Benchmarks extend losses; Realty, Bankex drag

Indian equity markets extend losses and continued their weak trade in the late afternoon session on account of selling in frontline blue chip counters. The sentiments were under pressure after RBI on much expected lines, in its first bi-monthly monetary policy statement, 2015-16 kept the policy repo rate under the liquidity adjustment facility (LAF) unchanged at 7.5% and consequently, the reverse repo rate under the LAF unchanged at 6.5%. Traders were seen piling positions in Metal, Consumer Durables and Power stocks while selling was witnessed in Realty, Bankex and Auto sector stocks. In scrip specific development, Rural Electrification Corporation (REC) was trading in red ahead of stake sale by the government. The government will sell 5% stake in REC on April 8 to mop up close to Rs 1,600 crore. The government is likely to fix the floor price for the OFS at a discount to the current market price.

On the global front, the Asian markets were trading in green while the European markets were trading on optimistic note. Back home, the NSE Nifty and BSE Sensex were trading below the psychological 8,650 and 28,400 levels respectively. The market breadth on BSE was positive in the ratio of 1319:1244 while 99 scrips remained unchanged.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 28305.31, down by 199.15 points or 0.70% after trading in a range of 28274.36 and 28641.08. There were 9 stocks advancing against 21 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.25%, while Small cap index up by 0.62%.

The gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Metal up by 0.91%, Consumer Durables up by 0.69%, Power up by 0.39% while, Realty down by 1.56%, Bankex down by 1.16%, Auto down by 0.61%, INFRA down by 0.48%, IT down by 0.46% were the losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Bajaj Auto up by 2.64%, NTPC up by 2.21%, Tata Steel up by 1.95%, Sesa Sterlite up by 1.70% and Tata Power up by 0.97%. On the flip side, Sun Pharma down by 2.31%, Tata Motors down by 2.15%, Axis Bank down by 2.04%, Wipro down by 1.64% and ICICI Bank down by 1.60% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, defending the move of sending tax notices to about 100 FIIs totaling $5-6 billion, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley asserted that legitimate tax demand cannot be considered 'tax terrorism' because India is not a tax haven. The minister clarified that the country was not so vulnerable that every legitimate tax demand was considered as tax terrorism and neither was the country a tax haven.

The minister further highlighted that though some decisions of the past have made the taxation regime adversarial, however an emerging economy that counts on investment could-not indulge in something that has been referred as tax terrorism or very aggressive tax laws.

In the biggest-ever tax demand, nearly 100 foreign funds have been asked to cough up an estimated $5-6 billion for 'untaxed gains' made by them in the Indian markets over the past years. This has triggered huge protest from foreign investors since ‘Budget 2015-16’ announced foreign institutional investors (FIIs) would be exempt from minimum alternate tax (MAT) from 2015-16. However, several MAT notices have been issued to FIIs for assessment year 2011-12 and earlier. Overall, pending MAT demands from the tax department are said to stand at about Rs 37,000 crore.

Further, on black money issue, the minister highlighted there would be a grace period for companies and individuals to come clean on their overseas assets and that every suggestion regarding the compliance window (for black money) was welcomed.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 8604.25, down by 55.65 points or 0.64% after trading in a range of 8586.85 and 8693.60. There were 19 stocks advancing against 31 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Bajaj Auto up by 2.39%, Tata Steel up by 2.04%, NTPC up by 2.04%, Sesa Sterlite up by 2.01% and Hindalco up by 1.15%. On the flip side, Sun Pharma down by 2.46%, IDFC down by 2.39%, Tata Motors down by 2.14%, Axis Bank down by 1.94% and Ambuja Cement down by 1.91% were the top losers.

The Asian markets were trading in green; KOSPI Index increased 0.6 points or 0.03% to 2,047.03, FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI increased 11.25 points or 0.61% to 1,854.19, Straits Times increased 12.12 points or 0.35% to 3,465.03, Taiwan Weighted increased 41.58 points or 0.43% to 9,641.90, Jakarta Composite increased 41.84 points or 0.76% to 5,521.87, Shanghai Composite increased 97.45 points or 2.52% to 3,961.38 and Nikkei 225 increased 242.56 points or 1.25% to 19,640.54.

The Hong Kong market was closed today on account of ‘The day following Easter Monday’ holiday.

The European markets were trading in green; France’s CAC increased 58.55 points or 1.15% to 5,132.69, Germany’s DAX increased 110.38 points or 0.92% to 12,077.77 and UK’s FTSE 100 increased 79.44 points or 1.16% to 6,912.90.