Market Overcomes Capital Gains Tax Worries With Over 1.6 % Gain

Mumbai: Across the board buying after five consecutive sessions of decline pushed market benchmarks Sensex and Nifty-50 near all time highs with 1.62 and 1.76 per cent gains respectively.

The Sensex gained 1292.92 points to close at 81,332 while Nifty-50 gained 428.75 points to close at 24,834.85. BSE Mid-cap index gained 2.12 per cent while BSE Small-cap index gained 1.00 per cent.

BSE's market capitalisation rose to a new all time high of over Rs 456.92 lakh crore or USD 5.46 trillion.

Index heavy weight bank and IT stocks along with other heavy weights led to big gains for Sensex and Nifty-50. The gainers included Infosys(2.93 per cent),TCS(1.50 per cent), SBI(1.73 per cent), Kotak Bank(2.20 per cent), ICICI(0.81 per cent),Reliance Industries(1.18 per cent) and ITC(2.61 per cent).

Outside the index Life Insurance Corporation of India shares hit a new all time high of Rs 1197 and closed at Rs 1180.40 up 1.71 per cent on BSE with a market cap of over Rs 7.46 lakh crore.

All sectors participated in Friday's rally with BSE Metals index(.3.19 per cent), IT(2.15 per cent), Bankex(0.86 per cent) and Auto(2.35 per cent).

Both foreign portfolio investors and domestic institutions were net buyers of equities worth Rs 2546.38 crore and Rs 2,774.31 crore respectively.

*A few years ago, it would have been hard to believe that an increase in long term capital gains(LTCG) and short term capital gains(STCG) taxes would be dismissed by the market within one hour, with the week still ending on a positive note (up 1.5 per cent). This resilience highlights the robust retail participation in the market,” said Krishna Appala, Sr. research analyst, Capitalmind Research.

“Indian markets outperformed its global peers on the back of a strong across-the-board buying support after languishing in negative territory for the past five trading sessions. The sharp rebound signifies that India remains a good long-term bet and the economy continues to show strong resilience in spite of global uncertainty and geo-political tensions. Also, most of the blue chips and mid-cap companies have reported better earnings,which is providing a major impetus to markets,” said Prashanth Tapse, senior VP (Research), Mehta Equities.