Benchmarks add losses; Sensex slips below 23600 mark

Indian bourses adding losses, continued to trade in red in the late morning session, with the Sensex losing over 200 points and Nifty falling below the 7200 level, due to profit-booking by investors after recent gains amid a lacklustre trade in Asia.  Sentiments remained down-beat on report that exports of over half of the sectors, out of the 30 closely monitored by the Commerce Ministry, were in the negative zone in January due to a fall in global prices and demand. The broader market traded in line with benchmark indices with the BSE midcap and BSE smallcap indices trading with losses of 0.67 and 0.54 per cent, respectively. Meanwhile, some investors remained on the sidelines and refrained from any buying activity ahead of the Railway Budget and derivatives expiry. On the global front, Asian stock markets were mostly weaker on Tuesday as the oil price rally that boosted global equity markets reversed, while the euro and sterling were hit by uncertainty over Britain’s membership in the European Union. The Japanese market was lower as a stronger yen weighed on exporters' shares.  Meanwhile, US equities roared higher by more than one per cent on Monday as the gloomy sentiment that has marked Wall Street much of this year continued to dissipate.

Back home, barring metal, all other BSE sectoral indices were trading in the red. Among them, banking index fell the most by 1.84 per cent, followed by FMCG 1.18 per cent, PSU 1.04 per cent and Capital Goods0.93 per cent, while metal index was up 0.45 per cent. In scrip specific development, Shares of NTPC have dipped after the central government said that it will divest 5% stake in power giant through the Offer for Sale (OFS) route. On the other hand, shares of Richa Industries have gained after the company secured an order from IRCON International, a government company incorporated by the Ministry of Railways, for the construction of five Pre Engineered Buildings (PEB) at Rourkela, Orissa for Indian Railways.

The market breadth on BSE was negative, out of 2096 stocks traded, 680 stocks advanced, while 1299 stocks declined on the BSE. The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 23579.28, down by 209.51 points or 0.88% after trading in a range of 23558.51 and 23851.51. There were 8 stocks advancing against 21 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in red; the BSE Mid cap index was down by 0.67%, while Small cap index down by 0.54%.

The only gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Metal up by 0.45%, while Bankex down by 1.84%, FMCG down by 1.18%, PSU down by 1.04%, Capital Goods down by 0.93% and Power down by 0.83% were the losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Tata Steel up by 1.53%, ONGC up by 0.89%, Maruti Suzuki up by 0.54%, Sun Pharma Inds. up by 0.44% and Dr. Reddys Lab up by 0.36%. On the flip side, ICICI Bank down by 2.27%, SBI down by 2.24%, NTPC down by 2.05%, Axis Bank down by 1.85% and Bajaj Auto down by 1.79% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, the total collection from the direct taxes which include personal income tax and corporate tax stood at Rs 5.47 lakh crore as on February 13 2016. This amount is 68.7 percent of the total budget target for the current fiscal year 2015-16.

Though the government is likely to face a shortfall of Rs 40,000 crore in direct tax collection for the current fiscal, the shortfall would be made good as the indirect tax revenues are likely to overshoot budget target by a similar margin. Out of the total tax revenue target of Rs 14.5 lakh crore for the current financial year, Rs 7.96 lakh crore was estimated to come from direct taxes (corporate and income tax) and another Rs 6.5 lakh crore from indirect taxes (customs, excise and service tax).

With an aim to improve ease of doing business, the government is likely to begin a sweeping revamp of direct taxes in the Budget 2016-17 that Finance Minister Arun Jaitley will present next week. This move comes as the Narendra Modi government has pledged a predictable and non-adversarial tax regime. Under this there will be two themes driving the revamp, such as simplification and rationalization. It will help to create more positive perception of India’s tax environment.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 7165.75, down by 68.80 points or 0.95% after trading in a range of 7158.85 and 7241.70. There were 11 stocks advancing against 38 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Hindalco up by 2.45% and Tata Steel up by 1.59% and Vedanta up by 1.48% and ONGC up by 0.93% and Maruti Suzuki up by 0.56%. On the flip side, PNB down by 2.98%, ICICI Bank down by 2.19%, SBI down by 2.18%, NTPC down by 2.13% and Kotak Mahindra Bank down by 2.04% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in red, Hang Seng was down by 0.54%, Shanghai Composite down by 1.26%, Jakarta Composite down by 0.66%, Nikkei 225 down by 0.2% and KOSPI Index down by 0.25%. On the flip side, FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI was up by 0.53% and Taiwan Weighted up by 0.08%.