Indian equities remain in green terrain

Indian equity benchmarks continued their trade in green territory in afternoon session, on the back of buying by funds and retail investors despite weak Asian cues. Sentiments remained positive with the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) data showing that bank credit rose by 14.19 percent to Rs 96.45 lakh crore while deposits grew 10.60 percent to Rs 125.30 lakh crore in the first fortnight ended on April 12. In the year ago fortnight, deposits were at Rs 113.29 lakh crore and advances stood at Rs 84.46 lakh crore. Besides, recovery in the rupee value against dollar along with encouraging earnings by some blue-chip firms too supported the markets. However, further gains were restricted with Fitch Ratings’ statement that financial profiles of state-owned oil marketing companies such as Indian Oil Corp (IOC) may be at risk in the near to medium term due to pressure from the government to increase shareholder returns.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly in red, following a pullback by the Dow Jones Industrial Average and a continued drop in oil prices. Back home, the BSE Sensex is currently trading at 38862.20, up by 131.34 points or 0.34% after trading in a range of 38765.33 and 38897.63. There were 17 stocks advancing against 14 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in red; the BSE Mid cap index fell 0.34%, while Small cap index was down by 0.13%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Metal up by 1.87%, IT up by 1.03%, Oil & Gas up by 0.98%, TECK up by 0.84% and Utilities was up by 0.64%, while Auto down by 0.80%, Consumer Discretionary Goods & Services down by 0.58%, Telecom down by 0.51%, Consumer Durables down by 0.47% and Industrials was down by 0.24% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Tata Steel up by 6.37%, Axis Bank up by 1.86%, ICICI Bank up by 1.73%, TCS up by 1.24% and Infosys was up by 1.13%. On the flip side, Tata Motors down by 1.40%, Maruti Suzuki down by 1.30%, Tata Motors - DVR down by 1.25%, Kotak Mahindra Bank down by 0.83% and Bharti Airtel was down by 0.81% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) has allowed businesses to apply for revocation of cancellation of their Goods and Services Tax (GST) registrations by July 22, provided they file their pending returns and pay due tax. These businesses earlier had their GST registrations cancelled due to non-filing of tax returns. It said where the registration has been cancelled with effect from the date of the order, all returns due till the date of such cancellation are required to be furnished before filing the application for revocation.

In cases where the registration has been cancelled with retrospective effect, the CBIC has allowed filing of revocation application, subject to the condition that all returns relating to the period from the effective date of cancellation till the date of revocation order will be filed within a period of 30 days from the date of the revocation order. The CBIC officers have recently cancelled a large number of registrations on account of non-compliance, including non-filing of returns.

The CBIC had earlier asked its field officers to be careful while processing application for fresh GST registration by those businesses whose earlier registration has been cancelled due to non-compliance, as it sought to crack down on tax evaders. About 1.2 crore businesses are registered under GST, which was rolled out on July 1, 2017.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 11691.60, up by 49.80 points or 0.43% after trading in a range of 11661.75 and 11697.55. There were 30 stocks advancing against 20 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Tata Steel up by 6.41%, BPCL up by 2.75%, GAIL India up by 2.59%, Axis Bank up by 2.09% and Cipla was up by 2.04%. On the flip side, Grasim Industries down by 2.03%, Tata Motors down by 1.49%, Maruti Suzuki down by 1.33%, Dr. Reddys Lab down by 1.19% and Bharti Airtel was down by 0.99% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in red; Taiwan Weighted dropped 87.39 points or 0.79% to 10,952.47, Nikkei 225 slipped 48.85 points or 0.22% to 22,258.73, Shanghai Composite declined 21.74 points or 0.7% to 3,102.09, KOSPI fell 11.19 points or 0.51% to 2,179.31 and Straits Times was down 2.23 points or 0.07% to 3,348.05.

On the flip side, Jakarta Composite soared 2.90 points or 0.05% to 6,375.69 and Hang Seng was up by 11.70 points or 0.04% to 29,561.50.