Post Session: Quick Review

Indian equity benchmarks ended lower on Friday. Markets made a cautious start, as breaking all records, India has recorded a massive surge of 131,893 Covid-19 cases in the last 24 hours. With this, India's tally now stands at 13,057,954, Worldometer showed. Active cases are nearing the 1-million mark. India is now the 4th-worst hit country in terms of active cases. In morning deals, markets traded in green, taking support with Crisil Ratings’ report that after eight quarters of either decline or single-digit growth, corporate revenue grew in high double-digits of 15-17 per cent in the March quarter of FY21 to Rs 6.9 lakh crore, partly because of the low base and better realisation due to higher commodity prices, pushing up their operating profits by a much higher 28-30 per cent.

But, in afternoon deals, key indices turned volatile and added more losses in the second half of the trading session to end the day in red terrain. Sentiments over the street remained negative, as some concerns came with ICRA Ratings’ report that an unabated increase in the COVID cases is likely to bring about fears of harsher lockdowns, which could impact the asset quality of retail loans especially for unsecured loans such as in the microfinance sector. It said this, in turn, would impact the fund-raising ability of the NBFCs and HFCs through securitisation of their assets.

Traders overlooked report that Moody's Investors Service has said that high-frequency alternative data indicates a strong rebound in economic activity even as infection rates rise and restrictive measures remain in place across many countries. New infections are spiking again across 13 of the G-20 countries. Nevertheless, the number of fatalities has decreased in recent weeks as vaccinations gather pace. Traders also ignored Ministry of Finance latest report stating that provisional Direct Tax collections for the Financial Year 2020-21 show growth of almost 5%, as net collections are at Rs. 9.45 lakh crore. The net Direct Tax collections include Corporation Tax (CIT) at Rs. 4.57 lakh crore and Personal Income Tax (PIT) including Security Transaction Tax (STT) at Rs. 4.88 lakh crore.

On the global front, European markets were trading mostly in red as investors absorbed the latest comments from Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell, and fresh data showing inflationary pressures on the rise in China. Asian markets ended mostly lower on Friday, after consumer prices in China were up 0.4 percent on year in March. The National Bureau of Statistics said that exceeded expectations for an increase of 0.3 percent following the 0.2 percent contraction in the previous month. On a monthly basis, inflation sank 0.5 percent - shy of forecasts for a decline of 0.4 percent after jumping 0.6 percent in February. The bureau also said that producer prices jumped 4.4 percent on year in March - beating expectations for an increase of 3.5 percent and up sharply from the 1.7 percent gain a month earlier.

The BSE Sensex ended at 49591.32, down by 154.89 points or 0.31% after trading in a range of 49461.01 and 49906.91. There were 13 stocks advancing against 17 stocks declining on the index. (Provisional)

The broader indices ended mixed; the BSE Mid cap index was down by 0.08%, while Small cap index was up by 0.69%. (Provisional)

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Healthcare up by 2.32%, FMCG up by 0.90%, Consumer Durables up by 0.58%, IT up by 0.56% and TECK up by 0.42%, while Metal down by 1.11%, Power down by 1.10%, Bankex down by 0.82%, Capital Goods down by 0.72% and Realty down by 0.69% were the top losing indices on BSE. (Provisional)

The top gainers on the Sensex were Sun Pharma up by 3.69%, Hindustan Unilever up by 2.51%, Tech Mahindra up by 2.37%, Dr. Reddy’s Lab up by 1.48% and Titan Co up by 1.14%. On the flip side, Bajaj Finance down by 3.12%, Ultratech Cement down by 2.16%, NTPC down by 1.95%, Axis Bank down by 1.94% and ICICI Bank down by 1.79% were the top losers. (Provisional)

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Finance in its latest report has said that provisional Direct Tax collections for the Financial Year 2020-21 show growth of almost 5%, as net collections are at Rs. 9.45 lakh crore. The net Direct Tax collections include Corporation Tax (CIT) at Rs. 4.57 lakh crore and Personal Income Tax (PIT) including Security Transaction Tax(STT) at Rs. 4.88 lakh crore. The net Direct Tax collections represent 104.46% of the Revised Estimates of Rs. 9.05 lakh crore of Direct Taxes for the FY 2020-21.

As per the report, the gross collection of Direct Taxes (before adjusting for refunds) for the FY 2020-21 stands at Rs. 12.06 lakh crore. This includes Corporation Tax (CIT) at Rs. 6.31 lakh crore and Personal Income Tax (PIT) including Security Transaction Tax(STT) at Rs. 5.75 lakh crore; Advance Tax of Rs. 4.95 lakh crore; Tax Deducted at Source (including Central TDS) of Rs. 5.45 lakh crore; Self-Assessment Tax of Rs. 1.07 lakh crore; Regular Assessment Tax of Rs. 42,372 crore; Dividend Distribution Tax of Rs. 13,237 crore and Tax under other minor heads of Rs. 2,612 crore.

The Ministry of Finance further noted that despite an extremely challenging year, the Advance Tax collections for FY 2020-21 stand at Rs. 4.95 lakh crore which shows a growth of approximately 6.7% over the Advance Tax collections of the immediately preceding Financial Year of Rs. 4.64 lakh crore.

The CNX Nifty ended at 14834.85, down by 38.95 points or 0.26% after trading in a range of 14785.65 and 14918.45. There were 23 stocks advancing against 27 stocks declining on the index. (Provisional)

The top gainers on Nifty were Cipla up by 4.88%, Sun Pharma up by 3.66%, Hindustan Unilever up by 2.74%, Tech Mahindra up by 2.33% and Wipro up by 1.81%. On the flip side, Bajaj Finance down by 3.13%, UPL down by 2.56%, NTPC down by 2.10%, Ultratech Cement down by 2.09% and Tata Steel down by 2.06% were the top losers. (Provisional)

European markets were trading mostly in red, UK’s FTSE 100 decreased 33.21 points or 0.48% to 6,909.01 and Germany’s DAX was down by 29.47 points or 0.19% to 15,173.21. On the flip side, France’s CAC was up by 6.39 points or 0.1% to 6,172.11.

Asian markets ended mostly lower on Friday, despite gains on Wall Street overnight with optimism over the global economic recovery. Chinese shares ended lower as rising Chinese inflation data stoked worries about further tightening of monetary policy. Data from the National Bureau of Statistics showed that Consumer prices in China were up 0.4 percent year-on-year in March. That exceeded expectations for an increase of 0.3 percent following the 0.2 percent contraction in the previous month. While, producer prices jumped an annual 4.4 percent in March - beating expectations for an increase of 3.5 percent and up sharply from the 1.7 percent gain a month earlier. Though, Japanese shares ended higher with expectations for a robust earnings season.