Benchmarks continue to trade in green in late morning session

Indian bourses continued to trade in green in late morning session on revival of buying by funds and retail investors after five days of continuous drubbing. Besides, firm global cues coupled with the appreciation in rupee value against the dollar added to the optimistic sentiments. Some support also came with reports that Finance Minister Arun Jaitley will meet his state counterparts to discuss the roadmap for rolling out Goods and Services Tax (GST) from April 2016. The state ministers will discuss amongst themselves various issues relating to the implementation of the new indirect regime.  However, traders remained cautious about weak corporate earnings during the March quarter, slow economic recovery and tax worries.

On global front, Asian stocks were mostly higher after Japan reported its first trade surplus in three years, adding optimism to regional sentiment despite a fall on Wall Street. Further, the recent liquidity push by China's central bank to increase lending and boost economic growth also aided sentiment. Back home, Indian rupee rose seven paise to 62.78 against the US dollar in early trade on sustained selling of the American currency by exporters.

Back on street, stocks from Realty, FMCG and Capital Goods counters were supporting the markets’ uptrend, while those from infrastructure, information technology (IT) and Consumer Durables counters were adding to the underlying cautious undertone. In scrip specific development, shares of Cimmco have surged after the company received an industrial license to manufacture defence items. On the flip side, shares of Wipro declined after the company posted a net profit (standalone) of Rs 2,141.6 crore for the quarter ended March 2015 compared to Rs 2,353.1 crore for the quarter ended March 2014.

The market breadth on BSE was positive, out of 2178 stocks traded, 1314 stocks advanced, while 770 stocks declined on the BSE. 

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 27712.90, up by 36.86 points or 0.13% after trading in a range of 27702.77 and 27827.66. There were 16 stocks advancing against 14 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.09%, while Small cap index up by 0.46%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Realty up by 0.72%, FMCG up by 0.57%, Capital Goods up by 0.54%, Oil & Gas up by 0.36% and Metal up by 0.06% while, IT down by 1.20%, TECK down by 1.13%, INFRA down by 0.60%, Consumer Durables down by 0.37% and Power down by 0.18% were the losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Hindustan Unilever up by 2.39%, Sun Pharma Inds. up by 1.79%, Dr. Reddys Lab up by 1.48%, Hero MotoCorp up by 1.37% and Mahindra & Mahindra up by 1.08%. On the flip side, Wipro down by 4.28%, Hindalco down by 1.19%, Infosys down by 1.14%, Sesa Sterlite down by 1.09% and Bharti Airtel down by 0.89% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has convened a meeting of the Empowered Committee of State Finance Ministers and will be meeting his state counterparts to discuss the roadmap for rolling out Goods and Services Tax (GST) from April 2016. It has been reported that the state ministers will later discuss amongst themselves various issues relating to the implementation of the new indirect regime. Some states have argued that the implementation of GST would be beneficial for consuming states, while for their manufacturing counterparts like Maharashtra and Gujarat it could be a challenge.

The government plans to get the Constitutional Amendment Bill on GST passed in the ongoing session of Parliament and is working towards addressing concerns of all states for rolling out the GST on the scheduled date. The Centre and the states are also working on a new Revenue Neutral Rate, currently pegged at 27 per cent, also the 1 per cent additional tax which states can levy as part of the GST Bill.

Earlier, the newly selected chairman of the empowered committee of state finance minister K M Mani had said that a consensus would be built among states for rolling out of GST by April 2016 as there is no “obstinate opposition” from any state. Arun Jaitley emphasizing on the need for GST has said that a single rate GST will replace central excise, state VAT, entertainment tax, octroi, entry tax, luxury tax and purchase tax on goods and services to ensure seamless transfer and end of “inspector raj” as well as “tax on tax.”

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 8379.40, up by 1.65 points or 0.02% after trading in a range of 8376.05 and 8423.20. There were 25 stocks advancing against 25 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Hindustan Unilever up by 2.44%, Sun Pharma up by 1.70%, Dr. Reddys Lab up by 1.56%, ACC up by 1.48% and BPCL up by 1.48%. On the flip side, Wipro down by 4.28%, Kotak Mahindra Bank down by 2.88%, Tech Mahindra down by 2.05%, HCL Tech down by 1.94% and Zee Entertainment down by 1.77% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in the green; Taiwan Weighted increased 0.99%, Shanghai Composite soared 1.78%, KOSPI Index rose 0.35%, Hang Seng gained 0.28% and Nikkei 225 was up by 0.93%.

On the flip side, Jakarta Composite decreased 0.07%, Straits Times slipped 0.22% and FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI was down by 0.22%.