By IANS,
Mumbai : A benchmark index for Indian equities markets Friday bounced back into green gaining 57 points after the government sought to assure overseas investors that their fear of losing benefits over the Tax Residency Certificate (TRC) will be addressed during discussion on the Finance Bill in parliament.
In the federal budget for 2013-14, Finance Minister P. Chidambaram had proposed changes in the Finance Act that says a tax residency certificate (TRC) is a “necessary but not sufficient condition” for availing benefits of the double taxation avoidance agreement (DTAA).
The move caused confusion in the markets leading to huge sell-off by overseas investors, resulting in the sensitive index (Sensex) of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) losing 290 points Thursday.
The foreign investors were concerned that the TRC provision would make it difficult for them routing their funds from low-tax havens like Mauritius, Cyprus and Singapore to avail the benefits under the DTAA.
The BSE Realty, technology, media and entertainment (TECk) and fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) stocks plunged.
Consumer durables, automobile and capital goods stocks, however, moved up.
The 30 scrip Sensex of the BSE, which opened at 18,876.68 points, closed at 18,918.52 points, up 56.98 points or 0.30 percent from its previous close at 18,861.54 points.
The Sensex touched an intra-day high of 18,988.97 points and a low of 18,820.90 points. The midcap index was down 158.95 points, while the smallcap index dipped 124.83 points.
The wider 50-scrip S&P CNX Nifty of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) closed lower by 26.65 points or 0.47 percent at 5,719.70 points.
The BSE realty index closed lower by 78.95 points, followed by TECk index, down 8.57 points and FMCG index, down 4.84 points.
The BSE consumer durables index was up 229.35 points, while the automobile index moved 157.00 points higher and the capital goods index was up 148.83 points.
The major Sensex gainers were Maruti Suzuki, up 4.98 percent at Rs.1,424.20; Jindal Steel, up 2.87 percent at Rs.358.85; Bajaj Auto, up 2.63 percent at Rs.2,023.45; Larsen and Toubro, up 2.51 percent at Rs.1,400.10; and Cipla, up 2.40 percent at Rs.369.40.
The losers included Bharti Airtel, down 3.89 percent at Rs.310.95; Dr Reddy’s Lab, down 1.44 percent at Rs.1,735.20; ITC, down 1.42 percent at Rs.290.90; Hero MotoCorp, down 1.30 percent at Rs.1,646.05; and Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), down 1.00 percent at Rs.1,499.55.
Among other Asian markets, Japan’s Nikkei closed 0.41 percent higher, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng ended 0.61 percent down. China’s Shanghai Composite Index closed 0.26 percent lower.
In Europe, Britain’s FTSE 100 was down 0.55 percent, while the German DAX was trading 0.96 percent lower. The French CAC 40 was down 1.35 percent.