Bourses remain in red in late afternoon session

In volatile trading session, Indian equity markets remained in red during late afternoon session. Traders were cautious as India's merchandise trade deficit expanded to $19.1 billion in April. India's exports rose marginally by 1.06 per cent to $34.99 billion in April 2024, against $34.62 billion during the same period last year. Meanwhile India's imports stood at $54.09 billion. Meanwhile, ICRA Chief Economist Aditi Nayar has said the wholesale food inflation, which is at a four-month high, will continue to be a cause for concern in May and June as heatwave is likely to jack up prices of perishable commodities. On the global front, Asian markets were trading mixed with Hong Kong and South Korean markets closing for Buddha's birthday. European markets were trading mostly in green after Federal Reserve chairman Jerome Powell said that the central bank is unlikely to raise its key interest rate to tackle elevated inflation.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 72965.13, down by 139.48 points or 0.19% after trading in a range of 72822.66 and 73301.47. There were 14 stocks advancing against 16 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index gained 0.68%, while Small cap index was up by 0.99%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Power up by 1.96%, Capital Goods up by 1.90%, Industrials up by 1.61%, PSU up by 1.39% and Utilities was up by 1.30%, while FMCG down by 0.62%, Bankex down by 0.33% and Auto was down by 0.18% were the few losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Power Grid up by 1.62%, NTPC up by 1.52%, Mahindra & Mahindra up by 1.34%, HCL Tech up by 1.15% and Bharti Airtel up by 0.87%. On the flip side, HDFC Bank down by 1.62%, Asian Paints down by 1.51%, Tata Motors down by 1.42%, Sun Pharma down by 1.39% and JSW Steel down by 0.98% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, in a move towards making the tax filing system more transparent, the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) has rolled out a new functionality in the Annual Information Statement (AIS) to display the status of information confirmation process. This will display, whether the feedback of the taxpayer has been acted upon by the Source, by either, partially or fully accepting or rejecting the same. In case of partial or full acceptance, the information is required to be corrected by filing a correction statement by the Source. The following attributes shall be visible to the taxpayer for status of Feedback confirmation from Source.

This will let the taxpayer know if the feedback has been shared with the Reporting Source for confirmation or not and will let the taxpayer know the date on which the feedback has been shared with the Reporting Source for confirmation. Besides, this will let the taxpayer know the date on which the Reporting Source has responded on the feedback shared with it for confirmation and will let the taxpayer know the response provided by the Source on the taxpayer's feedback (if any correction is required or not).

This new functionality is expected to increase transparency by displaying such information in AIS to the taxpayer. This is another initiative of the Income Tax Department towards ease of compliance and enhanced taxpayer services. In AIS, taxpayer has been provided with a functionality to furnish feedback on every transaction displayed therein. This feedback helps the taxpayer to comment on the accuracy of the information provided by the Source of such information. In case of wrong reporting, the same is taken up with the Source for their confirmation, in an automated manner. It may be noted that, information confirmation is currently made functional with regard to information furnished by Tax Deductors/Collectors and Reporting Entities.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 22196.35, down by 21.50 points or 0.10% after trading in a range of 22151.75 and 22297.55. There were 27 stocks advancing against 22 stocks declining on the index, while 1 stock remained unchanged. 

The top gainers on Nifty were Coal India up by 4.26%, Cipla up by 3.67%, Power Grid up by 1.57%, NTPC up by 1.53% and Mahindra & Mahindra up by 1.37%. On the flip side, Eicher Motors down by 1.70%, Asian Paints down by 1.55%, HDFC Bank down by 1.53%, Bajaj Auto down by 1.46% and Tata Motors down by 1.43% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mixed; Taiwan Weighted added 161.36 points or 0.76% to 21,147.21, Jakarta Composite gained 107.98 points or 1.52% to 7,191.74 and Nikkei 225 was up by 29.67 points or 0.08% to 38,385.73. On the flip side, Straits Times fell 22.28 points or 0.67% to 3,291.07 and Shanghai Composite was down by 25.87 points or 0.83% to 3,119.90.

European markets were trading mostly in green; UK’s FTSE 100 increased 34.03 points or 0.4% to 8,462.16 and Germany’s DAX was up by 91.27 points or 0.49% to 18,807.69. On the flip side, France’s CAC was down by 9.38 points or 0.11% to 8,216.42.