Benchmarks extend losses in early noon session

Indian bourses extended their losses in early noon session with Sensex and Nifty trading down by 79 and 22 points respectively. Stocks from Consumer Durables, Bankex and Oil & Gas counters were trading lower, while Realty, Healthcare and Industrials counters were supporting the markets. Anxiety remained on the street as the government is estimated to have witnessed a shortfall of Rs 50,000 crore in direct tax collection target of Rs 12 lakh crore for 2018-19. The shortfall in direct tax mop-up coupled with lower GST realization has implications on fiscal deficit, which the government has pegged at 3.4 per cent of the GDP. However, losses remained capped as IMF in its latest report stated that some reforms in India have shown the benefits of digitalization which has also reduced the opportunities for discretion and fraud. The introduction of e-procurement in India and Indonesia has also increased competition and led to better quality of construction. Meanwhile, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has asked each of the airlines to bring individual medium-term plan on enhancing overall availability of domestic flights. Airfares have been on an upswing across India over the span of the last few weeks due to sharp decline in number of flights primarily caused by grounding of three-fourths of cash-strapped Jet Airways' 119-aircraft fleet.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mixed as the International Monetary Fund (IMF) lowered its global growth outlook and as tensions over tariffs between the United States (US) and Europe escalated. Back on street, in scrip specific development, Confidence Petroleum edged up on completing and getting License of ten more Auto LPG Dispensing Stations (Gas Stations) and taken their total number from 186 stations to 196 Stations - Maharashtra - 2, Tamil Nadu - 7, Telangana- 1 Total 10.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 38859.86, down by 79.36 points or 0.20% after trading in a range of 38832.80 and 38950.45. There were 20 stocks advancing against 11 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index rose 0.13%, while Small cap index was up by 0.38%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Realty up by 2.42%, Healthcare up by 0.67%, Industrials up by 0.53%, Capital Goods up by 0.39% and Metal was up by 0.30%, while Consumer Durables down by 0.35%, Bankex down by 0.26%, Oil & Gas down by 0.14%, Utilities down by 0.12% and IT was down by 0.12% were the losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Tata Motors up by 3.06%, Tata Motors - DVR up by 2.92%, Hindustan Unilever up by 0.91%, Kotak Mahindra Bank up by 0.88% and Coal India was up by 0.86%. On the flip side, Asian Paints down by 1.38%, TCS down by 1.20%, HDFC Bank down by 1.18%, HDFC down by 1.11% and Hero MotoCorp was down by 0.89% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, the government may see a shortfall of Rs 50,000 crore in the direct tax collection target of Rs 12 lakh crore for 2018-19. The shortfall in direct tax mop-up and lower Goods and Services Tax (GST) realisation may have implications on fiscal deficit, which the government has pegged at 3.4 percent of the gross domestic product (GDP).

As per the Budget documents, the direct tax collection target had been revised upwards to Rs 12 lakh crore from the original budget estimate of Rs 11.5 lakh crore for 2018-19. The government was expecting a higher mop-up from corporate tax. The revision was made during the interim Budget for 2019-20 in February.
The target for GST collection was revised downwards to Rs 6.44 lakh crore from the Budget Estimate of Rs 7.44 lakh crore. The GST mop-up is also estimated to have missed the revised target. The GST Council had reduced tax rates on several items during 2018-19.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 11649.85, down by 22.10 points or 0.19% after trading in a range of 11638.65 and 11680.05. There were 28 stocks advancing against 22 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Cipla up by 3.22%, Tata Motors up by 3.18%, Wipro up by 2.34%, Dr. Reddys up by 1.24% and Kotak Mahindra Bank was up by 0.94%. On the flip side, TCS down by 1.50%, Asian Paints down by 1.47%, GAIL India down by 1.25%, HDFC Bank down by 1.22% and HDFC was down by 1.17% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mixed, Nikkei 225 slipped 124.96 points or 0.57% to 21,677.63, Jakarta Composite dropped 25.03 points or 0.39% to 6,459.32, Hang Seng decreased 117.98 points or 0.39% to 30,039.51 and Shanghai Composite was down by 4.92 points or 0.15% to 3,234.74. On the flip side, KOSPI rose 2.70 points or 0.12% to 2,216.26, Straits Times advanced 2.10 points or 0.06% to 3,327.70 and Taiwan Weighted was up by 24.05 points or 0.22% to 10,875.65.