Local equities continue to trade in green

Mirroring strong global cues, local equity benchmarks continued to show a positive trend in morning session, with gains of over half a percent. Among heavy-weights Infosys, Axis Bank and Hindustan Unilever exhibited a smart performance. The sentiment remained largely positive with Minister of State for Finance Shiv Pratap’s statement that GST, central excise and service tax evasion detected during the April-December period of the current financial year stood at Rs 48,555 crore, the highest in two years. During the period, 8,917 cases of evasion of central excise, service tax and GST were detected involving an amount of Rs 48,555.06 crore. Optimism also came with finance ministry’s statement that the recovery of evaded indirect taxes shot up in 2018-19, after a low in 2017-18, the year when the goods and services tax (GST) was implemented. Traders shrugged off World Bank’s projection of moderation of global growth from 3 per cent last year to 2.9 per cent this year. It described the current situation of the world economy as ‘darkening of the skies’. ‘Global growth is slowing and risks are rising. The bank think that skies are darkening over the global economy’.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading in green, as traders turned optimistic after trade talks between the US and China were extended for a third day. Back home, on the sectoral front, Power industry stocks were trading mostly in green, as private report stated that Power plants across the country generated 1,047.3 billion units (BU) of electricity in April-December, 2018, registering a 6.7% year-on-year (y-o-y) growth. While production from conventional energy sources grew at 4.7% y-o-y, supplying 949.6 BU, renewable energy-based power generation was 97.7 BU, clocking a 29.6% rise.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 36199.49, up by 218.56 points or 0.61% after trading in a range of 36151.35 and 36250.54. There were 18 stocks advancing against 13 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index gained 0.20%, while Small cap index was up by 0.26%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were IT up by 1.38%, TECK up by 1.15%, FMCG up by 0.80%, Auto up by 0.69% and Industrials was up by 0.48%, while Metal down by 0.89%, Oil & Gas down by 0.82%, PSU down by 0.55%, Telecom down by 0.47% and Basic Materials was down by 0.25% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Infosys up by 2.39%, Axis Bank up by 1.74%, Hindustan Unilever up by 1.25%, Tata Motors up by 1.23% and Maruti Suzuki was up by 1.21%. On the flip side, Tata Steel down by 1.99%, Hero MotoCorp down by 0.85%, Yes Bank down by 0.68%, Indusind Bank down by 0.67% and HCL Tech was down by 0.62% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, the Finance Ministry has stated that the recovery of evaded indirect taxes shot up in ongoing financial year (FY19), after a low in FY18, the year when the goods and services tax (GST) was implemented. Recovery as a percentage of the evaded taxes dropped from 26% in FY17 to 14% in FY18. Then, it went up to 29% in the first nine months (April to December) of FY19.

Though, the evasion is slated to grow more than twofold in two years, and about 50% in one year of GST implementation. It rose from Rs 23,619 crore in FY17 to Rs 48,555 in First nine months of FY19. The evaded amount of Central GST (CGST) detected is about Rs 15,278 crore. While the overall recovery amounts to Rs 13,908 crore, recovery under the CGST adds up to nearly Rs 10,000 crore. If the overall recovery rate is about 29%, the figure under CGST is 65%.

Besides, the Finance Ministry has recently stated that in the first nine months (April-December) of current financial year (FY19), the direct tax collections surged by 14.1% to Rs 8.74 lakh crore. During the same period, the refunds amounting to Rs 1.30 lakh crore have also been issued, an increase of 17% from the year-ago period.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 10852.00, up by 49.85 points or 0.46% after trading in a range of 10846.85 and 10870.40. There were 25 stocks advancing against 25 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Infosys up by 2.31%, Axis Bank up by 1.74%, Hindustan Unilever up by 1.26%, UPL up by 1.14% and Wipro was up by 1.06%. On the flip side, HPCL down by 2.76%, BPCL down by 2.16%, Tata Steel down by 2.00%, Bharti Infratel down by 1.64% and GAIL India was down by 1.45% were the top losers.

All Asian markets were trading in green; Nikkei 225 surged 242.97 points or 1.2% to 20,447.01, Hang Seng increased 632.05 points or 2.44% to 26,507.50, Straits Times advanced 31.42 points or 1.01% to 3,154.36, KOSPI rose 36.81 points or 1.82% to 2,062.08, Shanghai Composite gained 40.20 points or 1.59% to 2,566.66, Jakarta Composite soared 27.34 points or 0.44% to 6,290.19 and Taiwan Weighted was up by 164.48 points or 1.72% to 9,728.08.