Benchmarks trade jubilantly in early deals; Nifty surpasses 11,100 mark

Indian equity benchmarks made an optimistic start and are trading with a gain of around a percentage point, as sentiments remained upbeat with Economic Affairs Secretary Subhash Chandra Garg expressing confidence that fiscal deficit target of 3.4 per cent for 2018-19 would be met as shortfall in indirect tax collection would be compensated by lower expenditure. Some support also came with Commerce and Industry minister Suresh Prabhu’s statement that the government has set a target of attracting $100 billion in foreign direct investments over the next two years. The minister said the government is conducting a sector analysis for FDI investments and is preparing suitable policies which will help in bringing foreign funds. Meanwhile, Industry lobby CII released a Suggested Election Manifesto for political parties to achieve an average growth rate of 8 per cent per annum in the next five years. It covers a range of subjects including agriculture, education, health, infrastructure, manufacturing, technology as well as environment.

On the global front, Asian markets are trading mixed at this point of time amid growing concerns over a global economic slowdown after important data in the United States and China missed expectations last week. The US markets ended lower on Friday following a weak February US jobs report.

Back home, stocks related to banking sector edged higher despite the Reserve Bank of India’s statement that it has imposed penalties worth Rs 71 crore on 36 public, private and foreign banks for non-compliance with various directions on time-bound implementation and strengthening of SWIFT operations. Auto sector stocks too edged higher with report that from April, up to 10 lakh electric two-wheelers will get subsidy of Rs 20,000 each, while 35,000 fully electric cars can avail benefit of Rs 1.5 lakh under the newly notified FAME-II scheme, reducing their prices for buyers.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 36971.82, up by 300.39 points or 0.82% after trading in a range of 36726.39 and 36979.98. There were 29 stocks advancing against 2 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index surged 1.07%, while Small cap index was up by 0.97%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Oil & Gas up by 1.96%, Telecom up by 1.93%, Consumer Durables up by 1.64%, Energy up by 1.58% and PSU was up by 1.55%, while there were no losers on the BSE sectoral front.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Coal India up by 2.52%, SBI up by 2.40%, ONGC up by 2.00%, Vedanta up by 1.94% and Hero MotoCorp up by 1.76%. On the flip side, Indusind Bank down by 0.40% and NTPC down by 0.30% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, expressing confidence over meeting fiscal deficit target, Economic Affairs Secretary Subhash Chandra Garg has said that fiscal deficit target of 3.4 per cent for 2018-19 (FY19) would be met as shortfall in indirect tax collection would be compensated by lower expenditure. As per the interim Budget 2019-20, the government has pegged fiscal deficit target of 3.4 per cent for the current fiscal year ending March 31.

He said ‘our assessment at this stage is, in direct taxes, we will probably do as per the revised estimate, in indirect taxes, there might be some shortfall, and on the expenditure side there might be some savings. On the whole, we should be where we are.’ On the growth front, Garg said India cannot grow at 7-8 per cent without the growth of private equity (PE) and venture capital (VC) industry.

In the current fiscal, direct tax collection is pegged at Rs 12 lakh crore (revised estimate). The government had originally budgeted to collect Rs 11.50 lakh crore in 2018-19 from direct taxes, which include corporate tax and personal income tax. Likewise, in 2018-19, GST collection is pegged at Rs 6.43 lakh crore (RE), which is lower than the targeted Rs 7.43 lakh crore (BE).

On the indirect tax front, customs collection in the current fiscal is pegged at Rs 1.30 lakh crore (RE). Besides, the data released by the Controller General of Accounts (CGA) showed that fiscal deficit touched 121.5 per cent of the full-year revised target of Rs 6.34 lakh crore at the end of January on account of lower revenue collection.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 11136.45, up by 101.05 points or 0.92% after trading in a range of 11059.85 and 11136.90. There were 47 stocks advancing against 3 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were HPCL up by 3.46%, Bharti Infratel up by 3.37%, BPCL up by 2.93%, Eicher Motors up by 2.80% and SBI up by 2.72%. On the flip side, Zee Entertainment down by 0.53%, Indusind Bank down by 0.49% and Cipla down by 0.21% were the few losers.

Asian markets are trading mixed; Nikkei 225 rose 95.10 points or 0.45% to 21,120.66, Hang Seng jumped 193.73 points or 0.69% to 28,422.15, Taiwan Weighted gained 11.00 points or 0.11% to 10,252.75 and Shanghai Composite was up by 36.33 points or 1.22% to 3,006.19.

On the flip side, Straits Times slipped 0.78 points or 0.02% to 3,195.09, KOSPI dropped 2.31 points or 0.11% to 2,135.13 and Jakarta Composite was down by 6.56 points or 0.10% to 6,376.51.