Indian markets turn negative post budget announcement

Indian equity benchmarks turned negative in early afternoon deals, with both Sensex and Nifty trading marginally lower, post budget announcement. Selling in Capital Goods and Telecom stocks put pressure on the indices, while Larsen & Toubro fell the most among major players on the BSE. The street overlooked latest announcements from the Budget. FM proposed some tax benefits to startups and pension funds, while FY25 Fiscal Deficit seen at 5.1% of GDP.

However, losses were limited, as India's manufacturing sector picked up growth momentum in the month of January, aided by positive demand trends, fastest increases in new orders and production. International sales also expanded at a quicker pace, while companies scaled up input purchasing and became even more optimistic towards the year-ahead outlook for output. According to the report, the seasonally adjusted HSBC India Manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) recovered from an 18-month low of 54.9 in December to 56.5 in January. 

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly in green, after the manufacturing sector in Indonesia continued to expand in January, and at a faster rate, with a manufacturing PMI score of 52.9. That's up from 52.2 in December, and it moves further above the boom-or-bust line of 50 that separates expansion from contraction.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 71745.00, down by 7.11 points or 0.01% after trading in a range of 71584.87 and 72151.02. There were 12 stocks advancing against 17 stocks declining, while 1 stock remained unchanged on the index.

The broader indices were trading in red; the BSE Mid cap index fell by 0.87%, while Small cap index was down by 0.56%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Auto up by 0.77%, FMCG up by 0.48%, Utilities up by 0.13%, Bankex up by 0.09% and Power up by 0.09%, while Capital Goods down by 1.72%, Telecom down by 1.69%, Realty down by 1.51%, Industrials down by 1.42% and Metal down by 0.85% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Maruti Suzuki up by 4.09%, Power Grid up by 2.10%, Mahindra & Mahindra up by 1.60%, TCS up by 1.59% and Axis Bank up by 0.45%. On the flip side, Larsen & Toubro down by 2.99%, Ultratech Cement down by 1.61%, Bharti Airtel down by 1.07%, Wipro down by 1.05% and Tech Mahindra down by 0.99% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, the finance ministry has said that Goods and Services Tax (GST) collections jumped 10.4 per cent to over Rs 1.72 trillion in January 2024 (till 05:00 PM of January 31, 2024). This is the second-highest monthly collection ever and marks the third month in this financial year with a collection of Rs 1.70 trillion or more.
The ministry said the gross GST revenue collected in the month of January 2024 is Rs 1,72,129 crore, which shows a 10.4 per cent y-o-y growth over the revenue of Rs 1,55,922 crore collected in January 2023.

It further said during the April 2023-January 2024 period, cumulative gross GST collection witnessed 11.6 per cent year-on-year growth, reaching Rs 16.69 trillion against Rs 14.96 trillion collected in the same period of the previous year (April 2022-January 2023). The highest-ever monthly GST collection was recorded in April 2023 at Rs 1.87 trillion.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 21717.15, down by 8.55 points or 0.04% after trading in a range of 21658.75 and 21832.95. There were 18 stocks advancing against 31 stocks declining, while 1 stock remained unchanged on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Maruti Suzuki up by 4.11%, SBI Life Insurance up by 3.93%, Cipla up by 2.36%, Power Grid up by 2.14% and HDFC Life Insurance up by 2.12%. On the flip side, Larsen & Toubro down by 2.92%, Dr. Reddy's Lab down by 2.47%, ONGC down by 1.94%, LTIMindtree down by 1.68% and Grasim Industries down by 1.66% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in green; Hang Seng advanced 70.08 points or 0.45% to 15,555.15, Taiwan Weighted added 78.55 points or 0.44% to 17,968.11, Jakarta Composite gained 10.79 points or 0.15% to 7,218.73 and KOSPI increased 45.37 points or 1.78% to 2,542.46, while Straits Times fell 14.11 points or 0.45% to 3,138.90, Shanghai Composite weakened 15.32 points or 0.55% to 2,773.23 and Nikkei 225 slipped 275.25 points or 0.76% to 36,011.46.