Post Session: Quick Review

Indian equity benchmarks held gains throughout the day and ended with gains of over half a percent amid value buying by investors. Besides, fear about wider conflict in the Middle East faded out. Traders turned their attention towards Q4FY24 earnings. As for broader indices, the BSE Mid cap index and Small cap index ended with healthy gains.

Markets made positive start and enlarged their gains amid foreign fund inflows. Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) net bought shares worth Rs 129.39 crore on April 19, provisional data from the NSE showed. Sentiments got a boost as  the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) has said that India's net direct tax collections surged by a massive 17.7 per cent year-on-year to Rs 19.58 trillion in the fiscal year ended March 2024, surpassing even revised estimates by a wide margin. Besides, Employees' Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) released its provisional payroll data for February, 2024, indicating a positive trend in employment numbers. Indices continued their firm trade in afternoon session, as sentiments remained positive with Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman’s statement that the Centre has tailored policies to make India an attractive destination for manufacturing and services, and the aim was to produce not just for the domestic market but for exports as well. Traders took a note of report that Ashima Goyal, external member of the central bank's monetary policy committee (MPC), said consumer price index (CPI) inflation does not have to touch the Reserve Bank of India's 4% target, but sustainably move towards that mark for interest rates to be lowered. Markets remained higher till the end of the session, as investors continued to hunt for fundamentally strong stocks.

On the global front, European markets were trading higher as fears of a wider Middle East conflict ebbed and a continued decline on oil prices helped ease concerns around inflation and the outlook for interest rates. Asian markets ended mostly higher as easing geopolitical tensions in the Middle East lifted market sentiment. Back home, Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor Shaktikanta Das stressed that the success in controlling inflation has to be preserved and taken forward to achieve a 4 per cent inflation target on a durable basis.

The BSE Sensex ended at 73,648.62, up by 560.29 points or 0.77% after trading in a range of 73,227.32 and 73,767.80. There were 25 stocks advancing against 5 stocks declining on the index. (Provisional)

The broader indices ended in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.93%, while Small cap index up by 1.26%. (Provisional)

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Consumer Durables up by 2.53%, Industrials up by 1.93%, Capital Goods up by 1.65%, PSU up by 1.28%, Telecom up by 1.17% while, Utilities down by 0.07% were the only losing indices on BSE. (Provisional)

The top gainers on the Sensex were Larsen & Toubro up by 2.67%, Axis Bank up by 2.38%, Bajaj Finance up by 2.36%, Ultratech Cement up by 2.09% and Wipro up by 2.01%. On the flip side, NTPC down by 1.82%, HDFC Bank down by 1.24%, JSW Steel down by 1.17%, Indusind Bank down by 0.46% and Tata Steel down by 0.15% were the top losers. (Provisional)

Meanwhile, the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) has said that India's net direct tax collections surged by a massive 17.7 per cent year-on-year to Rs 19.58 trillion in the fiscal year ended March 2024, surpassing even revised estimates by a wide margin. Net collections of income and corporate taxes, which make up for most of the direct taxes, in 2023-24 financial year exceeded the Budget estimates by Rs 1.35 trillion (7.40 per cent) and the revised estimates by Rs 13,000 crore. The government had raised the target for direct tax collection in FY24 (April 2023 to March 2024) to Rs 19.45 trillion in the interim Budget presented on February 1. With this, the gross tax collection target as per the revised estimate stood at Rs 34.37 trillion for FY24. 

The tax department said that while gross direct tax collections (provisional) for the FY 2023-24 rose 18.48 per cent to Rs 23.37 trillion, net proceeds (after accounting for refunds) surged 17.7 per cent to Rs 19.58 trillion, reflecting buoyancy in the economy and rise in income levels of individuals and corporates. Refunds aggregating to Rs 3.79 trillion have been issued in FY 2023-24. The provisional Direct Tax collections (net of the refunds) have exceeded the Budget Estimate by 7.40 per cent and Revised Estimates by 0.67 per cent. The gross collection (provisional) of Direct Taxes (before adjusting for refunds) for the FY 2023-24 stood at Rs 23.37 trillion, showing a growth of 18.48 per cent over the gross collection of Rs 19.72 trillion in FY 2022-23. The gross corporate tax collection (provisional) in FY 2023-24 was up 13.06 per cent to Rs 11.32 trillion as compared to the gross corporate tax collection of Rs 10 trillion of the preceding year. The Net Corporate Tax collection (provisional) in FY 2023-24 at Rs 9.11 trillion showed a growth of 10.26 per cent over the net corporate tax collection of Rs 8.26 trillion of the preceding year.

It further said the Gross Personal Income Tax collection including Securities Transaction Tax (provisional) in FY 2023-24 at Rs 12.01 trillion was up 24.26 per cent over previous year's collection of Rs 9.67 trillion. The Net Personal Income Tax collection including STT (provisional) in FY 2023-24 at Rs 10.44 trillion showed a growth of 25.23 per cent over preceding fiscal year's figure of Rs 8.33 trillion. Refunds of Rs 3.79 trillion have been issued in the FY 2023-24 showing an increase of 22.74 per cent over the refunds of Rs 3.09 trillion issued in FY 2022-23.

The CNX Nifty ended at 22,336.40, up by 189.40 points or 0.86% after trading in a range of 22,198.15 and 22,375.65. There were 44 stocks advancing against 6 stocks declining on the index. (Provisional)

The top gainers on Nifty were BPCL up by 3.01%, Tata Consumer up by 2.89%, Eicher Motors up by 2.83%, Larsen & Toubro up by 2.68% and Shriram Finance up by 2.46%. On the flip side, NTPC down by 2.18%, HDFC Bank down by 1.25%, JSW Steel down by 1.16%, Indusind Bank down by 0.31% and Tata Steel down by 0.15% were the top losers. (Provisional)

European markets were trading higher; UK’s FTSE 100 increased 110.35 points or 1.38% to 8,006.20, France’s CAC rose 19.39 points or 0.24% to 8,041.80 and Germany’s DAX was up by 98.48 points or 0.55% to 17,835.84. 

Asian market finished mostly higher on Monday, as the kindled by the weakness in crude oil rates, and gold followed by reports of easing tensions in Middle East. Investor sentiments got boosted after People Bank of China left LPR unchanged, solid GDP data and on plans over faster debt restructuring to stem the ailing economy. Nikkei rebounded sharply on softer local currency yen ahead to BoJs policy review. Investors also braced the news that China is to facilitate Hong Kong listings by leading Chinese firms and expand the stock connect cross boarder investment scheme.