Markets continue bearish trade in late morning session

Indian equity benchmarks pared some of their losses but continued their bearish trade in late morning session, with Nifty holding the psychological level of 10,000. Heavy selling in Realty, Oil & Gas, PSU and Energy continued to weigh on the sentiments. Besides, investors remained concerned with the private report stating that it “suspects” that there has been a change in the stance by the authorities to let the rupee appreciate more, but warned that it can hurt manufacturing and exports. Some concerns also came with Engineering exporters’ body EEPC stating that shipping companies are facing difficulties post GST as their drawback refunds will not be released till September-end or October. Meanwhile, the securitisation market has hit a record high of USD 1.02 trillion in fiscal 2017, helped by a surge in volume of pass-through certificates (PTCs).

On the global front, Asian market were trading in green, despite slower-than-expected growth in Indonesia, as investors stayed positive about the region’s economic outlook. Back home, in scrip specific development, GAIL gained on planning to reopen contracts with US LNG sellers. The state-owned gas utility company is seeking to renegotiate price of the LNG it has contracted from the US. The company has deals to buy 5.8 million tonnes of US LNG per annum for 20 years.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 32101.27, down by 172.40 points or 0.53% after trading in a range of 31915.20 and 32354.77. There were 6 stocks advancing against 25 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in red; the BSE Mid cap index was down by 0.60%, while Small cap index was down by 0.68%.

The only gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Metal up by 2.47% and Basic Materials up by 0.79%, while Realty down by 1.88%, Telecom down by 1.38%, Oil & Gas down by 1.34%, PSU down by 1.23% and Energy down by 1.08% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Tata Steel up by 3.85%, Bajaj Auto up by 1.02%, Hindustan Unilever up by 0.99%, Cipla up by 0.35% and Mahindra & Mahindra up by 0.14%. On the flip side, SBI down by 1.77%, Coal India down by 1.59%, Dr. Reddy’s Lab down by 1.46%, ITC down by 1.30% and Kotak Mahindra Bank down by 1.25% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, on account of demonetization move and Operation Clean Money, the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) has said that the number of Income Tax Returns (ITRs) filed by taxpayers until August 5 this year stood at over 2.82 crore as against 2.26 crore filed during the corresponding period of 2016-2017, thus registering an increase of 24.7 percent. It also noted that the percentage growth in the number of returns filed in 2016-17 was 9.9 per cent.

Besides, the Ministry of Finance has said that the number of ITRs filed clearly showed that substantial number of new tax payers have been brought into the tax net subsequent to demonetisation. It observed that the effect of note ban was also visible in direct tax collections. It noted that advance tax collections of Personal Income Tax (i.e. other than Corporate Tax) till August 5 showed a growth of about 41.79 per cent over the corresponding period in financial year 2016-2017. It also noted that personal Income Tax under Self Assessment Tax (SAT) has too jumped by 34.25 per cent over last year.

The CBDT, which is the apex policy making body of the I-T department, is committed in its resolve to eradicate tax evasion in a non-intrusive manner and widening of tax base. In a move to curb the black money menace, the government had on November 8, 2016, demonetised old 500 and 1000 rupee notes and asked holders of such notes to deposit in bank accounts. Moreover, the Income-Tax Department had launched ‘Operation Clean Money’ to look into suspicious cash deposits during the note-ban period.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 10005.50, down by 51.90 points or 0.52% after trading in a range of 9947.00 and 10083.80. There were 11 stocks advancing against 40 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Hindalco up by 4.81%, Vedanta up by 4.08%, Tata Steel up by 3.89%, Aurobindo Pharma up by 1.84% and Hindustan Unilever up by 0.97%. On the flip side, Bharti Infratel down by 3.73%, Indian Oil Corporation down by 2.62%, BPCL down by 2.09%, SBI down by 1.85% and Coal India down by 1.71% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in green; FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI increased 0.25 points or 0.01% to 1,778.16, KOSPI Index increased 0.66 points or 0.03% to 2,399.41, Shanghai Composite increased 3.78 points or 0.12% to 3,283.24, Jakarta Composite increased 29.69 points or 0.52% to 5,778.98 and Hang Seng increased 104.27 points or 0.38% to 27,794.63.

On the flip side, Nikkei 225 decreased 63.89 points or 0.32% to 19,992.00 and Taiwan Weighted decreased 10.41 points or 0.1% to 10,568.97.