Benchmarks trade in red; IT, TECK drag

Indian equity markets erased gains and started trading in red in the late afternoon session on account of selling in frontline blue chip counters as caution prevailed ahead of the quarterly earnings and the state elections in Bihar. Investors remained on cautious approach ahead of Consumer Price Index (CPI) and Industrial Production data scheduled to be unveiled after market hours today. Traders were seen piling position in Metal, Power and Capital Goods stocks, while selling was witnessed in IT, TECK and FMCG sector stocks. In the scrip specific development, Bank of Baroda was trading under pressure after the lender suspended two senior bank employees at one of its branches in Delhi as part of a police investigation into suspected money laundering involving some Rs 6,000 crore ($927 million).

On the global front, the Asian markets were trading in green, while the European markets were trading mostly on pessimistic note. Back home, the NSE Nifty and BSE Sensex were trading below the psychological 8,200 and 27,000 levels respectively. The market breadth on BSE was negative in the ratio of 1266:1311 while 115 scrips remained unchanged.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 26947.61, down by 131.90 points or 0.49% after trading in a range of 26947.07 and 27305.04. There were 16 stocks advancing against 14 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in red; the BSE Mid cap index was down by 0.06%, while Small cap index down by 0.06%.

The gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Metal up by 1.14%, Power up by 0.90%, Capital Goods up by 0.33%, Auto up by 0.29% and Oil & Gas up by 0.19%, while IT down by 1.56%, TECK down by 1.43%, FMCG down by 0.70%, Consumer Durables down by 0.26% and Realty down by 0.18% were the losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Vedanta up by 6.95%, Hindalco up by 5.14%, Tata Motors up by 2.08%, BHEL up by 1.83% and GAIL India up by 1.70%.

On the flip side, Infosys down by 2.75%, Lupin down by 2.00%, Sun Pharma down by 1.85%, HDFC down by 1.77% and Dr. Reddy’s Lab down by 1.74% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, indirect tax collections grew 35.8 percent to Rs 3.24 lakh crore during April-September period of current fiscal as compared to Rs 2.38 lakh crore during the same period of previous financial year, reflecting growth in the economic activity and hitting more than 50% of the annual target. Indirect taxes include customs duty, central excise duty and service tax. The collection reflects hike in excise duty on diesel and petrol, withdrawal of exemptions for motor vehicles, increase in clean energy cess and hike in service tax rate in June.

Bulk of the growth in the indirect taxes has been contributed by central excise duty collection which grew 69.6 percent to Rs 1.25 lakh crore during the first six months of current fiscal against Rs 74,019 crore in the same period last fiscal. Besides, customs collections rose 17.5 percent to over Rs. 1.03 lakh crore during April-September period against Rs 89,324 crore in the same period year ago. Service tax collections grew 24.3 percent to Rs 95,493 crore during the April-Sept period.

During September, indirect tax collections grew by 32.6 percent to Rs 61,284 crore against Rs 46,224 crore during same period last year. Excise duty collections in September increased by 68.4 per cent to Rs. 22,489 crore, whereas custom duty collections grew by 3.4 percent to Rs 18,312 crore. Service tax collections in September rose by 35.1 per cent to Rs. 20,483 crore against Rs 15,158 crore in the same month of last fiscal.

Tax collection is the major source of revenue for the government. The government has budgeted to collect over Rs 6.47 lakh crore from indirect taxes in the current fiscal, a growth of 18.8 per cent over last fiscal.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 8155.25, down by 34.45 points or 0.42% after trading in a range of 8154.75 and 8244.50. There were 28 stocks advancing against 22 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Vedanta up by 6.95%, Hindalco up by 4.82%, BHEL up by 1.96%, Tata Motors up by 1.91% and GAIL India up by 1.60%.

On the flip side, Bank Of Baroda down by 3.32%, Infosys down by 2.66%, Sun Pharma down by 2.01%, Lupin down by 1.98% and HDFC down by 1.96% were the top losers.

The Asian markets were trading in green; FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI increased 0.57 points or 0.03% to 1,707.11, KOSPI Index increased 2.1 points or 0.1% to 2,021.63, Jakarta Composite increased 24.15 points or 0.53% to 4,613.50, Shanghai Composite increased 104.51 points or 3.28% to 3,287.66, Taiwan Weighted increased 127.76 points or 1.51% to 8,573.72 and Hang Seng increased 272.13 points or 1.21% to 22,730.93.

Japan stock exchange was closed on account of ‘Health-Sports Day’ holiday.

The European markets were trading mostly in red; UK’s FTSE 100 decreased 29.24 points or 0.46% to 6,386.92, France’s CAC decreased 15.66 points or 0.33% to 4,685.73 and Germany’s DAX increased 58.91 points or 0.58% to 10,155.51.