Benchmarks continue to witness profit taking

Indian markets continued to move deep in red in the noon session after the European Central Bank (ECB) disappointed investors looking for additional easing steps. Also investors wear treading cautiously ahead of IIP data due to be released today. Further, depreciation in Indian rupee too dampened the sentiments. The rupee depreciated by 15 paise to 66.58 against the dollar due to rise in greenback against other currencies overseas. There was no respite 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. In scrip specific development, ICICI Bank fell nearly 1 percent after announcing the deployment of 'Software Robotics' in over 200 business processes across various functions, while ONGC advanced 1.5 percent on reports of it being in talks to acquire a stake in GSPC's KG basin block.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly in red after North Korea claimed its fifth nuclear test and amid disappointment following the European Central Bank's policy decision. Back home, the BSE Sensex is currently trading at 28800.28, down by 245.00 points or 0.84% after trading in a range of 28785.29 and 29062.90. There were 9 stocks advancing against 21 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in red; the BSE Mid cap index was down by 0.64%, while Small cap index was down by 0.38%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Oil & Gas up by 0.73%, IT up by 0.34%, TECK up by 0.10% and Power up by 0.03%, while FMCG down by 1.35%, Bankex down by 1.27%, Auto down by 1.26%, Metal down by 1.22% and Realty down by 1.02% were the losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were GAIL India up by 1.75%, ONGC up by 1.42%, Wipro up by 1.28%, TCS up by 0.96% and Reliance Industries up by 0.75%. On the flip side, HDFC down by 2.59%, Hero MotoCorp down by 2.24%, ITC down by 2.05%, Axis Bank down by 1.95% and Tata Steel 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 8873.10, down by 79.40 points or 0.89% after trading in a range of 8865.95 and 8939.15. There were 13 stocks advancing against 38 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were GAIL India up by 1.80%, ONGC up by 1.60%, HCL Tech. up by 1.43%, Wipro up by 1.30% and TCS up by 0.90%. On the flip side, Yes Bank down by 3.05%, HDFC down by 2.54%, Hero MotoCorp down by 2.47%, ACC down by 2.22% and Ultratech Cement down by 2.17% were the top losers.

The Asian markets were trading mostly in red; Taiwan Weighted declined 98.01 points or 1.06% to 9,164.88, Jakarta Composite decreased 57.5 points or 1.07% to 5,313.57, KOSPI Index was down by 25.86 points or 1.25% to 2,037.87, Shanghai Composite fell 10.16 points or 0.33% to 3,085.79 and FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI decreased 6.47 points or 0.38% to 1,684.91.

On the flip side, Nikkei 225 increased by 6.99 points or 0.04% to 16,965.76 and Hang Seng was up by 284.78 points or 1.19% to 24,204.12.