Markets continue to trade lower in noon deals

Indian equity benchmarks continued to show sluggish trend in noon deals as concerns about growth in China resurfaces. Investors remained on sidelines ahead of Q3 earning season which is due to start tomorrow with TCS and IndusInd Bank unveiling the numbers. Depreciation in Indian rupee too weighed down sentiments. The rupee was trading lower by 20 paise at 66.83 against the American currency in noon deals at the Interbank Foreign Exchange market as the dollar strengthened overseas. Weakness in Asian markets too dampened sentiments. All the regional counterparts were trading to its lowest level in more than four years, as concern about China's growth outlook continued to fan a global sell-off. The Japanese market was shut for the day on account of Coming of Age (Adults') Day.

Back home, metal shares mainly were playing spoil sport for the markets as demand from China, the world's largest consumer of metal, looks bleak. However, shares of sugar companies were trading higher by up to 10% on the bourses, extending their Friday’s gain, in otherwise weak market on report that the state advised price (SAP) of sugarcane in Uttar Pradesh is expected to be announced by the Akhilesh Yadav government in current week. Meanwhile, the broader indices too were trading lower, while the market breadth on the BSE was negative; there were 972 shares on the gaining side against 1,560 shares on the losing side while 146 shares remain unchanged.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 24763.37, down by 170.96 points or 0.69% after trading in a range of 24598.90 and 24840.17. There were 6 stocks advancing against 24 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in red; the BSE Mid cap index was down by 0.95%, while Small cap index down by 0.71%.

The top losing sectoral indices on the BSE were Metal down by 1.78%, Finance down by 1.35%, Capital Goods down by 1.31%, PSU down by 1.30% and Bankex down by 1.15%, while Energy up by 0.36%, remained the lone gainer on the index.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Reliance Industries up by 2.15%, Tata Motors up by 1.43%, Maruti Suzuki up by 0.95%, Hindustan Unilever up by 0.81% and Axis Bank up by 0.76%. On the flip side, BHEL down by 2.80%, Tata Steel down by 2.78%, Adani Ports &Special down by 2.77%, SBI down by 2.44% and Dr. Reddys Lab down by 2.21% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, in order to review the on-ground implementation of some of the recent initiatives announced by the government for a taxpayer-friendly regime and to widen the base of taxpaying people, the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) will hold a high-level meeting with top income-tax department officials on January 13. The meeting will be chaired by the Chairman AK Jain of CBDT and will be attended by other members of the board who will interact with all the regional IT department heads via video conferencing. The inputs received by the CBDT after the meeting, will be used in preparation of the Union Budget.

According to the agenda proposed for the meeting, the top policy-making body of the Income Tax department will review the current status of revenue collection under the direct taxes category, prompt issuance of refunds up to Rs. 50,000 in non-scrutiny cases and progress on the new project of holding scrutiny of cases through email and internet-based communication. Besides, the meeting will assess the progress made by IT department in adding new assesses under the initiative to add one crore new taxpayers this fiscal.

Furthermore, the other subjects for review include the monitoring of pending legal cases and their effective disposal, implementation of recent orders for hike in monetary limits for appeal in the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal (ITAT) and High Courts, quick disposal of taxpayer grievances and status of scrutiny cases being worked out in the department.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 7536.25, down by 65.10 points or 0.86% after trading in a range of 7494.35 and 7566.40. There were 6 stocks advancing against 44 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Reliance Industries up by 2.03%, Tata Motors up by 1.47%, Hindustan Unilever up by 1.01%, Maruti Suzuki up by 0.90% and Axis Bank up by 0.64%. On the flip side, Tata Power down by 3.28%, BHEL down by 2.83%, Tata Steel down by 2.82%, Adani Ports &Special down by 2.75% and Hindalco down by 2.60% were the top losers.

Asian equity indices were trading in red; Hang Seng declined 442.21 points or 2.16% to 20,011.50, Shanghai Composite tumbled 128.94 points or 4.05% to 3,057.47, Taiwan Weighted decreased 105.55 points or 1.34% to 7,788.42, Jakarta Composite dropped 77.1 points or 1.7% to 4,469.19, KOSPI Index shed 22.78 points or 1.19% to 1,894.84 and FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI was down by 12.89 points or 0.78% to 1,644.72.