Sensex, Nifty trade volatile in late morning session

Indian equity benchmarks remained volatile in late morning session, with both Sensex and Nifty trading in red terrain, despite positive cues from other Asian markets. Traders were cautious amid a private report stating that the Finance Ministry’s internal projections for what real gross domestic growth in FY23 could be, is lower than the 8-8.5 percent given out in the 2021-22 Economic Survey. Traders overlooked reports that CBDT Chairman J B Mohapatra has said that direct tax collections are expected to breach the revised target of Rs 12.50 lakh crore and set an all-time high and historic record by the end of this financial year (FY22).

On the global front, Asian markets were trading in green, even after consumer prices in South Korea were up 3.6 percent on year in January, Statistics Korea said on Friday. That exceeded expectations for an increase of 3.3 percent and was down from 3.7 percent in December. On a monthly basis, inflation was up 0.6 percent - beating forecasts for 0.4 percent and up from 0.2 percent in the previous month.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 58746.54, down by 41.48 points or 0.07% after trading in a range of 58475.97 and 58943.62. There were 13 stocks advancing against 17 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading mixed; the BSE Mid cap index was down by 0.10%, while Small cap index was up by 0.13%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Metal up by 2.19%, Basic Materials up by 1.21%, Consumer Durables up by 0.84%, Utilities up by 0.68% and Oil & Gas up by 0.49%, while Realty down by 1.56%, Auto down by 0.62%, Consumer discretionary down by 0.28%, Bankex down by 0.28% and Energy down by 0.24% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Tata Steel up by 1.95%, Ultratech Cement up by 1.25%, Titan Co up by 0.79%, ITC up by 0.75% and HCL Tech. up by 0.72%. On the flip side, Mahindra & Mahindra down by 0.85%, Kotak Mahindra Bank down by 0.68%, ICICI Bank down by 0.62%, Reliance Industries down by 0.55% and TCS down by 0.52% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, CBDT Chairman J B Mohapatra has said that direct tax collections are expected to breach the revised target of Rs 12.50 lakh crore and set an all-time high and historic record by the end of this financial year (FY22). He noted that in the financial year 2021-22, out of the total Rs 12.50 lakh crore, Rs 6.35 lakh crore is expected to come from the corporate tax category, while Rs 6.15 lakh crore is expected to come in the personal income tax segment.

Multiple reasons like ‘easing’ of tax compliance processes for taxpayers and enhanced ability of the taxman in data processing were cited by CBDT Chairman for mopping up this high-volume of collections under two major heads -- corporate tax and personal income tax. He said ‘As we speak (February 1), the direct tax collection numbers stand at Rs 10.38 lakh crore so it is only 70,000 crore less from the BE (budget estimate) numbers of Rs 11.08 lakh crore. This number, at this point in time, is better than the last year's total collections.’

Mohapatra said the tax department was in ‘good space’ this time due to a variety of measures undertaken in the direct taxes collection system over the last few years, both for the taxpayer and the tax authority. Also, he said ‘ the consolidation and formalisation of businesses, the inter-play of resource sharing among various agencies like the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC), market regulator Sebi and other agencies are helping us build the repository of data so we are leveraging on each others intelligence.’

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 17559.20, down by 1.00 points or 0.01% after trading in a range of 17480.30 and 17617.80. There were 23 stocks advancing against 27 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Hindalco up by 2.59%, Divi's Lab up by 1.93%, Tata Steel up by 1.91%, JSW Steel up by 1.72% and ONGC up by 1.49%. On the flip side, Hero MotoCorp down by 2.07%, Eicher Motors down by 1.42%, Bajaj Auto down by 1.40%, Tata Consumer Products down by 1.05% and HDFC Life Insurance down by 1.01% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading in green; Nikkei 225 surged 161.06 points or 0.59% to 27,402.37, Hang Seng increased 645.05 points or 2.71% to 24,447.31, Jakarta Composite soared 24.13 points or 0.36% to 6,707.98, KOSPI rose 34.63 points or 1.28% to 2,742.45 and Straits Times advanced 6.27 points or 0.19% to 3,322.26.