Benchmarks trade slightly in green in early deals

Indian equity benchmarks made a positive start and are trading marginally in green terrain in early deals on Wednesday with traders taking some encouragement from Finance Minister Arun Jaitley’s statement that direct tax collection has grown by 18 per cent to cross Rs 10.02 trillion in the financial year ended on March 31, 2018. He said demonetisation and GST implementation have resulted in higher formalisation of the economy which is evident from additional 10 million IT returns being filed in the previous financial year. However, gains remained capped on report that the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) is unlikely to yield to the India Inc’s pressure for a benign monetary policy stance by keeping policy rates unchanged in its first monetary policy review of 2018-19 to be announced on Thursday against the backdrop of hardening global crude oil prices.

On the global front, Asian markets are exhibiting mixed trend at this point of time as recent concerns over trade tensions persisted amid new China-U.S. trade developments. The US markets ended higher on Tuesday as bargain hunting contributed to the strength on Wall Street, with traders picking up stocks at reduced levels after the sharp decline seen on Monday.

Back home, stocks related to sugar sector edged higher with report highlighting that sugar output increased 49 per cent to 28.18 million tonne (MT) so far in 2017-18 marketing year, but mills are unable to make cane payment to growers owing to low prices. Stocks related to tea space too remained on buyers’ radar on a private report that Profit margins for bulk tea producers, particularly in north India, is likely to improve in the just-concluded financial year on firm price trends from August 2017 to January 2018.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 33445.27, up by 74.64 points or 0.22% after trading in a range of 33353.09 and 33468.78. There were 20 stocks advancing against 11 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index gained 0.67%, while Small cap index was up by 0.98%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Auto up by 1.53%, Realty up by 1.26%, Industrials up by 1.17%, Basic Materials up by 0.70% and Consumer Discretionary Goods & Services up by 0.69%, while Oil & Gas down by 0.15%, Telecom down by 0.15%, TECK down by 0.03% and PSU was down by 0.02% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Tata Motors - DVR up by 4.83%, Tata Motors up by 4.81%, Yes Bank up by 1.47%, Maruti Suzuki up by 1.12% and Mahindra & Mahindra up by 0.99%. On the flip side, Dr. Reddys Lab down by 0.85%, NTPC down by 0.83%, Bharti Airtel down by 0.78%, HDFC down by 0.70% and Coal India down by 0.52% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, with government’s data showing a sharp increase in the number of tax returns filed in fiscal year 2017-18, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has stated that the Goods and Services Tax (GST) implementation and impact of demonetisation have resulted into higher formalisation of the Indian economy.

Jaitley added that this is further substantiated by filing of more than 1 crore new income tax returns by tax payers during FY18 as compared to the previous fiscal year and higher direct tax revenue. He also said that the data reveals the efficiency of the tax department and a rise in the number of honest tax payers.

As per the Finance Ministry data, income tax returns filed by tax payers during FY18 surged 26% to 6.84 crore as compared to 5.43 crore filed in FY17. Besides, in the financial year 2017-18, the direct tax collections hit the landmark figure of Rs 10.02 lakh crore, 18% higher than previous fiscal.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 10261.10, up by 16.10 points or 0.16% after trading in a range of 10239.55 and 10274.60. There were 28 stocks advancing against 22 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Tata Motors up by 4.63%, Eicher Motors up by 2.36%, Yes Bank up by 1.50%, Maruti Suzuki up by 1.17% and Tata Steel up by 0.91%. On the flip side, UPL down by 1.26%, HPCL down by 1.20%, BPCL down by 0.99%, Coal India down by 0.81% and NTPC down by 0.80% were the top losers.

Asian markets are trading mixed; Nikkei 225 rose 1.59 points or 0.01% to 21,293.88, Jakarta Composite increased 6.02 points or 0.1% to 6,235.04 and Shanghai Composite was up by 25.07 points or 0.8% to 3,161.70.

On the flip side, Hang Seng slipped 22.7 points or 0.08% to 30,157.40, KOSPI Index decreased 20.82 points or 0.85% to 2,421.61 and FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI was down by 3.49 points or 0.19% to 1,847.29.