Benchmarks erase opening gains; trade marginally lower

With a positive opening, Indian equity benchmarks extended their previous session's gains but are now trading lower with marginal cut in early deals on Tuesday on profit booking. Initial gains came as a private report said that India is well positioned to continue to be the fastest-growing major economy next year, which may mark the lowest global growth since the millennium began barring the pandemic and the global financial crisis. However, traders were cautious on a private report that a sustained surge in Covid cases in China could further exacerbate a contraction in India’s exports to its fourth-largest market in the coming months, as order flow has already been faltering at a steady pace. Street now forecast a 40-45% crash in exports to China this fiscal from $21.3 billion in FY22 if the Covid surge continues through January.

On the global front, Asian markets are trading in green amid reports stated that China relaxes Covid-19 restrictions as the country cancels quarantine rules for travelers. The infection has been downgraded to Category A and Category B. New rules will come into effect from January 8, 2023. Back home, on the BSE sectoral front, traders were seen pilling up position in Metal, Utilities, Power, Consumer Durables and Telecom, while selling was witnessed in Bankex, TECK, IT and Healthcare.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 60471.12, down by 95.30 points or 0.16% after trading in a range of 60459.56 and 60970.63. There were 15 stocks advancing against 15 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.01%, while Small cap index up by 0.40%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Metal up by 1.36%, Utilities up by 0.73%, Power up by 0.68%, Consumer Durables up by 0.48% and Telecom up by 0.46%, while Bankex down by 0.31%, TECK down by 0.20%, IT down by 0.15% and Healthcare down by 0.09% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Tata Motors up by 1.51%, Power Grid Corp up by 1.11%, Tata Steel up by 1.10%, Titan Co up by 0.63% and Asian Paints up by 0.36%. On the flip side, Tech Mahindra down by 0.74%, Bajaj Finserv down by 0.69%, TCS down by 0.63%, Indusind Bank down by 0.51% and Axis Bank down by 0.48% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) has said there is no proposal before the government to lower the threshold from January 1 for mandatory generation of e-invoices. Currently, businesses with a turnover of Rs 10 crore and above are required to generate an electronic invoice for all B2B transactions.

The comment from CBIC came after reports in some quarters said that though GST Council has recommended reducing the threshold for the generation of e-invoices to Rs 5 crore with effect from January 1, 2023, the government has yet to issue a notification on the matter.

Under Goods and Services Tax (GST) law, e-invoicing for business-to-business (B2B) transactions was made mandatory for companies with a turnover of over Rs 500 crore from October 1, 2020, which was then extended to those with a turnover of over Rs 100 crore, effective January 1, 2021.  From April 1, 2021, companies with turnover of over Rs 50 crore were generating B2B e-invoices, and the threshold was brought down to Rs 20 crore beginning April 1, 2022. From October 1, 2022, the level was further lowered to Rs 10 crore.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 17986.75, down by 27.85 points or 0.15% after trading in a range of 17967.45 and 18134.05. There were 23 stocks advancing against 27 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were JSW Steel up by 1.80%, Tata Motors up by 1.74%, ONGC up by 1.45%, Hindalco up by 1.39% and Power Grid Corp up by 1.25%. On the flip side, Bajaj Finserv down by 0.96%, Dr. Reddy's Lab down by 0.82%, Tech Mahindra down by 0.54%, Mahindra & Mahindra down by 0.52% and HDFC Bank down by 0.48% were the top losers.

Asian markets are trading mostly in green, Nikkei 225 surged 98.87 points or 0.37% to 26,504.74, Taiwan Weighted strengthened 99.40 points or 0.7% to 14,384.53, Straits Times advanced 14.45 points or 0.44% to 3,272.15, Shanghai Composite gained 23.83 points or 0.78% to 3,089.39, KOSPI rose 10.08 points or 0.44% to 2,327.22 and Jakarta Composite soared 68.87 points or 1.01% to 6,904.68.