Markets trade near intraday lows in noon deals

Indian equity benchmarks went into reverse gear and are trading near intraday lows in noon deals as investors opted to offload positions in risky assets at higher levels. The sentiments remained dampened after data showed the country’s exports shrank 13.6 per cent in January - for the 14th month in a row. Market participants also remained concerned with India Ratings maintaining a negative outlook for infrastructure sector for the next fiscal as it sees a high concentration of poorly performing assets. Depreciation in Indian rupee too weighed down sentiments. The rupee was trading lower by 29 paise at 68.35 against the American currency in noon deals at the Interbank Foreign Exchange market as the dollar firmed up overseas.

On the global front, Asian shares extended gains on Tuesday as a combination of stabilising Chinese markets, rebounding oil prices and solid US consumption data prompted investors to look for bargains after last week's rout. Closer home, selling was both brutal and wide-based as none of sectoral indices, barring power and utilities, on BSE were spared. The broader indices too were reeling under pressure, while the market breadth on the BSE was negative; there were 736 shares on the gaining side against 1,585 shares on the losing side while 114 shares remain unchanged.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 23431.81, down by 122.31 points or 0.52% after trading in a range of 23405.75 and 23692.08. There were 11 stocks advancing against 19 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in red; the BSE Mid cap index was down by 1.51%, while Small cap index down by 0.91%.

The only gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Power up by 0.39% and Utilities up by 0.38%, while Capital Goods down by 1.74%, Healthcare down by 1.46%, Metal down by 0.88%, Bankex down by 0.82% and PSU down by 0.79%, were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Adani Ports &Special up by 5.54%, NTPC up by 3.76%, ONGC up by 1.15%, Dr. Reddys Lab up by 1.00% and BHEL up by 0.79%. On the flip side, SBI down by 3.08%, Larsen & Toubro down by 2.45%, Sun Pharma down by 1.77%, Mahindra & Mahindra down by 1.24% and GAIL India down by 1.15% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, the government has collected non-tax receipts over Rs 2 lakh crore in the current fiscal. The biggest share flows from dividends paid by PSUs and the RBI. The other major items of non-tax receipts are interest receipts, spectrum charges, royalty, licence fee, sale of forms and RTI application fee. The receipts are about 90% of the FY16 non-tax revenue estimate of Rs 2.21 lakh crore.

For the financial year 2015-16 Rs 1,00,651 crore has been budgeted from dividends. Of this Rs 36,174 crore is estimated to come from CPSEs and Rs 64,477 crore from banks, financial institutions and RBI. The RBI has already paid a dividend of Rs 65,896 crore in FY16, 25% more than the amount in the year ago period.

Besides, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has launched a Non-Tax Receipt Portal (NTRP) developed by Controller General of Accounts (CGA) which provides a one-stop platform to citizens or corporates or other users to make online payment of non-tax receipts to Government of India. As taxes are largely collected using the e-payment mode, non tax revenues flow mainly through physical instruments such as bank draft or cheque or cash. The online electronic payment will help common users/citizens from the hassle of visiting bank premises for issue of drafts, and later to Government offices to deposit the instrument for availing services. The online payments can be made by using either a credit card, a debit card or through net banking.

Recently the government has said it would meet the tax revenue target of Rs 14.49 lakh crore for the current fiscal as a small shortfall in direct tax revenue would be offset by the indirect tax collections. It expects Rs 40,000 crore extra mop up from indirect taxes to make up for the shortfall in direct levies.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 7121.70, down by 41.25 points or 0.58% after trading in a range of 7110.90 and 7204.65. There were 15 stocks advancing against 35 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Adani Ports & Special up by 5.73%, NTPC up by 4.09%, Indusind Bank up by 1.43%, Cairn India up by 1.04% and ONGC up by 0.92%. On the flip side, Bank of Baroda down by 4.02%, SBI down by 3.54%, BPCL down by 3.23%, PNB down by 3.14% and Zee Entertainment down by 2.66% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in green; FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI increased 13.33 points or 0.81% to 1,663.29, KOSPI Index surged 26.1 points or 1.4% to 1,888.30, Nikkei 225 rose 31.85 points or 0.2% to 16,054.43, Shanghai Composite zoomed 85.4 points or 3.11% to 2,831.60, Taiwan Weighted soared 145.56 points or 1.8% to 8,212.07 and Hang Seng was up by 255.51 points or 1.35% to 19,173.65. On the flip side, Jakarta Composite was down by 12.13 points or 0.26% to 4,728.59.