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Bloodbath continued at Dalal Street as market-participants increasingly growing wary of relentless slide, are squaring off position in every possible stock they hold amid fears of aggressive interest rate by U.S. Federal Reserve later this week. May consumer inflation hit a fresh 40-year high of 8.6 per cent in the US. The partially convertible rupee fell to a record low of 78.14 against the US dollar on stronger demand. Traders were worried as rupee depreciation fuels inflation, increases import bill and current account deficit, increases the government’s spending on fuel subsidies, potentially widening the fiscal deficit. The market sentiment was also affected adversely by data showing that foreign funds remained net sellers of Indian stocks on Friday. Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) were net sellers in the capital market as they offloaded shares worth Rs 3,973.95 crore, exchange data showed. On the global front, all the Asian equity indices were trading in the red after Fresh Covid-19 outbreaks in Shanghai and Beijing have also seen authorities reimpose containment measures soon after lifting them, leading to fears about the world's economy. Back home, the market breadth on BSE was dominantly in favor of declines in the ratio of 2697:647 while 130 scrips remained unchanged.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 52888.55, down by 1414.89 points or 2.61% after trading in a range of 52734.98 and 53207.54. There were 4 stocks advancing against 26 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in red; the BSE Mid cap index lost 2.16%, while Small cap index was down by 2.33%.

The top losing sectoral indices on the BSE were IT down by 3.35%, Bankex down by 3.22%, TECK down by 3.02%, Metal down by 2.93%, Industrials down by 2.71%, while there were no gaining sectoral indices on the BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Nestle up by 0.47%, Hindustan Unilever up by 0.28%, Maruti Suzuki up by 0.12% and Power Grid was up by 0.04%. On the flip side, Bajaj Finserv down by 5.90%, Bajaj Finance down by 5.22%, Indusind Bank down by 5.17%, ICICI Bank down by 4.74% and Tech Mahindra was down by 4.31% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) Chairman Sangeeta Singh has said that the number of income tax returns has increased in FY22 over the previous fiscal. She noted that the number of income tax returns was 7.14 crore in FY22 as against 6.9 crore in the preceding financial year, showing a clear growth. She also said there is an increase in the base of taxpayers and the filing of revised returns.

The chairman stated that the Board is witnessing an increase in tax collection, which usually happens if the country is showing an upward trend in economic growth, and added that if the economic activities are going high, the purchases and sales will also increase. She noted that unless the economy is on an upward trend, taxes cannot go on an upward trend.

Singh said secondly, the department is also seeing growth in the payment of taxes because of the initiative and call by the government about digital India and added that during the COVID-19 period, people have started paying more digitally, which is probably leading to a change in the minds of the people. She said the initiative of providing information to the taxpayers is also contributing to the awareness about paying their taxes on time.  She said ‘we have also undertaken large-scale digitalisation over the years.’ As per the chairman, for FY22, the tax collection is more than Rs 14 lakh crore, which is fairly good compared to the collection for FY20.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 15804.10, down by 397.70 points or 2.45% after trading in a range of 15749.90 and 15886.15. There were 7 stocks advancing against 43 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Nestle up by 0.47%, Hindustan Unilever up by 0.40%, Eicher Motors up by 0.37%, Maruti Suzuki up by 0.18% and Power Grid was up by 0.16%. On the flip side, Bajaj Finserv down by 5.87%, Hindalco down by 5.17%, Bajaj Finance down by 5.08%, Indusind Bank down by 5.08% and ICICI Bank was down by 4.62% were the top losers.

All Asian markets were trading lower; Taiwan Weighted dropped 389.14 points or 2.36% to 16,070.98, KOSPI fell 91.36 points or 3.52% to 2,504.51, Straits Times trembled 30.46 points or 0.96% to 3,151.27, Jakarta Composite lost 152.29 points or 2.15% to 6,934.36, Nikkei 225 slipped 836.85 points or 3.01% to 26,987.44, Hang Seng decreased 721.36 points or 3.31% to 21,084.82 and Shanghai Composite was down by 37.18 points or 1.13% to 3,247.65.

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