Post Session: Quick Review

Indian equity benchmarks traded in positive territory for the major part of the session but dropped into the red in dying hour of trade, as the government announced that India has detected two new coronavirus cases, one each in Delhi and Telangana. Markets extended their losing streak for seventh straight session, with Sensex and Nifty 50 index surrendering their crucial 38,150 and 11,150 levels respectively. The day began on a positive note, as the government collected Rs 1.05 lakh crore as Goods and Services Tax (GST) revenue in February, up 8% over the same month last year. Some support also came in with report that the output of eight core sectors of the economy managed to rise for a second straight month in January, growing by 2.2% as key sectors like refinery products and electricity continued to see slow growth. Buying further crept in with the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) data showed that India's foreign exchange reserves inched up by $29 million to a fresh lifetime high of $476.122 billion in the week to February 21, aided by an increase in the value of gold holdings.

Key bourses added more gains and traded near intraday high levels in afternoon deals, taking support from Minister of State for Finance and Corporate Affairs Anurag Thakur’s statement that the government is aiming to make India among the top three economies of the world by 2025. He noted that the country has overtaken France and the UK to become the world’s fifth-largest economy. He added that various financial institutions, including IMF and RBI, have estimated that India will once again attain fast growth. However, markets reversed all of their strong gains and witnessed sudden selling in late trade, as traders turned cautious with a private survey showing India's factory activity growth slowed in February from the previous month's eight-year high due to a modest weakening in demand and output, although overall conditions remained firm. The Nikkei Manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index, compiled by IHS Markit, fell to 54.5 last month from January's 55.3. Sentiments also got spooked as Fitch Solutions cut its forecast for India's economic growth to 4.9 per cent in the current fiscal that ends March 31, saying manufacturing could come under pressure from weak domestic demand and supply chain disruptions due to the coronavirus outbreak. The GDP growth is forecast to recover slightly to 5.4 per cent in 2020-21 (April 2020 to March 2021).

On the global front, European markets were trading mostly in green on rising hopes that major central banks will step in to counter the impact of the coronavirus epidemic on global growth. Asian markets ended mixed on Monday after Federal Chairman Jerome Powell opened the door to a rate-cut at the Fed’s March 17-18 meeting by issuing a rare statement Friday pledging to ‘act as appropriate’ to support the economy. Back home, steel stocks were in watch as the World Steel Association (worldsteel) in its latest report stated that India's crude steel production registered a decline of 3.26 per cent to 9.288 million tonnes (MT) in January this year. MSME sector were in limelight, as Union minister Nitin Gadkari said that the government was all set to give a major boost to the micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) in the country.

The BSE Sensex ended at 38117.93, down by 179.36 points or 0.47% after trading in a range of 37785.99 and 39083.17. There were 11 stocks advancing against 19 stocks declining on the index. (Provisional)

The broader indices ended in red; the BSE Mid cap index fell 0.37%, while Small cap index was down by 0.75%. (Provisional)

The only gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were IT up by 0.83% and TECK up by 0.41%, while PSU down by 2.40%, Oil & Gas down by 1.81%, Metal down by 1.77%, Basic Materials down by 1.14% and Utilities down by 1.09% were the top losing indices on BSE. (Provisional)

The top gainers on the Sensex were HCL Technologies up by 2.91%, ICICI Bank up by 2.23%, Nestle up by 2.01%, Infosys up by 1.46% and Power Grid up by 0.83%. (Provisional)

On the flip side, SBI down by 5.08%, Tata Steel down by 4.32%, Hero MotoCorp down by 3.65%, ONGC down by 3.53% and Bajaj Auto down by 2.75% were the top losers. (Provisional)

Meanwhile, crossing Rs 1 lakh crore revenue collections mark for fourth consecutive month, the government has collected Rs 1.05 lakh crore as Goods and Services Tax (GST) revenue in February, up 8% over the same month last year. Though, it is short of the Rs 1.15 lakh crore target set by the government. It is also lower than the Rs 1.10 lakh crore collected in January 2020.

The gross GST revenue collected in the month of February, 2020 is Rs 1,05,366 crore of which CGST (Central GST) is Rs 20,569 crore, SGST (State GST) is Rs 27,348 crore, IGST (integrated GST) is Rs 48,503 crore and Cess is Rs 8,947 crore. The total number of GSTR 3B returns filed for the month of January up to February 29 stood at 83 lakh -- same as last month. The government has settled Rs 22,586 crore to CGST and Rs 16,553 crore to SGST from IGST as regular settlement.

The total revenue earned by Central and State Governments after regular settlement in the month of February is Rs 43,155 crore for CGST and Rs 43,901 crore for the SGST. The GST revenues during the month of February from domestic transactions have shown a growth of 12% over the same month last year. Taking into account the GST collected from import of goods, the total revenue during February 2020 has increased by 8% in comparison to the revenue during February 2019. During this month, the GST on import of goods has shown a negative growth of (-) 2% as compared to February 2019.

The CNX Nifty ended at 11149.25, down by 52.50 points or 0.47% after trading in a range of 11036.25 and 11433.00. There were 15 stocks advancing against 34 stocks declining on the index. (Provisional)

The top gainers on Nifty were HCL Technologies up by 2.48%, Eicher Motors up by 2.40%, Nestle up by 2.23%, ICICI Bank up by 1.74% and Bharti Infratel up by 1.14%. (Provisional)

On the flip side, Yes Bank down by 6.65%, SBI down by 5.08%, Tata Steel down by 4.65%, GAIL India down by 4.41% and Hero MotoCorp down by 3.74% were the top losers. (Provisional)

European markets were trading mostly in green; UK’s FTSE 100 increased 91.92 points or 1.4% to 6,672.53 and France’s CAC increased 18.80 points or 0.35% to 5,328.70, while Germany’s DAX decreased 4.45 points or 0.04% to 11,885.90.

Asian markets ended mixed on Monday after Federal Chairman Jerome Powell opened the door to a rate-cut at the Fed’s March 17-18 meeting by issuing a rare statement Friday pledging to ‘act as appropriate’ to support the economy. Japanese shares ended higher after the Bank of Japan (BoJ) Governor Haruhiko Kuroda pledged that the central bank will make every effort to ensure stability in financial markets that have been roiled as the new corona virus spreads worldwide. Issuing an emergency statement, BoJ Governor also said the central bank will monitor the developments carefully and offer sufficient liquidity via market operations and asset purchases. Investors shrugged off survey data from IHS Markit showing that Japan's manufacturing sector contracted at the fastest pace since 2016. Further, Chinese shares ended up despite manufacturing PMI data released over the weekend coming in well below expectations. The Markit/ Caixin manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) dropped to 40.3 in February, falling well below expectations of a reading of 45.7. The official PMI dropped to 35.7 in the month - the lowest level on record.