Sensex surges on positive Asian cues

Date : Dec-11-2008 09:27
The markets were firm in early trade despite overnight plunge on Wall Street. Most Asian indices were trading higher on December 10. The markets witnessed a strong bear market rally and the Nifty may cross 3000 this week. Next week, a couple of economic numbers are expected and if these numbers are below expectations, then the markets may slide again, Seshadri Bharathan, Director - Stock Broking, Dawnay Day AV Financial Services. All sectoral indices ended in positive turf with IT, banking and realty counters leading the gains. The BSE Sensex closed higher by 492.28 points at 9,654.90 and NSE Nifty ended up by 144.25 points at 2,928.25.

The markets are likely to re-test the October lows. Macroeconomic conditions and earnings de-growth are key concerns for the markets. Moreover, there are certain asset quality issues with a few banks, said Amar Ambani, VP (Research), India Infoline.Among the Sensex stocks, Sterlite Industries leads gainers. RCom, Infosys and ICICI Bank are the other main gainers in the group.

Wall Street turned cautious on Tuesday after a two-day rally as disturbing corporate news reminded investors of the magnitude of the economy''s troubles. The Dow Jones industrial average fell 242.85, or 2.72 percent, to 8,691.33 after logging a gain 560 points over Friday and Monday. Broader stock indicators also declined. The Standard & Poor''s 500 index fell 21.03, or 2.31 percent, to 888.67. The Nasdaq composite index fell 24.40, or 1.55 percent, to 1,547.34.

Govt to miss tax targets, lose over Rs 40K cr

Date:Dec-11-2008 12:06
At a time when the government is busy pump priming the economy to try and retrieve some amount of growth, its own balance sheet is going for a toss. The indirect tax collections, which account for almost 35 per cent of the total government revenue, are being hurt the most. The government is losing money to help the economy and the taxmen are having a nightmarish year. Now its almost certain that the government will miss the indirect tax collection target. PC Jha, Chairman, CBEC said that after the post budget duty rate cut, the total impact is Rs 40, 475 crore. That''s a lot of money over 12.5 per cent of the government''s estimate of Rs 3,20,000 crore for the financial year about Rs 22,000 crore is already lost on account of abolishing import duty on crude. This means that collections from excise customs and service tax will almost slide below last year''s level of about Rs 2,80,700 crore. The growth for excise collections has been a dismal 0.6 per cent against the target of 9.6 per cent, with the only relief coming from service tax collections, which have grown at 32 per cent against a target of 26 per cent. The headline excise rates have already been slashed by six per cent in the last seven months and NDTV also learnt that there is equal pressure to hike headline customs duty, which was cut, to 7.5 per cent in this year''s budget.