Markets clobber out of shape in early deals

Indian equity benchmarks made gap-down opening and are trading lower with cut of over 0.70% each in early deals on Friday. Sensex and Nifty are trading below their crucial 36,800 and 10,900 levels, respectively. Barring Telecom and TECK, all the sectoral indices were trading in red on the BSE. Traders remained concerned with the World Bank report showing that India has now taken a backseat to be the seventh largest economy globally with UK and France now ahead of it. As per the data, India grew to $2.73 trillion economy in 2018. In 2017, the country stood at the fifth spot with its size at $2.65 trillion. Market participants overlooked the India Meteorological Department’s statement that monsoon is expected to be normal in August and September. Quantitatively, the rainfall across the country as a whole during the two-month period is likely to be 100 per cent of the Long Period Average (LPA) with a model error of plus or minus 8 per cent. Meanwhile, gross Goods and Services Tax (GST) collections stood at Rs 1.02 lakh crore in July, marginally up from Rs 99,939 crore in June.

Weak global cues also dampened the sentiments, as all the Asian markets trading in red after US-China trade tensions reignited. On Thursday, President Donald Trump said he intends to slap 10% tariffs on an additional $300 billion of Chinese imports, due to take effect September. Besides, Japan approved the removal of South Korea from its list of most-favored trade partners, ratcheting up tensions between the two countries.

Back home, on the sectoral front, auto stocks were in focus with Crisil Research’s report that the passenger vehicles (PVs) sales is expected to face further pressure in the current month due to OEMs bid to maintain normal inventory levels amid weak retail sentiments. There will be lots of important earnings announcements too, to keep the markets in action. In scrip specific development, Eicher Motors came under pressure as its motorcycle division reported 22% fall in sales at 54,185 units in July 2019 as compared to 69,063 motorcycles sold in July 2018.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 36753.58, down by 264.74 points or 0.72% after trading in a range of 36616.98 and 36920.11. There were 3 stocks advancing against 27 stocks declining, while 1 stock remain unchanged on the index.

The broader indices were trading in red; the BSE Mid cap index declined 1.05%, while Small cap index was down by 1.22%.

The only gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Telecom up by 1.61% and TECK was up by 0.21%, while Realty down by 2.22%, Metal down by 2.00%, Utilities down by 1.35%, Oil & Gas down by 1.30% and Basic Materials was down by 1.16% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The few gainers on the Sensex were Bharti Airtel up by 3.23%, Asian Paints up by 1.13% and Infosys up by 0.90%. On the flip side, Vedanta down by 2.51%, ONGC down by 2.45%, Hero MotoCorp down by 2.44%, Tata Steel down by 1.98% and HDFC down by 1.70% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, after falling to below the Rs 1 lakh crore mark in June for the first time in the current fiscal (FY20), the gross Goods and Services Tax (GST) collections increased to Rs 1.02 lakh crore in the month of July 2019. The July mop-up was 5.8 per cent higher than the Rs 96,483 crore collected in the same month last year. In June 2019, the GST collection was Rs 99,939 crore.

Out of the total revenue collection of Rs 1,02,083 crore, Central GST collections stood at Rs 17,912 crore, State GST Rs 25,008 crore, and Integrated GST Rs 50,612 crore (including Rs 24,246 crore collected on imports) during July this year. Besides, cess collection stood at Rs 8,551 crore (including Rs 797 crore collected on imports).

The number of GSTR 3B Returns (summary of self-assessed return) filed for the month of June up to end-July totalled 75.79 lakh. As per the data, Rs 17,789 crore has been released to the states as GST compensation for April-May, 2019. Moreover, the gross GST collections during April-July stood at Rs 4, 16,176 crore, up from Rs 3, 89,568 crore in the corresponding period of the last fiscal.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 10885.45, down by 94.55 points or 0.86% after trading in a range of 10856.90 and 10935.35. There were 5 stocks advancing against 44 stocks declining, while 1 stock remain unchanged on the index on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Bharti Airtel up by 3.54%, Asian Paints up by 1.00%, Infosys up by 0.80%, Cipla up by 0.20% and Ultratech Cement up by 0.05%. On the flip side, Hero MotoCorp down by 2.77%, GAIL India down by 2.68%, Coal India down by 2.52%, ONGC down by 2.48% and Vedanta down by 2.44% were the top losers.

All the Asian counters are trading in red; Nikkei 225 declined 559.49 points or 2.60% to 20,981.50, Straits Times shed 24.11 points or 0.73% to 3,267.64, Hang Seng slipped 652.37 points or 2.37% to 26,913.33, Taiwan Weighted tumbled 183.65 points or 1.71% to 10,548.10, KOSPI decreased 17.71 points or 0.88% to 1,999.63, Jakarta Composite slipped 51.03 points or 0.80% to 6,330.51 and Shanghai Composite was down by 48.96 points or 1.68% to 2,859.81.