PROFIT BOOKING AT HIGHER LEVELS

Losses have just grown bigger at Dalal Street as profit-booking by funds and retail investors at higher levels have ate into the large gains of the bourses witnessed at the onset of the trade. Ongoing investigation related to Telecom scam coupled with GoM approved Draft Mines & Minerals Development & Regulation Bill has dimmed the optimism of the Indian equity markets. However, despite the losses, the local bourses are successfully trading above their long lost physiological level i.e. Sensex above the 19k level and Nifty above the 5700 mark. Meanwhile, the broader indices were trading wobbly as the gain of the Midcap index was offset by the fall of the Smallcap index.
On the global front, U.S. stocks closed sharply higher and the Nasdaq notched an eighth day of gains on Thursday as improved labor market and retail sales data added to optimism a day before the June jobs report. Meanwhile, Asian shares are mostly trading higher led by gains in retail and energy shares following stronger employment data from the US. The US future indices too are showcasing an uptick on the screentrade.
Backhome, Local equity markets shrugging off the positive global leads seems to be entering into the "consolidation phase" as the investor's lacking the conviction on the fundamentals are taking profits after the previous session of massive gains. Probably the bottomline pressure woes are perturbing investor's mind as two leading bank's get prepared to report their Q1FY12 numbers. However, both HDFC Bank and Indusind Bank are trading in green ahead of reporting its Q1 results. Meanwhile, also clouding the picture at Dalal Street are the Metal, PSU, Oil & Gas counters stocks. Metal stocks have lost their shine today after GoM approved Draft Mines & Minerals Development & Regulation Bill (MMDR Bill). As per the new bill, coal companies will have to share 26% of their profit with the local population, while profit sharing in case of other minerals like iron ore, bauxite and limestone will be equal to the royalty paid in the previous year. Post these reports, Coal India plunged 7.5%. Sesa Goa lost 11%. Sterlite Industries, SAIL, Tata Steel and JSPL were down 2-4%. Additionally, Sun TV Network has shed another 3% as Dayanidhi Maran will be questioned by CBI before FIR is registered. However, SKS Microfinance rallied another 20% after Finance Ministry released MFI Development & Regulation Bill. Additionally, India's largest commercial bank by branch network State Bank of India (SBI) rose marginally by 0.08% as a further hike in lending rates may help the bank in mitigating the pressures arising from rise in cost of funds. Meanwhile, also trying to undo the losses are the stocks belonging from the Realty, Auto and Consumer Durable counters.
The BSE is currently trading at 19,046.44, down by 31.86 points or 0.17%. The index has touched a high and low of 19,131.70 and 18,999.55 respectively. There were 17 stocks advancing against 12 declining one's on the index, while a stock remained unchanged.
The broader indices too were trading mixed; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.08% and Small cap index was down by 0.09%.
The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Realty up by 1.79%, Auto up by 1.00%, CD up by 0.58%, Power up by 0.34% and TECk up by 0.21%. While, Metal down by 2.42%, PSU down by 0.68%, Oil and Gas down by 0.32% Bankex down by 0.31% and CG down by 0.22% were the top losers on the index.
The top gainers on the Sensex were DLF up by 2.18%, Hero Honda up by 1.99%, Bharti Airtel up by 1.47%, ONGC up by 1.35% and M&M was up by 1.18%.
On the flip side, Sterlite Industries down by 3.88%, Hindalco down by 2.35%, Tata Steel down by 1.90%, Jindal Steel down by 1.58% and ICICI Bank down by 1.50% were the top losers on the index.
Meanwhile, the gross direct tax collection has increased almost by 23.91% in the first quarter of the current fiscal year (April-June 2011) and stood at Rs 104,136 crore as compared to Rs 84,041 crore in the like period of last fiscal, as per the official data released on July 7.
According to the data released by the department of revenue under the ministry of finance, during the April-June 2011, the gross collection of corporate taxes increased by 23.49% to Rs 68,223 crore from Rs 55,244 crore, whereas gross collection of personal income tax went up by 24.63% to Rs 35,859 crore from Rs 28,772 crore.

However, the net tax collection for the first quarter reduced by 16.61%, due to an exponential increase in tax refunds. "Net collections, however, stood at Rs 57,268 crore, down from Rs 68,675 crore in the same period last fiscal on account of an increase of 205.01% in tax refunds, which stood at Rs 46,868 crore as against Rs 15,366 crore last fiscal," the finance ministry said in the statement.

The surge in revenue collection from corporate taxes and personal income taxes shows the increase in economic activities in the country. Experts have the view that, elevated inflation and anti-inflationary stance adopted by the Reserve Bank of India are hampering economic activities in India.
The S&P CNX Nifty is currently trading at 5,711.65, down by 17.30 points or 0.30%. The index has touched a high and low of 5,740.40 and 5,701.50 respectively. There were 26 stocks advancing against 24 declines on the index.
The top gainers of the Nifty were DLF up by 2.18%, Hero Honda up by 1.75%, ONGC up by 1.45%, Bharti Airtel up by 1.41% and M&M up by 1.29%.
Sesa Goa down by 4.75%, Sterlite Industries down by 4.02%, Hindalco down by 2.53%, SAIL by 2.29% and Tata Steel was down by 1.95% were the major losers on the index.
Most of the Asian markets were trading in the green; Shanghai Composite gained 0.21%, Hang Seng surged 1.07%, Jakarta Composite soared 1.42%, Nikkei 225 added 0.78% and Straits Times rose 0.61%.
On the flip side, KLSE Composite declined 0.22%, Seoul Composite was down by 0.16% and Taiwan Weighted slid 0.1%