Benchmarks trade firm in early deals; Sensex reclaims 60,100 mark

Indian equity benchmarks extended their previous session’s rally with positive start on Monday amid strong global cues. Soon, markets gained momentum and are trading firm with gains of over 0.60% each in early deals with buying in all the sector indices led by IT and TECK. Sensex and Nifty reclaimed their crucial levels of 60,100 and 17,950, respectively. Investors are eyeing Index of Industrial Production (IIP) and Consumer Price Index (CPI) data to be out later in the day. Traders got support as data from Exim Bank showed that India's merchandise exports are expected to grow by 11.4 per cent to hit $114.4 billion during the July-September quarter of the current financial year. Also, strong FIIs' flow supported the Indian markets. Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) have net-bought shares worth Rs 2,132.42 crore on September 9. Adding more optimism, the Finance Ministry said the provisional gross direct tax collections for FY23 till September 8 stood at Rs 6.48 trillion, which is 35.5 per cent higher than the same period last year.

On the global front, Asian markets are trading mostly higher following the broadly positive cues from global markets on Friday, as traders chose to pick up stocks that had taken a severe beating in recent sessions, despite concerns about slowing growth and sharp interest rate hikes. Trading is also thin in the region with markets in China, Hong Kong and South Korea on a holiday. China is closed for Moon Festival, Hong Kong is closed for Mid-Autum Festival and South Korea is closed for Chuseok Festival.

Back home, sugar industry stocks were trading higher as sugar industry body ISMA demanded that the government should allow exports of 80 lakh tonnes of sweetener in the 2022-23 marketing year starting October in view of surplus production. In stock specific developments, Mahindra Lifespace Developers hit 52-week high after the company plans to buy few land parcels in FY23 to build housing projects. On the other hand, Anupam Rasayan slipped after a fire incident occurred at its unit-6 of Sachin GIDC plant. Four people have died and 20 have been injured in the incident.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 60189.51, up by 396.37 points or 0.66% after trading in a range of 59912.29 and 60198.46. There were 27 stocks advancing against 3 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index rose 0.68%, while Small cap index was up by 0.86%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were IT up by 1.85%, TECK up by 1.68%, Basic Materials up by 0.88%, Telecom up by 0.77%, Industrials up by 0.77%, while there was no loser on the BSE sectoral front.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Tech Mahindra up by 2.83%, Infosys up by 2.17%, Wipro up by 1.64%, TCS up by 1.48% and HCL Technologies up by 1.37%. On the flip side, Power Grid down by 0.22%, Asian Paints down by 0.22% and HDFC down by 0.19% were the few losers.

Meanwhile, reflecting an uptick in the economy, the Income Tax Department in its latest data has showed that direct tax collection, including personal income tax, rose by 35.46 per cent to Rs 6.48 lakh crore in the current fiscal up to September 8, 2022 over the gross collections for the corresponding period of last year. In the last fiscal ended March 31, 2022, India's direct tax collection rose by a record 49 per cent to Rs 14.10 lakh crore. The government has estimated to collect Rs 14.20 lakh crore from direct taxes this fiscal. This includes Rs 7.20 lakh crore from corporate taxes and Rs 7 lakh crore from individual taxpayers.

As per the data, direct tax collection, net of refunds, stands at Rs 5.29 lakh crore which is 30.17 per cent higher than the net collections for the corresponding period of last year. This collection is 37.24 per cent of the total Budget Estimates of Direct Taxes for 2022-23. It said refunds amounting to Rs 1.19 lakh crore have been issued from April 1 to September 8, 2022, which are 65.29 per cent higher than refunds issued during the same period in the preceding year.

So far as the growth rate for Corporate Income Tax (CIT) and Personal Income Tax (PIT) in terms of gross revenue collections is concerned, the growth rate for CIT is 25.95 per cent while that for PIT (including STT) is 44.37 per cent. After adjustment of refunds, the net growth in CIT collections is 32.73 per cent and that in PIT collections (including STT) is 28.32 per cent.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 17950.10, up by 116.75 points or 0.65% after trading in a range of 17889.15 and 17955.75. There were 42 stocks advancing against 7 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Tech Mahindra up by 2.83%, Adani Ports & SEZ up by 2.56%, Infosys up by 2.16%, UPL up by 1.79% and Wipro up by 1.63%. On the flip side, Shree Cement down by 0.36%, Asian Paints down by 0.23%, Power Grid down by 0.22%, JSW Steel down by 0.13% and HDFC down by 0.06% were the top losers.

Asian markets are trading mostly in green; Nikkei 225 surged 304.57 points or 1.08% to 28,519.32, Straits Times added 7.25 points or 0.22% to 3,270.20 and Taiwan Weighted jumped 238.86 points or 1.64% to 14,822.28, while Jakarta Composite was down by 8.70 points or 0.12% to 7,233.96.