Markets extend losses to trade near day’s low points

Key Indian equities extended their losses in late afternoon session to trade near their intraday low points. Sentiments remained impacted by easing manufacturing PMI data which slowed down in the month of December to 53.2 from 54 in November, due to competitive pressures, labour issues and challenging public policies. Adding some anxiety, Anil Gupta, vice president of ICRA said that MSME restructuring scheme will spoil credit culture because earlier the borrowers were sticking to their repayment schedule but now with this forbearance definitely any borrower will try to get a restructuring with a longer repayment schedule. So overall it is not good for the credit culture. Some concerns also came with a private report stating that the Reserve Bank of India's (RBI) estimates of the gross non-performing asset (GNPA) ratio, in severe stress scenarios, for the quarter ahead have been inaccurate five out of six times in its financial stability reports (FSR) since FY16.

On the sectoral front, realty stocks were trading lower, despite reports that the GST Council is slated to meet on January 10 to discuss lowering GST on under-construction flats and houses to 5 per cent, as well as hiking exemption threshold for small and medium enterprises, while stocks related to the food processing industry remained in focus with CEO Pawan Agarwal’s statement that regulator FSSAI will focus on enforcing the regulations without impacting businesses.

On the global front, European markets were trading in red, as traders return to their desks after the New Year break. Investors look ahead to Friday's US December jobs report as well as the annual meeting of the American Economic Association, where Fed Chair Powell is interviewed with predecessors Janet Yellen and Ben Bernanke, for clues on the outlook for interest rates.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 35910.03, down by 344.54 points or 0.95% after trading in a range of 35734.01 and 36236.70. There were 6 stocks advancing against 25 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in red; the BSE Mid cap index was down by 1.04%, while Small cap index was down by 0.62%.

The only gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were IT up by 0.39% and TECK up by 0.06%, while Metal down by 3.07%, Auto down by 2.70%, Oil & Gas down by 1.99%, PSU down by 1.72% and Utilities down by 1.66% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were TCS up by 1.19%, Infosys up by 0.68%, Sun Pharma up by 0.67%, Yes Bank up by 0.41% and Asian Paints up by 0.34%. On the flip side, Vedanta down by 4.03%, Mahindra & Mahindra down by 3.83%, Tata Steel down by 3.70%, Tata Motors - DVR down by 2.69% and Tata Motors down by 2.51% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, in a big relief to the industry players, the government has waived penalty for late non-filers of summary and final sales returns for the July 2017-September 2018 period by businesses registered under the goods and services tax (GST).

As per the government’s notification, all the late non-filers need to file their returns for the 15-month period by March 31, 2019. The Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) notified waiver of late fees for non-filing of GSTR-3B, GSTR-1 and GSTR-4 and non-payment of taxes between July 2017 and September 2018.

Meanwhile, the fee for late filing of the returns is Rs 25 per day for Central GST (CGST) and an equal amount under State GST (SGST).

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 10795.20, down by 114.90 points or 1.05% after trading in a range of 10735.05 and 10895.35. There were 8 stocks advancing against 42 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were TCS up by 1.22%, Sun Pharma up by 0.96%, Infosys up by 0.66%, Titan up by 0.64% and Asian Paints up by 0.39%. On the flip side, Eicher Motors down by 7.67%, BPCL down by 4.52%, JSW Steel down by 4.26%, Vedanta down by 4.08% and Mahindra & Mahindra down by 3.88% were the top losers.

All the Asian markets are trading in red; Straits Times declined 28.79 points or 0.94% to 3,039.97, Hang Seng tumbled 715.35 points or 2.77% to 25,130.35, Taiwan Weighted fell 173.27 points or 1.78% to 9,554.14, Kospi shed 31.04 points or 1.52% to 2,010.00, Jakarta Composite slipped 13.32 points or 0.22% to 6,181.18 and Shanghai Composite was down by 28.61 points or 1.15% to 2,465.29.

All European markets were trading in red; UK’s FTSE 100 lost 101.69 points or 1.51% to 6,626.44, Germany’s DAX fell 106.35 or 1.01% points to 10,452.61 and France’s CAC was down by 98.97 points or 2.09% to 4,631.72.