Sensex, Nifty trim losses

Key indices trimmed losses in early afternoon trade. At 12:25 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was down 136.19 points or 0.37% at 36,333.24. The Nifty 50 index was down 41.85 points or 0.38% at 10,851.80.

Mixed cues from other Asian stocks spoiled investors sentiment. Key indices opened lower and were hovering in narrow band in morning trade. Key indices were trading near day's low in mid-morning trade.

Among secondary barometers, the BSE Mid-Cap index was down 0.75%. The BSE Small-Cap index was down 0.93%.

The market breadth, indicating the overall health of the market, was negative. On BSE, 674 shares rose and 1550 shares fell. A total of 136 shares were unchanged.

Bajaj Auto rose 2.09% after the company reported 15% growth in its total vehicles sales to 4.07 lakh units in January 2019 over January 2018. Total domestic sales rose 14% to 2.31 lakh units, while total exports rose 16% to 1.75 lakh units in January 2019 over January 2018. The announcement was made during market hours today, 4 February 2019.

Oil sector stocks were mixed. Among public sector oil marketing companies, HPCL (down 2.37%), BPCL (down 0.32%) and Indian Oil Corporation (down 0.11%), edged lower.

Among oil exploration companies, Oil India (up 0.32%), Reliance Industries (up 0.95%) and ONGC (up 2.60%), edged higher.

Power sector shares declined. Reliance Power (down 28.65%), Reliance Infrastructure (down 14.97%), Adani Power (down 10.41%), Jaiprakash Power Ventures (down 4.3%), Torrent Power (down 3.28%), Tata Power (down 1.75%), CESC (down 1.73%), GMR Infrastructure (down 1.66%), NHPC (down 1.19%) and NTPC (down 0.96%), edged lower. JSW Energy was up 0.15%.

State-run Coal India was down 0.65%. State-run Power Grid Corporation of India was down 1.21%.

On the economic front, the total gross GST revenue collected in the month of January 2019 stood at Rs 1,02,503 crore, of which CGST is Rs 17,763 crore, SGST is Rs 24,826 crore, IGST is Rs 51,225 crore (including Rs 24,065 crore collected on imports) and Cess is Rs 8,690 crore (including Rs 902 crore collected on imports). In FY 2018-2019, it is for the third time that GST revenue collection has crossed one lakh crore. The total number of GSTR 3B Returns filed for the month of December up to 31 January 2019 is 73.3 lakh.

The government has settled Rs 18,344 crore to CGST and Rs 14,677 crore to SGST from IGST as regular settlement. The total revenue earned by Central Government and the State Governments after regular settlement in the month of December, 2018 is Rs 36,107 crore for CGST and Rs 39,503 crore for the SGST.

The collection in January 2019 is a significant increase from the collection of Rs 94,725 crore in December 2018, which was a decline from Rs 97,637 crore in November and Rs 1,00,710 crore in October. January 2019 collections are 14% above the January 2018 collections of Rs 89,825 crore. This jump has been achieved despite various tax reductions having come into force that provided major relief to the consumers. The gross GST collections over the last three-month period has been 14% higher than the corresponding period last year, Ministry of Finance said in a statement on 2 February 2019.

Overseas, Asian markets were mixed on Monday. China's financial markets are closed all week for the Lunar New Year holiday.

US stocks managed to close mostly higher Friday after an unexpectedly strong January jobs report. The US economy created 304,000 new jobs in January. At the same time, job growth for December was reduce by 90,000, somewhat blunting the impact of the headline number.

Among other data in the US, the ISM manufacturing index's final reading for January came in at 56.6%, above the initial reading of 54.1%. The IHS Markit final US manufacturing purchasing managers index reading came in at 54.9 in January, up from 53.8 in December.

The University of Michigan raised its reading of consumer sentiment for January from an initial print of 90.7 to 91.2. That compares to a 98.3 reading for December and was the worst final reading since Donald Trump was elected president.

Construction spending rose in November, up 0.8% from October to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $1.2 trillion, the Commerce Department said Friday morning in a release that was delayed due to the government shutdown.

Powered by Capital Market - Live News