Indian equity benchmarks made slightly negative start of holiday-shortened week following a muted trend in the Asian peers, in the absence of any major domestic trigger. Markets hovering near neutral lines and now are trading in red due to selling in Telecom, Consumer Durables and Energy stocks and ahead of the WPI data to be released later in the day. Traders were cautious as a private report stated that it is highly unlikely that India will become a $5 trillion economy by 2024-25 due to the slowdown caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Besides, India recorded 33,221 new Covid-19 cases and 421 deaths in the past 24 hours, taking its tally to 32,225,175 and the death toll to 431,674. Though, downside remained capped as the data released by the commerce ministry showed that the country's exports surged 49.85 per cent to $35.43 billion in July on account of healthy growth in petroleum, engineering, and gems and jewellery segments, even as the trade deficit widened to $10.97 billion during the month.
On the global front, most of the Asian markets are trading lower ignoring the broadly positive cues from Wall Street on Friday, as data showing a significant drop in U.S. consumer sentiment, China's regulatory curbs, sinking crude oil prices and concerns about the impact of surging cases of the Delta variant of the coronavirus in the region is weighing on investor sentiment and rendering the mood cautious.
Back home, aviation stocks were in focus as the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) said around 50.07 lakh domestic passengers travelled by air in July, 61 per cent higher than the 31.13 lakh who travelled in June. In scrip specific development, Vodafone Idea slipped as the debt-ridden private telecom company posted a lower consolidated loss of Rs 7,319 crore for the first quarter ended on June 30, 2021, against Rs 25,460 crore loss in the same quarter a year ago. However, Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC) gained as its net profit soared by nearly 800 per cent in the first quarter of the current fiscal after more than doubling of oil prices compensated for a fall in production.
The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 55304.42, down by 132.87 points or 0.24% after trading in a range of 55281.02 and 55514.00. There were 11 stocks advancing against 19 stocks declining on the index.
The broader indices were trading in red; the BSE Mid cap index lost 0.14%, while Small cap index was down by 0.54%.
The few gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Realty up by 0.57%, Oil & Gas up by 0.25%, IT up by 0.12%, Metal up by 0.05%, while Telecom down by 0.93%, Consumer Durables down by 0.78%, Energy down by 0.48%, Power down by 0.48%, Consumer discretionary down by 0.46% were the top losing indices on BSE.
The top gainers on the Sensex were Tata Steel up by 1.32%, Mahindra & Mahindra up by 1.01%, NTPC up by 0.55%, Bajaj Finserv up by 0.43% and TCS up by 0.32%. On the flip side, Bajaj Auto down by 1.46%, Power Grid down by 1.25%, Titan Company down by 0.98%, Maruti Suzuki down by 0.84% and Asian Paints down by 0.82% were the top losers.
Meanwhile, the government has notified the Rebate of State and Central Taxes and Levies (RoSCTL) scheme for textiles exporters and said the duty credit scrips under this support measure would be issued without insisting on realisation of the export proceeds. The Cabinet approved the continuation of the RoSCTL scheme under which garment exporters will continue to get a rebate on central and state taxes on their outward shipments till March 2024.
The notification said the adequate safeguard mechanism would be put in place for effective monitoring of realisation of the export proceeds. It added to ensure that expenditure under the scheme does not exceed the allocation amount in a particular financial year, the expenditure and liability shall be reviewed on a quarterly basis.
It said that for the purpose of audit and verification, the exporter would be required to keep records to substantiate their claims made under the scheme. And, the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) would put a monitoring and audit mechanism, with an information technology-based risk management system (RMS), in place. The textiles ministry will conduct an annual impact analysis of the scheme.
The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 16489.90, down by 39.20 points or 0.24% after trading in a range of 16481.60 and 16550.75. There were 15 stocks advancing against 34 stocks declining, while 1 stock remained unchanged on the index.
The top gainers on Nifty were ONGC up by 1.55%, Tata Steel up by 1.29%, Grasim Industries up by 1.15%, Adani Ports & SEZ up by 1.11% and Mahindra & Mahindra up by 1.07%. On the flip side, Bajaj Auto down by 1.39%, Power Grid down by 1.24%, Titan Co down by 0.97%, Maruti Suzuki down by 0.90% and Hero MotoCorp down by 0.83% were the top losers.
Asian markets are trading mostly in red; Nikkei 225 slipped 519.18 points or 1.86% to 27,457.97, Straits Times fell 10.75 points or 0.34% to 3,154.74, Hang Seng lost 217.59 points or 0.82% to 26,174.03, Taiwan Weighted declined 165.78 points or 0.98% to 16,816.33 and Jakarta Composite slipped 66.60 points or 1.08% to 6,072.89, while Shanghai Composite was up by 12.84 points or 0.37% to 3,529.14.