Markets stage some recovery in late morning session

In a volatile trade, Indian equity benchmarks cut some of their losses in late morning session, with both Sensex and Nifty staging some recovery. Losses got cut, as NITI Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant has said that the government will continue to push for greater reforms across sectors. Kant stated ‘India is determined to carry out reforms. We need more and more reforms and the government will push for greater levels of reforms across sectors and make things easy and simple.’ Besides, the Union Minister of Commerce & Industry, Consumer Affairs & Food & Public Distribution and Textiles, Piyush Goyal called for Partnerships among countries for achieving Sustainable Growth.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly in red, even after export prices in South Korea were up 25.5 percent on year in November, the Bank of Korea said on Tuesday - up slightly from 25.3 percent in October. Import prices surged an annual 35.5 percent, easing from 38.8 percent in the previous month. On a monthly basis, export prices fell 1.0 percent and import prices dipped 0.6 percent.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 58066.65, down by 216.77 points or 0.37% after trading in a range of 57803.87 and 58187.91. There were 13 stocks advancing against 17 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in red; the BSE Mid cap index was down by 0.86%, while Small cap index was down by 0.18%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Power up by 1.04%, Utilities up by 0.62%, Healthcare up by 0.27%, IT up by 0.19% and TECK up by 0.06%, while Realty down by 1.77%, Consumer Durables down by 1.08%, Auto down by 1.08%, Consumer discretionary down by 0.75% and Telecom down by 0.61% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Power Grid up by 2.81%, Nestle up by 0.89%, Tech Mahindra up by 0.80%, Dr. Reddy's Lab up by 0.69% and Hindustan Unilever up by 0.62%. On the flip side, Kotak Mahindra Bank down by 2.34%, Bajaj Finance down by 1.73%, Mahindra & Mahindra down by 1.54%, ITC down by 1.34% and HDFC down by 1.31% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, Engineering Export Promotion Council (EEPC) of India has urged the government as part of its pre-budget recommendation that the benefit of lower corporate tax should be extended to Limited Liability Partnerships (LLPs) and proprietary firms as it will make funds available with a large number of Micro Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) thus speeding up private investment cycle which is instrumental to boost growth and jobs.

A body of direct tax professionals also sought for reduction of tax burden on individuals and requested the government to raise the income tax exemption limit at Rs 2.5 lakh to Rs 4 lakh per annum in the upcoming budget for 2022-23 fiscal.

EEPC India Chairman Mahesh Desai claimed around 84 per cent of small businesses are being denied the benefit of lower corporate tax which was aimed at providing industrial units with more investible surplus. He said ‘If the tax cut is to kick start an investment cycle by leaving more money at the hands of business entities, then proprietary firms and LLPs should also get the benefit as they constitute the majority of the pie and this is required for the upliftment of MSMEs’.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 17311.50, down by 56.75 points or 0.33% after trading in a range of 17225.80 and 17343.00. There were 19 stocks advancing against 31 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Power Grid up by 2.86%, Nestle up by 0.94%, Cipla up by 0.89%, Tech Mahindra up by 0.78% and Dr. Reddy's Lab up by 0.77%. On the flip side, Kotak Mahindra Bank down by 2.25%, Tata Consumer Products down by 1.88%, Bajaj Finance down by 1.69%, Mahindra & Mahindra down by 1.45% and Tata Motors down by 1.34% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in red; Hang Seng decreased 301.42 points or 1.26% to 23,653.16, Nikkei 225 slipped 231.14 points or 0.81% to 28,409.35, Taiwan Weighted dropped 180.54 points or 1.02% to 17,587.06, Jakarta Composite lost 53.87 points or 0.81% to 6,609.00, KOSPI fell 19.76 points or 0.66% to 2,981.90 and Shanghai Composite declined 11.24 points or 0.31% to 3,669.84. On the flip side, Straits Times advanced 3.67 points or 0.12% to 3,123.62.