Benchmarks trades in green; Metal, IT lead

Indian equity markets continued their firm trade in the late afternoon session on account of buying in frontline blue chip counters. The sentiments were on upbeat note from the early trade after Federal Reserve meeting minutes raised expectations that US central bank will not hike rates any time soon. Traders were seen piling position in Metal, IT and Capital Goods stocks, while selling was witnessed in Power, PSU and Oil & Gas sector stocks. In the scrip specific development, Transport Corporation of India was trading firm after the company announced its plans to demerge and transfer business of its wholly-owned subsidiary, TCI Express Distribution. The company plans to list the new entity in 2016. Future Retail and Future Consumer Enterprises were trading firm after Future Group entered into exclusively tie up with Patanjali Group whereby Patanjali products will be exclusively sold in Future’s stores.

On the global front, the Asian markets were trading in green, while the European markets were trading on optimistic note. Back home, the NSE Nifty and BSE Sensex were trading above the psychological 8,150 and 26,900 levels respectively. The market breadth on BSE was positive in the ratio of 1372:1253 while 119 scrips remained unchanged.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 26967.28, up by 121.47 points or 0.45% after trading in a range of 26910.59 and 27200.44. There were 17 stocks advancing against 12 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green and red; the BSE Mid cap index was down by 0.14%, while Small cap index up by 0.08%.

The gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Metal up by 1.25%, IT up by 0.60%, Capital Goods up by 0.51%, TECK up by 0.50% and Realty up by 0.41%, while Power down by 0.38%, PSU down by 0.32% and Oil & Gas down by 0.29% were the losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Vedanta up by 11.15%, Tata Steel up by 3.87%, Tata Motors up by 2.74%, Hindalco up by 2.56% and ICICI Bank up by 2.05%.

On the flip side, Coal India down by 2.37%, Maruti Suzuki down by 1.27%, Sun Pharma down by 1.08%, Hindustan Unilever down by 1.01% and Reliance Industries down by 0.65% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, tax department has given an assurance that the Goods and Service Tax (GST) will be implemented anytime during a year once the bill is passed in Rajya Sabha. Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBEC) Member Service Tax V S Krishnan stated that 'Missing the April 1, 2016, deadline does not mean going to 1st April 2017'.

Krishnan reiterated that drafting of the GST law has already been done and it will be forwarded to the empowered committee for its inputs. Thereafter, it would be put in the public for their comments. In addition, the draft Place of Supply rules will also be made public for feedback. Further, he added that Industry needs to identify challenges in the transitional provisions to the new GST legislation as well as suggest solutions to the problems. Besides, he said that the committee is already working on GST rate structure and is expected to submit its report soon and said the revenue neutral rate would not exceed 20 percent. In addition, the empowered committee is working with think-tank NIPFP on the revenue neutral rate based on a fresh set of data.

Krishnan also said that there is a need to create a state-level GST secretariat in which senior officials from the Centre and states should come together for interactions in institutionalized arrangements. He further highlighted that lot of hand holding is required for successful implementation of GST. 

The GST Constitution Amendment Bill is waiting nod of Rajya Sabha, where the ruling NDA does not have a majority and is relying on the support of regional parties for its passage, as it requires two-third majority to pass a constitution amendment bill. GST, once rolled out, will include various levies like excise, service tax, sales tax, octroi, etc, and ensure a single indirect tax regime for the entire country.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 8157.00, up by 27.65 points or 0.34% after trading in a range of 8139.65 and 8232.20. There were 25 stocks advancing against 24 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Vedanta up by 11.09%, Tata Steel up by 3.86%, Tata Motors up by 2.74%, HCL Tech up by 2.41% and Hindalco up by 2.31%.

On the flip side, Asian Paints down by 3.04%, Coal India down by 2.40%, Bank of Baroda down by 2.02%, BPCL down by 1.35% and Maruti Suzuki down by 1.26% were the top losers.

The Asian markets were trading in green; FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI increased 12.21 points or 0.72% to 1,704.41, Shanghai Composite increased 39.8 points or 1.27% to 3,183.15, Straits Times increased 46.22 points or 1.57% to 2,993.25, Jakarta Composite increased 89.33 points or 1.99% to 4,580.76, Hang Seng increased 103.89 points or 0.46% to 22,458.80 and Nikkei 225 increased 297.5 points or 1.64% to 18,438.67.

South Korea and Taiwan Stock Exchange was closed today on account of holiday.

The European markets were trading in green; UK’s FTSE 100 increased 23.65 points or 0.37% to 6,398.47, France’s CAC increased 27 points or 0.58% to 4,702.91 and Germany’s DAX increased 59.19 points or 0.59% to 10,052.26.