Key indices remain in red in morning deals

Indian equity benchmarks continued to trade in red terrain in morning deals tracking losses in index-heavyweights HDFC, Bajaj Finance and Maruti Suzuki amid a largely negative trend in global equities. Sentiments remained downbeat with a RBI article stating that bank deposits and currency holding with the public have been adversely impacted during the second COVID wave, indicating a heavy outgo towards pandemic-induced medical expenditure. However, losses remain capped as traders found some support with the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) stating that the net direct tax collections (after adjusting refunds) between April 1-June 15 stood at Rs 1,85,871 crore, compared to Rs 92,762 crore over the corresponding period of the preceding year, representing an increase of 100.4 percent over the collections of the preceding year. The rise is mainly driven by personal income tax and advance tax collections.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly in red following the negative cues overnight from Wall Street after the US Fed tipped an earlier-than-expected rise in interest rates. Back home, on the sectoral front, telecom stocks remained in focus as telecom gear maker Ericsson said India is likely to have 330 million 5G subscribers by 2026 and the monthly data consumption per smartphone is expected to grow over 3-fold to 40 gigabytes per smartphone.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 52403.91, down by 98.07 points or 0.19% after trading in a range of 52099.72 and 52429.17. There were 13 stocks advancing against 17 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in mixed; the BSE Mid cap index fell 0.17%, while Small cap index was up by 0.44%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Telecom up by 0.48%, Basic Materials up by 0.45%, Oil & Gas up by 0.38%, Consumer Durables up by 0.36% and Realty up by 0.27%, while Power down by 1.46%, Bankex down by 0.55%, Utilities down by 0.55%, Auto down by 0.26% and Industrials down by 0.20% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Ultratech Cement up by 1.14%, Asian Paints up by 0.89%, Nestle up by 0.87%, Bharti Airtel up by 0.50% and HCL Technologies up by 0.44%. On the flip side, HDFC down by 0.99%, Bajaj Finance down by 0.83%, Maruti Suzuki down by 0.74%, Axis Bank down by 0.73% and Kotak Mahindra Bank down by 0.72% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) has said that the net direct tax collections (after adjusting refunds) between April 1-June 15 stood at Rs 1,85,871 crore, compared to Rs 92,762 crore over the corresponding period of the preceding year, representing an increase of 100.4 percent over the collections of the preceding year. The rise is mainly driven by personal income tax and advance tax collections.

The net direct tax collection also includes corporate income tax (CIT) collection at Rs 74,356 crore and Personal Income Tax, including Security Transaction Tax (STT) at over Rs 1.11 lakh crore. Refunds amounting to Rs 30,731 crore have been issued in current fiscal. The gross collection of direct taxes for this fiscal stood at over Rs 2.16 lakh crore, compared to Rs 1.37 lakh crore in the corresponding period of the preceding year. The gross corporate income tax (CIT) mop up stood at Rs 96,923 crore and personal income tax (PIT) stood at over Rs 1.19 lakh crore.

While Advance Tax mop up stood at Rs 28,780 crore, Tax Deducted at Source was at Rs 1,56,824 crore. Self-Assessment Tax stood at Rs 15,343 crore and Regular Assessment Tax at Rs 14,079 crore. Despite extremely challenging initial months of the new fiscal, the Advance Tax collections for the first quarter of the FY 2021-22 stand at Rs 28,780 crore against Advance Tax collections of Rs 11,714 crore for the corresponding period of the immediately preceding Financial Year, showing a growth of approximately 146 per cent.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 15743.80, down by 23.75 points or 0.15% after trading in a range of 15644.70 and 15748.10. There were 23 stocks advancing against 26 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Shree Cement up by 1.59%, Grasim Industries up by 1.05%, Ultratech Cement up by 1.05%, Nestle up by 0.91% and Asian Paints up by 0.89%. On the flip side, Adani Ports &SEZ down by 4.02%, Tata Steel down by 1.00%, Hero MotoCorp down by 0.93%, HDFC down by 0.88% and Maruti Suzuki down by 0.86% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in red; Nikkei 225 slipped 298.21 points or 1.02% to 28,992.80, KOSPI fell 14.23 points or 0.43% to 3,264.45, Jakarta Composite lost 13.17 points or 0.22% to 6,065.40 and Taiwan Weighted dropped 12.12 points or 0.07% to 17,295.74.

On the flip side, Shanghai Composite gained 6.98 points or 0.2% to 3,525.31, Straits Times advanced 9.21 points or 0.29% to 3,148.78 and Hang Seng increased 66.20 points or 0.23% to 28,503.04.