Bourses trim most of losses in late afternoon session

The Indian equity benchmarks trimmed most of their earlier losses in late afternoon session, as RBI data showed that country's foreign exchange reserves increased by $1.701 billion to $584.107 billion in the week ended April 23, 2021. Further, Finance Ministry has said GST collections in April 2021 touched a record high of over Rs 1.41 lakh crore, indicating sustained economic recovery. The revenues for the month of April are 14 per cent higher than Rs 1.23 lakh crore collected in March. Meanwhile, in view of the challenges faced by taxpayers in meeting the statutory and regulatory compliances under Goods & Services Tax (GST) law due to the outbreak of the second wave of COVID-19 pandemic, the Government has unveiled various relief measures for taxpayers.

On the global front, all Asian markets were trading lower following a soft lead from Wall Street, hit by profit-taking and lingering inflation worries. European markets were trading higher as investors bullish about the global economic recovery looked ahead to a busy week for US economic data that is expected to underline the strength of the rebound.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 48722.66, down by 59.70 points or 0.12% after trading in a range of 48028.07 and 48722.74. There were 16 stocks advancing against 14 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green and red; the BSE Mid cap index declined 0.31%, while Small cap index was up by 1.32%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Metal up by 1.67%, FMCG up by 1.27%, Telecom up by 1.16%, Basic Materials up by 1.15% and Power was up by 0.83%, while Bankex down by 2.12%, Consumer Durables down by 2.06%, Realty down by 1.50%, Oil & Gas down by 1.17% and Energy was down by 1.16% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Hindustan Unilever up by 2.22%, Maruti Suzuki up by 1.93%, Nestle up by 1.29%, Bharti Airtel up by 1.21% and Asian Paints up by 1.05%. On the flip side, Titan Company down by 4.32%, Indusind Bank down by 3.43%, Kotak Mahindra Bank down by 2.74%, Axis Bank down by 2.58% and ONGC down by 1.98% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, in view of the challenges faced by taxpayers in meeting the statutory and regulatory compliances under Goods & Services Tax (GST) law due to the outbreak of the second wave of COVID-19 pandemic, the Government has unveiled various relief measures for taxpayers.

As per the notification, concessional rates of interest in lieu of the normal rate of interest of 18% per annum for delayed tax payments have been prescribed in the following cases: For registered persons having aggregate turnover above Rs 5 crore, for registered persons having aggregate turnover upto Rs 5 crore and for registered persons who have opted to pay tax under the Composition scheme.

The Government also announced waiver of late fee, extension of due date of filing GSTR-1, IFF, GSTR-4 and ITC-04, certain amendments in CGST Rules and extension in statutory time limits under section 168A of the CGST Act.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 14609.55, down by 21.55 points or 0.15% after trading in a range of 14416.25 and 14611.25. There were 29 stocks advancing against 21 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Tata Steel up by 2.83%, Adani Ports up by 2.39%, Hindustan Unilever up by 2.25%, Maruti Suzuki up by 1.99% and SBI Life up by 1.66%. On the flip side, Titan Company down by 4.33%, Indusind Bank down by 3.44%, Kotak Mahindra Bank down by 2.81%, Axis Bank down by 2.65% and SBI down by 1.95% were the top losers.

All Asian markets were trading lower, KOSPI fell 20.66 points or 0.66% to 3,127.20, Straits Times trembled 34.11 points or 1.06% to 3,184.16, Jakarta Composite lost 43.02 points or 0.72% to 5,952.60, Taiwan Weighted dropped 344.31 points or 1.96% to 17,222.35 and Hang Seng was down by 367.34 points or 1.28% to 28,357.54.

European markets were trading higher, France’s CAC increased 27.03 points or 0.43% to 6,296.51 and Germany’s DAX was up by 87.17 points or 0.58% to 15,223.08.