IGI Logo

Indian equities continued their lackadaisical trade in red in afternoon session on the back of persistent selling pressure in frontline counters. The nervousness in the markets was on account of rising in crude oil prices and fast-paced events in the Ukraine crisis. Sentiments were downbeat as S&P Global Ratings in its report said rising commodity prices, further triggered by the Russia-Ukraine war, could moderate healthy recovery of the country’s economy, and put pressure on the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to normalise its monetary policy faster than anticipated. Traders were also worried as foreign institutional investors (FIIs) remained net sellers in the capital market as they sold shares worth Rs 1,740.71 crore on Thursday, exchange data showed. On the global front, Asian stock markets were trading mixed after Western governments promised new sanctions on Russia and President Vladimir Putin tried to prop up Moscow's sinking ruble by threatening to require Europe to use it to pay for gas exports.

Back home, stocks from consumer durables, fast moving consumer goods and auto space continued to languish in red while telecom, realty and oil and shares were restricting further slide in the markets. The market breadth on the BSE remained weak; the losers thrashed the gainers in a ratio of 1817:1459while 131 shares were unchanged.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 57267.60, down by 328.08 points or 0.57% after trading in a range of 57249.97 and 57845.37. 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 0.25%, while Small cap index was down by 0.19%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Telecom up by 0.51%, Realty up by 0.29%, Oil & Gas up by 0.22% and Energy was up by 0.15%, while Consumer Durables down by 2.04%, FMCG down by 1.07%, Auto down by 0.80%, Capital Goods down by 0.79% and Healthcare was down by 0.66% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Reliance Industries up by 0.64%, Bharti Airtel up by 0.31%, Kotak Mahindra Bank up by 0.28% and SBI was up by 0.20%. On the flip side, Titan Co down by 3.38%, Maruti Suzuki down by 2.02%, Power Grid down by 1.80%, Nestle down by 1.48% and ITC was down by 1.39% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, government has proposed to tighten the norms for taxation of cryptocurrencies by disallowing set off of any losses with gains from other virtual digital assets. As per the amendments to the Finance Bill, 2022, circulated among the Lok Sabha members, the ministry proposes to remove the word 'other' from section relating to set off of losses from gains in virtual digital assets. This would mean that loss from the transfer of virtual digital assets (VDA) will not be allowed to be set off against the income arising from the transfer of another VDA.

According to the Finance Bill, 2022, a VDA could be a code or number or token which can be transferred, stored or traded electronically. The VDAs will include prevailing cryptocurrencies and non-fungible tokens (NFTs) which has gained fad over the past couple of years. The 2022-23 Budget has brought in clarity concerning the levy of income tax on crypto assets. From April 1, a 30 per cent I-T plus cess and surcharges, will be levied on such transactions in the same manner as it treats winnings from horse races or other speculative transactions. Also, while computing the income from transfer of VDA, no deduction in respect of any expenditure (other than the cost of acquisition) or allowance will be allowed.

The Budget 2022-23 also proposed a 1 per cent TDS on payments towards virtual currencies beyond Rs 10,000 in a year and taxation of such gifts in the hands of the recipient. The threshold limit for TDS would be Rs 50,000 a year for specified persons, which include individuals/HUFs who are required to get their accounts audited under the I-T Act. The provisions related to 1 per cent TDS will come into effect from July 1, 2022, while the gains will be taxed effective April 1.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 17126.05, down by 96.70 points or 0.56% after trading in a range of 17119.30 and 17294.90. There were 9 stocks advancing against 41 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Bajaj Auto up by 1.82%, Reliance Industries up by 0.56%, UPL up by 0.52%, JSW Steel up by 0.46% and Bharti Airtel was up by 0.31%. On the flip side, Titan Company down by 3.49%, Cipla down by 2.13%, Maruti Suzuki down by 2.08%, Power Grid Corp down by 1.80% and Nestle was down by 1.56% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mixed; Shanghai Composite declined 29.90 points or 0.92% to 3,220.36, Hang Seng decreased 499.56 points or 2.28% to 21,446.39, Taiwan Weighted dropped 22.11 points or 0.12% to 17,676.95 and Jakarta Composite was down by 60.57 points or 0.86% to 6,989.12.

On the flip side, KOSPI rose 0.41 points or 0.02% to 2,730.07, Nikkei 225 surged 39.45 points or 0.14% to 28,149.84 and Straits Times was up by 14.88 points or 0.44% to 3,414.58.

Above views are of the author and not of the website kindly read disclaimer