Lackluster trade continues on Dalal Street

Indian equity benchmarks continued their lackluster trade in afternoon session, with Sensex and Nifty trading below at 43,900 and 12,850 levels, respectively. Traders were seen in selling position for TECK, IT and telecom stocks, while buying was witnessed in capital goods, industrials and auto stocks. Sentiments remain dampened as enthusiasm over a Covid-19 vaccine faded with a rise in coronavirus cases across the world. Traders shrugged off private report which upgraded India GDP forecast to a contraction of 10.3 per cent in FY21, as against its earlier estimate of a negative growth of 14.8 per cent. Meanwhile, Prime Minister Narendra Modi urged global investors to seize the massive investment opportunities thrown open by India’s drive for urbanisation, mobility, innovation and sustainable solutions to improve quality of living conditions of the masses.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly higher despite soft U.S. retail sales fuelled worries that rising coronavirus cases could stifle a still fragile economic recovery, dampening the euphoria from vaccine trial breakthroughs. Back on street, in scrip specific development, Larsen & Toubro jumped after the company said it has secured order from Tata Steel to supply 46 units of Komatsu Mining Equipment for the latter's iron ore and coal mines and IndusInd Bank surged after selling stake in Eveready Industries.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 43866.03, down by 86.68 points or 0.20% after trading in a range of 43785.78 and 44051.66. There were 12 stocks advancing against 18 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index rose 0.64%, while Small cap index was up by 0.51%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Capital Goods up by 2.64%, Industrials up by 2.04%, Auto up by 1.44%, Power up by 1.05% and Realty was up by 0.96%, while TECK down by 1.63%, IT down by 1.62%, Telecom down by 1.43%, Consumer Durables down by 1.04% and Energy was down by 0.98% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Mahindra & Mahindra up by 8.27%, Larsen & Toubro up by 4.86%, Bajaj Finance up by 3.06%, Bajaj Finserv up by 2.86% and SBI was up by 1.92%. On the flip side, Titan Company down by 2.35%, Bharti Airtel down by 2.15%, TCS down by 2.09%, ITC down by 1.95% and Infosys was down by 1.68% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, the committee, comprising senior central and state tax officers, is looking to further tighten the Goods and Services Tax (GST) registration process and work out other legal measures including necessary law amendment required in the GST Act to curb the menace of fake invoicing.

Also, the provisions related to deemed registration under GST law may be tightened to prevent the misuse of such provisions by fake dealers and the provisions related to the suspension of registration may also be streamlined to make the procedure of suspension and cancellation of registration more efficient and faster, so that such fraud operators can be prevented in time from continuing to pass on fake credit down the chain. The law committee would also consider the impact of the issuances of fake invoices and strict actions/measures required under the GST law to curb these activities and deliberate on measures that are required to plug loopholes in the law that are being exploited by the unscrupulous elements to defraud the exchequer.

It is also learnt that data analytics techniques will be used to identify such taxpayers, who are suspected to be indulging in fraudulent activities and a coordinated action is likely to be taken against such elements by suspending their registration, followed by detailed physical and financial verification by field officers to check the genuineness of their operations before they are allowed to reuse their registration.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 12843.10, down by 31.10 points or 0.24% after trading in a range of 12819.35 and 12901.75. There were 18 stocks advancing against 31 stocks declining, while 1 stock remains unchanged on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Mahindra & Mahindra up by 8.07%, Tata Motors up by 5.73%, Larsen & Toubro up by 4.97%, Bajaj Finance up by 3.05% and Bajaj Finserv was up by 2.93%. On the flip side, BPCL down by 4.07%, Hero MotoCorp down by 2.71%, Titan Company down by 2.49%, Bharti Airtel down by 2.15% and TCS was down by 2.09% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly higher; Jakarta Composite soared 25.82 points or 0.47% to 5,555.76, Straits Times advanced 5.82 points or 0.21% to 2,784.37, Taiwan Weighted strengthened 180.28 points or 1.33% to 13,773.29, Hang Seng increased 23.69 points or 0.09% to 26,438.78 and KOSPI was up by 6.49 points or 0.26% to 2,545.64.

On the other side; Nikkei 225 slipped 286.48 points or 1.1% to 25,728.14 and Shanghai Composite was down by 3.22 points or 0.1% to 3,336.68.