Benchmarks trade tad lower in early deals

Indian equity benchmarks made cautious start on Wednesday. Markets are trading lower with marginal losses in early deals on account of selling in TECK, IT and Telecom stocks. Tech Mahindra and Infosys were leading the losers. Traders took note of a private report that the Reserve Bank of India monetary policy committee is expected to leave interest rates unchanged when it meets on Friday, after data showing the economy contracting less than expected and persistently high inflation. The RBI's monetary policy committee will today begin its bi-monthly meeting, the resolution of which would be announced on December 4. Though, downside remained capped with report that the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) has raised prospects of India’s economy by pegging contraction at 9.9 per cent, against 10.2 per cent it projected in September. Some optimism also came in as the gross Goods and Services Tax (GST) collection for November stood at Rs 1.04 lakh crore, 1.4 percent higher than the sum collected in the same month last year. Besides, on Tuesday, India reported a significant drop in the number of fresh Covid-19 cases. Its case tally now stands at 9,499,710. The country's death toll has mounted to 138,159.

On the global front, most of the Asian markets were trading higher following the record highs overnight on Wall Street amid continued optimism over potential coronavirus vaccines and revived US stimulus talks. Meanwhile, Japan will see November numbers for its consumer confidence index today. Back home, insurance sector stocks were in focus as latest data by the General Insurance Council (GIC) showed that foreign direct investment (FDI) in the general insurance sector slipped marginally to Rs 509.07 crore in FY 2019-20 from the previous year. Oil marketing companies BPCL, HPCL and IOC climbed as they hiked the prices of petrol and diesel after a pause of 2 days. In scrip specific development, Dr Reddy's Laboratories gained after announcing the start of adaptive phase 2/3 clinical trials for Covid-19 vaccine Sputnik V in India.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 44622.80, down by 32.64 points or 0.07% after trading in a range of 44537.22 and 44729.64. There were 17 stocks advancing against 13 stocks declining, while 1 stock remain unchanged on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index rose 0.46%, while Small cap index was up by 0.54%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Realty up by 1.91%, Metal up by 1.80%, Oil & Gas up by 1.13%, Auto up by 1.06%, PSU up by 0.99%, while TECK down by 0.54%, IT down by 0.52%, Telecom down by 0.33% were the few losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Asian Paints up by 2.31%, Tata Steel up by 1.49%, Axis Bank up by 1.45%, Maruti Suzuki up by 1.41% and Bajaj Auto up by 1.40%. On the flip side, Tech Mahindra down by 1.37%, Infosys down by 0.85%, Kotak Mahindra Bank down by 0.59%, TCS down by 0.57% and HDFC Bank down by 0.48% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, topping Rs 1 lakh crore mark for second straight month in the current fiscal, the Finance Ministry has said revenue from Goods and Services Tax (GST) stood at over Rs 1.04 lakh crore in November as against Rs 1.05 lakh crore collected in the previous month. In line with the recent trend of recovery in the GST revenues, the collection in November 2020 was 1.4 per cent higher than in November 2019 when the GST mop-up was Rs 1,03,491 crore.

During the month, revenues from import of goods were 4.9 per cent higher and the revenues from domestic transaction (including import of services) were 0.5 per cent higher than the revenues from these sources during the same month last year. The gross GST revenue collected in November 2020 was Rs 1,04,963 crore, of which Central GST was Rs 19,189 crore, State GST was Rs 25,540 crore, IGST was Rs 51,992 crore (including Rs 22,078 crore collected on import of goods) and Cess was Rs 8,242 crore (including Rs 809 crore collected on import of goods).

GST revenue had topped Rs 1 lakh crore in 8 out of 12 months of 2019-20. However, in the current fiscal, the revenue has taken a hit due to the lockdown and the consequent slowdown in the economy. Revenue in April was Rs 32,172 crore, May (Rs 62,151 crore), June (Rs 90,917 crore), July (Rs 87,422 crore), August (Rs 86,449 crore), September (Rs 95,480 crore), October (Rs 1,05,155 crore) and November (Rs 1,04,963 crore).

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 13096.80, down by 12.25 points or 0.09% after trading in a range of 13087.80 and 13128.50. There were 30 stocks advancing against 19 stocks declining, while 1 stock remain unchanged on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Tata Motors up by 3.62%, IOC up by 3.32%, Asian Paints up by 2.29%, BPCL up by 2.25% and Hindalco up by 2.05%. On the flip side, Tech Mahindra down by 1.65%, Infosys down by 1.09%, Bharti Airtel down by 0.89%, Reliance Industries down by 0.83% and ICICI Bank down by 0.70% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly higher; Nikkei 225 rose 21.83 points or 0.08% to 26,809.37, Taiwan Weighted advanced 73.17 points or 0.53% to 13,958.84, KOSPI surged 33.65 points or 1.28% to 2,667.90, Jakarta Composite added 42.51 points or 0.74% to 5,767.25 and Shanghai Composite was up by 3.02 points or 0.09% to 3,454.96. On other hand, Straits Times slipped 12.40 points or 0.44% to 2,801.72 and Hang Seng lost 18.90 points or 0.07% to 26,548.78.