Benchmarks make pessimistic start on Wednesday

Indian equity benchmarks made a pessimistic start and now are trading with a cut of around half a percent ahead of manufacturing PMI data for the month of December to be released later in the day. Traders remained cautious with the government once again missing the target of garnering more than one lakh crore rupees from Goods and Services Tax (GST) in the month of December, giving rise to concerns that the government may not be able to contain the fiscal deficit to 3.2% of the GDP. The government has collected Rs 94,726 crore from GST in the month of December. Traders shrugged off report that India remained ahead of China to retain the tag world’s fastest growing large economy withstanding several ups and downs, spike in oil prices and global trade war like situation during 2018. Indian economy’s roller-coaster ride during the year gone by was best captured by the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth. In the first quarter of 2018-19 ending June 30, it grew at an impressive 8.2%.

On the global front, all the Asian markets are trading in red at this point of time, as evidence of slowing Chinese growth weighed on investors already reeling from the worst year for global equities since the financial crisis. The US markets remain closed on Tuesday on account of New Year holiday.

Back home, aviation industry stocks edged lower despite report that jet fuel price was cut by a record 14.7% on the back of decline in international rates, making it cheaper than both petrol and diesel. The price of Aviation Turbine Fuel (ATF) -- used to power airplanes -- was slashed by Rs 9,990 per kilolitre, or 14.7 percent, to Rs 58,060.97 per kl. In scrip specific developments, Chambal Fertilisers gained on commencing commercial production at Rajasthan’s urea plan and Escorts trading higher as its Agri Machinery Segment (EAM) has reported sale of 4,598 tractors in December 2018 as compared to 3,606 tractors in December 2017, registering growth by 27.5%.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 36080.00, down by 174.57 points or 0.48% after trading in a range of 36035.78 and 36203.12. There were 4 stocks advancing against 27 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in red; the BSE Mid cap index slipped 0.15%, while Small cap index was down by 0.12%.

The only gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were IT up by 0.49% and TECK was up by 0.37%, while Metal down by 2.00%, Auto down by 1.24%, Oil & Gas down by 1.01%, Basic Materials down by 0.94% and Utilities was down by 0.82% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The few gainers on the Sensex were TCS up by 0.75%, Yes Bank up by 0.71%, Infosys up by 0.36% and SBI up by 0.35%. On the flip side, Vedanta down by 2.65%, Mahindra & Mahindra down by 2.57%, Tata Steel down by 2.31%, Tata Motors down by 1.64% and HDFC down by 1.30% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, the government has once again missed its Rs 1 lakh crore target of gathering revenue from Goods and Services Tax (GST) in the month of December 2018. The GST collection declined to Rs 94,726 crore in December, lower than Rs 97,637 crore collected in November. However, compliance improved during the month under review as the total number of sales returns or GSTR-3B filed in December stood at 72.44 lakh, as against 69.6 lakh filed in November.

The fall in revenue collection raised concerns that the government may not be able to contain the fiscal deficit to 3.2% of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP). As per the data, out of the total collection Rs 94,726 crore, Central GST (CGST) collection was Rs 16,442 crore, State GST (SGST) was Rs 22,459 crore, Integrated GST (IGST) was Rs 47,936 crore and Cess was Rs 7,888 crore.

Besides, the government has settled Rs 18,409 crore to CGST and Rs 14,793 crore to SGST from IGST as regular settlement.  The total revenue earned by central government and state governments after regular settlement in December was Rs 43,851 crore for CGST and Rs 46,252 crore for SGST.

During the April-December period of the current fiscal, the government has mopped up over Rs 8.71 lakh crore from GST. The 2018-19 budget had estimated annual GST collection at Rs 13.48 lakh crore, which means a monthly target of Rs 1.12 lakh crore. Meanwhile, the monthly average GST collection in last fiscal (July 2017 - March 2018) was Rs 89,885 crore.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 10852.15, down by 57.95 points or 0.53% after trading in a range of 10839.30 and 10882.85. There were 10 stocks advancing against 40 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Bharti Infratel up by 1.01%, Tech Mahindra up by 0.89%, Wipro up by 0.84%, TCS up by 0.80% and Yes Bank up by 0.76%. On the flip side, Eicher Motors down by 5.27%, JSW Steel down by 3.17%, Hindalco down by 3.08%, Vedanta down by 2.70% and Mahindra & Mahindra down by 2.68% were the top losers.

All the Asian markets are trading in red; Straits Times declined 31.30 points or 1.02% to 3,037.46, Hang Seng tumbled 615.82 points or 2.38% to 25,229.88, Taiwan Weighted shed 138.86 points or 1.43% to 9,588.55, KOSPI fell 29.90 points or 1.46% to 2,011.14, Jakarta Composite slipped 7.18 points or 0.12% to 6,187.32 and Shanghai Composite was down by 25.09 points or 1.01% to 2,468.81.