Benchmarks trade lower; Sensex slips below 36,400 mark

Indian equity benchmarks made a pessimistic start and are trading with a cut of around half a percent in early deals, as traders remain concerned about the International Monetary Fund warning governments to gear up for a possible economic storm as growth undershoots expectations. It said the bottom-line they see an economy that is growing more slowly than they had anticipated. Some cautiousness also crept in with Economic Affairs Secretary Subhash Chandra Garg’s statement that the country actually faces shortage of capital more than the scarcity of jobs.  Traders shrugged off Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) data showing that the country's foreign exchange reserves increased by $2.063 billion to $400.24 billion in the week to February 1, on account of rise in foreign currency assets.

On the global front, Asian markets are trading mostly in green despite worries about global growth, US politics and the ongoing Sino-US tariff war. The US markets ended mixed on Friday amid worries about ongoing US-China trade negotiations as well as slowing economic growth.

Back home, power sector stocks edged lower with ASSOCHAM-Grant Thornton joint study stating that  investments worth over Rs 2.5 lakh crore in thermal sector projects, based on domestic coal, imported coal, and gas, are facing stress and immediate remedial measures need to be undertaken to ensure that they are revived in a time-bound manner. In scrip specific developments, Tata Steel surged on reporting 76% rise in Q3 consolidated net profit and Glenmark edged higher with its arm getting approval from USFDA for Sevelamer Hydrochloride Tablets.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 36394.29, down by 152.19 points or 0.42% after trading in a range of 36358.89 and 36588.41. There were 8 stocks advancing against 22 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in red; the BSE Mid cap index declined 1.11%, while Small cap index was down by 0.91%.

The only gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were IT up by 0.45% and TECK up by 0.37%, while Capital Goods down by 1.86%, Auto down by 1.84%, Industrials down by 1.55%, Oil & Gas down by 1.39% and Consumer Discretionary Goods & Services down by 1.22% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Tata Steel up by 1.27%, Kotak Mahindra Bank up by 1.00%, Infosys up by 0.68%, NTPC up by 0.57% and HDFC up by 0.56%. On the flip side, Mahindra & Mahindra down by 3.00%, Hero MotoCorp down by 2.87%, ONGC down by 2.44%, Larsen & Toubro down by 2.14% and Tata Motors down by 2.05% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, net direct tax collection stood at Rs 7,88,930 crore in the April-January period of current fiscal (2018-19). Total direct tax collection stood at Rs 10.02 lakh crore in 2017-18. In the revised estimates for current fiscal, the government has pegged direct tax collection at Rs 12 lakh crore. The Direct Tax-GDP ratio stood at 5.98 per cent in the 2017-18 fiscal. A taxpayer is a person who either files a return of income or in whose case tax has been deducted or paid.

On the other hand, total indirect Taxes collection stood at Rs 2,89,661 crore during the April-January period of 2018-19, while Rs 4,69,092 crore was the total indirect Taxes collection for 2017-18.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 10867.30, down by 76.30 points or 0.70% after trading in a range of 10867.25 and 10930.90. There were 10 stocks advancing against 40 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Tata Steel up by 1.37%, Cipla up by 1.09%, Kotak Mahindra Bank up by 0.50%, HDFC up by 0.49% and Wipro up by 0.48%. On the flip side, Indiabulls Housing down by 5.28%, ONGC down by 3.54%, Hero MotoCorp down by 3.15%, Dr. Reddys Lab down by 2.95% and Mahindra & Mahindra down by 2.84% were the top losers.

Asian markets are trading mostly in green; Hang Seng gained 63.63 points or 0.23% to 28,009.95, Taiwan Weighted rose 89.88 points or 0.90% to 10,022.14, Jakarta Composite added 3.49 points or 0.05% to 6,525.15 and Shanghai Composite was up by 21.73 points or 0.83% to 2,639.96.

On the flip side, Straits Times declined 15.50 points or 0.48% to 3,186.54 and KOSPI was down by 1.08 points or 0.05% to 2,175.97.