Markets continue to trade in red in early noon session

Indian equity benchmarks have recovered from day’s low but continued to trade in red in early noon session, on account of selling by fund and retail investors in index heavyweight shares such as Maruti Suzuki, HDFC, Adani Ports and Infosys. The downside is limited due to buying demand in the pharmaceuticals companies. Investors even overlooked the Moody's Investors Service’s statement that low commodity prices and better FDI inflows have reduced India's vulnerability to external shocks which is ‘credit positive’ for India. Meanwhile, minutes from the Fed's March 15-16 policy meeting suggested that the Federal Reserve remains apprehensive about an interest rate hike before June as fears of a global economic slowdown resurfaced. The broader markets are, however, outperforming the benchmark indices.  BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices were trading higher up by 0.26% and 0.27% respectively. 

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly in green, tracking gains from Wall Street. Back home, both the Sensex and Nifty were trading below their crucial 24,850 and 7,600 levels, respectively. In scrip specific development, shares of Diamond Power Infrastructure have zoomed over 14% after Kotak Mahindra Bank’s subsidiary has acquired stake in Diamond Power Infrastructure. Delta Corp surged over 9% after the Goa government extended the company’s offshore casino licenses to operate casinos on the Mandovi river till March 31, 2017. The government had earlier asked the company to relocate its casino operations from Mandovi River.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 24813.22, down by 87.41 points or 0.35% after trading in a range of 24648.21 and 25013.13. There were 13 stocks advancing against 17 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.26%, while Small cap index up by 0.27%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were PSU up by 0.49%, Oil & Gas up by 0.41%, Bankex up by 0.34%, Metal up by 0.22% and Realty up by 0.15%, while Consumer Durables down by 1.05%, IT down by 0.76%, TECK down by 0.73%, FMCG down by 0.54% and Auto down by 0.37% were the losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Dr. Reddys Lab up by 2.07%, Lupin up by 1.54%, BHEL up by 1.36%, Axis Bank up by 1.35% and Coal India up by 1.12%. On the flip side, Maruti Suzuki down by 2.79%, HDFC down by 2.37%, Adani Ports &Special down by 1.94%, Infosys down by 1.54% and ITC down by 1.29% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, the government’s total tax collection for the financial year 2015-16 has exceeded the revised estimate in the budget. Total tax collection during the financial year is pegged at Rs 14.60 lakh crore, which compares favourably with the revised target and represents a growth of 17.6% compared to the last financial year.The aggregate Budget Estimates (BE) for total direct and indirect tax revenues for the fiscal year 2015-16 was Rs 14.45 lakh crore, which was revised to Rs 14.55 lakh crore.

The indirect tax revenue has exceeded budget estimates for 2015-16 by Rs 65,618 crore and the revised estimates by Rs 9,885 crore. The collection represents a growth of 31.1 per cent over 2014-15. Among indirect taxes in the form of customs, excise and service tax, the highest revision was seen for excise duty, which was revised to Rs 2.84 lakh crore from Rs 2.30 lakh crore for 2015-16.  On the other hand, direct tax realisations fell short by Rs 4,000 crore over the revised estimates. The realisation was 7.61 per cent higher than 2014-15 receipts.

While presenting Union Budget for 2016-17, finance minister Arun Jaitley had revised downwards the estimate for direct taxes Rs 45,974 crore to Rs 7,52,021 crore from Rs 7,97,995 crore estimated earlier for the financial year 2015-16. The estimates for indirect taxes, on the other hand, were revised upwards due to which the gross tax revenue target for 2015-16 was revised upwards to Rs 14,59,611 crore from Rs 14,49,490 crore estimated earlier.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 7595.65, down by 18.70 points or 0.25% after trading in a range of 7542.15 and 7630.75. There were 25 stocks advancing against 25 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Aurobindo Pharma up by 2.35%, Dr. Reddys Lab up by 2.08%, Bank of Baroda up by 1.64%, Lupin up by 1.58% and BHEL up by 1.49%. On the flip side, Maruti Suzuki down by 2.88%, Tata Power down by 2.78%, HDFC down by 2.45%, Adani Ports &Special down by 1.60% and Infosys down by 1.48% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in green; KOSPI Index increased 2.57 points or 0.13% to 1,973.89, FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI increased 3.57 points or 0.21% to 1,720.58, Jakarta Composite increased 14.38 points or 0.3% to 4,882.61, Nikkei 225 increased 38.5 points or 0.24% to 15,753.86 and Hang Seng increased 77.47 points or 0.38% to 20,284.14, while Taiwan Weighted decreased 23.05 points or 0.27% to 8,490.25 and Shanghai Composite decreased 9.35 points or 0.31% to 3,041.24.