Indian equities extend opening losses in early deals

Indian equity benchmarks made negative start on Friday in line with weak global markets. Domestic indices extended their losses and are trading lower with cut of over half a percent each in early deals due to selling in Power, Utilities and Auto counters. Traders were concerned as data by the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE) showed that the country's unemployment rate rose to a three-month high at 8 per cent during November. The unemployment rate in urban India was higher at 8.96 per cent, while in rural areas, it was at 7.55 per cent. Adding some pessimism, data from the central bank showed that India's services exports and imports in October fell from the previous month. Services exports in October stood at $25.38 billion, down from $28.03 billion in September, while imports slipped to $13.49 billion from $16.12 billion a month earlier. Meanwhile, foreign institutional investors (FIIs) net sold shares worth Rs 1,565.93 crore on December 01, according to the provisional data available on the NSE.

All the Asian markets are trading lower, following the mixed cues from global markets overnight, as traders largely cautious and refrained from making significant moves ahead of the release of the closely watched US monthly jobs data later in the day, which could affect the outlook for interest rates. Meanwhile, traders are optimistic over a Chinese demand recovery amid easing Covid curbs in China. Back home, oil & gas industry stocks were in focus as the government has slashed to less than half the windfall profit tax on domestically produced crude oil and also reduced the levy on diesel. In stock specific development, Yes Bank rose after the RBI gave a conditional approval for its stake sale to Carlyle and Advent International.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 62941.27, down by 342.92 points or 0.54% after trading in a range of 62936.93 and 63148.59. There were 5 stocks advancing against 25 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index rose 0.17%, while Small cap index was up by 0.34%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Metal up by 0.51%, Energy up by 0.40%, Oil & Gas up by 0.38%, Realty up by 0.33%, PSU up by 0.27%, while Power down by 1.07%, Utilities down by 1.02%, Auto down by 1.02%, FMCG down by 0.53%, Bankex down by 0.52% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Tech Mahindra up by 0.56%, Indusind Bank up by 0.50%, Reliance Industries up by 0.43%, Tata Steel up by 0.27% and Dr. Reddy's Lab up by 0.19%. On the flip side, Mahindra & Mahindra down by 1.57%, Hindustan Unilever down by 1.48%, Bajaj Finance down by 1.29%, TCS down by 1.23% and Asian Paints down by 1.21% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, the Finance Ministry has said that Goods and Services Tax (GST) revenues rose by 11 per cent to about Rs 1.46 lakh crore in November 2022 over Rs 1,31,526 crore GST revenues in the same month last year. This is the ninth straight month when collections from GST has remained above Rs 1.40 lakh crore. Besides, In October 2022 the collection was highest at Rs 1.52 lakh crore.

The gross GST revenue collected in the month of November 2022 is Rs 1,45,867 crore of which Central GST (CGST) is Rs 25,681 crore, State GST (SGST) is Rs 32,651 crore, Integrated GST (IGST) is Rs 77,103 crore (including Rs 38,635 crore collected on import of goods) and cess is Rs 10,433 crore (including Rs 817 crore collected on import of goods).

The government has settled Rs 33,997 crore to CGST and Rs 28,538 crore to SGST from IGST as regular settlement. The total revenue of Centre and the States after regular settlements in the month of November 2022 is Rs 59678 crore for CGST and Rs 61189 crore for the SGST. In addition, Centre had also released Rs 17,000 crore as GST compensation to States/UTs in November 2022.

During the month, revenues from the import of goods were 20 per cent higher and the revenues from domestic transaction (including import of services) are 8 per cent higher than the revenues from these sources during the same month last year.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 18713.50, down by 99.00 points or 0.53% after trading in a range of 18708.70 and 18781.95. There were 10 stocks advancing against 40 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were ONGC up by 1.32%, Apollo Hospital up by 0.88%, Indusind Bank up by 0.52%, Reliance Industries up by 0.50% and Tech Mahindra up by 0.50%. On the flip side, Eicher Motors down by 2.58%, Hindustan Unilever down by 1.56%, Mahindra & Mahindra down by 1.54%, Divi's Lab down by 1.52% and Bajaj Auto down by 1.50% were the top losers.

All the Asian markets are trading in red; Nikkei 225 slipped 508.16 points or 1.80% to 27,717.92, Straits Times declined 25.07 points or 0.76% to 3,267.66, Hang Seng plunged 156.25 points or 0.83% to 18,580.19, Taiwan Weighted lost 53.68 points or 0.36% to 14,959.12, KOSPI fell 33.02 points or 1.33% to 2,446.82, Jakarta Composite dropped 38.17 points or 0.54% to 6,982.63 and Shanghai Composite was down by 10.73 points or 0.34% to 3,154.74.