Benchmarks extend losses in morning session

Indian bourses extended their losses and hit fresh intraday low in morning trade, on the back of sustained selling activities by market-participants. Markets continued to trade lower even as the Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister (EAC-PM) said the Indian economy is likely to grow by 7-7.5 per cent in the next fiscal year, while observing that contact intensive sectors and construction should recover in 2022-23. Traders also overlooked Chief Economic Advisor (CEA) Krishnamurthy Subramanian’s statement that the recent reforms initiated by the government will lay the foundation of higher growth. He said the production-linked incentive (PLI) scheme being implemented by the government is directed towards growth.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly in green despite concerns about European Covid-19 curbs and the possibility of earlier interest-rate increases in the United States. Back home, on the sectoral front, stocks related to pharma and medical equipment sectors remained in action as Union Chemicals and Fertilisers Minister Mansukh Mandaviya said the PLI schemes for the pharma and medical equipment sectors would go a long way in making the country secure when it comes to critical drugs.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 59013.00, down by 623.01 points or 1.04% after trading in a range of 58996.72 and 59778.37. There were 4 stocks advancing against 26 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in red; the BSE Mid cap index fell 1.16%, while Small cap index was down by 1.34%.

The few gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Telecom up by 2.94% and Metal up by 0.47%, while Energy down by 2.91%, Consumer Durables down by 1.97%, Realty down by 1.65%, Oil & Gas down by 1.65% and Auto down by 1.30% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Bharti Airtel up by 3.82%, Power Grid Corp up by 1.87%, Asian Paints up by 1.65% and TCS up by 0.60%. On the flip side, Bajaj Finance down by 3.53%, Reliance Industries down by 3.45%, Titan Company down by 2.47%, Bajaj Finserv down by 2.19% and Kotak Mahindra Bank down by 1.96% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, with the net direct tax collection till October closing in on Rs 6 lakh crore and average monthly GST mop-up likely around Rs 1.15 lakh crore this fiscal, Revenue Secretary Tarun Bajaj has said the government's tax collection kitty will surpass budget estimates this financial year. Bajaj mentioned the relief in excise duty

on petrol and diesel and customs duty on edible oil will cost the exchequer about Rs 80,000 crore this financial year, and the revenue department will start calculating the tax mop-up position vis-a-vis budget estimates for this fiscal after the December advance tax number.The government has budgeted a 9.5 per cent growth in tax collections at Rs 22.2 lakh crore for 2021-22 fiscal (April-March). Of this, revenues from direct taxes are estimated to be around Rs 11 lakh, including Rs 5.47 lakh crore from corporate tax and Rs 5.61 lakh crore from income tax. In the last fiscal, the mop-up was Rs 20.2 lakh crore.

With regard to the goods and services tax (GST) revenues, he said the collections in November will also be good numbers but December mop-up will be little lukewarm. The pick-up in collections will be visible again in the March quarter.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 17602.30, down by 162.50 points or 0.91% after trading in a range of 17588.50 and 17805.25. There were 10 stocks advancing against 40 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Bharti Airtel up by 4.02%, Asian Paints up by 1.95%, Power Grid Corporation up by 1.66%, Cipla up by 1.47% and Britannia Industries up by 1.03%. On the flip side, Bajaj Finance down by 3.52%, Reliance Industries down by 3.37%, Titan Company down by 2.28%, ONGC down by 2.24% and Bajaj Finserv down by 2.23% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in green; KOSPI rose 36.49 points or 1.23% to 3,007.51, Nikkei 225 surged 25.02 points or 0.08% to 29,770.89, Shanghai Composite gained 23.00 points or 0.65% to 3,583.37, Taiwan Weighted strengthened 14.92 points or 0.08% to 17,833.23 and Straits Times advanced 7.92 points or 0.25% to 3,240.26.

On the flip side, Jakarta Composite lost 27.99 points or 0.42% to 6,692.27 and Hang Seng decreased 87.86 points or 0.35% to 24,962.11.