Indian market recovers from day's low; bounces back into positive territory

Recovering from day's low, Indian equity indices were holding their head above water and trading up with marginal gains of around 0.04-0.10%, on emergence of buying by funds and retail investors in selected stocks. Sentiments got boost after government achieved its upward revised tax collection target for FY17, indicating that it should be able to meet the fiscal deficit target for the year. Provisional tax collection pegged total collection at Rs 17.1 lakh crore, up 18% from a year ago. Some support also came with the report that department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP) and global think-tank OECD are jointly organising a seminar in Delhi to assess India’s FDI regime and find ways to further improve the ease of doing business. The international seminar will also analyse the business climate in the country. Further, some traders remained on the sidelines and refrained from any buying activity ahead of RBI's Monetary Policy Committee meet later in the day. RBI Governor Urjit Patel in his last policy review on February 8 had kept the key interest rate on hold at 6.25 per cent.  Meanwhile, IT stocks came under pressure on the report that Trump administration has issued a stern warning to companies not to discriminate against American workers by misusing the H-1B work visas programme. In a fresh blow to Indian software professionals, the Trump administration has also moved to bar entry-level programmers from the H-1B visa programme.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mixed on Wednesday amid concerns over North Korea’s latest ballistic missile test, which landed in the Sea of Japan. Investors also remained cautious ahead of some key events this week, including the release of minutes of the latest Federal Reserve meeting on Wednesday, the US-China summit starting Thursday, and the closely-watched monthly US jobs report on Friday. Meanwhile, US equities ended Tuesday’s session mostly flat ahead of a key meeting between President Donald Trump and Chinese president Xi Jinping. While Trump's pro-business policy promises have helped US equities hit record highs since the November 8 election, recent setbacks in pushing reforms through Congress have led investors to question his ability to deliver.

Back home, stocks from Realty, Consumer Durables and Metal counters were supporting the markets’ uptrend, while those from IT, Teck and FMCG counters were adding to the underlying cautious undertone. In scrip specific development, Cipla gained after the company received final approval for its Abbreviated New Drug Application (ANDA) for Abacavir and Lamivudine Tablets USP, 600 mg/300 mg, from the United States Food and Drug Administration (USFDA). Furthermore, Shankara Building Products (SBPL) listed at Rs 555 on the National Stock Exchange (NSE), a 21% premium against its issue price of Rs 460. The stock hit a high of Rs 582, up 27% against its issue price, after few minutes of its listing.

The market breadth remained optimistic, as there were 1825 shares on the gaining side against 753 shares on the losing side, while 116 shares remained unchanged.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 29921.27, up by 11.05 points or 0.04% after trading in a range of 29817.69 and 30007.48. There were 17 stocks advancing against 13 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.40%, while Small cap index up by 0.98%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Realty up by 3.21%, Consumer Durables up by 1.96%, Metal up by 1.31%, Basic Materials up by 1.11% and Industrials up by 1.02%, while IT down by 0.51%, TECK down by 0.33% and FMCG down by 0.10% were the only losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Adani Ports & SEZ up by 3.52%, Tata Steel up by 2.00%, Maruti Suzuki up by 1.67%, NTPC up by 1.64% and Reliance Industries up by 1.55%. On the flip side, HDFC down by 2.13%, Infosys down by 0.94%, Asian Paints down by 0.93%, Mahindra & Mahindra down by 0.84% and ITC down by 0.73% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, the government’s revenue collection during fiscal year 2016-17 has shown a healthy growth of 18 percent at Rs 17.10 lakh crore as compared to last year. It was highest in last 6 years and also surpassed the revised tax collection target. Indirect tax collection surged by 22 percent at Rs 8.63 lakh crore on the back of robust collection in excise duty mop-up. This has exceeded the Revised Estimates (RE) of Rs 8.5 lakh crore for FY17. Direct tax jumped by 14.2 percent to Rs 8.47 lakh crore led by increase in personal income tax, which is 100 percent of the RE of Rs 8.47 lakh crore for FY17. Earlier, in the revised estimates for FY17 presented in the budget, the government had raised the tax collection target to Rs 17.03 lakh crore against Rs 16.3 lakh crore estimated initially.

In indirect tax collections, central excise collections during April-February jumped 33.9 percent to Rs 3.83 lakh crore as compared to Rs 2.86 lakh crore in the same period of previous financial year. Service tax collations in the same period clocked a growth of 20.2 percent to Rs 3.83 lakh crore as compared to Rs 2.86 lakh crore in FY16. Net Tax collections on account of Customs during FY17 stood at Rs 2.26 lakh crore as compared to Rs 2.10 lakh crore during the same period in the previous year, thereby registering a growth of 7.4 percent.

On the direct tax front, the gross collection of corporate income tax (CIT) grew at 13.1 percent, while under personal income tax (PIT) it was 18.4 percent over the corresponding period last fiscal. However, after adjusting for refunds, the net growth in CIT collections is 6.7 percent, while that in PIT collections is 21.0 percent. Refunds amounting to Rs 1.62 lakh crore have been issued during April 2016-March 2017, up 32.6 percent from a year ago period.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 9246.85, up by 9.00 points or 0.10% after trading in a range of 9215.40 and 9264.95. There were 31 stocks advancing against 20 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Adani Ports & SEZ up by 3.76%, Bharti Infratel up by 3.05%, Grasim Industries up by 2.17%, Tata Steel up by 2.11% and Hindalco up by 1.78%. On the flip side, HDFC down by 2.16%, Indiabulls Housing down by 1.19%, Mahindra & Mahindra down by 1.09%, HCL Tech down by 1.08% and Infosys down by 0.85% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mixed; Jakarta Composite rose 0.04%, Nikkei 225 gained 0.3%, Shanghai Composite increased 1.21% and Taiwan Weighted was up by 1.41%. On the flip side, Hang Seng decreased 0.15%, KOSPI Index shed 0.13% and FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI was down by 0.25%.