Sensex, Nifty wipe out opening losses to trade in green in early deals

Indian equity benchmarks made slightly negative start due to profit booking following rally in previous session. Weakness in Asian counterparts also dampened sentiments in domestic markets. Some cautiousness crept in as the commerce ministry said India's merchandise trade deficit rose to a record high in October, propelled by a 95 percent increase in gold imports. However, soon markets wiped out their losses and are trading above neutral lines with marginal gains in early deals. Traders took encouragement as CBDT (Central Board of Direct Taxes) Chairman Nitin Gupta said the government will exceed the Rs 18.23 lakh crore direct tax collection target set for the current fiscal. Some support came in as foreign institutional investors (FIIs) snapped a 15-session selling streak during the previous session, buying Indian shares worth Rs 550 crore on a net basis. Traders took note of Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman’s statement that India is expected to overtake Japan and Germany to emerge as the third largest economy in the world by 2027. 

On the global front, Asian markets are trading lower as investors took a breather and cashed in on a recent rally. Chinese stocks fell sharply on signs of continued headwinds for the property market. Meanwhile, the Ministry of Finance said Japan posted a merchandise trade deficit of 662.5 billion yen in October. Also, the total value of core machine orders in Japan was up a seasonally adjusted 1.4 percent on month in September. Back home, aviation industry stocks are in focus as the rating firm ICRA said domestic air passenger traffic is expected to rise 11 per cent year-on-year (YoY) in October, reaching 126.4 lakh compared to around 114 lakh in October 2022. In stock specific developments, Bajaj twins traded lower after RBI barred Bajaj Finance from two digital lending products; Insta EMI and eCOM.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 65,729.49, up by 53.56 points or 0.08% after trading in a range of 65,507.02 and 65,787.70. There were 13 stocks advancing against 17 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index rose 0.19%, while Small cap index was up by 0.47%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Oil & Gas up by 0.69%, Energy up by 0.51%, Realty up by 0.34%, Healthcare up by 0.31% and PSU up by 0.23%, while Power down by 0.29%, Basic Materials down by 0.27%, Consumer Durables down by 0.26%, FMCG down by 0.23%, Metal down by 0.19% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were NTPC up by 2.08%, TCS up by 0.90%, HCL Tech. up by 0.72%, Tata Motors up by 0.59%. and Sun Pharma up by 0.52%. On the flip side, Power Grid Corp down by 1.07%, Bajaj Finance down by 1.05%, JSW Steel down by 0.73%, Titan Company down by 0.59% and Tata Steel down by 0.44% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, expressing optimism over the tax collection target, Central Board of Direct Taxation (CBDT) chairman Nitin Gupta has said that the government will exceed the Rs 18.23 lakh crore direct tax collection target set for the current fiscal (FY24).

He said ‘we will exceed the Budget target. The economy is doing well, and we will get a better picture of full-year tax collection once the third installment of advance tax numbers come in by December 15’. As per government data, the net direct tax collection between April 1 and November 9 this fiscal has swelled 22% to Rs 10.60 lakh crore. 

He added ‘on a gross basis, the direct tax collection has been growing at 17-18%, while on a net basis, we are growing at 22%.’ He further said ‘we are also issuing refunds simultaneously. So, we have no doubt about tax collection exceeding estimates’.

Refunds totalling Rs 1.77 lakh crore have been issued between April 1 and November 9. The 2023-24 Budget has pegged direct tax collection at Rs 18.23 lakh crore, 9.75% higher than Rs 16.61 lakh crore in the last fiscal.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 19694.85, up by 19.40 points or 0.10% after trading in a range of 19627.00 and 19710.65. There were 29 stocks advancing against 21 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were NTPC up by 2.30%, BPCL up by 1.62%, Hero MotoCorp up by 1.44%, ONGC up by 1.25% and TCS up by 0.73%. On the flip side, Power Grid down by 1.40%, Bajaj Finance down by 1.04%, Adani Enterprises down by 0.91%, JSW Steel down by 0.84% and Hindalco down by 0.62% were the top losers.

All Asian markets are trading lower; Hang Seng plunged 297.64 points or 1.67% to 17,781.36, Nikkei 225 slipped 197.8 points or 0.59% to 33,321.90, Taiwan Weighted lost 28.88 points or 0.17% to 17,099.90, Jakarta Composite declined 24.98 points or 0.36% to 6,933.23, Shanghai Composite weakened 19.7 points or 0.65% to 3,053.13, Straits Times fell 4.64 points or 0.15% to 3,127.48 and KOSPI was down by 2.62 points or 0.11% to 2,484.05.