Markets continue to trade flat in morning deals

Indian equity benchmarks continued to trade flat in morning deals amid weak global cues. Traders remained cautious with private report stated that monsoon rainfall across India has turned a deficit for the first time this year, ending a strong start to the season in June, with 30% of the country seeing deficient rainfall since the start of the season. Some concern also came as the Goods and Services Tax (GST) collection slipped below Rs 1 lakh crore in June for the first time in eight months as the second wave of the Covid pandemic and the resultant lockdowns hit businesses and the economy. At Rs 92,849 crore, GST collection is the lowest in 10 months since August 2020, when it was Rs 86,449 crore. Traders also took a note of another private report stated that India's hiring rate has recovered moderately from 10 per cent in April to 35 per cent in May 2021, but the aftermath of the second COVID-19 wave has left professionals in India increasingly vulnerable to the economic uncertainty.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mixed after Australia's central bank flagged some tapering in its quantitative easing program and concerns over the future of China's powerful technology sector weighed down shares. Back home, on the sectoral front, tyre industry’s stocks remained in focus with ratings agency ICRA’s report stated that after two years of contraction, the Indian tyre industry's demand is poised to grow by 13-15 per cent in the original equipment manufacturer (OEM) segment and 7-9 per cent in the replacement market segment this fiscal.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 52871.04, up by 9.86 points or 0.02% after trading in a range of 52751.76 and 53006.00. There were 17 stocks advancing against 12 stocks declining, while 1 stock remain unchanged on the index.

The broader indices were trading mixed; the BSE Mid cap index fell 0.05%, while Small cap index was up by 0.06%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Realty up by 1.92%, Healthcare up by 0.28%, Capital Goods up by 0.27%, FMCG up by 0.22% and Telecom up by 0.20%, while Oil & Gas down by 1.08%, Energy down by 0.96%, Consumer Durables down by 0.83%, Power down by 0.83% and Utilities down by 0.58% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Bajaj Finserv up by 1.25%, HDFC up by 1.18%, ITC up by 0.81%, Asian Paints up by 0.74% and Sun Pharma up by 0.66%. On the flip side, Titan Co down by 1.63%, Ultratech Cement down by 1.34%, Mahindra & Mahindra down by 1.25%, Reliance Industries down by 0.94% and HCL Technologies down by 0.77% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, the Goods and Services Tax (GST) collection slipped below Rs 1 lakh crore in June for the first time in eight months as the second wave of the Covid pandemic and the resultant lockdowns hit businesses and the economy. At Rs 92,849 crore, GST collection is the lowest in 10 months since August 2020, when it was Rs 86,449 crore.

The GST collections in June 2021 are primarily for supplies made in May -- a month when most states were under different levels of lockdown, reducing business activity. The gross GST revenue collected in the month of June 2021 is Rs 92,849 crore, of which Central GST is Rs 16,424 crore, State GST is Rs 20,397, Integrated GST is Rs 49,079 crore (including Rs 25,762 crore collected on import of goods) and Cess is Rs 6,949 crore (including Rs 809 crore collected on import of goods). The mop-up in June 2021 is 2 per cent higher than Rs 90,917 crore collected in June 2020.

GST collection had remained above the Rs 1 lakh crore mark for eight months in a row and was Rs 1.02 lakh crore in May. However, the collection in June 2021 dropped below Rs 1 lakh crore. The GST collection for June 2021 is related to the business transactions made during May 2021. During May 2021, most of the states/UTs were under either complete or partial lockdown due to COVID.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 15815.45, down by 2.80 points or 0.02% after trading in a range of 15779.70 and 15850.95. There were 24 stocks advancing against 26 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were UPL up by 1.46%, Bajaj Finserv up by 1.32%, Asian Paints up by 1.01%, HDFC up by 0.87% and ITC up by 0.86%. On the flip side, ONGC down by 2.35%, Tata Motors down by 2.13%, Titan Company down by 1.58%, Mahindra & Mahindra down by 1.44% and Ultratech Cement down by 1.26% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mixed; Straits Times advanced 49.57 points or 1.58% to 3,190.59, Nikkei 225 surged 45.02 points or 0.16% to 28,643.21, Jakarta Composite soared 41.50 points or 0.69% to 6,047.11 and KOSPI rose 12.00 points or 0.36% to 3,305.21.

On the flip side, Shanghai Composite declined 4.06 points or 0.11% to 3,530.26, Taiwan Weighted dropped 6.26 points or 0.03% to 17,913.07 and Hang Seng decreased 70.64 points or 0.25% to 28,072.86.