There's a ray of hope amid fall

Strong advance tax figures by top corporate houses, which came out after the markets closed with biggest fall in key stock indices in recent months, may help the stocks to rebound on Tuesday, say analysts.

Indications from the advance taxes filed by some of the top corporate houses show a robust profit for the third quarter ending December 31, 2007.

According to available information, country's top corporate house Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) has filed an advance tax of Rs 1,000 crore, which is more than double the figures of the previous quarters. The company's advance tax filing was Rs 444 crore for the quarter ended October 2007.

According to stock brokers, this significant rise in the advance tax figures by the company indicates higher profits in the third quarter.

Deven Choksey, managing director K R Choksey Shares and Securities, said, "It is likely that markets would react in a positive manner in the next couple of days to the robust advance tax figures of top corporates. Most of the Sensex companies would be coming out with good tax figures this quarter."

RIL has the highest weight of 15.48 per cent in the key benchmark stock index Sensex of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE). As per its current weight, the rise in RIL share price by one per cent can move the Sensex up by 28.12 points or 0.14 per cent.

ICICI Bank, which is the second most heavyweight stock on Sensex, too filed a more than double advance tax of Rs 500 crore this quarter compared to its last quarter's Rs 250 crore.

The stock has a weight of 9.80 per cent on Sensex. A one per cent rise in the stock can move up the index by 9.43 points or 0.04 per cent. Apart from this, State Bank of India (SBI), which has a weight of 4.20 per cent in Sensex, filed an advance tax of Rs 1,090 crore, compared to its previous quarters filing of Rs 865 crore.