Benchmarks continue to trade in green in late morning session

Indian equity benchmarks continued to trade firm in late morning session on revival of buying by funds and retail investors after three days of continuous drubbing. Sentiments got some support from report that the foreign direct investment (FDI) in India jumped about 63 percent to $3.28 billion in February, 2015, compared to FDI of $ 2.01 billion in same period last year. Meanwhile, GST Empowered Committee Chairman K M Mani has said that the new indirect tax regime will boost India’s economy and the panel of state finance ministers needs to build a consensus among all states on the contentious matters before April 1, 2016. However, gains remained capped as investors remained cautious ahead of the expiry of April derivatives contracts due on Thursday and the two-day meet of Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) in which the Federal Reserve is likely to signal its stance on key policy rates. At present, Sensex and Nifty were trading above the crucial 27,300 and 8,250 levels respectively, with gains of over 0.45%. Further, the broader markets outperformed benchmarks with the BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices rising over 0.9 percent each.

On global front, Asian shares were mostly in the red, taking a cue from losses on Wall Street ahead of earnings from major Asian companies and the Federal Reserve's policy meeting. Back home, Indian rupee strengthened by 12 paise at 63.36 against the US dollar in early trade on increased selling of the American currency by exporters.

Back on street, stocks from Auto, Banking and Power counters were supporting the markets’ uptrend, while those from information technology (IT) and FMCG counters were adding to the underlying cautious undertone. In scrip specific development, Shares of Geometric slumped after reporting 80% quarter on quarter drop in its consolidated net profit at Rs 3.29 crore for the fourth quarter ended March 31, 2015 (Q4) due to lower operational revenues. On the other hand, shares of Maruti Suzuki gained after reporting a strong 61% year on year net profit growth at Rs 1,284 crore for the fourth quarter ended March 31, 2015.

The market breadth on BSE was positive, out of 2174 stocks traded, 1267 stocks advanced, while 824 stocks declined on the BSE. 

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 27318.14, up by 141.15 points or 0.52% after trading in a range of 27116.81 and 27365.72. There were 21 stocks advancing against 9 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 1.08%, while Small cap index up by 0.95%.

The gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Auto up by 1.86%, Bankex up by 1.67%, Power up by 1.32%, Realty up by 1.28% and Oil & Gas up by 1.24% while, IT down by 0.70%, TECK down by 0.64% and FMCG down by 0.02% were the losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were ICICI Bank up by 6.07%, BHEL up by 3.64%, Maruti Suzuki up by 3.08%, Tata Motors up by 2.20% and Hero MotoCorp up by 1.76%. On the flip side, HDFC down by 1.32%, TCS down by 1.23%, Bharti Airtel down by 1.08%, Infosys down by 0.96% and Coal India down by 0.73% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, Government facing stiff resistance from several Opposition parties on goods and services tax (GST) Bill, asking it to refer it to the Standing Committee has got a shot in arm with GST Empowered Committee Chairman K M Mani, who is also the Finance Minister of Kerala, stating that the new indirect tax regime will boost India's economy and the panel of state finance ministers needs to build a consensus among all states on the contentious matters before April 1, 2016 - the deadline for launching Goods and Services Tax.

Mani has stated that GST is a major change in the country's economy and it would ensure growth in trade, industry, labour and imports, bringing in an additional benefit of Rs 1 lakh crore to the country. He added that attempt was on to implement it in such a way that it is more beneficial to all states than the Value Added Tax (VAT) system. Though, he also said that the main task before the Empowered Committee of State Finance Ministers is to reach agreement on several issues that are pending before it.

He pointed that some of the issues that still need consensus are tax structure on inter-state services including transportation and communication, rate of tax on essential commodities, including food products, and system of mechanism to collect tax.

Meanwhile, the government has deferred a discussion on the GST constitutional amendment bill till after the passage of the finance bill in the Lok Sabha. The lower house would now take up for discussion and passage the bills on unaccounted money, land acquisition and GST from May 5 to 8. Finance Minister Arun Jaitely while moving the bill in Lok Sabha had said that it was a 'win-win' measure for both the Centre and the states as he sought to allay the apprehensions of some state governments that they would lose revenue if GST was implemented. The bill amends the Constitution and so requires a two-thirds majority in both Houses to vote for it, while it already has the consent of many states who are key stakeholders.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 8251.90, up by 38.10 points or 0.46% after trading in a range of 8185.15 and 8264.25. There were 36 stocks advancing against 14 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were ICICI Bank up by 6.19%, BHEL up by 4.09%, BPCL up by 4.01%, Maruti Suzuki up by 3.03% and Tech Mahindra up by 2.79%. On the flip side, Ambuja Cement down by 2.02%, HCL Tech. down by 2.00%, HDFC down by 1.44%, Sesa Sterlite down by 1.24% and TCS down by 1.13% were the top losers.

Most of the Asian equity indices were trading in the red; Jakarta Composite dropped 1 %, Hang Seng slipped 0.15%, Taiwan Weighted decreased 0.34%, Straits Times declined 0.6%, Shanghai Composite shed 0.47%, KOSPI Index dipped 0.53% and FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI was down by 0.31%. On the flip side, Nikkei 225 was up by 0.47%.