Benchmarks continue to trade in green in morning deals

Indian equity benchmarks continued to trade in green in morning deals, led by gains in Capital Goods, Banking and Industrials stocks. Sentiments remained positive as the government extended export benefits under the tax refund scheme -- RoDTEP -- to chemicals, pharmaceuticals and products of iron and steel for a specified period with a view to boost shipments of these goods, amidst exports growth recording a contraction of 16.65 per cent in October. Some support also came with report that the government is working on ways to contain surge in imports of non-essential goods with an aim to boost the country’s exports and reduce trade deficit. However, gains remain capped as some concern came with India Ratings and Research (Ind-Ra) in its latest report said that the many rising headwinds, both domestic as well as external, are expected to pull down India’s Gross domestic product (GDP) growth to 4-4.5 per cent in the second half of FY2023 (H2FY23), shaving off the better numbers in the first half. On the global front, Asian markets are trading mostly in red as growing fears of an economic slowdown and worries over the pace of the Federal Reserve's interest rate hikes weighed on sentiment. 

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 62535.17, up by 124.49 points or 0.20% after trading in a range of 62320.18 and 62633.56. There were 19 stocks advancing against 11 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index rose 0.15%, while Small cap index was up by 0.21%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Capital Goods up by 0.58%, Bankex up by 0.53%, Industrials up by 0.40%, FMCG up by 0.40% and Energy up by 0.33%, while Healthcare down by 0.41%, IT down by 0.28%, TECK down by 0.22% and Metal down by 0.01% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Axis Bank up by 1.59%, Larsen & Toubro up by 1.17%, Mahindra & Mahindra up by 1.12%, Indusind Bank up by 1.04% and ICICI Bank up by 0.91%. On the flip side, Sun Pharma down by 1.76%, Kotak Mahindra Bank down by 1.13%, TCS down by 0.67%, Power Grid Corporation down by 0.66% and Asian Paints down by 0.62% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, taking a major step to boost exports, the commerce ministry has said the government has extended export benefits under the tax refund scheme -- Remission of Duties and Taxes on Exported Products (RoDTEP) -- to chemicals, pharmaceuticals and products of iron and steel for a specified period.  It said that this was a long standing demand of the industry, which has been accepted.

Benefits under the Remission of Duties and Taxes on Exported Products Scheme will be given to exports made during December 15 this year till September 30 next year. These sectors were left out in the earlier exercise which was conducted in August 2021.

The government in August last year announced the rates of tax refunds under the export promotion scheme RoDTEP for about 8,700 products, such as marine goods, yarn and dairy items. In the last fiscal, Rs 12,454 crore was there for refunds under the scheme. After the addition of these products, the expanded list will increase from the current 8,731 export items to 10,342 goods.

RoDTEP is based on the globally accepted principle that taxes and duties should not be exported, and taxes and levies borne on the exported products should be either exempted or remitted to exporters.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 18600.10, up by 39.60 points or 0.21% after trading in a range of 18536.95 and 18625.00. There were 33 stocks advancing against 17 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Eicher Motors up by 1.67%, Axis Bank up by 1.64%, Indusind Bank up by 1.10%, Mahindra & Mahindra up by 1.09% and Larsen & Toubro up by 1.08%. On the flip side, Sun Pharma down by 1.75%, Kotak Mahindra Bank down by 1.15%, HDFC Life Insurance down by 1.04%, SBI Life Insurance down by 0.83% and TCS down by 0.70% were the top losers.

Asian markets are trading mostly in red; Nikkei 225 slipped 138.08 points or 0.50% to 27,548.32, Taiwan Weighted lost 61.01 points or 0.42% to 14,569.00, KOSPI declined 20.66 points or 0.87% to 2,362.15 and Jakarta Composite was down by 66.28 points or 0.97% to 6,752.47.

On the other hand, Straits Times advanced 10.48 points or 0.32% to 3,235.93, Hang Seng jumped 526.50 points or 2.80% to 19,341.32 and Shanghai Composite was up by 4.34 points or 0.14% to 3,203.96.