Bearish trend continues on Dalal Street

Key equity indices continued to trade lower in late morning deals on Monday with frontline gauges tumbling below their crucial 33,100 (Sensex) and 10,150 (Nifty) levels, as traders opted to remain on sidelines ahead of an informal World Trade Organization (WTO) ministerial meeting to be held in New Delhi on 19-20 March, where Representatives from 50 countries will be participating. Broader indices too witnessed bloodbath during the trade and declined over a percentage point as sentiments remained dampened on report that India’s October-December current account deficit sharply widened from a year earlier on higher imports. The October-December current account deficit widened to 2.0 percent of gross domestic product, or $13.5 billion, compared with 1.4 percent, or $8.0 billion, in the same period a year ago.

Meanwhile, in a stormy start to the Budget Session in Parliament today, the Lok Sabha was adjourned till 12 pm and Rajya Sabha till tomorrow after protests from TDP, AIADMK and YSRCP members. Market participants will closely watch key developments in the parliament following the no-confidence motion moved by TDP after it broke away from the BJP-led NDA following the Centre’s refusal to grant Special Category status to Andhra Pradesh. Traders failed to get any sense of relief with report that overseas investors have pumped in nearly Rs 6,400 crore in the segment in March so far on expectations of rebound in corporate earnings and easing of global oil. In scrip specific development, Bharti Airtel gained on introducing Samsung Galaxy S9 range on its Online Store and IRB Infra gains on emerging as preferred bidder for Hybrid Annuity Project in Gujarat.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 33078.10, down by 97.90 points or 0.30% after trading in a range of 33065.04 and 33275.79. There were 9 stocks advancing against 22 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in red; the BSE Mid cap index declined 1.39%, while Small cap index was down by 1.44%.

The sole gaining sectoral index on the BSE was Capital Goods up by 0.13%, while Metal down by 2.51%, PSU down by 1.85%, Basic Materials down by 1.66%, Oil & Gas down by 1.57% and Realty down by 1.47% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Larsen & Toubro up by 1.06%, Power Grid Corporation up by 0.96%, Maruti Suzuki up by 0.69%, Hindustan Unilever up by 0.63% and Mahindra & Mahindra up by 0.60%. On the flip side, Adani Ports down by 3.33%, Coal India down by 2.83%, Tata Steel down by 2.63%, Asian Paints down by 1.86% and SBI down by 1.54% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, central board of excise & customs (CBEC) chairperson Vanaja Sarna has said that India's goods and services tax (GST) collections is likely to register a growth from April 2018 onwards and will cross Rs 90,000 crore per month. She also indicated that revenue collection from GST fell marginally to Rs 86,318 crore in January, from Rs 86,703 crore in December.

 CBEC chairperson Vanaja Sarna has stated that those who did not come into the fray, should come into the fray. She said “Enforcement action will take place and you will get more people on board.” Besides, she noted that initial hiccups related to the new tax regime have been settling now and a lot has been settled. She added that all technologies that are required are there.

In a major relief to exporters and other taxpayers, CBEC has taken an initiative to observe a special drive 'refund sanction fortnight' across the country from March 15 to March 29 to deal exclusively with the pending GST refund claims. The exporters who have IGST refund or Input Tax credit (ITC) claim pending with the CBEC can visit the field offices where the tax officials will help them. The CBEC has already given refunds to the tune of Rs 5,000 crore but as much as 70 percent of total amount returned to exporters is still stuck, even after eight months of GST roll-out.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 10149.55, down by 45.60 points or 0.45% after trading in a range of 10145.60 and 10224.55. There were 13 stocks advancing against 37 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Power Grid Corporation up by 1.04%, Larsen & Toubro up by 0.96%, Lupin up by 0.90%, Maruti Suzuki up by 0.86% and Mahindra & Mahindra up by 0.74%. On the flip side, BPCL down by 3.78%, HPCL down by 3.69%, Indian Oil Corporation down by 3.60%, Adani Ports down by 3.14% and HCL Tech down by 2.92% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in green; FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI gained 1.87 points or 0.1% to 1,848.26, Shanghai Composite rose 3.87 points or 0.12% to 3,273.75, Taiwan Weighted increased 19.2 points or 0.17% to 11,046.90 and Hang Seng was up by 51.33 points or 0.16% to 31,553.30.

On the flip side, Nikkei 225 declined 191.96 points or 0.89% to 21,484.55, KOSPI Index decreased 17.51 points or 0.7% to 2,476.46 and Jakarta Composite was down by 5.52 points or 0.09% to 6,299.44.