Benchmarks trade in fine-fettle; Sensex reclaims 38,800 mark

Indian equity benchmarks made splendid recovery with gap-up opening on Monday, after a heavy meltdown in the last trading session, tracking overseas trend, backed by buying in metal, realty and energy stocks. Markets were trading in fine-fettle with Sensex and Nifty garnering gains of around one and half a percent each in early deals. Investors were looking ahead to Manufacturing PMI numbers for February which are slated to be released later in the day. Sentiments got a boost 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. Adding optimum among market participants, 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. Investors overlooked the government data showing that Q3 GDP growth slowed a 7-year low of 4.7% on the back of a continued slump in manufacturing and escalating coronavirus fears.

Global cues remained supportive with most of the Asian markets trading in green, with some of the markets recovering after a weak start despite worries about the rapid spread of the coronavirus and its impact on the global economy. The US, Australia and Thailand have all reported the first coronavirus-related deaths, while data released over the weekend showing weak factory activity in China raised fears of a global recession. However, investors are now increasingly optimistic that major central banks will cut interest rates to support the global economy.

Back home, the Controller General of Accounts (CGA) said India's fiscal deficit touched 128.5% of the whole year budget target at January-end. On the sectoral front, Steel stocks will be in focus 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. In stock specific developments, Reliance Industries rallied after it acquired 37.7% stake in textile manufacturer Alok Industries for Rs. 250 crore. Bharti Airtel gained after it made an additional payment of Rs 8,004 crore towards its adjusted gross revenue-related dues to the Department of Telecom (DoT).

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 38851.59, up by 554.30 points or 1.45% after trading in a range of 38683.67 and 39083.17. There were 28 stocks advancing against 2 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index gained 1.80%, while Small cap index was up by 1.67%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Metal up by 2.85%, Energy up by 2.49%, Realty up by 2.30%, Basic Materials up by 2.13% and Oil & Gas was up by 2.11%, while there were no losers on the BSE sectoral front.

The top gainers on the Sensex were ICICI Bank up by 3.91%, Reliance Industries up by 2.63%, HCL Technologies up by 2.60%, ONGC up by 2.50% and Hero MotoCorp up by 2.39%. On the flip side, Kotak Mahindra Bank down by 0.86% and Tech Mahindra down by 0.74% were the only losers.

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 is currently trading at 11364.90, up by 163.15 points or 1.46% after trading in a range of 11308.30 and 11433.00. There were 48 stocks advancing against 2 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Vedanta up by 3.82%, ICICI Bank up by 3.64%, Indian Oil Corporation up by 3.26%, Zee Entertainment up by 3.24% and JSW Steel up by 3.10%. On the flip side, Tech Mahindra down by 0.87% and Kotak Mahindra Bank down by 0.87% were the only losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in green; Nikkei 225 surged 266.39 points or 1.26% to 21,409.35, Hang Seng increased 241.28 points or 0.92% to 26,371.21, Shanghai Composite gained 84.81 points or 2.94% to 2,965.11, Jakarta Composite soared 28.41 points or 0.52% to 5,481.11, KOSPI rose 21.79 points or 1.1% to 2,008.80 and Straits Times advanced 12.02 points or 0.4% to 3,023.10. On the flip side, Taiwan Weighted was down by 65.14 points or 0.58% to 11,227.03.