Benchmarks trade at fresh all-time high levels; Nifty rallies past 6600

Indian equity markets have made a gap-up opening and are trading jubilantly in early deals on Wednesday to hit a fresh all-time high on the back strong inflows from foreign institutional investors and supportive cues from global peers. Buying in rate sensitives too aided the sentiments on report that Reserve Bank of India (RBI) will keep the rates unchanged. Credit rating agencies expect the Reserve Bank of India to maintain the status quo on interest rates in its upcoming policy review. Also, the recent gains made by the rupee are a positive for lower rates as this reduces the scope for imported inflation.

Global cues too remained jubilant with the US markets ending mostly higher on getting good report from the Conference Board, showing a significant improvement in consumer confidence in the month of March. Most of the Asian equity indices were trading in the green terrain at this point of time buoyed by the optimism about the outlook for the world’s biggest economy.

Back home, the rupee also appreciated on the back of strong inflows and was close to appreciate above 60 per dollar mark. The partially convertible rupee was at 60.26, up 22 paise against its previous close. On the sectoral front, realty, metal and auto witnessed the maximum gain in trade, while healthcare, FMCG and software remained the few losers on the BSE sectoral space. The broader indices too were trading in-line with benchmarks, while the market breadth on the BSE was positive; there were 1060 shares on the gaining side against 607 shares on the losing side while 89 shares remain unchanged.

The BSE Sensex opened at 22,134.71; about 79 points higher compared to its previous closing of 22,055.21, and touched a high and a low of 22,172.10 and 22,128.35 respectively. The index is currently trading at 22,133.91, up by 78.70 points or 0.36%. There were 23 stocks advancing against 7 declines on the index.

The overall market breadth has made a strong start with 60.45% stocks advancing against 34.69% declines. The broader indices too were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index up was by 0.66% and Small cap gained 0.65%. 

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were, Realty up by 1.87%, Metal up by 1.66%, Auto up by 1.17%, Capital Goods up by 0.98% and Power up by 0.91%, while Healthcare down by 3.25%, FMCG down by 0.36% and IT down by 0.03% were the top losers on the sectoral index.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Hindalco up by 2.45%, Gail India up by 2.16%, Tata Motors up by 1.98%, Tata Steel up by 1.72% and  Maruti Suzuki up by 1.69%. On the flip side, Dr Reddys Lab was down by 1.06%, TCS was down by 0.97%, ITC was down by 0.79%, Sun Pharma was down by 0.60% and HDFC Bank was down by 0.37% were the top losers on the Sensex.

Meanwhile, the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) expressed confidence to acheive the revised tax target set in February. At the interim Budget during February this year, the direct tax collection target for 2013-14 was lowered by Rs 32,000 crore to Rs 6.32 lakh crore from 6.68 lakh crore set earlier. As on March 22, net direct collections stood at 5.82 lakh crore which was around Rs 50,000 crore lower from the revised target.

CBDT Chairman R K Tewari has said that tax department is taking more steps to garner Rs 50,000 crore of which some amount is to be received by way of advance tax, particularly from the corporates. He further added that the department has also launched a number of searches and survey operations across the country to clamp down on cases of tax evasion which has resulted in a number of entities declaring their hidden incomes and remitting the money in government treasury.

The overall advance tax collection as on March 22 increased by 8.7 percent to Rs 2,90,323 crore this financial year as against Rs 2,66,192 crore in year ago period. Corporate advance tax collection till March 22 grew by 10.8 percent to Rs 2,44,396 crore, while, personal advance tax grew by 11.2 per cent to Rs 45,927 crore. Furthermore, 2.56 crore online Income Tax returns were filed during the reported period, which is 40 per cent higher than same period in the last fiscal. The total refund payout by the department as on March 22 this fiscal stood at Rs 84,993 crore, a 5.3 per cent increase over Rs 80,729 crore paid last fiscal. Tax revenue collection is the main source of income for the government, which is struggling with the high fiscal deficit.

The CNX Nifty opened at 6,615.65; about 25 point higher as compared to its previous closing of 6,589.75, and has touched a high and a low of 6,623.25 and 6,611.15 respectively. The index is currently trading at 6,612.65, up by 22.90 points or 0.35%. There were 38 stocks advancing against 11 declines and one stock remains unchanged on the index.

The top gainers of the Nifty were Jindal Steel up by 3.17%, Hindalco up by 2.57%, Gail up by 2.45%, SSLT up by 1.89% and Tata Motors up by 1.85%. On the flip side, ITC down by 0.96%, Dr. Reddy's Laboratories down by 0.95%, TCS down by 0.91%, Lupin down by 0.80% and Sun Pharma down by 0.76% were the top losers on the index.

Most of the Asian equity indices were trading in green; Hang Seng gained 235.79 points or 1.08% to 21,968.11, Jakarta Composite strengthened by 21.29 points or 0.45% to 4,724.38, Nikkei 225 soared 14.46 points or 0.10% to 14,437.65, Straits Times rose 34.78 points or 1.12% to 3,138.95, KOSPI Composite surged by 21.87 points or 1.13% to 1,963.12 and Taiwan Weighted was up by 48.30 points or 0.56% to 8,737.60.

On the flip side, Shanghai Composite declined by 2.81 points or 0.14% to 2,064.50 and KLSE Composite was down by 0.36 points or 0.02% to 1,836.81.