Key gauges continue to trade in green in morning deals

Indian equity markets continued to trade in green in morning deals, tracking positive cues from global markets amid hopes that the US Federal Reserve could pause rate hikes this month. Traders took support with private report stating that the India growth story remains intact and recession in certain parts of the world is unlikely to seep into the country; on the contrary this would be a golden decade for India. Some optimism also came with Union Minister of Commerce and Industry Piyush Goyal’s statement that there is work ongoing with a number of economies, including the UK, on the issue of intellectual property (IP) rights and modernisation in an effort to improve Indian protocols. Meanwhile, Chief Economic Adviser V Anantha Nageswaran said turning jobseekers into job-givers is an important goal of the government and many steps have been taken in recent years to achieve this objective. He said it relieves pressure on the job market. In terms of financing, the credit guarantee scheme that was launched during Covid, and continued until this year, has done a wonderful job in ensuring that the MSME space remains vibrant.

On the global front, Asian markets are trading higher following the broadly positive cues from global markets, as data showing cooler than expected U.S. consumer price and producer price inflation have raised hopes the US Fed's tightening cycle will end soon. The strengthening of most Asian currencies against the US dollar also contributed to the positive mood in the market.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 65724.60, up by 165.71 points or 0.25% after trading in a range of 65610.82 and 65917.80. There were 14 stocks advancing against 16 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index rose 0.44%, while Small cap index was up by 0.76%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were IT up by 1.57%, TECK up by 1.32%, Realty up by 1.07%, Telecom up by 0.73% and Metal up by 0.71%, while Utilities down by 0.60%, Power down by 0.60%, PSU down by 0.07%, Consumer Durables down by 0.05% and Healthcare down by 0.01% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were HCL Technologies up by 2.41%, Infosys up by 2.05%, Tech Mahindra up by 1.68%, TCS up by 0.92% and Hindustan Unilever up by 0.58%. On the flip side, Power Grid Corporation down by 1.40%, NTPC down by 1.04%, Axis Bank down by 0.76%, Mahindra & Mahindra down by 0.68% and Bajaj Finance down by 0.62% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, Revenue Secretary Sanjay Malhotra has said the exchequer will get an estimated additional revenue of Rs 20,000 crore annually following the decision of the GST Council to levy 28 per cent tax on full bet value on online gaming. He said the GST Council has unanimously decided to impose 28 per cent tax on online gaming, casino and horse racing etc. 

Further, he said that the government will pursue all cases in the Supreme Court for recovery of erstwhile tax demands. He stated the online gaming industry is currently paying only 2-3 per cent GST which is even less than 5 per cent tax applicable on food items consumed by a common man. He mentioned 'One of the members, in fact, in the GST Council pointed out that the way the online gaming companies are paying the taxes on online games at 18 per cent of GGR, which works out to only about 2-3 per cent, even lower than the tax rate of 5 per cent levied on many of the food products consumed by the very common people.’

The exchequer last year (FY2022-23) collected only Rs 1,700 crore GST which could have been Rs 15,000-20,000 crore had the tax been levied on the full value. He said ‘But this (tax by online gaming companies) is on a much lower rate which the online gaming companies are paying. Our estimate is that it should be at least about 8 to 10 times this amount. So, if that is true, it should be about Rs 15,000 to 20,000 crore annually, provided the volumes also sustain.’

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 19465.15, up by 51.40 points or 0.26% after trading in a range of 19433.50 and 19520.40. There were 31 stocks advancing against 19 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were HCL Technologies up by 2.36%, Infosys up by 2.14%, Hindalco up by 2.01%, Tech Mahindra up by 1.71% and LTIMindtree up by 1.59%. On the flip side, HDFC Life Insurance down by 1.65%, Power Grid Corporation down by 1.38%, Apollo Hospital down by 1.13%, NTPC down by 1.01% and Axis Bank down by 0.97% were the top losers.

All Asian markets are trading higher; Taiwan Weighted added 216.65 points or 1.25% to 17,278.05, Hang Seng advanced 49.02 points or 0.25% to 19,399.64, Shanghai Composite strengthened 9.23 points or 0.28% to 3,245.71, KOSPI increased 28.69 points or 1.1% to 2,619.92, Jakarta Composite gained 39.22 points or 0.57% to 6,849.43, Straits Times rose 9.92 points or 0.31% to 3,248.38 and Nikkei 225 surged 23 points or 0.07% to 32,442.33.