Benchmarks pare some losses

Key equity benchmarks trimmed some of their losses in early noon session, but continue to trade below the neutral lines, with Sensex and Nifty plunging 86 and 16 points respectively amid rising tension between the Reserve Bank of India and the government. Anxiety remained on the street with a private report stating that India, which presently has a rich demographic dividend, will need 9.94 crore additional jobs over the decade. It highlighted warning that lack of concrete efforts could push India into ‘jobless growth’. Investors also remain concerned with a report stating that Indian stocks are over-valued and that earnings growth could slow in the wake of macro headwinds, foreign funds have been taking risk off the table. However, losses remain capped with a report stating that India and Italy agreed to fast-track bilateral trade and investments and set up a bilateral industrial development and cooperation mechanism at a meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Italian counterpart Guiseppe Conte.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly in green, following a bounce on Wall Street, with attention turning to the release of key US jobs data later in the week. However, while investors briefly have a spring in their step, a mountain of problems - from China-US trade tensions. Back home, on scrip development, SSWL surged on bagging new export order for steel wheels. Besides, Bank of Baroda gained on reporting 20% rise in Q2 net profit.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 33805.36, down by 85.77 points or 0.25% after trading in a range of 33587.24 and 34050.12. There were 9 stocks advancing against 22 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index gained 0.09%, while Small cap index was up by 0.20%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were IT up by 2.18%, TECK up by 1.55%, Healthcare up by 0.86%, Consumer Durables up by 0.18% and Oil & Gas was up by 0.11%, while Metal down by 2.83%, Telecom down by 1.41%, Basic Materials down by 1.37%, PSU down by 0.94% and Power was down by 0.89% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Infosys up by 3.14%, HDFC up by 2.13%, Indusind Bank up by 1.72%, Sun Pharma up by 1.53% and Axis Bank was up by 0.95%. On the flip side, Tata Steel down by 4.92%, Coal India down by 3.30%, Bharti Airtel down by 2.54%, Power Grid down by 2.33% and Maruti Suzuki was down by 2.23% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, the integrated goods and services tax (IGST) of Rs 32,000 crore has been allocated between the centre and states in the month of October 2018. Of the total Rs 32,000 crore, the states’ share would be over Rs 15,000 crore. The apportionment would add to the goods and services tax (GST) revenue of both the centre and states for October. The total revenue collection figures for the month would be released on November 01, 2018.

This is the fifth time that IGST funds have been divided between the centre and states. Earlier, Rs 29,000 crore was settled in September, Rs 12,000 crore in August, Rs 50,000 crore in June and Rs 35,000 crore in February this year. When some substantial amount accrues to IGST pool it is apportioned between the centre and states so that it does not lie idle with the centre and Rs 32,000 crore had been apportioned tin October. Under GST, the tax levied on consumption of goods or rendering of service is split 50:50 between the centre and the state. Such tax is known as central GST (CGST) and state GST (SGST).

On inter-state movement of goods as well as imports, an IGST is levied, which accrues to the centre. A cess is levied on top of these taxes on sin and luxury goods which make up for the compensation kitty used to make good of any revenue shortfall faced by states on implementation of GST. Ideally, there should be 'nil' balance in the IGST pool since the amount should be used for payment of CGST and SGST. As some businesses are ineligible to claim the benefits of input tax credit (ITC), the balance gets accumulated in the IGST pool.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 10182.65, down by 15.75 points or 0.15% after trading in a range of 10105.10 and 10246.00. There were 18 stocks advancing against 32 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Tech Mahindra up by 7.72%, Infosys up by 3.21%, UPL up by 2.70%, Indiabulls Housing up by 2.49% and HCL Tech was up by 2.33%. On the flip side, Tata Steel down by 4.71%, Coal India down by 3.19%, Dr. Reddys Lab down by 2.98%, Hindalco down by 2.90% and Bharti Airtel was down by 2.82% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in green, Nikkei 225 surged 444.02 points or 2.03% to 21,901.31, Taiwan Weighted advanced 276.02 points or 2.82% to 9,802.13, KOSPI strengthened 14.46 points or 0.71% to 2,029.15, Shanghai Composite gained 38.44 points or 1.47% to 2,606.49, Hang Seng soared 255.42 points or 1.03% to 24,840.95 and Straits Times was up by 23.38 points or 0.78% to 2,989.83.

On the flip side, Jakarta Composite was down by 19.00 points or 0.33% to 5,770.10.