Benchmarks continue to trade choppy in noon deals

Indian equity benchmarks continue to trade choppy with Sensex and Nifty swinging between negative and positive territory. Investors remained concerned as monsoon session has commenced in the Parliament and investors will look out for the key developments concerning the rollout of GST and the passage of the land acquisition bill. Depreciation in Indian rupee too dampened the sentiments. The rupee depreciated by 7 paise to 63.73 against the dollar due to rise in greenback against other currencies overseas. Selling in healthcare counter too weighed down sentiments with Sun Pharma contributing the most to the losses after the drug maker said its profit might be adversely impacted in financial year 2015-16.

On the global front, European counters have made a positive start with all CAC, FTSE and DAX trading in fine fettle in early deals. Asian shares edged higher on Tuesday, taking heart from fresh highs on Wall Street, while gold prices took back some lost ground after plunging more than 4 per cent to five-year lows in the previous session. Back home, on the sectoral front, software, technology and auto witnessed the maximum gain in trade, while healthcare, fast moving consumer goods and power remained the top losers on the BSE sectoral space. The broader indices too were reeling under pressure, while the market breadth on the BSE was negative; there were 1,066 shares on the gaining side against 1,406 shares on the losing side while 111 shares remain unchanged.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 28432.93, up by 12.81 points or 0.05% after trading in a range of 28354.81 and 28518.06. There were 11 stocks advancing against 19 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in red; the BSE Mid cap index was down by 0.21%, while Small cap index down by 0.14%.

The few gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were IT up by 4.48%, TECK up by 4.01%, Auto up by 0.35%, Consumer Durables up by 0.18%, while Healthcare down by 4.52%, FMCG down by 1.08%, Power down by 0.61%, INFRA down by 0.57% and Oil & Gas down by 0.57%, were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Infosys up by 9.85%, Bharti Airtel up by 4.90%, Wipro up by 2.48%, Bajaj Auto up by 1.52% and Hindalco up by 1.51%. On the flip side, Sun Pharma down by 13.60%, Lupin down by 3.46%, Vedanta down by 3.07%, Hindustan Unilever down by 2.39% and Tata Steel down by 2.29% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, Government in its quest to roll out GST from April 1 next year has given in to one of the major demands from several opposition parties and has agreed to provide compensation to states for any revenue loss for five years. A Parliamentary Committee, which scrutinised the crucial GST Bill, has prepared a draft report, the report will be considered by the Select Committee of Rajya Sabha when it is expected to be adopted for presentation in Parliament. As per the schedule, the report is to be submitted to Rajya Sabha by July 24, three days after the commencement of the Monsoon Session of Parliament.

The amendment relates to Clause 19 of the Bill, amended version of which now reads as: “Parliament may, by law, on recommendation of the GST Council, provide for compensation to the states for loss of revenue arising on account of implementation of GST for a period of five years.” The earlier version said the compensation would be paid for “up to five years.” Although, the government argued that both words, according to the Constitution, meant the same thing.

The panel completed the consultation process last week when clause-by-clause discussion took place on the bill now the government will move an official amendment to the GST bill.The GST Bill has been passed by Lok Sabha and was referred to the Select Committee by Rajya Sabha.

The government is making all efforts to implement a single GST rate, which would subsume central excise, service tax and other local levies, from April 1, 2016. The three legislations - Central GST (CGST), State GST (SGST) and integrated GST (iGST) - will have to be approved by the respective legislatures. For the rollout of GST, the CBEC is already preparing model legislations, which will be put up for comments from stakeholders after Parliament approves GST Constitution Amendment Bill.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 8612.70, up by 9.25 points or 0.11% after trading in a range of 8588.25 and 8646.75. There were 20 stocks advancing against 29 stocks declining on the index, while 1 stock remained unchanged.

The top gainers on Nifty were Infosys up by 10.00%, Bharti Airtel up by 4.95%, HCL Tech up by 3.44%, Zee Entertainment up by 2.48% and Wipro up by 2.32%. On the flip side, Sun Pharma down by 13.72%, Lupin down by 3.42%, Vedanta down by 3.04%, Hindustan Unilever down by 2.53% and Ultratech Cement down by 2.41% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading in green; FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI increased 2.03 points or 0.12% to 1,726.16, Straits Times rose 2.96 points or 0.09% to 3,376.44, KOSPI Index gained 10.31 points or 0.5% to 2,083.62, Shanghai Composite surged 25.4 points or 0.64% to 4,017.51, Taiwan Weighted advanced 30.96 points or 0.34% to 9,005.96, Hang Seng added 172.91 points or 0.68% to 25,577.72 and Nikkei 225 increased 191.05 points or 0.93% to 20,841.97.

European Markets were trading in the green; Germany’s DAX gained 0.22%, France’s CAC rose 0.27% and UK’s FTSE was up by 0.09%.