Benchmarks make negative opening; Nifty trades below 8150 level

Extending their previous session losses, Indian equity markets have made a negative start and are now trading with cut of over a quarter per cent, on the back of sustained selling activities by market-participants. Weakness in the other Asian peers too weighed on the sentiments after China’s imports fell by more than estimated. Further, the sentiments were also under pressure after Retail inflation rose to 4.41% in September, from 3.74% recorded for the previous month, on account of costlier food items in general and beverages and pulses in particular. Additionally, the sentiments were weighed down by Indian rupee depreciating 12 paise to 64.87 against the US dollar in early trade on Tuesday. However, losses remained capped after Industrial Production grew by 6.4% for the month of August, an improvement over the 4.2% growth registered in the previous month of June. Meanwhile, foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) bought shares worth a net Rs 317.56 crore yesterday, as per provisional data released by the stock exchanges.

On the global front, The US markets ended higher with the Dow Jones Industrial Average extending its winning streak to seventh day - it’s longest since December 2014. The Asian markets were trading mostly in red with Indonesia stock index falling 2 per cent, ending a six-day rally, as rapid depreciation of the rupiah against the dollar prompted profit-taking.

In the scrip specific development, Cox & Kings was trading higher after the company engaged in travel support services business announced that it has acquired UK-based hotel booking website LateRooms.com from travel major TUI Group for GBP 8.5 million.

Closer home, most of the sectoral indices on BSE were trading in red, with prominent losers being the stocks from IT, TECK, Metal, Auto and Oil & Gas counters. On the flip side, stocks from Realty, Capital Goods, Consumer Durables and Power up counters were the only gainers of the session. The market breadth on BSE was positive in the ratio of 925: 655 while 68 scrips remained unchanged. 

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 26791.10, down by 113.01 points or 0.42% after trading in a range of 26787.66 and 26918.52. There were 15 stocks advancing against 15 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in mixed; the BSE Mid cap index was down by 0.09%, while Small cap index was up by 0.11%.

The gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Realty up by 0.52%, Capital Goods up by 0.34%, Consumer Durables up by 0.21% and Power up by 0.20%, while IT down by 1.27%, TECK down by 1.06%, Metal down by 0.99%, Auto down by 0.36%, Oil & Gas down by 0.34% were the losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were BHEL up by 0.92%, Wipro up by 0.78%, Larsen & Toubro up by 0.56%, Bajaj Auto up by 0.54% and Coal India up by 0.51%. On the flip side, Hindalco down by 3.84%, ONGC down by 3.07%, Vedanta down by 3.07%, Tata Steel down by 2.65% and Infosys down by 2.22% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, the Centre and states have completed the drafting of model Goods and Services Tax law as well as an integrated-GST or iGST law, which will be put up in public domain by early November. The model GST law and iGST law has been circulated among the states. The Empowered Committee would meet soon to discuss them. The government has already put up three reports of empowered committee on GST on refunds, payment process and registration for public comments by October 31.

The reports to be put up for public comment have recommended that the RBI’s core banking solution e-Kuber be used for consolidating and settlement of accounts under the GST system. It has also suggested that Internet banking, over the counter payment and NEFT and RTGS should be extensively used to facilitate payments under GST.

The drafts of the proposed legislations are based on three principles -- definitional clarity, certainty in assessment and promoting ease of doing business, the official said. The model GST law and iGST law have been drafted by the officials of both Centre and States. The Central GST (CGST) will be framed based on the model GST law, while the states will draft their own State GST (SGST) based on the draft model law with minor variation incorporating state based exemption.

Although the government had planned to roll out the GST, touted as the most comprehensive indirect tax reform since Independence, from April 1, 2016, but it seems difficult as the Constitution Amendment Bill is stuck in the Rajya Sabha where the ruling party does not have a majority. The government, however, is going ahead with the preparatory work necessary for smooth implementation of the GST, which will subsume various levies like excise, service tax, sales tax, octroi, etc, and will ensure a single indirect tax regime for the entire country.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 8117.05, down by 26.55 points or 0.33% after trading in a range of 8116.00 and 8150.25. There were 26 stocks advancing against 24 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were BPCL up by 1.73%, BHEL up by 1.14%, Ultratech Cement up by 1.05%, Wipro up by 0.75% and Bajaj Auto up by 0.71%. On the flip side, Hindalco down by 3.61%, Vedanta down by 3.11%, ONGC down by 2.90%, Tata Steel down by 2.49% and Infosys down by 2.44% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in green, Nikkei 225 decreased 162.38 points or 0.88% to 18,276.29, Hang Seng decreased 122.55 points or 0.54% to 22,608.38, Jakarta Composite decreased 107.1 points or 2.31% to 4,523.61, Taiwan Weighted decreased 42.08 points or 0.49% to 8,531.64 Shanghai Composite decreased 10 points or 0.3% to 3,277.66 and KOSPI Index decreased 9.53 points or 0.47% to 2,012.10

On the flip side, FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI increased 2.4 points or 0.14% to 1,712.26.