Post Session: Quick Review

Indian markets extended their jubilation to new week and surged by over a percent on Tuesday to make it a two day winning streak, with Nifty and Sensex ending just shy of 11,000 and 36,450 marks respectively. Markets started off with marginal losses, after US President Donald Trump said he intends to end India’s preferential trade treatment under the Generalized System of Preferences program (GSP) that allows $5.6 billion worth of Indian exports to enter the United States duty-free. Traders remain concerned with the Finance Ministry’s statement that Goods and Services Tax (GST) collections in February dropped to Rs 97,247 crore from Rs 1.02 lakh crore in the previous month. The government has lowered the GST collection target for current fiscal to Rs 11.47 lakh crore in the revised estimates, from Rs 13.71 lakh crore budgeted initially.

However, markets soon erased losses and started trading on positive route, as sentiment turned optimistic with Economic Affairs Secretary Subhash Chandra Garg stating that spurt in PMI indicates strong inflow of new orders and strengthening of manufacturing sector growth. The mood remained upbeat with India’s chief economic adviser Krishnamurthy Subramanian’s statement that India’s next government will have to bring in land, labour and financial sector reforms to improve the productivity of the manufacturing sector and boost economic growth.

Key indices continued their rally to reach at fresh intraday high points in last leg of trade, taking support from a private survey showing that activity in India's huge service sector accelerated in February, partly due to an increase in domestic new business which induced firms to maintain a solid hiring pace. The Nikkei/IHS Markit Services Purchasing Managers' Index rose to 52.5 in February from January's 52.2, staying above the 50-mark that separates growth from contraction for a ninth straight month. Adding to the market cheer, income tax e-returns filed for the April-February period has grown nearly 30% compared with the corresponding period in FY18. While almost 6.4 crore taxpayers filed returns in the first 11 months of the fiscal, the government is expecting 7.6 crore returns to be filed by the end of FY19 against 6.7 crore in FY18.

On the global front, Asian markets ended mostly in red on Tuesday, weighed by U.S. growth concerns and as China cut its economic expansion target amid growing challenges from rising debt and a dispute over trade and technology with the United States. However, European markets were trading in green, as Eurozone investor confidence improved in March. The survey data from Sentix showed that the investor confidence index for the euro area improved to -2.2 in March from -3.7 in February. Back home, stocks related to coffee sector were in focus with data showing that Coffee shipments from India, Asia’s third-largest producer and exporter, rose 13.26 per cent to 48,330 tonnes during the first two months of 2019.

The BSE Sensex ended at 36449.30, up by 385.49 points or 1.07% after trading in a range of 35926.94 and 36457.20. There were 25 stocks advancing against 6 stocks declining on the index. (Provisional)

The broader indices ended in green; the BSE Mid cap index surged 2.02%, while Small cap index was up by 3.10%.(Provisional)

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Auto up by 3.08%, PSU up by 2.91%, Oil & Gas up by 2.85%, Industrials up by 2.72% and Basic Materials up by 2.69%, while IT down by 0.87% and TECK down by 0.68% were the top losing indices on BSE.(Provisional)

The top gainers on the Sensex were Tata Motors up by 7.38%, Tata Motors - DVR up by 5.88%, Hero MotoCorp up by 4.65%, Axis Bank up by 4.15% and ONGC up by 3.76%. (Provisional)

On the flip side, Infosys down by 1.23%, Hindustan Unilever down by 0.69%, Power Grid down by 0.22%, Yes Bank down by 0.19% and TCS down by 0.15% were the top losers.(Provisional)

Meanwhile, the Finance Ministry has stated that Goods and Services Tax (GST) collections slipped below Rs 1 lakh crore mark to Rs 97,247 crore in the month of February from Rs 1.02 lakh crore in the previous month. The number of sales return or GSTR-3B filed for the month of January up to February 28, 2019 is 73.48 lakh. For the current fiscal year, GST collections till February touched to Rs 10.70 lakh crore.

The Ministry said the total gross GST revenue collected in February 2019 is Rs 97,247 crore of which Central GST (CGST) is Rs 17,626 crore, State GST (SGST) is Rs 24,192 crore, Integrated GST (IGST) is Rs 46,953 crore and Cess is Rs 8,476 crore.

For the current financial year, the Centre has lowered the GST collection target to Rs 11.47 lakh crore in the revised estimates, from Rs 13.71 lakh crore budgeted initially. For the next fiscal 2019-20, the government has pegged GST collection target at Rs 13.71 lakh crore.

The CNX Nifty ended at 10990.25, up by 126.75 points or 1.17% after trading in a range of 10817.00 and 10994.90. There were 40 stocks advancing against 10 stocks declining on the index.(Provisional)

The top gainers on Nifty were Indiabulls Housing Finance up by 9.87%, Eicher Motors up by 7.41%, Tata Motors up by 7.38%, HPCL up by 6.15% and BPCL up by 5.07%. (Provisional)

On the flip side, Wipro down by 3.38%, Tech Mahindra down by 2.63%, Infosys down by 1.31%, Hindustan Unilever down by 0.67% and Cipla down by 0.46% were the top losers.(Provisional)

European markets were trading in green; UK’s FTSE 100 increased 16.24 points or 0.23% to 7,150.63, France’s CAC soared 4.84 points or 0.09% to 5,291.41 and Germany’s DAX gained 18.93 points or 0.16% to 11,611.59.

Asian markets ended mostly in red on Tuesday after US construction spending unexpectedly fell in December and China cut its GDP growth target, raising fresh concerns about global growth slowdown. China lowered its economic growth target for 2019 to a range of 6.0 percent to 6.5 percent from the 2018 target of around 6.5 percent, citing challenges from rising debt and a trade dispute with the US. Meanwhile, Chinese Commerce Minister Zhong Shan has stated that trade talks with the US have been ‘extremely difficult and time-consuming’ due to the large differences between the two countries. Japanese shares ended lower, with chipmakers and machinery firms underperforming amid concerns over slowing Chinese economy. Though, Chinese shares ended higher after Premier Li Keqiang's annual work report to the National People's Congress mentioned about wide-ranging tax cuts and targeted monetary support for the economy.