Mkts see-saw; HDFC Bank, HDFC, Satyam gainers

Markets are trading with extreme volatility as technology, FMCG, banking and select capital goods stocks are supporting frontline indices while oil & gas, auto, metal and select power stocks are pulling indices lower. Midcap and small cap indices are not showing any great movement, both are trading flat.

At 12:31 pm, the Sensex declined by 42 points at 14,681 and Nifty down 24 points at 4,406. Market breadth is slightly weak; about 1114 shares have advanced while 1233 shares declined. Nearly 815 shares are unchanged.

HDFC Bank, HDFC, Satyam and Sun Pharma are top gainers while Grasim, Hindalco, Reliance Ind, BPCL and Suzlon Energy are losers.

BSE IT gained 1% and Bankex up just 0.6%. However, Oil & Gas fell 1.9%, Auto and Metal plunged over 1%. Power lost 0.9% and Realty down 0.55%.

Markets are witnessing some volatility and consolidating at current levels for further upmove. Buying is seen in technology, FMCG, banking and select pharma stocks while selling in oil & gas, metal, auto and power stocks.

At 11:21 am, the Sensex rose 15 points at 14,739 while Nifty fell 11 points at 4,419. BSE Midcap and Small cap indices are also flat.

Market breadth is mixed; about 1449 shares have advanced while 1501 shares declined. Nearly 212 shares are unchanged.

Top gainers are HDFC, HDFC Bank, Satyam and Sun Pharma while losers are Hindalco, Grasim, Sterlite Industries and BPCL.

Reliance Capital, Reliance Ind, Vishal Info and ICICI Bank are most active counters on the bourses.

BSE IT Index rose 1.75%. Indian Rupee is trading around 43.23 per dollar.

Bankex jumped nearly 1.7%, FMCG gained 1.1%, Capital Goods and Healthcare 0.8% each. However, Oil & Gas fell 1%, Auto down 0.8% and Metal slipped 0.5%.

Sensex ends up 300pts, Reliance gains 4%

Updated at 1550 hrs: The Sensex opened with a huge negative gap of 292 points at 14,064, and dropped to a low of 14,033. The Sensex zoomed to 14,682 in closing deals - an intra-day swing of 649 points. The Sensex finally closed with a gain of 301 points (2.10%) at 14,657.

All the sectoral indices, except Auto and FMCG, closed with gains. Market breadth was bullish - out of over 2,730 scrips traded, over 1,545 logged gains.

SBI gained over 6% at Rs 1,500. Reliance moved up over 4% to Rs 2,300. HDFC added 5.5% at Rs 2,402. Infosys was up over 3% at Rs 1,640.

Jaiprakash, Reliance Infra, BHEL, Wipro, Tata Steel and NTPC also finished with gains.

RCom dropped nearly 13% to Rs 437. Tata Power declined nearly 4% to Rs 1,116. Maruti, HUL, ACC and Tata Motors also declined.

RCom was the most active counter with a turnover of Rs 631 crore followed by RNRL (Rs 375 crore), Reliance Capital (Rs 348 crore), Reliance (Rs 297 crore) and L&T (Rs 187 crore).

5 smart ways to tackle Income Tax

Submitting proof of investments is an extremely traumatising affair for all salaried individuals. First, you have to deal with the painful task of collecting and organising hordes of receipts. To top it off are the anxiety levels of not knowing if you’ve invested enough and worrying about how much money you’ll lose to tax in the following couple of months. Naturally, we all have tax consultants, who will tell us what we need to do to ensure the least possible impact of tax, but it’s even more helpful if we, ourselves are very clear on exactly how much of our salary can we claim as exempted from tax. This way, we know exactly how much we must invest to minimise tax liability. Make no mistake, investing in order to save tax is absolutely necessary, but knowing deductibles on your salary ensures you don’t overdo your tax saving investments.

Basic salary: high or low?
If you earn a salary of Rs 1,00,000 per month, you are definitely aware that the basic amount in your salary is taxable. A high basic salary will come in good stead when you retire, but the flip side, as mentioned above is the tax liability of the same. Let’s say your basic is Rs 40,000. That would make your HRA as 20,000, which can only be claimed as tax deductible if you submit proof of rent to your employer.

Allowances: Double edged sword
Take note that any allowances included as a fixed component in your salary, like petrol, mobile phone bills, etc will be tax deductible. However, if the same were being given to you separately as reimbursement, these aren’t deductible for tax. So, if your pay package has reimbursements as opposed to allowances and that too separate from your monthly package these can be claimed as exempt from tax.

Provident Fund contribution
The Provident Fund contribution from your salary is deductible. You don’t really need to specify this in your declaration. This is something your employers factor in when deducting tax. If you have switched jobs and requested for withdrawal of PF, then the number of years of service will determine whether that withdrawn PF amount is taxable or not. According to the law, PF withdrawal after continuous service of 5 years (with single or multiple employers) is exempt from tax. So, if you’ve worked for less than 5 years, then the interest component on PF is treated as ‘income from other sources’ and is hence taxable. Also, the employer’s contribution is considered as income and is therefore taxable.

Home loans: boon and bane
There is one oft-used and essential tax-saver – home loans. What is commonly done (if both partners are working) is that one partner shoulders the EMI responsibility while the other handles the household expenses. Instead what can be done is that both the partners become co-applicants to the loan. This mean each can claim the rebate individually. Let’s say, the rebate to the loan is Rs 1,00,000 plus another lakh on principal amount, if you have a co-applicant to the loan, then each of you can individually claim Rs200,000 (that’s Rs400,000 in total). Use the rest of your taxable income for some sensible investment then. Note though, home loan tax benefits will come to both the co-applicants only if each has a source of steady income (and proof of payment made is submitted by both). Dependant partners can be co-applicants but won’t avail tax benefits if they aren’t earning.

And, finally education
Another expenditure to take note of, is the amount you spend on your child’s education. In your child’s school fees, there is the tuition fee component, which is entirely tax deductible (under Section 80 C). So keep those receipts handy. These are some basic deductions, applicable to salaried individuals that need to be factored in before you invest (last-minute) for ‘tax purposes’.

Nifty ends above 4400; Power, CG, O&G, banks stks zoom

It was a strong session for markets on the back of huge buying in capital goods, power, oil & gas, banking, metal, realty and technology stocks. Nifty clawed back above 4400 and Sensex above 14500 levels in today's trade. Markets opened weak in morning trade due to negative global cues and disappointing results from major telcom and realty players but strong buying in heavyweights shrugged off both those negative news in second half of session and both indices regained that entire loss.

The Sensex closed with a gain of 300.94 points or 2.10% at 14,656.69. It touched an intraday high of 14,682.33 and low of 14,032.87, swung more than 600 points in a day. Nifty closed at 4413.55, up 80.6 points or 1.86%, which hit a high/low of 4422.95 and 4235.70, respectively.

Amongst frontliners, Jaiprakash Associates rose 8.67%, PNB 7.07%, Suzlon Energy 7.04%, SBI 6.05%, HDFC 5.51%, Siemens 5.02%, Reliance Infra 4.71% and BHEL 4.61%. However, Reliance Comm lost 12.65%, Tata Power -3.76%, Maruti Suzuki -2.50%, Tata Motors -2.04%, HUL -1.90% and ACC -1.33%.

On the weekly basis, Sensex gained 2.8% and Nifty up 2.5%. BSE Metal Index shot up by 6.2% followed by Oil & Gas Index with 5.8% and IT up 5%. Amongst heavyweights, Suzlon rose 13%, Tata Power 10%, HDFC 8.5% while Reliance Communication lost 13%.

Reliance Communication fell over 13% on the back of disappointing quarterly results. Macquarie in their report says among the worst quarterly results have seen in the Indian telecom sector. They downgraded Reliance Comm to neutral with target price of Rs 475, reports CNBC-TV18.

Capital Goods Index outperformed other indices, jumped by 3.84% or 448.20 points at 12,132. Kalpataru Power, Crompton Greaves, Siemens, Punj Lloyd, BHEL and ABB have gained 4-6.4%.

Power stocks charged up fully. Suzlon Energy, GMR Infra, Reliance Infra, NTPC, Power Grid Corp and Reliance Power shot up 2.75%-7%. Power Index rose 87.48 points or 3.4% at 2,661.75.

Oil & Gas Inded ended with a gain of 317.39 points or 3.26% at 10,046.87. Oil stocks like Essar Oil, Reliance Ind, RNRL, IOC, GAIL, Reliance Petro, BPCL and HPCL surged 2-6%.

Bankex jumped up by due to buying in Bank of Baroda, PNB, Canara Bank, Federal Bank, Bank of India, SBI and Kotak Mahindra, which rose 6-8%. Bankex shot up by 212.24 points or 3.26% at 6,728.65.

IT Index moved up 110.49 points or 2.99% at 3,800.06. Technology stocks like Rolta, Wipro, Mphasis, I-Flex Solution, Infosys, HCL Tech and Satyam shot up 2.85-4%.

Metal stocks also ended in green, which includes JSW Steel, Jindal Saw, Ispat Industries, Tata Steel, Sesa Goa, Welspun Guj, SAIL and Jindal Steel. Index gained 337.70 points or 2.62% at 13,250.31.

Realty Index was up 120.19 points or 2.37% at 5,199.20, as buying is seen in Omaxe, Parsvnath, Anant Raj Ind, Peninsula Land, Unitech and DLF, which gained 2-5%.

Pharma stocks like Opto Circuits, Pfizer, Dr Reddys Labs, Sun Pharma, Aurobindo Pharma and Ranbaxy Labs were up. Healthcare Index rose 0.69% at 4,190.84.