Markets extend southward journey to trade near day lows

Indian equity benchmarks extended their southward journey to trade near intraday low levels, as negative global cues on the prospect of global trade wars and caution ahead of the US Federal Reserve’s meet on 20-21 March, kept denting traders’ sentiments. The country’s widening current account deficit (CAD) too dampened sentiments. The October-December CAD 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. Weak opening in European counters too dampened sentiments, as traders remained on sidelines ahead of the first US interest rate decision under the Federal Reserve’s new chairperson Jerome Powell. Back home, selling was broad-based as none of the sectoral counters managed to trade in green. Metal stocks took a beating for a fourth consecutive session of losses. Chinese iron ore fell 4 percent to its lowest since November as high inventory levels and a weak domestic steel market weighed on prices. Energy stocks such as Indian Oil Corporation and Bharat Petroleum Corporation edged lower on reports the refiners may buy stakes in GAIL (India).

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 32963.91, down by 212.09 points or 0.64% after trading in a range of 32906.43 and 33275.79. There were 8 stocks advancing against 23 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in red; the BSE Mid cap index declined 1.61%, while Small cap index was down by 2.01%.

The top losing sectoral indices on the BSE were Telecom down by 3.37%, Realty down by 3.01%, Metal down by 2.77%, Basic Materials down by 2.13% and PSU was down by 1.79%, while there were no gainers on the BSE sectoral front.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Hindustan Unilever up by 1.30%, Power Grid Corporation up by 1.27%, NTPC up by 1.00%, Larsen & Toubro up by 0.82% and Maruti Suzuki up by 0.51%. On the flip side, Tata Steel down by 4.08%, Bharti Airtel down by 3.04%, Yes Bank down by 2.56%, Adani Ports & SEZ down by 2.37% and SBI down by 2.10% 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 10102.30, down by 92.85 points or 0.91% after trading in a range of 10094.40 and 10224.55. There were 10 stocks advancing against 40 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Hindustan Unilever up by 1.35%, Power Grid Corporation up by 1.35%, NTPC up by 1.30%, Maruti Suzuki up by 0.76% and Lupin up by 0.73%. On the flip side, Tata Steel down by 4.27%, Indian Oil Corporation down by 3.90%, Bharti Infratel down by 3.86%, BPCL down by 3.64% and Hindalco down by 3.56% were the top losers.

Asian markets exhibiting mixed trend; FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI rose 2.28 points or 0.12% to 1,848.67, Shanghai Composite increased 9.37 points or 0.29% to 3,279.25, Hang Seng added 11.79 points or 0.04% to 31,513.76 and Taiwan Weighted was up by 19.2 points or 0.17% to 11,046.90.

On the flip side, Nikkei 225 decreased 195.61 points or 0.9% to 21,480.90, KOSPI Index declined 18.94 points or 0.76% to 2,475.03 and Jakarta Composite was down by 3.3 points or 0.05% to 6,301.65.

European markets were trading in red; Germany’s DAX declined 145.35 points or 1.17% to 12,244.23, UK’s FTSE 100 decreased 68.17 points or 0.95% to 7,095.97 and France’s CAC was down by 46.61 points or 0.88% to 5,236.14.