Bourses continue to hold small gains in early noon deals

Indian equity benchmarks continued to hold small gains in early noon session on account of buying in front line blue chip counters. Besides, broader indices were also trading in green, supporting their larger peers. Sentiment on the street remained positive on report that in order to resolve outstanding trade issues by exploring mutually beneficial suitable solutions, Commerce Minister Suresh Prabhu and US Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross have agreed to engage regularly at various level. Both sides agreed to deepen economic cooperation and bilateral trade by ensuring greater cooperation amongst stakeholders, including Government, businesses and entrepreneurs. However, gains remain capped with the weak volume growth reported by consumer staple companies in Q4, FY19 underlines the slowdown seen in housing over the past five to six years and automobiles over the past year. The next government may have its task cut out to revive flagging economic growth.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mixed, as Beijing said trade negotiators were preparing to go to Washington despite President Donald Trump’s threat to escalate their tariff war. Back on street, in scrip specific development, Great Eastern Shipping edged up on reporting net profit of Rs 135.61 crore for the quarter ended March 31, 2019 under review against net loss of Rs 13.44 crore for the same quarter in the previous year.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 38636.88, up by 36.54 points or 0.09% after trading in a range of 38614.23 and 38835.54. There were 21 stocks advancing against 9 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index rose 0.18%, while Small cap index was up by 0.12%.

The few gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Metal up by 1.07%, Consumer Durables up by 0.90%, FMCG up by 0.71%, Basic Materials up by 0.45% and Capital Goods was up by 0.39% , while Telecom down by 1.55%, Oil & Gas down by 1.37%, Energy down by 1.21%, Realty down by 0.32% and PSU was down by 0.16% were the losing few indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Hindustan Unilever up by 1.95%, Power Grid Corporation up by 1.79%, Coal India up by 1.21%, Hero MotoCorp up by 1.05% and Vedanta was up by 0.99%. On the flip side, Bharti Airtel down by 2.31%, Asian Paints down by 2.12%, Reliance Industries down by 1.36%, HCL Technologies down by 1.14% and ICICI Bank was down by 0.92% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) has refuted media reports pertaining to reduction in numbers of Income Tax Returns (ITR) e-filed during Financial Year (FY) 2018-19 as compared to FY 2017-18. It said this is factually untrue, because the figures for FY18 and FY19 are not directly comparable. During FY18, out of a total of 6.74 crore ITRs which were e-filed, 5.47 crore ITRs were filed for Assessment Year (AY) 2017-18. In comparison, during FY19, a total of 6.68 crore ITRs were e-filed which included 6.49 crore ITRs of current AY 2018-19 marking an increase of almost 19%. This would imply that substantially larger number of taxpayers filed their ITRs electronically in the FY19 as compared to FY18.

During FY18, apart from the returns for the AY18, nearly 1.21 crore ITRs were filed for AY17. The balance number of ITRs filed for AY16 and prior AYs is 0.06 crore. In comparison, during FY19 only 0.14 crore ITRs for AY18 were filed. Thus, the apparent decrease in the number of ITRs filed during FY19 pertaining to earlier years was due to an amendment in Section 139(5) of the Income-tax Act, 1961 brought in vide Finance Act, 2017, with effect from April 01, 2018, which mandated that a revised return could be furnished only up to the end of the relevant Assessment Year.

As a result, only 0.14 crore ITRs pertaining to AY18 were filed during FY19 as these were the revised ITRs for the relevant AY which could only be filed due to change in law and no other ITR of any earlier AY could be filed in view of the amended provisions of law. It also stated that the number of paper ITRs for AY18 was only 9.2 lakh (1.5% of total ITRs filed) and the number of paper ITRs for AY19 is 4.8 lakh (0.6% of total ITRs filed).

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 11607.20, up by 8.95 points or 0.08% after trading in a range of 11591.15 and 11657.05. There were 31 stocks advancing against 19 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Hindalco up by 2.51%, Hindustan Unilever up by 2.40%, Vedanta up by 1.50%, Power Grid Corporation up by 1.50% and Coal India was up by 1.19%. On the flip side, BPCL down by 3.98%, Bharti Airtel down by 2.26%, Asian Paints down by 2.09%, Indian Oil Corporation down by 2.01% and Bharti Infratel was down by 1.64% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mixed; Hang Seng lost 1.55 points or 0.01% to 29,208.27, Shanghai Composite fell 11.49 points or 0.40% to 2,894.97, Nikkei 225 declined 349.66 points or 1.57% to 21,904.01 and KOSPI was down by 23.20points or 1.06% to 2,173.12.
On the flip side, Straits Times gained 17.85 points or 0.54% to 3,308.47, Taiwan Weighted surged 90.87 points or 0.83% to 10,987.99 and Jakarta Composite was advances up by 40.22 points or 0.64% to 6,296.57.