Domestic indices magnify gains in late morning deals

Domestic equity markets magnified their gains and were trading near high points of day in late morning deals on account buying by funds and retail investors. Hectic buying in Reliance Industries, Power Grid and NTPC supported the markets to trade higher. Meanwhile, broader indices were higher with gains of over half percent each. Foreign fund inflows aided domestic sentiments. Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) continued their buying activity as they bought equities worth Rs 1,603.15 crore on Wednesday, according to exchange data. On the BSE sectoral front, traders were seen pilling up position in Realty, Utilities, Power, Oil & Gas and Energy, while selling was witnessed in IT, Metal and FMCG. 

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly lower following weak cues from US markets overnight after Fed minutes pointed to more rate hikes. Back home, in the stock specific development, Tata Power rose on securing an order worth Rs 1,744 crore to implement the smart metering project in Chhattisgarh State Power Distribution Company.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 65635.40, up by 189.36 points or 0.29% after trading in a range of 65328.29 and 65677.96. There were 17 stocks advancing against 13 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.59%, while Small cap index up by 0.67%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Realty up by 2.02%, Utilities up by 1.91%, Power up by 1.67%, Oil & Gas up by 1.58% and Energy up by 1.51%, while IT down by 0.12%, Metal down by 0.09% and FMCG down by 0.01% were the only losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Power Grid up by 2.33%, NTPC up by 1.81%, Reliance Industries up by 1.76%, Larsen & Toubro up by 1.11% and Ultratech Cement up by 1.08%. On the flip side, Indusind Bank down by 1.12%, Bajaj Finance down by 1.00%, Maruti Suzuki down by 0.88%, Tata Steel down by 0.80% and Tech Mahindra down by 0.50% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) member Shashank Priya said Goods and Services tax (GST) authorities have so far cancelled over 4,900 GST registrations and detected tax evasion of over Rs 15,000 crore during the ongoing two-month drive to weed out fake GST Identification Numbers (GSTINs) which will end on July 15, 2023. He also said the large number of fake registrations unearthed during the drive underlines the need for policy changes to tighten GST registration and return filing process.  

CBIC member further said over 69,600 GSTINs have been selected for physical verification, of which 59,178 have been verified by field officers during the ongoing pan-India special drive. 16,989 GSTINs are found to be non-existent. 11,015 GSTINs have been suspended and 4,972 have been cancelled. He further said tax evasion of Rs 15,035 crore has been detected and Rs 1,506 crore ITC has been blocked by tax officers since May 16. Around Rs 87 crore have been recovered. He said ‘this shows that we need to plug the loopholes in registration and return filing... More refinement in the risk parameters for registration verification is required’.

On trade facilitation front, he said monthly return form GSTR-3B will be made more trade friendly by providing additional fields to report more granular data. The number of registered taxpayers in GST has more than doubled to 1.40 crore since the implementation of the tax regime six years ago.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 19456.20, up by 57.70 points or 0.30% after trading in a range of 19373.00 and 19466.75. There were 29 stocks advancing against 21 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Apollo Hospital up by 2.57%, Power Grid up by 2.27%, Britannia up by 2.12%, BPCL up by 2.03% and NTPC up by 1.89%. On the flip side, Eicher Motors down by 2.65%, Indusind Bank down by 1.11%, Bajaj Finance down by 0.97%, Tata Steel down by 0.84% and Maruti Suzuki down by 0.84% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in red; Taiwan Weighted lost 294.26 points or 1.76% to 16,762.17, Hang Seng declined 616.6 points or 3.23% to 18,493.78, Shanghai Composite weakened 21.95 points or 0.68% to 3,201.00, KOSPI dropped 25.01 points or 0.97% to 2,553.99, Straits Times fell 30.27 points or 0.95% to 3,155.11 and Nikkei 225 slipped 565.68 points or 1.7% to 32,773.02. However, Jakarta Composite gained 3.64 points or 0.05% to 6,722.62.