Benchmarks remain in green in morning deals

Indian equity benchmarks remained in green in morning deals, led by gains in Auto, Telecom and IT stocks amid positive global cues. Sentiments remained positive as exchange data showed Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) turned buyers on Thursday as they bought equities worth Rs 294.69 crore. Traders took a note of domestic rating agency Icra in its report stating that credit growth in the banking system will moderate to 12.1-13.2 per cent in the current fiscal (FY24) from 15.4 per cent in the year-ago period. But, it also said asset quality improvement will continue, while the Gross Non-Performing Assets (GNPA) ratio is expected to come down to 2.8-3 per cent by March 2024, as against 3.7 per cent at the end of the June quarter. On the global front, Asian markets are trading higher after data showed China's factories picked up their pace and retail sales also gained momentum in August, suggesting the economy may be gradually recovering from its post-pandemic malaise.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 67663.03, up by 144.03 points or 0.21% after trading in a range of 67614.42 and 67774.46. 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 0.38%, while Small cap index was up by 0.54%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Auto up by 1.27%, Telecom up by 0.67%, IT up by 0.53%, TECK up by 0.40% and Healthcare up by 0.39%, while Oil & Gas down by 0.45%, FMCG down by 0.27%, Realty down by 0.17%, Metal down by 0.07% and Consumer Durables down by 0.06% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Tata Motors up by 1.75%, HCL Technologies up by 1.47%, HDFC Bank up by 1.06%, Wipro up by 0.70% and Mahindra & Mahindra up by 0.59%. On the flip side, Asian Paints down by 1.39%, Tata Steel down by 0.95%, Hindustan Unilever down by 0.94%, Power Grid Corporation down by 0.62% and Nestle down by 0.53% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, Financial services secretary Ajay Seth has said the total revenue from corporate and excise tax collections is expected to be in line with budget estimates for the current fiscal year (FY24). Corporate tax, which is the second largest component of direct taxes after personal income tax, as well as excise duty collections, declined by 10.4 per cent during the first four months of the ongoing fiscal.

This comes against an over 14 per cent plunge in tax mop-up in the first quarter as against an over 26 per cent jump in the in the year-ago period. He allayed concerns of a fall in annual tax collections, saying one should look at a longer-time frame when it comes to tax mop-up.  

He stated ‘We should not look at a few months' data and try to find a long term trend in that instead we should wait for at last another quarter to see long-term trend or data to reach a conclusion. My sense is that whatever numbers are there in budget estimates and revenues, those will be realized.’

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 20146.70, up by 43.60 points or 0.22% after trading in a range of 20129.70 and 20173.15. There were 29 stocks advancing against 21 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Bajaj Auto up by 4.62%, Hero MotoCorp up by 2.52%, Tata Motors up by 1.59%, HCL Technologies up by 1.44% and Coal India up by 1.19%. On the flip side, Asian Paints down by 1.33%, Hindustan Unilever down by 0.95%, Tata Steel down by 0.91%, Power Grid Corporation down by 0.79% and BPCL down by 0.77% were the top losers.

All Asian markets are trading higher; Nikkei 225 surged 442.57 points or 1.33% to 33,610.67, Taiwan Weighted added 53.22 points or 0.32% to 16,860.78, KOSPI increased 33.05 points or 1.28% to 2,605.94, Jakarta Composite gained 27.4 points or 0.39% to 6,986.73, Straits Times rose 31.78 points or 0.98% to 3,281.29, Shanghai Composite strengthened 8.76 points or 0.28% to 3,135.31 and Hang Seng advanced 299.1 points or 1.63% to 18,347.02.