Key indices trade with marginal losses in morning deals

Indian equity benchmarks pared initial gains and were now trading with marginal losses in morning deals, as investors weighed the impact of rising cases of Covid-19 in the country, and awaited the outcome of the US Federal Reserve's monetary policy. Sentiments turned pessimistic with India Ratings and Research (Ind-Ra) in its latest report stated that the performance of unsecured assets classes, such as microfinance loans, unsecured business loans and consumer loans, is worsening with deteriorating financial conditions of borrowers. For secured asset classes, it has a stable performance outlook given the recovery in the economy in FY22. Meanwhile, SEBI has issued guidel­ines aimed at addressing grie­vances of IPO investors, parti­cularly those using the unified payment interface (UPI) for payments.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading in red as world markets cautiously awaited the US central bank's latest comments on the economic outlook. Back home, on the sectoral front, Banking stocks were in focus as Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said the interest of all employees of state-owned banks which are likely to be privatised will be protected, even as bank unions observed a two-day strike against the government's privatisation decision.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 50304.27, down by 59.69 points or 0.12% after trading in a range of 50171.88 and 50522.83. There were 10 stocks advancing against 20 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in red; the BSE Mid cap index fell 0.95%, while Small cap index was down by 0.59%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were IT up by 0.44%, TECK up by 0.20%, Capital Goods up by 0.07% and Bankex up by 0.02%, while Oil & Gas down by 1.85%, Telecom down by 1.50%, PSU down by 1.47%, Energy down by 1.45% and Realty down by 1.09% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Larsen & Toubro up by 1.37%, ITC up by 0.99%, TCS up by 0.85%, HDFC Bank up by 0.83% and HCL Technologies up by 0.62%. On the flip side, ONGC down by 2.52%, NTPC down by 2.14%, Sun Pharma down by 1.74%, Asian Paints down by 1.73% and Nestle down by 1.44% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, Minister of State for Finance Anurag Singh Thakur has said there is no proposal of faceless scrutiny assessment of GST returns as the Goods and Services Tax rule already provide for electronic filing and assessment. Thakur added income tax assessments are being done in a faceless manner except in certain conditions and till March 10, a total of 82,072 assessment cases have been completed in a faceless manner. 

He said faceless assessments have been initiated to impart greater efficiency, transparency and accountability by eliminating the interface between the Assessing Officer and assessee in the course of proceedings to the extent technologically feasible, optimising utilisation of the resources through economies of scale and functional specialisation and introducing a team-based assessment with dynamic jurisdiction.

He stated an independent study to ascertain assessees’ experiences in a faceless manner is being conducted by National Council of Applied Economic Research (NCAER). Department of Economic Affairs (DEA), Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) have a tripartite arrangement with NCAER for conducting this independent assessment of Faceless Assessment Scheme of the CBDT.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 14890.05, down by 20.40 points or 0.14% after trading in a range of 14846.15 and 14956.55. There were 13 stocks advancing against 37 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Larsen & Toubro up by 1.35%, ITC up by 1.23%, HDFC Bank up by 0.85%, TCS up by 0.76% and ICICI Bank up by 0.71%. On the flip side, BPCL down by 3.80%, Coal India down by 2.75%, ONGC down by 2.61%, NTPC down by 2.10% and Sun Pharma down by 1.76% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading in red; Hang Seng decreased 27.51 points or 0.09% to 29,000.18, Nikkei 225 slipped 64.60 points or 0.22% to 29,856.49, Straits Times trembled 3.67 points or 0.12% to 3,101.84, KOSPI fell 32.94 points or 1.07% to 3,034.23, Taiwan Weighted dropped 107.02 points or 0.66% to 16,206.14, Shanghai Composite declined 10.77 points or 0.31% to 3,435.96 and Jakarta Composite lost 22.01 points or 0.35% to 6,287.69.