Markets maintain the modest gains in late noon session

Indian equity markets continue to trade in fine fettle in late afternoon session on continued buying in select blue-chip stocks despite mixed global cues. Sentiments got some support with the newly appointed Minister of State for Finance Santosh Gangwar’s statement that the government is confident of getting the much-delayed GST Bill passed in the upcoming Monsoon session of Parliament, beginning later this month. Some support also came on report that the Southwest monsoon rainfall has shown a marginal rise of one per cent with a good amount of precipitation in several parts of the country for the period between June 1 and July 6, 2016. All regions, barring the east and northeast have started recording monsoon above the normal. However, Some cautiousness prevailed in the markets with the US stating that India’s growth rate target of 7.5% seems 'overstated' due to 'depressed investor sentiment' stemming from its failure to implement crucial market reforms, but it lauded Reserve Bank governor Raghuram Rajan for his 'monetary stewardship'.

On global front, Asian markets were trading mixed on Thursday amid ongoing nervousness owing to the fallout from Brexit and as the Federal Reserve voiced its concern about the health of the US labour market. Back home, on sectoral front realty continue to lead the gainers pack, while the IT was still down by over a percent.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 27220.46, up by 53.59 points or 0.20% after trading in a range of 27148.68 and 27250.27. There were 16 stocks advancing against 14 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading mixed; the BSE Mid cap index was down by 0.04%, while Small cap index was higher by 0.42%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Realty up by 1.62%, FMCG up by 0.54%, Bankex up by 0.44%, Consumer Durables up by 0.31%, Power up by 0.19% while, IT down by 1.09%, TECK down by 0.98%, Capital Goods down by 0.30%, Auto down by 0.30%, Oil & Gas down by 0.26% were the losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were HDFC up by 2.11%, Hindustan Unilever up by 2.09%, Dr. Reddys Lab up by 1.36%, Power Grid Corpn. up by 1.09% and Cipla up by 1.07%. On the flip side, Tata Steel down by 3.50%, Adani Ports &Special down by 1.47%, Infosys down by 1.17%, ONGC down by 1.11% and TCS down by 1.08% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, some 150 years after the British set India’s financial year from April 1 to March 31, the government is now looking to reset the fiscal time-cycle. The government has set up a committee to examine the desirability and feasibility of having a new financial year. Finance Ministry, Arun Jaitley said that the four member committee will be headed by former Chief Economic Advisor Shankar Acharya and will examine the merits and demerits of various dates for commencement of financial year including the existing dates. The committee will have to provide reasoning for the suitability of the financial year from the point of view of correct estimation of receipts and expenditure of central and state governments.

The other members of the panel include former Cabinet Secretary KM Chandrasekhar, former Finance Secretary to Tamil Nadu PV Rajaraman, and Senior Fellow at the Centre for Policy Research Rajiv Kumar. The panel will take into account the genesis of current financial year, suitability of financial year from point of view of correct estimation of receipts and expenditure of Central and State governments. It will also consider the effect of the different agriculture crop periods, impact on business, taxation systems and procedures, statistics and data collection and convenience of legislatures for transacting budget work.

The committee has been asked to submit its reports by 31st of December this year. In case the committee decides to recommend a change in the Financial Year, it will also work out the modalities for effecting the change. Currently, India follows the April-March fiscal year and all macroeconomic and company data, including the government’s budget, are compiled and prepared for the same period. Most countries follow a January-December fiscal year, so a committee of secretaries headed by the cabinet secretary had earlier this year recommended changing the fiscal year to January-December.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 8338.60, up by 2.65 points or 0.03% after trading in a range of 8317.70 and 8345.60. There were 24 stocks advancing against 27 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Hindalco up by 3.32%, Hindustan Unilever up by 2.26%, HDFC up by 2.08%,  Ambuja Cement up by 1.50% and Dr. Reddys Lab up by 1.30%. On the flip side, Tata Steel down by 3.27%, Zee Entertainment down by 2.54%, HCL Tech. down by 2.41%, Bharti Infratel down by 1.97% and Tech Mahindra down by 1.96% were the top losers.

Asian market were trading mixed, KOSPI Index increased 20.96 points or 1.07% to 1,974.08, Taiwan Weighted jumped 65.16 points or 0.76% to 8,640.91, Hang Seng surged 207.8 points or 1.01% to 20,703.09. On the other hand, Nikkei 225 decreased 102.75 points or 0.67% to 15,276.24 and Shanghai Composite was lower 2.35 points or 0.08% to 3,014.94