Sensex, Nifty off day’s low amid improving India's manufacturing PMI

Cutting most of their losses, Indian equity benchmarks came off their intraday low points in early noon deals, amid improving India's manufacturing PMI and heavy buying at Telecom and Auto counters along with positive cues from other Asian markets. India's manufacturing sector activity improved in the month of March, as growth of factory orders and production quickened to the strongest in three months. According to the report, the seasonally adjusted S&P Global India Manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) surged to 56.4 in March from 55.3 in February, signaling the strongest improvement in operating conditions in 2023 so far.

Adding some relief among traders, the economic think tank GTRI said in a report that India's foreign trade is expected to cross the $1.6 trillion mark this fiscal despite global economic uncertainties. The Global Trade Research Initiative (GTRI) said the $1.6 trillion would be about 48 per cent of India's nominal GDP of $3.4 trillion for the fiscal year ending March 2023.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly in green, even after the manufacturing sector in China slowed to stagnation in March, with a manufacturing PMI score of 50.0. That's down from 51.6 in February, and it lands right on the line that separates expansion from contraction. A softer rise in manufacturing production was one key factor dampening the headline PMI figure. Growth of output was marginal overall, after rising solidly in the previous month.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 58963.62, down by 27.90 points or 0.05% after trading in a range of 58793.08 and 59204.82. There were 15 stocks advancing against 15 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index rose by 0.19%, while Small cap index was up by 1.09%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Telecom up by 1.82%, Auto up by 1.21%, PSU up by 0.65%, Consumer Durables up by 0.44% and Industrials up by 0.40%, while FMCG down by 0.46%, IT down by 0.45%, Power down by 0.37%, TECK down by 0.26% and Utilities down by 0.23% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Maruti Suzuki up by 2.46%, Bharti Airtel up by 1.51%, NTPC up by 1.37%, Kotak Mahindra Bank up by 0.95% and Bajaj Finance up by 0.92%. On the flip side, Hindustan Unilever down by 1.16%, Infosys down by 1.12%, ITC down by 0.67%, TCS down by 0.57% and Tech Mahindra down by 0.56% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, the finance ministry has said that Goods and Services Tax (GST) collection grew 13 per cent in March 2023 to Rs 1.60 lakh crore over the same month last year. It is the second highest mop-up since the rollout of the indirect tax regime. In April 2022, GST collection had touched a record high of Rs 1.68 lakh crore. Gross GST revenue collected in March 2023 is Rs 1,60,122 crore, of which Central GST is Rs 29,546 crore, State GST is Rs 37,314 crore, Integrated GST is Rs 82,907 crore (including Rs 42,503 crore collected on import of goods) and cess is Rs 10,355 crore.

The total gross collection for full 2022-23 fiscal stands at Rs 18.10 lakh crore, 22 per cent higher than the previous year. The average gross monthly collection for the full year is Rs 1.51 lakh crore. It is for the fourth time in the just gone by financial year that the gross GST collection has crossed Rs 1.5 lakh crore-mark, registering the second highest collection in March since the implementation of GST. Last month also witnessed the highest IGST collection ever.

During the month of March, revenue from import of goods was 8 per cent higher and revenue from domestic transaction (including import of services) is 14 per cent higher than the revenue from these sources during the same month last year. The return filing during March 2023 has been the highest ever. 93.2 per cent of statement of invoices (in GSTR-1) and 91.4 per cent of returns (in GSTR-3B) of February were filed till March 2023 as compared to 83.1 per cent and 84.7 per cent, respectively a year ago.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 17355.35, down by 4.40 points or 0.03% after trading in a range of 17312.75 and 17428.05. There were 25 stocks advancing against 25 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Hero MotoCorp up by 3.39%, Maruti Suzuki up by 2.53%, ONGC up by 2.38%, Coal India up by 2.27% and Bajaj Auto up by 2.06%. On the flip side, BPCL down by 3.34%, Adani Enterprises down by 1.87%, Apollo Hospital down by 1.59%, Hindustan Unilever down by 1.32% and Cipla down by 1.24% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in green; Nikkei 225 surged 146.67 points or 0.52% to 28,188.15, Shanghai Composite strengthened 24.52 points or 0.75% to 3,297.38, Straits Times rose 21.01 points or 0.64% to 3,279.91 and Jakarta Composite gained 16.4 points or 0.24% to 6,821.68, while KOSPI dropped 4.52 points or 0.18% to 2,472.34 and Hang Seng declined 63.6 points or 0.31% to 20,336.51.