Domestic indices trade in fine-fettle in early deals; Oil & Gas index lead gainers

Indian equity benchmarks made optimistic start on Friday following broadly positive cues from Asian peers. Markets are trading higher with notable gains in early deals on account of buying in all the sector indices led by Oil & Gas, IT and Realty, which are up by over 2 percent each. Some support came in as commerce and industry ministry said India’s electronic goods exports grew 49% in April-December 2021 at $11 billion over $7.4 billion during same period last year with the US and the UAE being the top two destinations. Traders took note of report that the Income Tax department said it has issued refunds worth Rs 1.62 lakh crore to more than 1.79 crore taxpayers so far this fiscal. Besides, traders are eyeing the Union Budget 2022-23 to be presented by Union Finance and Corporate Affairs Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on February 1, 2022, for further cues. Meanwhile, India has initiated an anti-dumping probe against Ursodeoxvcholic Acid, used in the medical field, imported from China and Korea following a complaint by a domestic player.

On the global front, most of the Asian markets are trading higher despite the broadly negative cues overnight from Wall Street. Traders picked up stocks at a bargain following the recent sell-off, particularly in technology stocks. Meanwhile, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications said consumer prices in the Tokyo region of Japan were up 0.5 percent on year in January. Taiwan is closed for long Lunar New Year break. Back home, telecom stocks were in focus as the DoT has agreed with the telecom players' plea to not proceed with the process of adopting 5Gi as a national standard. In scrip specific development, Fino Payments Bank traded higher as its Q3FY22 net profit more than doubled to Rs 14.10 crore as against Rs 6.52 crore in Q3FY21.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 57967.53, up by 690.59 points or 1.21% after trading in a range of 57570.31 and 58040.03. There were 28 stocks advancing against 2 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index jumped 1.91%, while Small cap index was up by 1.96%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Oil & Gas up by 2.52%, IT up by 2.48%, Realty up by 2.47%, TECK up by 2.24%, Basic Materials up by 1.79%, while there was no losers on the BSE sectroal front.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Mahindra & Mahindra up by 4.35%, Wipro up by 3.52%, NTPC up by 3.08%, Bajaj Finance up by 2.66% and Infosys up by 2.43%. On the flip side, Maruti Suzuki down by 0.71% and Power Grid down by 0.09% were the only losers.

Meanwhile, the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) has issued Rs 1.62 lakh crore income tax refunds to over 1.79 crore taxpayers till January 24, 2022 of the current financial year. In absolute terms, Income Tax Department said CBDT issues refunds of over Rs 1,62,448 crore from April 01, 2021 to January 24, 2022.

Income tax refunds of Rs 57,754 crore have been issued in 1,77,35,899 cases and corporate tax refunds of Rs 1,04,694 crore have been issued in 2,23,952 cases. This includes 1.41 crore refunds of Assessment Year 2021-22 amounting to Rs 27,111.40 crore.

Earlier, CBDT had issues refunds of over Rs 1,54,302 crore to more than 1.59 crore taxpayers from April 01, 2021 to January 10, 2022. This includes personal income tax refunds of Rs 53,689 crore to over 1.56 crore entities and corporate tax refunds of over Rs 1 lakh crore to more than 2.21 lakh businesses.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 17319.70, up by 209.55 points or 1.22% after trading in a range of 17206.30 and 17352.30. There were 48 stocks advancing against 2 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were ONGC up by 4.28%, Mahindra & Mahindra up by 4.19%, Eicher Motors up by 3.41%, NTPC up by 3.33% and Tata Consumer Products up by 3.24%. On the flip side, Maruti Suzuki down by 0.64% and Power Grid down by 0.37% were the only losers.

Asian markets are trading mostly in green; Nikkei 225 surged 533.50 points or 2.04% to 26,703.80, Straits Times added 7.99 points or 0.25% to 3,268.02, KOSPI jumped 46.43 points or 1.78% to 2,660.92 and Shanghai Composite was up by 1.82 points or 0.05% to 3,396.07. On the other hand, Hang Seng fell 234.73 points or 0.99% to 23,572.27 and Jakarta Composite was down by 1.26 points or 0.02% to 6,609.90.