Benchmarks pare losses; trade continues on a weak note

Indian benchmark indices pared off some losses and recovered after hitting the day's low in early trade but are still trading on a weak note with the frontline indices in red, as selling pressure continues across the board. Sentiments remained down-beat with the report that the country-wide monsoon deficit stood at 4% with northeastern and eastern states reporting 13% less rains from June 1 to September 7, 2016. India mostly remained dry during last week, with many areas receiving scanty rainfall. June witnessed a rain deficiency of 11%, while July had 7% of surplus rainfall. August again witnessed a dip of 9.7%. Market sentiment was also influenced by investors trading cautiously ahead of July IIP data due to be released today. Industrial output growth halved to 2.1 per cent in June, as compared to 4.2 per cent in June 2015.  However, losses remained capped with the President Pranab Mukherjee giving his assent to the landmark Goods and Services Tax (GST) Bill. Now the Centre will have to pass the Central GST and Integrated GST Bills, while the states will need to approve their respective GST legislations. The government targets to implement the GST system from 1 April, 2017.  Meanwhile, IT stocks, which witnessed good beating in last session, showed some recovery in today’s session with MindTree was leading the gains, up by almost 2%. Healthy buying was also observed in other IT majors like HCL Tech, Wipro, Tech Mahindra and TCS, which gained around a percent each.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly lower on Friday as investors weighed the outlook for monetary policy in the US and Japan after the European Central Bank downplayed the need for more economic stimulus. South Korean shares dropped amid concern North Korea may have conducted a nuclear test.

Back home, stocks from Oil & Gas, IT and Power counters were supporting the markets, while those from Banking, Metal and Auto counters were adding to the underlying cautious undertone. In scrip specific development, Jindal Steel & Power came under pressure after the company reported consolidated net loss of Rs 1082.15 crore in Q1 June 2016, higher than net loss of Rs 542.42 crore in Q1 June 2015.  SAIL also declined after it reported a net loss for the June 2016 quarter increased to Rs 535 crore compared to Rs 248 crore in the quarter ended June 2015. On the other hand, Zensar Technologies rose after the company secured multi-million dollar digital transformation project from Avis Fleet in South Africa.

The market breadth remained pessimistic as there were 895 shares on the gaining side against 1417 shares on the losing side, while 144 shares remained unchanged.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 28814.64, down by 230.64 points or 0.79% after trading in a range of 28785.29 and 29062.90. There were 8 stocks advancing against 21 stocks declining on the index, while 1 stock remained unchanged.

The broader indices were trading in red; the BSE Mid cap index was down by 0.67%, while Small cap index down by 0.34%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Oil & Gas up by 0.82%, IT up by 0.31%, Power up by 0.15% and TECK up by 0.09%, while Bankex down by 1.35%, Auto down by 1.29%, Metal down by 1.20%, Realty down by 1.17% and FMCG down by 1.10% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were GAIL India up by 2.39%, ONGC up by 1.46%, Reliance Industries up by 1.43%, Wipro up by 1.14% and TCS up by 0.77%. On the flip side, HDFC down by 2.67%, Hero MotoCorp down by 2.49%, Axis Bank down by 2.43%, Tata Motors down by 1.68% and ITC down by 1.66% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, to ensure quick redressal of taxpayer grievances, the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT), policy-making body of the I-T department has launched a special electronic grievance redressal system called ‘e-nivaran’ (electronic solution) for taxpayers’ grievances related to refunds, ITRs and PAN among others. This facility will integrate all the online and physical complaints received by the department which will further be monitored by the Assessing Officer of the case up to the supervisory officers.

The ‘e-nivaran’ module will work on the lines of the internet-based Income Tax Returns (ITRs) filing system and taxpayers can register all complaints related to delay in refunds, filing of e-returns, Tax Deducted at Source (TDS), PAN issues, and those pertaining to their Assessing Officer (AO).  The issues related to the refunds and fillings will be notified to the taxpayers via emails and SMSes. 

The new system will ensure, like e-filing, that the taxpayer gets his grievance redressed by just using an internet-enabled computer and does not require them to travel to a tax office. Taxpayers can register their complaints through their personal computer systems and receive a special PIN number on their registered mobile and email, as their unique number, which can be quoted by the taxpayer for all his future communications with the taxman and also to track the progress of the complaint.
People who do not have a Permanent Account Number (PAN) but have some problem in connection with their I-T case can also use the e-nivaran facility. Address, postal PIN code, mobile number and email are mandatory fields to be filled up. Documents can be uploaded in a PDF format and clubbed as a ZIP file. The ‘e-nivaran’ has been now connected to all electronic databases and the modern business application software platform of the department to ensure quick resolution.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 8881.30, down by 71.20 points or 0.80% after trading in a range of 8865.95 and 8939.15. There were 12 stocks advancing against 39 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were GAIL India up by 2.20%, Reliance Industries up by 1.48%, ONGC up by 1.46%, HCL Tech up by 1.43% and Wipro up by 1.07%. On the flip side, Yes Bank down by 3.75%, HDFC down by 2.68%, Hero MotoCorp down by 2.55%, Axis Bank down by 2.30% and ACC down by 2.11% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in red; Taiwan Weighted declined 1.06%, Jakarta Composite decreased 1.07%, KOSPI Index fell 1.37% and FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI was down by 0.38%.  On the flip side, Shanghai Composite rose 0.05%, Nikkei 225 increased 0.16% and Hang Seng was up by 1.62%.