Benchmarks trade on weak note in late morning session

Indian equity benchmarks continued their weak trade in late morning session on account of selling in frontline blue chip counters. The trade was on a tepid note despite Asian shares rising on Wednesday and Wall Street logging record highs overnight after Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen spoke in support of an interest rate hike next month. Investors remained on sidelines ahead of the 10th meeting of the all-powerful GST Council this weekend, where a critical anti-profiteering clause in the draft Goods and Services Tax law to ensure that the benefit of lower taxes gets shared with consumers is likely to be finalized. The downside was capped as Finance Ministry officials citing sound macroeconomic parameters, pitched for a rating upgrade in their meeting with global rating agency Fitch. The ministry also explained the representative’s strict fiscal discipline that the government intends to follow, besides various steps taken by the government in the recent Budget to prop up growth. Separately, India Ratings and Research (Ind-Ra) latest report that the Indian economy is likely to grow by 7.4 percent in the next fiscal year, however it has revised down GDP growth estimate for 2016-17 to 6.8 percent from 7.9 percent. Traders were seen piling position in Oil & Gas, IT and TECK stocks, while selling was witnessed in Realty, Auto and Power sector stocks. In scrip specific development, Intellect Design Arena was trading in red after ace investor Rakesh Jhunjhunwala and his wife sold stake in the company on Tuesday. Rakesh Radheyshyam Jhunjhunwala and his wife Rekha Rakesh Jhunjhunwala sold 10 lakh and 32.30 lakh shares respectively, in the company through bulk deals. SpiceJet was trading in red as bogged down by demonetization and higher fuel costs, the company reported a 24 per cent fall in net profit at Rs 181.1 crore in three months ended December 2016 even as the second largest low-cost carrier remained in the black for the eighth straight quarter.

On the global front, Asian shares were trading mostly in green, with investors taking a cue from Wall Street. Bank of Japan Governor Haruhiko Kuroda said that he has no plan now to raise the central bank’s bond yield targets as inflation was still distant from its 2 percent target. The governor added that inflation remains distant from our 2 percent target, so it’s appropriate to continue with our powerful monetary easing to achieve the target at the earliest date possible. Back home, the NSE Nifty and BSE Sensex were trading below the psychological 8,800 and 28,300 levels respectively. The market breadth on BSE was negative in the ratio of 771:1537, while 113 scrips remained unchanged.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 28292.92, down by 46.39 points or 0.16% after trading in a range of 28269.92 and 28382.32. There were 16 stocks advancing against 14 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in red; the BSE Mid cap index was down by 0.24%, while Small cap index was down by 0.56%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Oil & Gas up by 0.54%, IT up by 0.35%, TECK up by 0.30%, FMCG up by 0.18% and Bankex up by 0.12%, while Realty down by 1.92%, Auto down by 1.66%, Power down by 0.33%, Consumer Durables down by 0.31% and PSU down by 0.03% were the losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Adani Ports & Special Economic Zone up by 1.29%, Mahindra & Mahindra up by 0.94%, Axis Bank up by 0.73%, ITC up by 0.72% and HDFC Bank up by 0.68%.

On the flip side, Tata Motors down by 7.90%, Sun Pharma down by 3.03%, Hero MotoCorp down by 0.99%, Dr. Reddy’s Lab down by 0.79% and Cipla down by 0.65% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, Income-tax (I-T) department has issued refunds to the tune of Rs 1.42 lakh crore during the current financial year up to February 10, 2017, up by 41.5 per cent compared to the corresponding period last year. The Centralised Processing Centre (CPC) of the tax department has already processed over 4.19 crore income tax returns (ITRs) and issued over 1.62 crore refunds. 

Of the refunds issued, 92 per cent are below Rs 50,000 due to the high priority given to expeditious issue of refunds to small taxpayers. Only 2 per cent of refunds less than Rs 50,000 are yet to be issued with a majority of these cases relating to recently-filed returns or where a response from taxpayers is awaited.

In a move to speed up refunds, 92% of all I-T returns were processed within 60 days, demonstrating the Central Board of Direct Taxes' (CBDT) commitment to faster and more efficient taxpayer service. Around 4 crore ITRs were filed electronically till February 10, 2017, which is an increase of 20% over the previous year. Also, more than 60 lakh other online forms were filed with an increase of nearly 41 per cent compared to the previous year.

CBDT is committed to ensuring best possible taxpayer services through its e-governance programmes and increasing the coverage and scope of electronic filing and processing of various forms and applications. Taxpayers are advised to verify and update their email address and mobile number on the e-filing portal to receive electronic communication.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 8782.35, down by 9.95 points or 0.11% after trading in a range of 8775.20 and 8807.90. There were 28 stocks advancing against 23 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Zee Entertainment up by 2.11%, Ultratech Cement up by 1.35%, Bosch up by 1.33%, Adani Ports & Special Economic zone up by 1.19% and Mahindra & Mahindra up by 0.86%.

On the flip side, Tata Motors - DVR down by 7.47%, Tata Motors down by 7.15%, Sun Pharma down by 3.01%, Idea Cellular down by 1.73% and Aurobindo Pharma down by 1.50% were the top losers.

The Asian markets were trading mostly in green; KOSPI Index increased 11.4 points or 0.55% to 2,085.97, Shanghai Composite increased 12.53 points or 0.39% to 3,230.46, Taiwan Weighted increased 76.9 points or 0.79% to 9,795.68, Nikkei 225 increased 218.06 points or 1.13% to 19,457.04 and Hang Seng increased 308.41 points or 1.3% to 24,011.42.

On the other hand, FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI decreased 0.61 points or 0.04% to 1,708.29.

Indonesia stock exchange was closed on account of Voting Day.