Benchmarks trade in fine fettle in early deals

Indian equity benchmarks made an optimistic start and are trading in fine fettle in early deals, as traders took some encouragement with private report stating that the Reserve Bank’s move to extend the deadline for meeting the capital conservation buffer (CCB) norms by one year would help increase lending capacity of banks by over Rs 3.5 lakh crore. The additional amount will help provide much-needed fund for micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) and non-banking financial companies (NBFCs) that are facing cash crunch. Traders also got some support with report that foreign institutional investors (FIIs) have turned net buyers in till date (November, 21, 2018) after logging the worst monthly outflows in October. Foreign investors infused Rs 10,523 crore in November. Though, foreign investors withdrew Rs 38,906 crore (equity funds plus debt funds plus hybrid funds) from Indian markets in October.

On the global front, Asian markets are trading mostly in green at this point of time, though rising US interest rates and escalating trade tensions kept financial markets on edge amid signs of slackening global growth. The US markets closed mostly higher on Wednesday, with the S&P and Nasdaq recapturing a small share of the of the ugly losses accumulated Monday and Tuesday, as traders went bargain hunting following the sell-off seen over the two previous sessions.

Back home, automobile sector stocks edged lower with Crisil Ratings in its latest report revising the passengers' vehicles (PV) volume growth forecast downward to 7-9 per cent, from its earlier estimate of 9-11 per cent for the financial year, owing to sluggish demand and higher inventory even during the festive season. The power stocks edged lower despite the High-Level Empowered Committee (HLEC) suggesting pit-stop measures for stressed power units. The Committee has also suggested the Ministry of Coal and Ministry of Power work together to resolve the coal supply issue and enable availability of short-term linkage for a minimum stipulated period (say three months).

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 35329.28, up by 129.48 points or 0.37% after trading in a range of 35225.63 and 35364.50. There were 17 stocks advancing against 14 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index gained 0.35%, while Small cap index was up by 0.54%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were IT up by 1.18%, TECK up by 0.87%, Energy up by 0.61%, FMCG up by 0.51% and Industrials was up by 0.42%, while Telecom down by 1.40%, Metal down by 0.46%, PSU down by 0.24%, Power down by 0.17% and Basic Materials was down by 0.08% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Yes Bank up by 2.42%, TCS up by 1.50%, ONGC up by 1.48%, Adani Ports & SEZ up by 1.44% and Reliance Industries up by 0.99%. On the flip side, Bharti Airtel down by 1.76%, Power Grid Corporation down by 1.34%, Tata Steel down by 1.00%, Bajaj Auto down by 0.64% and SBI down by 0.54% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, the investigation arm of the Finance Ministry has detected tax evasion worth Rs 29,088 crore in 1,835 cases in the first seventh months (April-October) of the current financial year (FY19). Of this, the Directorate General of GST Intelligence (DGGI), which is enforcement agency for checking indirect tax evasion, has detected evasion of goods and services tax (GST) worth Rs 4,562 crore in 571 cases. The bulk of the evasion was detected in case of service tax. The total number of cases where service tax was evaded stood at 1,145 involving Rs 22,973 crore. In case of central excise duty, it detected 119 cases where tax evaded was worth Rs 1,553 crore.

Further, the total amount of detection may be more as the data does not include detection by field offices of the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC).  On recovery of evaded taxes, a total amount of Rs 5,427 crore was realised during seven months of FY19. These include recovery from previous cases and those detected during the current financial year. Of the total recovery, Rs 3,124 crore was from GST evaders, followed by Rs 2,174 crore in case of service tax, and Rs 128 crore from those who had evaded central excise.

Earlier, the Finance Ministry had extended the informant reward scheme of central excise and service tax to GST. The scheme was modified to include officers of other government agencies like police, BSF, CISF and coast guard. According to reward scheme, informers and government servants were eligible for reward up to 20% of the net sale-proceeds of the contraband goods seized and/or amount of duty/ service tax evaded plus amount of penalty levied and recovered.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 10635.05, up by 35.00 points or 0.33% after trading in a range of 10605.70 and 10646.25. There were 23 stocks advancing against 26 stocks declining on the index, while 1 stock remained unchanged.

The top gainers on Nifty were Zee Entertainment up by 2.67%, Tech Mahindra up by 2.44%, Yes Bank up by 2.37%, Indiabulls Housing up by 1.72% and ONGC up by 1.55%. On the flip side, Bharti Infratel down by 2.20%, Bharti Airtel down by 2.01%, HPCL down by 1.40%, JSW Steel down by 1.21% and Power Grid Corporation down by 1.04% were the top losers.

Asian markets are trading mostly in green; Nikkei 225 gained 128.24 points or 0.59% to 21,635.78, Taiwan Weighted rose 9.49 points or 0.1% to 9,751.01, Straits Times added 1.69 points or 0.06% to 3,040.34, Jakarta Composite increased 38.11 points or 0.64% to 5,986.16 and Hang Seng was up by 10.23 points or 0.04% to 25,981.70.

On the flip side, KOSPI decreased 9.60 points or 0.46% to 2,066.95 and Shanghai Composite was down by 14.55 points or 0.55% to 2,636.96.