Post Session: Quick Review

Selling activity which took place during late hour of trade mainly forced the markets to cut all of their initial gains and end Thursday’s session with steep losses. Sensex and Nifty gave up their crucial 38,750 and 11,650 levels respectively. Key equity indices traded flat with positive bias in morning deals, as traders took some support with report that giving relief to composition scheme taxpayers under the GST, the finance ministry has allowed such businesses to file self-assessed tax return on quarterly basis in a simplified form. In yet another simplification, the Goods and Services Tax (GST) Council has added flexibility into the way a company can utilise the available input tax credit. Any company would now be eligible to use credit available against paid integrated GST (IGST) to set off tax liabilities of state GST (SGST) and central GST (CGST) in any proportion and in any order. After that, key indices added gains in the early noon session, taking support from the Finance Ministry introduced several changes in the electronic way or e-way bill system, ranging from auto calculation of distance based on PIN codes for generation of e-way bill to barring businesses from generating multiple e-way bills based on one invoice, as it seeks to cracks down evasion in the goods and services tax (GST) framework.

However, markets reversed all of their gains and saw strong sell-off in the last leg of trade, as traders turned wary amid a private report stating that Indians are becoming increasingly worried about the economy's condition, with fewer citizens believing that the local economy is getting better. Cautiousness also crept in with World Bank forecasted slowdown in East Asia and Pacific economies in 2019. Growth of East Asia and the Pacific (EAP) will remain at 6.0 per cent in 2019, which is down from 6.3 per cent in 2018. Different factors marred slow growth in major economies which suffered due to economic policies.

On the global front, Asian markets ended mostly lower on Thursday as surprise deterioration in German business morale rekindled global slowdown fears. A mixed batch of US earnings, worries over China putting policy-easing measures on hold and caution ahead of US first-quarter gross domestic product data due on Friday also kept investors on the sidelines.  European markets were trading in red, as market participants monitored another deluge of corporate earnings. Back home, textile sector were in focus with Textile Secretary Raghavendra Singh’s statement that there is great potential for the technical textiles sector but the industry was yet to tap it. He added that another major need was skilling the people in the sector.

The BSE Sensex ended at 38709.89, down by 344.79 points or 0.88% after trading in a range of 38663.98 and 39262.22. There were 4 stocks advancing against 27 stocks declining on the index. (Provisional)

The broader indices ended in red; the BSE Mid cap index fell 0.53%, while Small cap index was down by 0.04%. (Provisional)

The few gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Basic Materials up by 0.36%, Oil & Gas up by 0.10% and Realty up by 0.04%, while Metal down by 2.04%, Telecom down by 1.77%, Bankex down by 1.10%, Energy down by 0.88% and Auto down by 0.83% were the losing indices on BSE. (Provisional)

The top gainers on the Sensex were Bharti Airtel up by 1.25%, TCS up by 0.38%, Bajaj Auto up by 0.28% and ONGC up by 0.24%. (Provisional)

On the flip side, Tata Steel down by 2.83%, Vedanta down by 2.32%, Maruti Suzuki down by 1.86%, Sun Pharma down by 1.73% and Reliance Industries down by 1.54% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, the Finance Ministry, giving relief to composition scheme taxpayers under the Goods and Services Tax (GST), has allowed such businesses to file ‘self-assessed tax’ return on quarterly basis in a simplified form. As of now, businesses opting for composition scheme had to file tax returns every quarter in GSTR-4 which ran into around seven pages. As per a Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) notification, composition scheme taxpayers will now file GSTR-4 annually by April 30 for the previous financial year ending March 31.

The CBIC has notified the simplified ‘statement for payment of self-assessed tax’ in Form GST CMP08 to be filed by taxpayers who have opted for composition scheme, under which businesses have to pay lower rate of tax on their turnover. The CMP08, which has to be filed by the 18th day of the subsequent month following the end of a quarter, will include details like outward supplies, inward supplies attracting reverse charge including import of services; tax, interest payable; and taxes and interest paid. Composition scheme businesses will file the April-June quarter returns in July as per the new format.

Small traders and manufacturers with a turnover of Rs 1.5 crore pay a 1% GST, while service providers and suppliers of both goods and services up to a turnover of Rs 50 lakh pays 6%. Businesses who have not opted for composition scheme have to file GST returns every month and also pay taxes as per the GST slabs decided for the goods and services they deal in. Currently, there is a 4-tier GST- 5, 12, 18 and 28%. There are 1.21 crore businesses registered under GST, of which 20 lakh are under composition scheme.

The CNX Nifty ended at 11637.05, down by 89.10 points or 0.76% after trading in a range of 11624.30 and 11796.75. There were 11 stocks advancing against 39 stocks declining on the index. (Provisional)

The top gainers on Nifty were Ultratech Cement up by 5.28%, Grasim Industries up by 4.93%, BPCL up by 2.85%, Dr. Reddys Lab up by 2.57% and UPL up by 2.21%. (Provisional)

On the flip side, Bharti Infratel down by 9.85%, Tata Steel down by 2.93%, Vedanta down by 2.60%, Hindalco down by 2.24% and JSW Steel down by 2.14% were the top losers. (Provisional)

European markets were trading in red; UK’s FTSE 100 decreased 27.84 points or 0.37% to 7,443.91, France’s CAC shed 10.18 points or 0.18% to 5,565.88 and Germany’s DAX was down by 4.13 points or 0.03% to 12,309.03.

Asian markets ended mostly lower on Thursday as surprise deterioration in German business morale rekindled global slowdown fears. A mixed batch of US earnings, worries over China putting policy-easing measures on hold and caution ahead of US first-quarter gross domestic product data due on Friday also kept investors on the sidelines. Chinese shares ended lower on fears of easing stimulus. Further, South Korean shares ended lower on growth worries after data showed the country's economy unexpectedly contracted in the first quarter in the biggest fall since the financial crisis. South Reports showing South Korea's gross domestic product was down a seasonally adjusted 0.3 percent sequentially in the first quarter of 2019. That follows the 1.0 percent increase in the three months prior. However, Japanese shares ended higher after the Bank of Japan revised its forward guidance and said it would keep extremely low interest rates until spring 2020.