Equity markets extend gains in late afternoon session

Indian equity markets extended their gains in late afternoon session, with the Sensex and Nifty gaining above 240 and 85 points, respectively. There were no losers on sectoral indices on the BSE. The markets took support after Goods and Services Tax (GST) collections remained above Rs 1 lakh crore mark for the month in May, indicating that the impact of the devastating second wave of Covid infections on the economy may have been limited. Besides, with an aim to provide taxpayer convenience and a modern, seamless experience to taxpayers, the Income Tax Department is launching its new e-filing portal on June 7, 2021.This is another initiative by CBDT towards providing ease of compliance to its taxpayers and other stakeholders. Sector wise, banking sector remained in focus, as Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor Shaktikanta Das has said that banks and non-banking financial companies (NBFCs) need to strengthen their capital position because there could be stress due to the second wave of COVID-19.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly in green, as investors mulled comments by US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen on interest rates and weighed the impact of the G7 global tax plan on tech giants. European markets were trading mostly in red as traders absorbed an environment where jobs growth is lagging behind the broader economic recovery.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 52,349.58, up by 249.53 points or 0.48% after trading in a range of 52054.76 and 52341.26. There were 21 stocks advancing against 8 stocks declining on the index, while 1 stock remain unchanged.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index gained 0.91%, while Small cap index was up by 1.43%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Utilities up by 2.94%, Power up by 2.21%, Telecom up by 1.54%, Energy up by 1.53% and PSU was up by 1.52%, while there were no losers on sectoral indices on the BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Power Grid up by 2.94%, NTPC up by 2.91%, Ultratech Cement up by 2.70%, Indusind Bank up by 1.78% and Larsen & Toubro up by 1.74%. On the flip side, Bajaj Finance down by 4.42%, Bajaj Finserv down by 2.47%, HDFC down by 1.14%, Dr. Reddys Lab down by 0.53% and Hindustan Unilever down by 0.41% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, with an aim to provide taxpayer convenience and a modern, seamless experience to taxpayers, the Income Tax Department is launching its new e-filing portal on June 7, 2021.This is another initiative by CBDT towards providing ease of compliance to its taxpayers and other stakeholders.

As per the notification, new taxpayer friendly portal integrated with immediate processing of Income Tax Returns (ITRs) to issue quick refunds to taxpayers; all interactions and uploads or pending actions will be displayed on a single dashboard for follow-up action by taxpayer.

Besides, taxpayers will be able to proactively update their profile to provide certain details of income including salary, house property, business/profession which will be used in pre-filling their ITR. Detailed enablement of pre-filling with salary income, interest, dividend and capital gains will be available after TDS and SFT statements are uploaded (due date is June 30, 2021).

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 15,760.10, up by 89.85 points or 0.57% after trading in a range of 15678.10 and 15762.70. There were 39 stocks advancing against 11 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Adani Ports up by 5.29%, Tata Motors up by 3.99%, Shree Cement up by 3.50%, NTPC up by 3.04% and Power Grid up by 3.03%. On the flip side, Bajaj Finance down by 4.36%, Bajaj Finserv down by 2.51%, HDFC down by 1.07%, Cipla down by 0.55% and Dr. Reddys Lab down by 0.54% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in green, Nikkei 225 surged 77.72 points or 0.27% to 29,019.24, Straits Times advanced 20.89 points or 0.66% to 3,171.93, KOSPI rose 12.04 points or 0.37% to 3,252.12, Shanghai Composite gained 7.70 points or 0.21% to 3,599.54 and Jakarta Composite was up by 4.77 points or 0.08% to 6,069.94. On the flip side, Taiwan Weighted dropped 63.50 points or 0.37% to 17,083.91 and Hang Seng was down by 130.82 points or 0.45% to 28,787.28.

European markets were trading mostly in red, France’s CAC decreased 2.35 points or 0.04% to 6,513.31 and Germany’s DAX was down by 21.10 points or 0.13% to 15,671.80. On the flip side, UK’s FTSE 100 was up by 15.11 points or 0.21% to 7,084.15.