Sensex Ends Day in Red; Emergency Declared in Sri Lanka

Tue, 6 Mar Closing

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After opening the day in green, share markets in India traded flat throughout the day and ended the day on a negative note. Losses were seen across most sectors with stocks in the realty sector and stocks in the banking sector, leading the losses.

At the closing bell, the BSE Sensex stood lower by 430 points (down 1.3%) and the NSE Nifty closed down by 110 points (down 1%). The BSE Mid Cap index ended the day down 0.8%, while the BSE Small Cap index ended the day down by 1.3%.

Asian stock markets finished in green. As of the most recent closing prices, the Hang Seng was up by 2.1% and the Shanghai Composite was up by 1%. The Nikkei 225 was up by 1.8%. Meanwhile, European markets, too were trading on a positive note. The FTSE 100 was up by 0.9%, The DAX, was up by 1.7% while the CAC 40 was up by 0.7%.

The rupee was trading at Rs 65.11 against the US$ in the afternoon session. Oil prices were trading at US$ 64.67 at the time of writing.

In news about the economy. According to a leading financial daily, the government is set to receive over Rs 100 billion as interim dividend from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).

As per reports, the amount has been calculated for the six months through Dec 31 as RBI's financial year runs from July to June.

The RBI had paid Rs 306 billion worth of dividend to the government in August 2017. The amount was almost half the normal rate, as the RBI cited costs related to demonetisation for the lower figure.

The central banker had earlier declined requests from the government for an additional payment after the dividend payout dropped to a five year low.

However an interim dividend worth Rs 100 billion looks to be on the cards.

Steady Decline in Fiscal Deficit Over the Years

The added revenue from the RBI could boost the government's chances of meeting its fiscal deficit target.

The government missed its previous fiscal deficit target for FY18 by 30 basis points. Against a target of 3.2%, the government managed to keep fiscal deficit at 3.5% in FY18. It has also outlined the projected fiscal deficit target of 3.3% in FY19 in its budget.

Maintaining this deficit target in FY19 won't be easy. Fiscal deficit basically means the amount a government earns minus the amount it has to spend. The lesser the fiscal deficit, the better the government has performed.

In the past, the government has relied on reducing expenditure to keep the fiscal deficit in check.

For the next year, the government is banking on earning much more than it has in the past. It expects a major portion of the revenue to be collected through GST tax collections. Also, the recent rise in crude oil prices has cast a doubt over how much the government will be to curb its spending. It also needs to revive the economy from the shock of Notebandi.

The dual pressure of increasing expenditure and lower inflows makes this FY19 deficit target an uphill challenge.

Moving on to news from stocks in the banking sector. Axis Bank share price ended the day lower today after the RBI slapped a Rs 30 million penalty on the bank.

The banking regulator fined the bank for violation of non-performing asset (NPA) classification norms. The regulator said it found discrepancies in the lenders assessment of non-performing assets which warranted a monetary penalty.

Axis Bank which is currently struggling under the burden of its legacy infrastructure loans reported divergence of Rs 56.3 billion for FY17 while this number was at Rs 94.8 billion for FY16.

The regulator in its statement also said that its action was based on deficiencies in regulatory compliance. It also said that the action by the regulator does not cast any view on the validity of any transaction or agreement entered into by the bank with its customers.

However, Axis Bank is not the only bank to have been penalised by the RBI for divergences in NPA classification. Last October, Yes Bank was slapped with a Rs 60 million fine for the same reason.

Axis Bank share price closed the day down by 1.3%.

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