Indian bourses continue to trade in negative bias

Indian bourses extended their losses and were trading with cut of over half a percent in early noon session as selling appeared in Metal, Power and Auto stocks with Sensex and Nifty tumbling by 215.80 and 74.20 points respectively. Among blue chip stocks, Vedanta was top loser trading down by around 3.25%, while Hindustan Unilever was top gainer up by around 1.11%. Meanwhile, the broader indices, mid cap and small cap indices were trading down by over 1.00%. Investors paid no attention to the private report stating that the country's services sector activity in November expanded at the quickest pace since July, driven by new work orders and favourable market conditions, which in turn led to a continued rise in jobs.  However losses remain capped with a report that the Engineering Export Promotion Council’s (EEPC) statement that India’s engineering exports are likely to touch $80 billion this fiscal on account of healthy growth in key markets, including the US and Europe.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading in red, as sharp declines in long-term U.S. Treasury yields and resurgent trade concerns stoked investor worries about global economic growth. Back home, Sugar stocks were trading in red amid a private report stating that Indian sugar mills have 39.73 lakh tonnes of sugar till November 30, which is almost similar to the sugar production of 39.14 lakh tonnes during same period of previous year.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 35918.51, down by 215.80 points or 0.60% after trading in a range of 35863.59 and 36048.65. There were 5 stocks advancing against 26 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in red; the BSE Mid cap index fell 1.13%, while Small cap index was down by 1.06%.

The top losing sectoral indices on the BSE were Metal down by 3.19%, Basic Materials down by 1.98%, Power down by 1.79%, Auto down by 1.62%, PSU down by 1.43%, while there were no gaining sectoral indices.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Hindustan Unilever up by 1.11%, HDFC up by 0.75%, HDFC Bank up by 0.31%, Adani Ports &Special up by 0.31% and Asian Paints was up by 0.13%. On the flip side, Vedanta down by 3.25%, Tata Motors - DVR down by 3.22%, Tata Motors down by 3.13%, Coal India down by 2.93% and Tata Steel was down by 2.76% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) Chairman Sushil Chandra has said that filing of income tax return (ITR) has increased 50 percent to 6.08 crore so far this year (assessment year 2018-19) compared to the year-ago period. Attributing this rise to demonetization, he said that note ban has been very good for increasing the tax base of the country.

Chandra has stated that the revenue department will achieve direct tax collection target of Rs 11.5 lakh crore in the ongoing financial year. He also said that so far 70 countries are sharing information with India under Automatic Exchange of Information (AEOI). Besides, he indicated that as on date, total direct tax mop-up stood at 48 percent of the Budget estimate. As a result of note ban, he highlighted that there has been an increase in corporate taxpayer from 7 lakh in last year to 8 lakh so far now.

Noting that the government was committed to reducing the corporate tax rate, CBDT Chairman said, 'our tax compliance should be good so that the government is in a position to reduce the (corporate) tax rate.' Referring to permanent establishment (PE) rules, he said that PE rules are sustainable in the era of digital economy. He also said “So, from where the revenues are being generated, businesses will have to be taxed accordingly... These issues will have to be discussed in detail.”

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 10795.30, down by 74.20 points or 0.68% after trading in a range of 10781.40 and 10821.05. There were 9 stocks advancing against 41 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Tech Mahindra up by 1.37%, Bharti Infratel up by 1.20%, Hindustan Unilever up by 1.13%, HCL Tech. up by 0.84% and HDFC was up by 0.75%. On the flip side, Hindalco down by 3.62%, Vedanta down by 3.20%, Tata Motors down by 3.16%, JSW Steel down by 3.03% and Coal India was down by 2.97% were the top losers.

All Asian markets were trading in red, Nikkei 225 fell 138.78 points or 0.63% to 21,897.27, Taiwan Weighted declained 166.80 points or 1.68% to 9,916.74, Hang Seng dropped 471.31 points or 1.76% to 26,789.13, Straits Times lost 34.07 points or 1.09% to 3,133.72, Shanghai Composite decreased 20.39 points or 0.77% to 2,645.57, KOSPI slipped 14.00 points or 0.67% to 2,100.35 and Jakarta Composite was down by 28.89 points or 0.47% to 6,123.97.