Sensex, Nifty manage to trade in green

The local equity benchmarks managed to trade in green in late afternoon session, on the back of firm opening in European markets along with higher Realty & Energy sectors. Smart gains in industrial majors like Coal India, Tata Motors and ITC, were also contributing to the gains. The indices kept their heads above water, amid reports that the government’s revenue collection continued its rising trend, registering a growth of 18.2% in the first nine months of the current fiscal. According to the Ministry of Finance, India’s net direct tax collections, which are made up of personal and corporate taxes, rose to Rs 6.56 lakh crore during the April-December period of the financial year 2018. Traders also continued taking support with the report stating that the Commerce and Industry Ministry is mulling incentives for States that play a proactive role in promoting exports as it will help boost economic growth. Separately, in a relief for Indian techies, US authorities has said that the Trump administration is not considering any proposal that would force H-1B visa holders to leave the country. However, upside remained capped ahead of the IIP data for November and CPI for December on January 12. Investors also remained concerned after the rating agency Crisil attributed the continuing slowdown to the impacts of the demonetisation, GST implementation and weakness in agriculture, though it has maintained its FY19 growth estimate at 7.6% on the low base. 

On the global front, European markets were trading in green, as investors monitored a fresh batch of economic data. Besides, Germany is expected to release a slew of data, including imports, exports and industrial production. However, Asian markets were trading mostly in red. Back home, in scrip specific development, Hinduja Global Solutions (HGS) jumped higher after the company entered into an innovative partnership with Inbenta, the natural language processing and artificial intelligence (AI) company.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 34415.77, up by 62.98 points or 0.18% after trading in a range of 34343.41 and 34487.52. There were 15 stocks advancing against 16 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading mixed; the BSE Mid cap index was down by 0.41%, while Small cap index was up by 0.05%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Realty up by 1.99%, Energy up by 0.93%, Consumer Durables up by 0.79%, FMCG up by 0.35% and Bankex up by 0.16%, while Telecom down by 1.53%, Power down by 0.57%, Utilities down by 0.50%, TECK down by 0.50% and Healthcare down by 0.49% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Coal India up by 5.63%, ITC up by 1.75%, Tata Motors - DVR up by 1.47%, Reliance Industries up by 1.14% and Tata Motors up by 1.03%. On the flip side, Bharti Airtel down by 1.79%, Hero MotoCorp down by 0.93%, Bajaj Auto down by 0.74%, Adani Ports & SEZ down by 0.60% and Maruti Suzuki down by 0.57% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, registering a growth of 18.2% in the first nine months of the current fiscal, the government’s revenue collection continued its rising trend, mainly on account of income tax mop-up from individuals. According to the Ministry of Finance, India’s net direct tax collections, which are made up of personal and corporate taxes, rose to Rs 6.56 lakh crore during the April-December period of the financial year 2018. The collection indicates that 67% of the annual budget target of direct taxes (Rs 9.8 lakh crore) has been achieved.

Before adjusting for refunds, gross collections surged by 12.6% to Rs 7.68 lakh crore up to December, 2017. Further, refunds amounting to Rs 1.12 lakh crore have been issued during April to December, 2017.

In terms of advance tax, Rs 3.18 lakh crore have been received up to December, 2017, a growth of 12.7% over the corresponding period of last year, while Corporate Income Tax (CIT) Advance Tax grew 10.9% and Personal Income Tax (PIT) Advance Tax surged 21.6%.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 10627.85, up by 4.25 points or 0.04% after trading in a range of 10603.60 and 10659.15. There were 21 stocks advancing against 29 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Coal India up by 5.93%, ITC up by 1.68%, Reliance Industries up by 1.16%, Tata Motors up by 1.01% and Yes Bank up by 0.99%. On the flip side, Zee Entertainment down by 2.35%, Eicher Motors down by 2.12%, Bharti Airtel down by 1.94%, Hindalco down by 1.63% and Bharti Infratel down by 1.47% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in red; Jakarta Composite decreased 23.02 points or 0.36% to 6,362.39, FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI decreased 6.61 points or 0.36% to 1,825.54, KOSPI Index decreased 3.05 points or 0.12% to 2,510.23 and Taiwan Weighted decreased 0.86 points or 0.01% to 10,914.89. On the flip side, Shanghai Composite increased 4.42 points or 0.13% to 3,413.90, Hang Seng increased 111.88 points or 0.36% to 31,011.41 and Nikkei 225 increased 135.46 points or 0.57% to 23,849.99.

All European markets were trading in green; France’s CAC increased 12.43 points or 0.23% to 5,499.85, Germany’s DAX increased 14.39 points or 0.11% to 13,382.17 and UK’s FTSE 100 increased 26.05 points or 0.34% to 7,722.56.