Domestic indices wipeout opening gains; trade in red in early deals

Indian equity benchmarks made slightly positive start on Monday but, failed to hold the gains and soon slipped into red terrain. Markets are trading lower with cut of over half a percent each in early deals due to selling in all the sector indices led by Metal, Oil & Gas and Energy. Initially, some support came in as the Income Tax department said the net direct tax collections till mid-June this fiscal increased 45 per cent to over Rs 3.39 lakh crore, buoyed by decent advance tax mop-up. Though, recession fears coupled with aggravated foreign outflows from Indian equities also dragged the markets down. Foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) pulled out 31,430 crore equities so far in June. With this, the net foreign outflows from equities reached Rs 1.98 lakh crore in 2022 till now. Adding more pessimism, the latest data released by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) showed India’s foreign exchange reserves declined $4.6 billion to $596 billion for the week ended June 10. The fall in total reserves was mainly because of a decline in foreign currency assets worth $4.5 billion. Meanwhile, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman is scheduled to meet the heads of public sector banks to review their performance and progress.

On the global front, Asian markets are trading mostly lower, following the mixed cues from Wall Street on Friday, as traders remain concerned that aggressive monetary tightening by major central banks to cool inflation could lead to a slowdown in global growth. Back home, jewellery industry stocks were in focus as the Gem and Jewellery Export Promotion Council (GJEPC) said India’s gems and jewellery exports during May witnessed a year-on-year growth of 20 per cent to Rs 25,365.35 crore ($3.28 billion), amid strong demand from key markets, including the US. In stock specific development, Dilip Buildcon gained as its joint venture company RBL-DBL has won an order worth Rs 1,061 crore in Gujarat for the Surat Metro Rail Project.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 51084.98, down by 275.44 points or 0.54% after trading in a range of 51068.40 and 51614.11. There were 8 stocks advancing against 22 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in red; the BSE Mid cap index fell 1.46%, while Small cap index was down by 2.09%.

The top losing sectoral indices on the BSE were Metal down by 4.39%, Oil & Gas down by 2.93%, Energy down by 2.72%, Basic Materials down by 2.36%, Realty down by 2.19%, while there was no gainer on the BSE sectroal front.

The top gainers on the Sensex were HDFC up by 1.35%, Hindustan Unilever up by 1.32%, Sun Pharma up by 0.81%, Asian Paints up by 0.41% and HDFC Bank up by 0.37%. On the flip side, Tata Steel down by 4.40%, Indusind Bank down by 1.98%, Bajaj Finserv down by 1.76%, Larsen & Toubro down by 1.69% and Power Grid down by 1.54% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) said net direct tax collections for the Financial Year 2022-23, as on June 16, 2022 (mid-June) increased 45 per cent at Rs 3,39,225 crore as compared to Rs 2,33,651 crore over the corresponding period of the preceding year. The rise in tax collection buoyed by decent advance tax mop-up.

The net direct tax collection of over Rs 3.39 lakh crore includes Corporation Tax (CIT) at over Rs 1.70 lakh crore and Personal Income Tax (PIT), including Security Transaction Tax (STT), at over Rs 1.67 lakh crore.

The advance tax collections for the first quarter this fiscal stand at over Rs 1.01 lakh crore against Rs 75,783 crore in the corresponding period last fiscal, a growth of more than 33 per cent. This comprises CIT at Rs 78,842 crore and PIT at Rs 22,175 crore.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 15202.40, down by 91.10 points or 0.60% after trading in a range of 15196.45 and 15363.10. There were 11 stocks advancing against 39 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Hindustan Unilever up by 1.40%, HDFC up by 1.33%, Eicher Motors up by 1.11%, Sun Pharma up by 0.83% and Asian Paints up by 0.54%. On the flip side, ONGC down by 4.56%, Hindalco down by 4.51%, Tata Steel down by 4.42%, Coal India down by 3.53% and UPL down by 3.38% were the top losers.

Asian markets are trading mostly in red; Nikkei 225 slipped 306.10 points or 1.18% to 25,656.90, Taiwan Weighted fell 118.22 points or 0.76% to 15,523.04, KOSPI lost 49.65 points or 2.03% to 2,391.28 and Jakarta Composite was down by 59.75 points or 0.86% to 6,877.22. On the other hand, Straits Times added 1.84 points or 0.06% to 3,099.93, Hang Seng rose 34.22 points or 0.16% to 21,109.22 and Shanghai Composite was up by 0.90 points or 0.03% to 3,317.69.