Benchmarks remain in green in late morning deals

Indian equity benchmarks continued to trade in green in late morning deals helped by buying in Realty, Banking and Capital Goods stocks amid a positive trend in global equities. Traders took support with Secretary of the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT), Amardeep Singh Bhatia, stating that the government is targeting to provide access to the PM GatiShakti national master plan (NMP) portal to the private sector this year, and discussions are underway for details. He said there are some layers of data, which are sensitive in nature on the NMP and those should not be exposed. However, gains remain capped as some concern came with data from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) showing that India's foreign exchange reserves fell for the first time in eight weeks and came off a record high to stand at $701.18 billion as of October 4. Investors also awaited inflation data due later in the day and Q2 results of Reliance Industries (RIL) and HCL Technologies. On the global front, Asian markets are trading mostly in green even as investors struggled to reach a consensus view on China's broad economic stimulus promises made over the weekend which were light on specifics.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 81844.94, up by 463.58 points or 0.57% after trading in a range of 81541.20 and 81930.66. There were 19 stocks advancing against 11 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in red; the BSE Mid cap index fell 0.20%, while Small cap index was down by 0.05%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Realty up by 1.43%, Bankex up by 0.93%, Capital Goods up by 0.57%, Consumer Durables up by 0.52% and Industrials up by 0.46%, while Basic Materials down by 0.40%, Healthcare down by 0.14%, Oil & Gas down by 0.04% and Power down by 0.04% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Larsen & Toubro up by 1.84%, HDFC Bank up by 1.79%, Kotak Mahindra Bank up by 1.31%, Tech Mahindra up by 1.29% and JSW Steel up by 1.18%. On the flip side, Ultratech Cement down by 1.34%, Maruti Suzuki down by 1.29%, Bajaj Finance down by 0.97%, Tata Steel down by 0.87% and TCS down by 0.59% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, the data from the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) has showed that India’s net direct tax collection for the financial year 2024-25 has seen a significant surge, with an increase of 18.35 per cent to almost Rs 11.26 lakh crore year on year, as of October 10. Further, it showed the gross collection of direct tax grew 22.30 per cent to Rs 13.57 lakh crore year on year, as of October 10. The refund amounting to Rs 2.31 lakh crore released during the period. The refund amount saw a growth of 46 per cent.

The data indicated that the key contributor in the collections is a major uptick in the Securities Transaction Tax (STT), which almost doubled to Rs 30,630 crore from Rs 16,373 crore in 2023 during this period. The collections STT indicates the increased investor exposure in the equity markets. Securities Transaction Tax is a tax payable in India on the value of securities transacted through a recognized stock exchange.

Besides, it stated that tax collections from the corporate tax increased significantly reaching at 6.11 crore, in the FY 2024-25 compared to last years’ Rs 5.11 crore, as of October 10. As per the data, gross personal income tax collections rose to Rs 7.13 lakh crore from Rs 5.79 lakh crore, while the net collection stood at 5.98 lakh crore.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 25094.65, up by 130.40 points or 0.52% after trading in a range of 25017.50 and 25131.95. There were 30 stocks advancing against 20 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Wipro up by 1.92%, Larsen & Toubro up by 1.86%, HDFC Bank up by 1.72%, HDFC Life Insurance up by 1.64% and Shriram Finance up by 1.64%. On the flip side, Maruti Suzuki down by 1.44%, Ultratech Cement down by 1.39%, Cipla down by 1.27%, Britannia Industries down by 1.07% and Bajaj Finance down by 1.02% were the top losers.

Asian markets are trading mostly in green; Taiwan Weighted added 57.95 points or 0.25% to 22,959.59, KOSPI increased 27.02 points or 1.04% to 2,623.93, Straits Times rose 13.38 points or 0.37% to 3,587.14, Jakarta Composite gained 32.96 points or 0.44% to 7,553.56 and Shanghai Composite strengthened 60.3 points or 1.87% to 3,278.04.

On the flip side, Hang Seng declined 20.63 points or 0.1% to 21,231.35.