Benchmarks continue to show sluggish trend

Indian equity benchmarks continued to show sluggish trend in morning session, with losses of over half a percent, led by losses in NTPC which fell over 3%. Besides, Jindal Steel & Power, Coal India, ITC and ONGC shares lost over 1% each. The Nifty gave up the 10,650 mark, by falling 65 points. Sentiments remained pessimistic on a report from Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP) which highlighting that foreign direct investment (FDI) in India seems to be petering out with the inflows growth rate recording a five-year low of 3% at $44.85 billion in 2017-18. Traders failed to draw any sense of relief from a report that the revenue collections for May from the goods and services tax (GST) have come in at Rs 95,610 crore, of which Rs 31,645 crore will flow into central kitty and Rs 36,683 crore will go to the states. The collections for April were Rs 94,016 crore while the average for the last fiscal stood at just below Rs 90,000 crore. Traders also shrugged off a report that Indian economy is set for a surge and in the next decade, probably even by 2025, India is expected to double the size of the GDP to $ 5 trillion.

On the global front, Asian market were trading mostly in red, as trade tensions between the US and its trading partners still continues to be a key concern for investors. Sentiments remained down-beat with a report stating that China’s official factory gauge fell more than expected in June, just as the world’s two biggest economies head toward a trade war. The manufacturing purchasing manager’s index stood at 51.5 in June, versus 51.9 in May. Back home, in scrip specific development, Bajaj Auto jumped on registering a rise of 65% in total sales to 404,429 units in June 2018 against, 244,878 units in June 2017.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 35,206.00, down by 217.48 points or 0.61% after trading in a range of 35,206.00 and 35,578.24. There were 10 stocks advancing against 21 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in red; the BSE Mid cap index slipped 0.55%, while Small cap index was down by 0.46%.

The few gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were IT up by 0.42%, Auto up by 0.27% and TECK was up by 0.17%, while Utilities down by 1.78%, Power down by 1.74%, PSU down by 1.38%, Metal down by 1.33% and Telecom was down by 1.24% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Bajaj Auto up by 3.09%, Tata Steel up by 1.22%, Sun Pharma up by 1.06%, Infosys up by 0.86% and Tata Motors - DVR was up by 0.50%. On the flip side, NTPC down by 3.61%, ONGC down by 2.72%, Vedanta down by 2.08%, ITC down by 1.90% and Larsen & Toubro was down by 1.46% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, Finance Secretary Hasmukh Adhia has said that revenue collection under the Goods and Services Tax (GST) during the month of June 2018 increased to Rs 95,610 crore, as compared to previous month’s revenue of Rs. 94,016 crore. He noted that out of the Rs 95,610 crore, Central GST (CGST) was Rs 15,968 crore, State GST (SGST) Rs 22,021 crore, Integrated GST (IGST) Rs 49,498 crore (including Rs 24,493 crore collected on imports) and cess Rs 8,122 crore.

Adhia has indicated that in the month of April, revenue mop-up crossed Rs 1 lakh crore mark for the first time since the launch of new tax regime. The total gross revenue for April was Rs 1.03 lakh crore. He said that Rs 1 lakh crore revenue is not the norm still and expressed hope to bring GST revenue to the level of Rs 1 lakh crore every month. He added that if bogus bills are not issued, then revenues would improve further in the coming months.

The Secretary further mentioned that the total number of GSTR 3B Returns filed for the month of May upto June 2018 is 64.69 Lakhs. He also showed that the average monthly GST collections have been Rs 89,885 crore in the previous fiscal, which saw revenues at Rs 7.41 lakh crore in the July-March period. Further, he noted that the total revenue earned by Central Government and the State Governments after settlement in the month of June 2018 is Rs. 31,645 crore for CGST and Rs. 36,683 crore for SGST. He also acknowledged the efforts of stakeholders, officers and businesses in making GST, which was rolled out on July 1 last year, a success.  

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 10,645.25, down by 69.05 points or 0.64% after trading in a range of 10,638.95 and 10,736.15. There were 16 stocks advancing against 34 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Bajaj Auto up by 2.89%, Tata Steel up by 1.28%, HPCL up by 1.06%, Infosys up by 0.88% and Bharti Infratel was up by 0.80%. On the flip side, NTPC down by 3.79%, ONGC down by 3.00%, Hindalco down by 2.15%, Vedanta down by 2.12% and Indiabulls Housing Finance was down by 1.96% were the top losers.

Asian market were trading mostly in red; Nikkei 225 slipped 444.64 points or 2.03% to 21,859.87, Taiwan Weighted declined 37.41 points or 0.35% to 10,799.50, KOSPI falls 42.68 points or 1.87% to 2,283.45, Shanghai Composite dropped 39.38 points or 1.40% to 2,808.04 and Straits Times was down by  23.17 points or 0.71% to 3,245.53.

On the other side, Jakarta Composite gained 7.16 points or 0.12% to 5,806.40 and Hang Seng was up by 457.79 points or 1.58% to 28,955.11.