Benchmarks extend losses in morning deals

Indian equity benchmarks extended losses in morning deals, weighed by losses in index heavyweights like SBI, Infosys and Mahindra & Mahindra. Investors remained on sidelines ahead of India's retail inflation data for January, to be out later in the day. Sentiments remained down-beat as growth in factory output decelerated to a two-month low of 4.3 per cent in December as manufacturing dragged the overall growth in the Index of Industrial Production (IIP) even as mining and electricity production grew at a robust pace. Traders overlooked the finance ministry’s statement that gross direct tax collections grew 24 per cent to Rs 15.67 trillion so far this fiscal. After adjusting for refunds, the net direct tax collection stood at Rs 12.98 trillion, a growth of 18.40 per cent.

On the global front, Asian markets are trading mostly in red as investors hunkered down for U.S. inflation data that could jolt the outlook for interest rates globally, while accelerating or reversing the recent spike in bond yields. Back home, banking stocks remained in focus as latest data by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) showed bank credit grew at 16.3 per cent year-on-year (YoY) in the fortnight ended January 27 to Rs 133.41 trillion, moderating marginally from the growth witnessed till last fortnight (16.5 per cent).

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 60328.58, down by 354.12 points or 0.58% after trading in a range of 60283.86 and 60740.95. There were 8 stocks advancing against 22 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in red; the BSE Mid cap index was down by 0.75%, while Small cap index down by 0.56%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Metal up by 0.78%, Consumer Durables up by 0.28%, Telecom up by 0.25% and Capital Goods up by 0.09%, while IT down by 1.55%, TECK down by 1.34%, Auto down by 0.99%, Utilities down by 0.95% and Power down by 0.94% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Titan Company up by 1.85%, Tata Steel up by 1.29%, Power Grid Corporation up by 0.54%, Sun Pharma up by 0.54% and Larsen & Toubro up by 0.53%. On the flip side, SBI down by 2.70%, Infosys down by 2.12%, Mahindra & Mahindra down by 2.00%, TCS down by 1.31% and Tech Mahindra down by 1.11% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) has said that gross direct tax collections grew 24 per cent to Rs 15.67 trillion so far this fiscal. After adjusting for refunds, the net direct tax collection stood at Rs 12.98 trillion, a growth of 18.40 per cent. The net collections are about 79 per cent of Revised Estimates (RE) of direct tax collection for current fiscal. The revised estimates for the current fiscal pegged direct tax revenues at Rs 16.50 lakh crore, higher than the budget estimates of Rs 14.20 trillion.

CBDT mentioned ‘The provisional figures of direct tax collections up to February 10, 2023 continue to register steady growth. Direct tax collections up to February 10, 2023 show that gross collections are at Rs 15.67 trillion which is 24.09 per cent higher than the gross collections for the corresponding period of last year.

Besides, it stated in the current fiscal (2022-23), the revenues from direct tax (which includes income and corporate taxes) are projected to grow by over 17 per cent compared to 2021-22 fiscal when the collection was Rs 14.08 trillion. Between April to February 10, the growth rate for gross Corporate Income Tax (CIT) and gross Personal Income Tax (PIT) collections was 19.33 per cent and 29.63 per cent respectively.

After adjustment of refunds, the net growth in CIT collections is 15.84 per cent and that in PIT collections is 21.23 per cent (PIT including STT). Refunds amounting to Rs 2.69 trillion have been issued during April 1, 2022 to February 10, 2023, which are 61.58 per cent higher than refunds issued during the same period in the preceding year.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 17757.70, down by 98.80 points or 0.55% after trading in a range of 17735.15 and 17880.70. There were 15 stocks advancing against 35 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Titan Company up by 1.72%, Tata Steel up by 1.19%, Hindalco up by 1.12%, Dr. Reddy's Lab up by 0.55% and Bajaj Auto up by 0.53%. On the flip side, Adani Enterprises down by 3.31%, SBI down by 2.63%, Infosys down by 2.23%, Mahindra & Mahindra down by 2.01% and Adani Ports &Special down by 1.52% were the top losers.

Asian markets are trading mostly in red; Taiwan Weighted lost 50.02 points or 0.32% to 15,536.63, Hang Seng declined 99.72 points or 0.47% to 21,090.70, KOSPI dropped 21.36 points or 0.86% to 2,448.37, Straits Times fell 29.56 points or 0.88% to 3,331.13 and Nikkei 225 slipped 270.18 points or 0.98% to 27,400.80.

On the flip side, Shanghai Composite strengthened 17.4 points or 0.53% to 3,278.07 and Jakarta Composite gained 23.54 points or 0.34% to 6,903.87.