Tax woes spook market; Sensex Nifty erase 2016 gains

Mon Dec 26 2016
Rajesh Sharma (2049 articles)
Tax woes spook market; Sensex Nifty erase 2016 gains

As tax worries loomed large Sensex and Nifty tested their 52-week lows in intra-day trade even though Finance Minister Arun Jaitley tried to calm frayed nerves. PM Narendra Modi’s statement that those who make money from the markets are not paying their fair share in taxes made investors nervous.Markets slipped in trade today erasing all the gains made so far in 2016. The Nifty is now negative for 2016 erasing all gains made so far this year and also ending at its lowest level in 2016. Midcaps got battered in trade.

The 50-share index ended at 7-month closing low, below Brexit day low of 7927 Monday. The Nifty ended lower in 12 of 18 sessions this month, most since March 2015.

The Sensex and Nifty erased 2016 gains with the Sensex now down over 1 percent while Nifty is down 0.5 percent for the year. The Nifty ended down 72.55 points or 0.9 percent at 7913.20 while the Sensex was down 220.60 points or 0.8 percent at 25820.10.

However market analysts feel that it is not time to panic yet. The market could trend lower, but it is not the time to panic, believes Dipan Mehta, member NSE and BSE.

According to Nilesh Shah of Kotak Mahindra AMC, the market will not decline, forever, so it is time to accumulate stocks that you always wanted to have in the portfolio. It is a pendulum market, so look for companies with good management, good governance, he says.

In an interview with CNBC-TV18 market expert, Ashwani Gujral said that till the announcement of the Union Budget the bears will have a field day.

“There have to be triggers, if there are no triggers,  I as a bear am very confident and do not expect this market to cross 7940-7950. You need to put the fear of God in to bears for the market to go up, so [until that happens] we will keep grinding lower,” he said.

He further added that he won’t be surprised if Nifty falls to 7500-7600 levels, it will be slow but there will be consistent down days as nobody is interested in buying at the moment.

Among stocks, auto, pharma and metals fell the most. Cipla, Tata Motors, Tata Steel, Hero MotoCorp and ONGC were biggest losers in the Sensex.

Shares of Divis Labs fell around 14 percent, hitting 28-month low at Rs 745 per share intraday on regulatory concerns. The stock fell 22 percent on Friday, losing 33 percent in last three days. Analysts say recent US Food and Drug Administration (USFDA) Form 483 shows some serious observations which could potentially escalate to warning letter/import alert. Among gainers were HUL, Reliance and Dr Reddy’s Labs.

Rajesh Sharma

Rajesh Sharma

Rajesh Sharma is Correspondent for Stock Market of South East Asia based in Mumbai. He has been covering Asian markets for more than 5 years.