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Indian equity benchmarks failed to hold intraday gains in a choppy session and closed the session in red terrain on Tuesday, as global cues turned bearish. Domestic benchmark indices started trade in the positive territory, as traders took encouragement with Minister of State for Finance Pankaj Chaudhary’s statement the net direct tax collection grew nearly 68 per cent during April 1 to November 23 to more than Rs 6.92 lakh crore. Some support came in as India Ratings expects the economy to grow 8.3 per cent in Q2 and close the year with 9.4 per cent in FY'22. Buying further crept in with Crisil Ratings in its latest report stated that after weathering multiple challenges over the past three fiscals, asset under management (AUM) of non-banking financial companies' (NBFCs) and housing finance companies (HFCs) is set to grow 8-10 percent in the fiscal 2023, helped by improvement in economic activity and strengthened balance sheet buffers. Some optimism also came in with private report that ‘data was expected to show that India's economic recovery strengthened in the July-September quarter, helped by a pick-up in consumer spending, though the spread of the Omicron coronavirus variant raised fears for the future’.

However, the markets saw selling pressure towards fag-end of the session, as investors awaited gross domestic product (GDP) data that is expected to show the country's economic recovery strengthened in the second quarter. Traders remained cautious amid report that seven people arrived from South Africa in Maharashtra’s Thane city adjoining Mumbai since November 14 and all of them were tested in the wake of concerns over the new potentially more transmissible 'Omicron' variant of the coronavirus. Some cautiousness also crept in as Moody’s Analytics said the Omicron variant of COVID-19 adds new uncertainties to the global economic outlook but much will depend on its speed of transmission, hospitalization and death rates, and also the effectiveness of vaccines.

On the global front, Asian markets ended mostly lower on Tuesday, while European markets were trading lower as panic and anxiety stemming from the Omicron variant of coronavirus reverberated in trading sentiment. Comments by vaccine maker Moderna's CEO on the efficacy of vaccines against the highly mutated variant rattled stock market sentiment worldwide. Back home, on the sectoral front, aviation industry stocks were in focus as the government said investments worth Rs 91,000 crore will be made for developing existing and new airports in different parts of the country, as several measures are being taken to boost the civil aviation sector. Insurance industry’s stocks too were in limelight as rating agency Icra said the life insurance industry has seen muted growth of 4 per cent in new business premiums (NBP) so far, it is expected to close the financial year (FY22) with 14 per cent growth in NBP, backed a pick-up in business in the second half of the fiscal.

Finally, the BSE Sensex fell 195.71 points or 0.34% to 57,064.87 and the CNX Nifty was down by 70.75 points or 0.41% to 16,983.20. 

The BSE Sensex touched high and low of 58,183.77 and 56,867.51, respectively and there were 13 stocks advancing against 17 stocks declining on the index.    

The broader indices ended in green; the BSE Mid cap index rose 0.29%, while Small cap index was up by 1.45%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Consumer Durables up by 2.26%, IT up by 0.95%, Realty up by 0.69%, TECK up by 0.56% and Consumer Discretionary up by 0.49%, while Metal down by 2.34%, Energy down by 1.04%, Bankex down by 0.85%, Auto down by 0.85% and Telecom down by 0.71% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Power Grid Corporation up by 3.43%, Titan Company up by 2.18%, Bajaj Finserv up by 1.98%, Nestle up by 1.33% and Bajaj Finance up by 1.27%. On the flip side, Tata Steel down by 3.87%, Kotak Mahindra Bank down by 2.87%, Bajaj Auto down by 1.72%, Mahindra & Mahindra down by 1.62% and Bharti Airtel down by 1.48% were the top losers.  

Meanwhile, Minister of State for Finance Pankaj Chaudhary has said the net direct tax collection grew nearly 68 per cent during April 1 to November 23, 2021. He stated the Net Direct Tax Collection figures for the FY- 2021-22 as on November 23, 2021 are at Rs 6,92,833.6 crore showing a growth of 67.93 per cent and 27.29 per cent over the net collection figures for the corresponding period FY2020-21 and FY 2019-20.

The net collection between April 1 - November 23 in 2020-21 and 2019-20 fiscals was over Rs 4.12 lakh crore and over Rs 5.44 lakh crore respectively. The gross direct tax collection (before adjusting refunds) as of November 23 stood at over Rs 8.15 lakh crore, a 48.11 growth over the collections in the corresponding period in last fiscal.

Besides, he said that the gross GST collection in the current fiscal (April 2021-March'22) post Covid-19 outbreak is showing an increasing trend. The gross GST collection for full 2020-21 ended March 2021 was over Rs 11.36 lakh crore, while the same in the current fiscal till October stood at Rs 8.10 lakh crore.

The CNX Nifty traded in a range of 17,324.65 and 16,931.40 and there were 22 stocks advancing against 28 stocks declining on the index.    

The top gainers on Nifty were Power Grid Corporation up by 3.12%, Shree Cement up by 3.07%, Bajaj Finserv up by 2.07%, Titan Company up by 2.01% and Tata Consumer Products up by 1.96%.  On the flip side, Tata Steel down by 4.01%, Kotak Mahindra Bank down by 3.10%, JSW Steel down by 2.69%, Adani Ports &SEZ down by 2.65% and Bajaj Auto down by 2.07% were the top losers.

European markets were trading lower; UK’s FTSE 100 decreased 80.57 points or 1.13% to 7,029.38, France’s CAC decreased 80.10 points or 1.18% to 6,696.15 and Germany’s DAX decreased 195.39 points or 1.28% to 15,085.47.

Asian markets ended mostly lower on Tuesday after a warning from drugmaker Moderna CEO that existing Covid-19 vaccines would be less effective against the Omicron variant than they have been against the Delta variant. South Korean shares declined on disappointing factory output data and continuance of corona virus curbs. However, Chinese shares ended up as a jump in manufacturing PMI curbed hopes of policy easing. The official manufacturing Purchasing Manager’s Index (PMI) was at 50.1 in November, up from 49.2 in October.

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