Post Session: Quick Review

It turned out to be stable session of performance at Dalal Street, whereby benchmark equity indices gaining ground steadily ended near day’s high. Although bourses dipped in red in early morning deals, giving an impression that it would be yet another down session of performance, but soon gathered momentum. By the close of trade, Sensex and Nifty, adding over half a percent concluded past 18,750 and 5,550 psychological levels respectively.

Market-participants exuded confidence by going long on the last day of holiday truncated week anticipating more government measures in the coming day to aid foreign inflows. For the week, both Sensex and Nifty ended with a cut of around two percent. Meanwhile, the finance ministry is expected to announce a major package next week as part of an all-out effort to curtail the widening current account deficit (CAD), comprising a combination of import compression, long-term external commercial borrowing and foreign capital flow management.

Mostly positive global set-up also encouraged investors to take position ahead of the data heavy week. On the global front, Asian markets bounced back after sharp declines in the previous session, as China posted upbeat trade figures that bolstered the outlook for the world's second-biggest economy. While, European shares too advanced as an increase in Chinese exports outweighed investor concerns that the Federal Reserve will pare bond purchases this year. China’s exports and imports rebounded in July more than estimated. Exports rose 5.1 percent from a year earlier, from June’s 3.1% drop, while imports rose 10.9%.

Closer home, sentiment soured in early deals after global investment bank Morgan Stanley turning cautious on Indian stocks, slashed Nifty and Sensex year-end targets. Nevertheless, appreciation of Indian currency offered the required solace to equity markets. Meanwhile, gains of Metal, Realty and Power counters among others, bolstered investors’ sentiment. However, marginal losses in Oil & Gas and Health Care counter restricted some further upside of the Indian equity markets. The market breadth on the BSE ended positive; advances and declining stocks were in a ratio of 1375: 875, while 150 scrips remained unchanged. (Provisional)

The BSE Sensex gained 94.38 points or 0.51% to settle at 18759.26.The index touched a high and a low of 18829.26 and 18621.67 respectively.  The BSE Mid cap index ended higher by 1.45% and Small cap index ended lower by 1.34%. (Provisional)

On the BSE Sectoral front, Metal up by 2.65%, Realty up by 2.34%, Power up by 1.28%, Auto up by 1.10% and Teck up by 0.91% were the top gainers, while Oil & Gas down by 0.39% and Health Care down by 0.13% were the only losers in the space. (Provisional)

Out of the 30 stocks on the Sensex, 20 settled higher, while 10 stocks settled lower. The top gainers on the Sensex were Cipla up by 5.66%, Tata Steel up by 5.54%, Hindalco Industries up by 5.37%, Maruti Suzuki up by 3.76% and Bharti Airtel up by 3.23%. On the flip side,  SBI down by 3.48%, Sun Pharma down by 3.26%, Dr Reddys Lab was down by 1.81%, RIL was down by 0.98% and Tata Motors was down by 0.43% were the top losers on the Sensex. (Provisional)

Meanwhile, the net direct tax collection rose by 10.37% to Rs 1,16,645 crore in April-July period of 2013 from Rs 1,05,684 crore in the same period of previous year. However, net direct tax collection growth remained much lower than the 34 percent YoY increase in the same period last year. On the other hand, the gross direct tax collections posted much better growth at 13.27 percent to Rs 1, 57,169 crore in the reported period as compared to the 4.68 percent growth in the corresponding period of the previous year.

On category wise, wealth tax collections registered 38.62 percent increase to Rs 201 crore in April-July 2013. While, securities transaction tax (STT) stood at Rs 1,267 crore in the reported period. The gross collection of corporate taxes increased by 9.75 percent to Rs 92,115 crore in April-July 2013 from Rs 83,932 crore reported in the same period of previous year.

The government has fixed a direct tax collection target of Rs 6.68 lakh crore for the current fiscal, up from Rs 5.65 lakh crore in the previous fiscal. In order to boost the tax revenue, the government is doing all efforts include issuing notices to tax evaders and set advertising campaign etc. Further, the government is addressing hurdles like human resources, technology and time to improve tax collection and is dealing with the menace of tax evasion.

India VIX, a gauge for markets short term expectation of volatility lost 3.85% at 21.19 from its previous close of 20.34 on Wednesday. (Provisional)

The CNX Nifty gained 40.10 points or 0.73% to settle at 5,559.20. The index touched high and low of 5,577.60 and 5,510.05 respectively. Out of the 50 stocks on the Nifty, 38 ended in the green, while 12 ended in the red.

The major gainers were Ranbaxy up 28.60%, Hindalco Industries up by 5.78%, Cipla up by 5.73%, Tata Steel up by 5.72% and DLF up by 4.27%. The key losers were SBI down by 3.60%, Sun Pharmaceuticals down by 3.08%, Lupin down by 2.92%, Dr. Reddy's Laboratories down by 1.28% and Reliance Industries down by 1.07%.(Provisional)

Most of the European markets were trading in green with, France’s CAC 40 up by 0.27%, Germany’s DAX up by 0.30% and the United Kingdom’s FTSE 100 up by 0.30%.

The Asian markets barring Hang Seng and KOSPI Composite concluded Thursday’s trade in red, while major exchanges like Indonesia's Jakarta Composite, Malaysia’s KLSE Composite and Singapore’s Straits Times remained close on account of Public Holiday ‘Eid al-Fitr’. Stocks in Hong Kong rebounded from the previous day’s sharp losses, aided by strong monthly trade data from China and some upbeat earnings reports. Japanese shares tumbled in volatile trade amidst a strengthening yen. South Korean shares ended higher, snapping a three-day losing streak, as China posted stronger-than-expected trade data, but the gains were limited as foreigners sold the local shares most in more than four weeks.

China reported much better than expected trade results for July, marking a sharp recovery from the previous month. Chinese trade data showed exports rising 5.1% from a year earlier, swinging from June’s 3.1% fall. Imports, which had dropped 0.7% in June, showed a 10.9% leap for July. The trade data come after mixed messages on China’s economy last week when private and official surveys of the country’s important manufacturing sector showed differing results. Besides, China’s yuan strengthened to a 19-year record against the US dollar amid Chinese officials’ pledge to stabilize economic growth. China is set to release consumer and producer price data for July on Friday, which may provide further hints on the health of the world’s second-largest economy after stronger-than-expected trade data.

The Bank of Japan kept its policy unchanged following its meeting, while maintaining language from the previous month that the economy is starting to recover moderately. In terms of the inflation outlook, the central bank noted that consumer prices have begun to head higher and stated that inflation expectations appear to be rising on the whole. The Bank of Japan has set a 2% inflation target, which it hopes to achieve by 2015. Separately, the Bank of Korea held its policy interest rate unchanged at 2.5%, matching expectations.