Benchmarks continue to trade in green in morning deals

Indian equity benchmarks continued to trade in green in morning deals, on the back of supportive cues from the global peers. Sentiments remained positive as the Finance Ministry stated that the provisional figures of direct tax collections up to October 9, 2023 continue to register steady growth, with gross collections at Rs 11.07 lakh crore, which is 17.95% higher than the gross collections for the comparable period of last year. Multilateral agency IMF raising India's growth projection too supported the stock indices. IMF raised its projection to 6.3 per cent this fiscal year, 20 basis points (100 basis points is equal to 1 percentage point) higher than what it had estimated in its previous report. IMF attributed stronger-than-expected consumption in India during April-June for the upward projection in the growth estimate. On the global front, Asian markets are trading mostly in green amid easing US interest rate worries following dovish comments by key Federal Reserve officials and stability in oil prices.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 66541.19, up by 461.83 points or 0.70% after trading in a range of 66299.79 and 66571.98. There were 29 stocks advancing against 1 stock declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index rose 1.01%, while Small cap index was up by 1.04%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Telecom up by 1.16%, Basic Materials up by 1.14%, IT up by 1.11%, Utilities up by 1.06% and TECK up by 0.98%, while there were no losing sectoral indices on the BSE. 

The top gainers on the Sensex were Wipro up by 3.23%, Ultratech Cement up by 1.64%, Hindustan Unilever up by 1.45%, Kotak Mahindra Bank up by 1.29% and NTPC up by 1.12%. On the flip side, Power Grid Corporation down by 0.08% was the lone loser.

Meanwhile, the Finance Ministry has said that the provisional figures of direct tax collections up to October 9, 2023 continue to register steady growth, with gross collections at Rs 11.07 lakh crore, which is 17.95% higher than the gross collections for the comparable period of last year.

Further, it stated net direct tax collection stood at Rs 9.57 lakh crore which is 21.82% higher than the net collections for the comparable period of last year. This collection is 52.50% of the total Budget Estimates of Direct Taxes for FY 2023-24.

So far as the growth rate for Corporate Income Tax (CIT) and Personal Income Tax (PIT) in terms of gross revenue collections is concerned, the growth rate for CIT is 7.30% while that for PIT is 29.53% (PIT only)/ 29.08% (PIT including STT).  After adjustment of refunds, the net growth in CIT collections is 12.39% and that in PIT collections is 32.51% (PIT only)/ 31.85% (PIT including STT). Refunds amounting to Rs. 1.50 lakh crore have been issued during April 1, 2023 to October 9, 2023.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 19835.70, up by 145.85 points or 0.74% after trading in a range of 19756.95 and 19835.95. There were 46 stocks advancing against 4 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Wipro up by 3.79%, Dr. Reddy's Lab up by 1.70%, Ultratech Cement up by 1.60%, Adani Enterprises up by 1.52% and Grasim Industries up by 1.52%. On the flip side, Coal India down by 0.99%, SBI Life Insurance down by 0.50%, HDFC Life Insurance down by 0.10% and Power Grid Corporation down by 0.03% were the top losers.

Asian markets are trading mostly in green; Nikkei 225 surged 211.5 points or 0.67% to 31,958.03, Taiwan Weighted added 134.18 points or 0.81% to 16,654.75, Hang Seng advanced 254.82 points or 1.42% to 17,919.55, KOSPI increased 52.93 points or 2.2% to 2,455.51, Jakarta Composite gained 21.99 points or 0.32% to 6,944.18 and Shanghai Composite strengthened 5.98 points or 0.19% to 3,081.22. 

On the flip side, Straits Times fell 8.67 points or 0.27% to 3,190.40.