Sluggish trade continues on Dalal Street in noon deals

Choppiness continues on Dalal Street in noon deals as traders opted to book profit at attractive levels after posting a huge rally in previous session. Market participants also remained on sidelines ahead of important macro data slated to be announced later in the week. Besides, depreciation in Indian rupee too weighed down sentiments. The rupee was trading lower by 6 paise at a fresh two-week low of 66.64 against the US dollar in noon deals on increased demand for the American currency from importers.

On the global front, Asian equity indices were trading mostly in green at this point of time, led by over two percent surge in Japanese market as the yen weakened. However, gains in Asian counters remained capped as weak oil prices weighed on sentiment. Closer home, selling in metal counter too dampened investors’ sentiments. Metal shares were trading under tremendous selling pressure after the iron ore traffic, including pellets, at major ports saw a sharp fall of 28% in financial year 2015-16 as imports declined because of weak demand. Total iron ore cargo fell to 13 million tonnes (mt) from 18 mt a year ago. However, shares of sugar companies have extended gains on expectation of strong earnings for quarter ended March 31, 2016 (Q4FY16).

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 25645.89, down by 42.97 points or 0.17% after trading in a range of 25614.24 and 25710.69. There were 12 stocks advancing against 17 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.03%, while Small cap index up by 0.19%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Capital Goods up by 0.87%, Consumer Durables up by 0.71%, Healthcare up by 0.65% and Realty up by 0.48%, while Auto down by 1.23%, Telecom down by 0.90%, Oil & Gas down by 0.86%, Metal down by 0.69% and Energy down by 0.59% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Dr. Reddys Lab up by 1.97%, BHEL up by 1.85%, Hindustan Unilever up by 1.64%, Larsen & Toubro up by 1.05% and Axis Bank up by 0.78%. On the flip side, Tata Motors down by 3.51%, ONGC down by 1.68%, Bharti Airtel down by 1.38%, ITC down by 0.86% and Bajaj Auto down by 0.71% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, starting the financial year on a positive note, Indirect tax collections which include customs duty, central excise duty and service tax, surged by 41 percent to Rs 64,394 crore during the month of April, compared to Rs 45,417 crore in the first month of last fiscal 2015-16, on back of additional revenue mobilisation measures such as increase in excise duty on petroleum products and also due to an economic recovery.

Revenue Secretary Hasmukh Adhia said that service tax collections grew by 27 per cent to Rs 18,647 crore in April 2016, as against Rs 14,585 crore in the same month last fiscal. Besides, the central excise duty mop-up in April went up 70 per cent to Rs 28,252 crore against Rs 16,546 crore in the year-ago month. Collection of customs duty witnessed 22 per cent increase to Rs 17,945 crore in April, as against Rs 14,286 crore in the same month a year ago. Adhia further said that the growth in indirect tax revenues would have been 17% if one does not take into account the additional revenue mobilization measures adopted by the government.

In the current financial year, mop up through indirect tax is budgeted at over Rs 7.79 lakh crore. In the Budget the government had also rationalized customs duty and excise duty to promote the Make in India initiative. Recently, in order to reduce litigation, the Central Board of Excise and Customs has identified about 7,300 indirect tax cases and it plans to withdraw these cases from high courts and Customs, Excise and Service Tax Appellate Tribunal, as they are under the revised threshold limit.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 7849.00, down by 17.05 points or 0.22% after trading in a range of 7837.70 and 7874.00. There were 15 stocks advancing against 36 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Dr. Reddys Lab up by 2.01%, BHEL up by 1.85%, Hindustan Unilever up by 1.67%, Larsen & Toubro up by 1.08% and Tech Mahindra up by 0.80%. On the flip side, Tata Motors down by 3.55%, Tata Motors - DVR down by 2.87%, Hindalco down by 1.91%, ONGC down by 1.84% and Eicher Motors down by 1.62% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading in green; FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI rose 1.85 points or 0.11% to 1,634.04, KOSPI Index surged 14.69 points or 0.75% to 1,982.50, Taiwan Weighted added 24.46 points or 0.3% to 8,156.29 and Nikkei 225 was up by 349.16 points or 2.15% to 16,565.19. On the flip side, Jakarta Composite decreased 4.38 points or 0.09% to 4,744.93, Shanghai Composite slipped 2.67 points or 0.09% to 2,829.44 and Hang Seng was down by 1.08 points or 0.01% to 20,155.73.