Markets continue to trade in green in early noon session

Indian equity benchmarks pared some early gains but continued to trade in green in early noon session, on account of buying by investors in the blue chip counters. Besides, rise in crude oil price, sustained inflows by foreign funds and rally in global equities also aided the sentiment. Furthermore, appreciation in the rupee against the dollar too supported the markets. However, gains were capped due to consistent sell-off among pharmaceuticals shares. Meanwhile, shares of telecom sector were trading in green after Supreme Court has asked Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) to consider partial rollback of call drop penalty.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly in green, after U.S. indices ended higher and oil prices hit their highest levels for this year. Back home, both the Sensex and Nifty were trading near their crucial 24,750 and 7,550 levels, respectively. In scrip specific development, shares of LT Foods were trading higher over 7% as the company has entered into an agreement to acquire the branded rice business of Hindustan Unilever (HUL). The agreement includes the acquisition of Brands Gold Seal Indus Valley and Rozana which have been in business for some decades.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 24749.55, up by 72.18 points or 0.29% after trading in a range of 24681.64 and 24839.38. There were 22 stocks advancing against 7 stocks declining on the index while 1 stock remained unchanged.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.02%, while Small cap index up by 0.06%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Consumer Durables up by 1.68%, Metal up by 1.32%, IT up by 1.22%, TECK up by 1.10% and Realty up by 0.76%, while FMCG down by 0.32% was the only losing index on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were GAIL India up by 2.52%, TCS up by 2.16%, Tata Steel up by 1.67%, Adani Ports &Special up by 1.28% and BHEL up by 1.22%. On the flip side, Lupin down by 5.59%, Sun Pharma Inds. down by 2.68%, Maruti Suzuki down by 0.95%, Hindustan Unilever down by 0.89% and Dr. Reddys Lab down by 0.69% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, finance Minister Arun Jaitley has said that it’s difficult to accept congress’ demand to have a cap on Goods and Service Tax (GST) rate at less than 20 percent in a Constitution Amendment Bill pending in Rajya Sabha. The minister however is hopeful that biennial elections in the Rajya Sabha will give it enough seats in the upper house of Parliament to pass the Goods and Services Tax (GST) Bill.

Jaitley said the demand for cap is difficult to accept because they would need to amend the Constitution every time for changing the rate, which will be decided by the GST council. He further added that such a move would limit the scope of making future changes.

The GST Bill has already been passed by the Lok Sabha and is pending ratification by the Upper House, where the ruling NDA does not have a majority. After it is approved by the Rajya Sabha, the legislation needs to be approved by half of the 29 states so as to roll out GST possibly by October 1. The government has support of 155 members in the 242-member Rajya Sabha, short of two-third or 162 votes needed to approve the Constitution amendment bill.

The Congress, the original author of the tax reform, is opposed to the current 'flawed' version and wants GST rate to be capped at 18 per cent, a proposed state levy scrapped and an independent mechanism to resolve disputes on revenue sharing between states.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 7540.15, up by 27.60 points or 0.37% after trading in a range of 7517.90 and 7566.75. There were 39 stocks advancing against 11 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Vedanta up by 3.77%, Hindalco up by 3.46%, ACC up by 3.22%, GAIL India up by 2.39% and TCS up by 2.20%. On the flip side, Lupin down by 5.56%, Sun Pharma down by 2.61%, Maruti Suzuki down by 1.03%, Hindustan Unilever down by 0.96% and Asian Paints down by 0.84% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in green; Jakarta Composite increased 2.06 points or 0.04% to 4,887.75, KOSPI Index increased 4.13 points or 0.21% to 1,992.12, FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI increased 4.34 points or 0.25% to 1,707.53, Shanghai Composite increased 46.7 points or 1.61% to 2,951.53, Taiwan Weighted increased 76.17 points or 0.87% to 8,810.71 and Hang Seng increased 125.64 points or 0.61% to 20,629.45, while Nikkei 225 decreased 214.98 points or 1.27% to 16,721.40.