Indian equity markets see another day of volatility

24 Mar 2023 , 04:28 PM

Indian equity markets saw a day of volatility today. Selling pressure increased in last 90 minutes of trading. Nifty 50 closed, down by 131.85 points. Sensex closed, down by 398.18 points. Top Gainers today were Cipla, Kotak Bank, Apollo Hospitals. Top Losers today were Bajaj Finserv, Bajaj Finance, Tata Steel. 

Stocks of Asset Management companies such as Bajaj Finserv came under selling pressure because of a new amendment in the Financial Bill FY 24, that has been tabled in the Parliament today. This amendment proposes to end long term capital gain preferential taxation and indexation on debt mutual fund schemes. So after the Parliament passes this amendment, all gains on debt mutual funds, that have less than 35% holdings of equity, will be treated as short term capital gains. This means that they will no longer be taxed at the preferential rate of 20%, if the gains were made after a holding period of 3 years.  Indexation or increasing the cost of purchase to factor in inflation rate, while calculating gains, will also not apply after this amendment.

All the main indices ended the day in red. Selling pressure was seen in many small cap and micro-cap stocks. Many Media stocks, Metal stocks, and PSU bank stocks came under selling pressure today. Idea, Yes Bank and Zomato were the most traded stocks today at NSE, in terms of volume. HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, and Adani Green were the most traded stocks, in terms of value. 24 stocks touched new 52-week high today at NSE. 237 stocks touched new 52-week low. Market breadth was negative.