Bears hold tight grip over Dalal Street in early noon deals

Bears were holding a tight grip over the Dalal Street during early afternoon deals, as higher oil prices and elevated bond yields fueled concerns about inflation and Federal Reserve rate hikes. The street took a note of reports that the government of India has raised the rate of special additional excise duty (SAED) along with road and infrastructure cess on export of diesel to Rs 25 per litre from Rs 24 a litre. Further, the duty on petrol exports has been hiked to Rs 1.5 per litre, up from zero earlier.

Both indices, Sensex and Nifty, were witnessing sluggishness, tracking weak cues from other Asian markets, amid the sell-off driven by renewed US-Iran tensions. On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly in red, after consumer prices in South Korea were up a seasonally adjusted 0.2 percent on month in August. That was beneath expectations for an increase of 0.3 percent following the 0.2 percent contraction in July.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 76374.93, down by 569.35 points or 0.74% after trading in a range of 76135.72 and 76532.93. There were 4 stocks advancing against 26 stocks declining on the index.

The few gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Utilities up by 1.09%, Telecom up by 0.29%, Energy up by 0.24% and Power up by 0.18%, while Auto down by 2.79%, Consumer Disc down by 1.71%, Capital Goods down by 1.42%, Consumer Durables down by 1.41% and Realty down by 1.34% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Adani Ports & SEZ up by 1.11%, Power Grid up by 0.85%, NTPC up by 0.55% and ITC up by 0.54%. On the flip side, Mahindra & Mahindra down by 2.72%, Interglobe Aviation down by 2.60%, Asian Paints down by 1.95%, Maruti Suzuki India down by 1.89% and Ultratech Cement down by 1.75% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, the government of India has raised the rate of special additional excise duty (SAED) along with road and infrastructure cess on export of diesel to Rs 25 per litre from Rs 24 a litre. Further, the duty on petrol exports has been hiked to Rs 1.5 per litre, up from zero earlier. In contrast, government has reduced the SAED on export of aviation turbine fuel (ATF) to Rs 19 per litre, from Rs 19.5 per litre earlier. 

The Finance Ministry has notified that the duty hikes will be effective from September 1. It has also said that there is no change in the existing duty rates on petrol and diesel cleared for domestic consumption. Amid escalating tensions in West Asia, the government has imposed an export duty on diesel and ATF on March 27 and revised the rate every fortnight. Beginning May 16, the levy was imposed on petrol exports.

The windfall tax was levied to increase domestic availability of the fuel amid the war in West Asia. It was also aimed at preventing exporters from taking undue advantage due to price differences as global crude oil prices had increased since the war began. The windfall tax was intended to ensure domestic availability of petroleum products by disincentivising exports amid the West Asia crisis.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 23847.90, down by 207.90 points or 0.86% after trading in a range of 23786.80 and 23896.05. There were 8 stocks advancing against 42 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Coal India up by 4.08%, Adani Ports & SEZ up by 1.28%, Power Grid up by 1.23%, Adani Enterprises up by 0.81% and ITC up by 0.73%. On the flip side, Eicher Motors down by 5.45%, Mahindra & Mahindra down by 3.08%, Bajaj Auto down by 2.92%, Shriram Finance down by 2.55% and Interglobe Aviation down by 2.50% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in red; Jakarta Composite plunged 20.16 points or 0.31% to 6,579.78, KOSPI dropped 273.08 points or 4.16% to 6,562.72, Taiwan Weighted lost 784 points or 1.7% to 46,164.72, Hang Seng declined 83.73 points or 0.33% to 25,246.00, Nikkei 225 slipped 1744.34 points or 2.71% to 64,471.00 and Shanghai Composite weakened 38.5 points or 0.97% to 3,941.39, while Straits Times rose 12.23 points or 0.21% to 5,722.60.