent over Rs 86,075.49 crore collected in 2021-22 fiscal. The collection was about Rs 38,589 crore in 2020-21, Rs 26,008 crore in 2019-20 and Rs 29,220 crore in 2018-19.

Regarding the government is contemplating to abolish the LTCG tax on equities/mutual funds during 2024-25, Chaudhary said ‘There is no such proposal’. The Budget for 2024-25, announced on July 23, hiked LTCG tax on equities and equity oriented mutual funds to 12.5 per cent, from 10 per cent. The exemption threshold was also hiked to Rs 1.25 lakh, from Rs 1 lakh previously. The holding period for equities for the purpose of calculating long term capital gains is more than 12 months.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 24940.15, up by 82.85 points or 0.33% after trading in a range of 24856.50 and 24954.45. There were 33 stocks advancing against 17 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Asian Paints up by 2.83%, NTPC up by 2.31%, Adani Enterprises up by 2.01%, HDFC Life Insurance up by 1.98% and JSW Steel up by 1.64%. On the flip side, Tata Consumer Products down by 1.33%, Divi's Lab down by 1.17%, Tata Motors down by 0.62%, Power Grid down by 0.47% and Axis Bank down by 0.46% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in green; Hang Seng advanced 337.23 points or 1.98% to 17,340.14, Jakarta Composite gained 12.59 points or 0.17% to 7,254.45, Shanghai Composite strengthened 54.54 points or 1.89% to 2,933.84, Straits Times rose 10.38 points or 0.3% to 3,452.15, KOSPI increased 32.50 points or 1.17% to 2,770.69 and Nikkei 225 surged 575.87 points or 1.47% to 39,101.82, while Taiwan Weighted lost 24.22 points or 0.11% to 22,199.35.