Buying which emerged in last leg of trade mainly helped Indian equity benchmarks to end flat on Monday. Markets started the day with a gap-down opening as NDA’s sub-par performance in West Bengal assembly election and possibility of emergence of strong opposition from alliance of regional parties to fight against NDA weighed on investors sentiments. Traders also remained cautious on account of persistent rise in the second wave of Covid-19 cases, increasing death cases and extended partial lockdown. Some cautiousness came in as snapping their six-month buying spree, foreign investors turned net sellers in April and pulled out Rs 9,659 crore from Indian equities, spooked by the intense second wave of coronavirus and its fallout on the economy. Market participants got worried, after India's manufacturing sector activity was largely flat in April, as rates of growth for new orders and output eased to eight-month lows amid the intensification of the COVID-19 crisis. The seasonally adjusted IHS Markit India Manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) was at 55.5 in April, little changed from March's reading of 55.4.
However, key gauges started paring losses as traders took some support with report that 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. Some support also came in as the goods and services tax (GST) collections touched a record high at Rs 1.41 trillion in April, surpassing the Rs 1 trillion mark for the seventh straight month in a row during 2020-21. Meanwhile, the commerce ministry's preliminary data showed that India's exports in April jumped nearly three-folds to $30.21 billion from $10.17 billion in the same month last year. But, buying in final hour of trade mainly helped key bourses to wipe-out all of their losses to end flat, as market participants took some relief with the data released by the commerce and industry ministry showing that the growth of India’s eight key infrastructure segments reached a 32-month high of 6.8 per cent in March compared to a year earlier, mainly due to a low base.
Firm opening in European counters too aided sentiments 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. Asian markets ended lower on Monday, after the manufacturing sector in South Korea continued to expand in April, albeit at a slower pace, the latest survey from Markit Economics revealed on Monday with a manufacturing PMI score of 54.6. That's down from 55.3 in March although it remains above the boom-or-bust line of 50 that separates expansion from contraction.
Back home, banking stocks remained in focus as the Reserve Bank of India has decided to review and strengthen the Risk Based Supervision (RBS) of the banking sector with a view to enable financial sector players to address the emerging challenges. Shares of auto companies remained in focus as investors will react to the auto sales figures for the month of April. In scrip specific development, Reliance Industries fell despite reporting sharply higher profit in Q4FY21.
Finally, the BSE Sensex fell 63.84 points or 1.13% to 48,718.52, while the CNX Nifty was up 3.05 points or 0.02% to 14,634.15.
The BSE Sensex touched high and low of 48,863.23 and 48,028.07, respectively. There was 17 stock advancing against 13 stocks declining on the index.
The broader indices ended in green; the BSE Mid cap index rose 0.05%, while Small cap index was up by 1.57%.
The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Telecom up by 3.50%, Metal up by 1.46%, FMCG up by 1.34%, Industrials up by 1.33% and Basic Materials up by 1.31%, while Consumer Durables down by 1.99%, Energy down by 1.13%, Bankex down by 0.90%, Realty down by 0.76% and Oil & Gas down by 0.76% were the top losing indices on BSE.
The top gainers on the Sensex were Bharti Airtel up by 3.98%, Hindustan Unilever up by 2.27%, Maruti Suzuki up by 2.14%, Bajaj Finance up by 1.82% and Asian Paints up by 1.69%. On the flip side, Titan Comapny down by 4.58%, Indusind Bank down by 2.24%, Reliance Industries down by 1.76%, Axis Bank down by 1.61% and Kotak Mahindra Bank down by 1.39% 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 traded in a range of 14,416.25 and 14,673.85. There were 30 stocks advancing against 20 stock declining on the index.
The top gainers on Nifty were Adani Ports up by 4.29%, Bharti Airtel up by 4.12%, SBI Life Insurance up by 3.22%, Tata Steel up by 2.97% and Hindustan Unilever up by 2.30%. On the flip side, Titan Company down by 4.54%, Indusind Bank down by 2.28%, Reliance Industries down by 1.78%, Axis Bank down by 1.70% and BPCL down by 1.38% were the top losers.
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.
Asian markets ended lower on Monday as major markets such as China and Japan were closed for Labor Day and Constitution Memorial Day, respectively. Surging corona-virus cases adding pressure on market sentiments. Moreover, South Korean shares declined as foreign investors reducing their positions on worries over partial lifting of a short-selling ban.
Asian Indices | Last Trade | Change in Points | Change in % |
Shanghai Composite | - | - | - |
Hang Seng | 28,357.54 | -367.34 | -1.28 |
Jakarta Composite | 5,952.60 | -43.02 | -0.72 |
KLSE Composite | 1,590.73 | -10.92 | -0.68 |
Nikkei 225 | - | - | - |
Straits Times | 3,184.76 | -33.51 | -1.04 |
KOSPI Composite | 3,127.20 | -20.66 | -0.66 |
Taiwan Weighted | 17,222.35 | -344.31 | -1.96 |
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