Markets extend earlier gains amid sea-saw trade

Indian equity markets extended their gains in the late morning session on Thursday, amid alternate bouts of buying and selling in cautious trades. The BSE Sensex was up by 57 points, while the NSE Nifty was up by 22 points and inching towards 5550 level. In currency market, rupee appreciated against greenback, amid expectations of further steps from the government and the RBI to limit further fall in the currency. Moreover, the government is reportedly planning to relax borrowing rules for debt-laden Indian companies, including doubling the amount a firm can borrow overseas to $1.5 billion. On sectoral front, realty stocks were in demand for the second successive session. While, automobile stocks were the other notable gainers. Select metal, information technology, capital goods and bank stocks were also trading higher, while healthcare and oil stocks were trading weak. Meanwhile, Sun Pharma dropped over 3% post weakness in its Israeli subsidiary Taro's earnings, while Adani Ports over rose 1.5% on reports that the company is close to acquiring Dhamra Port, an equal joint venture between the Tatas and L&T.

On the global front, Asian stocks rebounded and investors snapped up the Australian dollar after trade data out of China far exceeded expectations on Thursday, helping cheer markets worried about slower growth in Asia's economic powerhouse. Back home, the market breadth was favoring the positive trend; there were 1094 shares on the gaining side against 737 shares on the losing side, while 100 shares remained unchanged.  

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 18,722.15 up by 57.27 points or 0.31% after trading in a range of 18,748.55 and 18,621.67. There were 18 stocks advancing against 12 declines on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.73%, while Small cap index up by 0.85%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were, Realty up by 1.96%, Metal up by 1.68%, Auto up by 1.38% and Capital Goods up by 0.48%. While, Healthcare down by 1.48%, Oil and Gas  down by 0.59%, Power down by 0.22% and Consumer Durable down by 0.09%were the top losers indices on the BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Hindalco Inds up by 3.17%, HDFC up by 2.73%, Maruti Suzuki up by 2.68%, Tata Steel up by 2.43% and Mahindra and Mahindra up by 2.02%. On the flip side, Sun Pharma down by 3.01%, Wipro down by 2.52%, Cipla down by 1.61%, ONGC down by 1.58% and Dr. Reddys Lab down by 1.45% were the top losers on the Sensex.

Meanwhile, the net direct tax collection rose by 10.37 percent 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.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 5,540.70 up by 21.60 points or 0.39% after trading in a range of 5,549.45 and 5,510.05. There were 34 stocks advancing against 16 declines on the index.

The top gainers of the Nifty were Ranbaxy up by 12.58%, DLF up by 5.19%, Hindalco up by 3.58%, Maruti Suzuki up by 2.82% and HDFC up by 2.73%. On the flip side, Lupin down by 3.92%, Sun Pharma down by 2.64%, Indusin Bank down by 1.76%, SBI down by 1.73% and ONGC down by 1.67% were the major losers on the index.

The Asian equity indices were trading mixed; Hang Seng up by 0.37%, Seoul Composite up by 5.64 points or 0.30% and reached 1883.97, Jakarta Composite up by 0.36% and Straits Times up by 0.16%. While, Shanghai Composite down by 0.07%, Nikkei 225 was down by 1.59%, Taiwan Weighted down by 0.17% and KLSE Composite down by 0.30%.