Domestic indices trade higher with marginal gains in early deals

Indian equity benchmarks extended their previous session’s gains with optimistic start on Tuesday tracking overnight gains on Wall Street. Markets are trading higher with marginal gains in early deals amid mixed cues from other Asian peers. Buying in Realty, Auto and Utilities aided the markets, whereas selling in Metal, Energy and Healthcare capped the gains. Sentiments got a boost as provisional data released by the government showed that India’s merchandise exports in October rose 42.33 per cent to $35.47 billion. The exports stood at $24.92 billion in October 2020 and $26.23 billion in October 2019. Adding more optimism, Goods and Services Tax (GST) collection remained above Rs 1 lakh crore for the fourth month in a row at over Rs 1.30 lakh crore in October, indicating the impact of festive buying. This is the second highest collection of GST since its implementation on July 1, 2017. Though, gains remained capped with Centre for Monitoring of Indian Economy (CMIE) data showing that despite a 124 basis points month-on-month decline in urban joblessness rate, the country’s overall unemployment rate rose again in October, owing to a sudden 175 basis points rise in rural joblessness rate.

On the global front, Asian markets traded mixed following the positive cues from Wall Street overnight, with trading activity somewhat subdued ahead of Wednesday's policy announcement from the US Federal Reserve and support from crude oil prices. The mood also remained cautious amid the coronavirus situation in the region. Back home, Jewellery related firms such as Titan, Gokaldas Exports, Kalyan Jewellers etc were in focus on the occasion of Dhanteras today. In scrip specific development, Tata Motors traded higher despite it reported a consolidated net loss of Rs 4,415.5 crore for the quarter ended September owing to the dual impact of semiconductor shortage and high input prices.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 60244.44, up by 105.98 points or 0.18% after trading in a range of 60129.58 and 60421.14. There were 19 stocks advancing against 11 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index rose 0.58%, while Small cap index was up by 0.88%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Realty up by 2.06%, Auto up by 1.45%, Utilities up by 1.39%, Power up by 1.11%, Consumer discretionary up by 0.89%, while Metal down by 0.38%, Energy down by 0.17%, Healthcare down by 0.14%, Basic Materials down by 0.08% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were NTPC up by 3.31%, Maruti Suzuki up by 3.12%, Power Grid up by 1.31%, Bajaj Finance up by 1.09% and Bajaj Finserv up by 0.97%. On the flip side, Sun Pharma down by 1.96%, Indusind Bank down by 1.23%, Tata Steel down by 0.93%, Dr. Reddy's Lab down by 0.85% and Tech Mahindra down by 0.71% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, indicating the impact of festive buying, Goods and Services Tax (GST) collection remained above Rs 1 lakh crore for the fourth month in a row at over Rs 1.30 lakh crore in October. This is the second highest collection of GST since its implementation on July 1, 2017. The tax collections last month on goods sold and services rendered was 24 per cent higher than in October 2020.

The finance ministry said ‘The gross GST revenue collected in the month of October 2021 is Rs 1,30,127 crore of which CGST is Rs 23,861 crore, SGST is Rs 30,421 crore, IGST is Rs 67,361 crore (including Rs 32,998 crore collected on import of goods) and Cess is Rs 8,484 crore (including Rs 699 crore collected on import of goods)’.

CGST refers to Central Goods and Services Tax, SGST (State Goods and Service Tax) and IGST (Integrated Goods and Services Tax). It said this is very much in line with the trend in economic recovery, and added that ‘this is also evident from the trend in the e-way bills generated every month since the second wave’. It also said the revenues would have still been higher if the sales of cars and other products had not been affected on account of disruption in supply of semiconductors.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 17953.80, up by 24.15 points or 0.13% after trading in a range of 17925.15 and 18012.25. There were 30 stocks advancing against 19 stocks declining, while 1 stock remained unchanged on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were NTPC up by 3.24%, Maruti Suzuki up by 3.05%, Tata Motors up by 1.32%, Bajaj Finserv up by 1.28% and Power Grid up by 1.12%. On the flip side, Sun Pharma down by 2.25%, Indusind Bank down by 1.29%, Dr. Reddy's Lab down by 0.91%, Hindalco down by 0.84% and Tata Steel down by 0.82% were the top losers.

Asian markets are trading mixed; Straits Times rose 3.72 points or 0.12% to 3,222.77, Hang Seng jumped 175.03 points or 0.70% to 25,329.35, Taiwan Weighted advanced 9.76 points or 0.06% to 17,078.00 and KOSPI added 45.80 points or 1.54% to 3,024.74. On the other hand, Nikkei 225 fell 110.89 points or 0.37% to 29,536.19, Jakarta Composite lost 18.58 points or 0.28% to 6,534.31 and Shanghai Composite was down by 22.15 points or 0.62% to 3,522.33.