Benchmarks continue firm trade; Banking, Metal lead

Indian equity markets continued their firm trade in the afternoon session on account of broad based amid positive Asian cues. Sentiments remained up-beat with the government setting a target of April 1, 2017 for rollout of the Goods and Services Tax and unveiling a detailed roadmap for its implementation. Some support also came with the Global credit rating agency, Moody's Investors Service's statement that the GST implementation will be positive for the country’s economic growth without any significant impact on inflation.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly in green on Friday after the Bank of England launched a larger-than-expected post-Brexit stimulus package that sent the British pound tumbling. Back home, traders were seen piling position in Bankex, Metal, Capital Goods, Auto and Realty sector stocks.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 28008.36, up by 293.99 points or 1.06% after trading in a range of 27795.74 and 28034.93. There were 27 stocks advancing against 3 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 1.07%, while Small cap index was up by 1.27%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Bankex up by 1.89%, Metal up by 1.83%, Capital Goods up by 1.68%, Auto up by 1.67% and Realty up by 1.65%, while there were no losers on the BSE sectoral front.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Axis Bank up by 3.35%, SBI up by 3.21%, Bajaj Auto up by 3.04%, Hero MotoCorp up by 2.93% and ICICI Bank up by 2.72%. On the flip side, Sun Pharma Inds. down by 0.65%, Infosys down by 0.12% and Power Grid Corpn. down by 0.11% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, the government has decided to extend the Minimum Import Price (MIP) regime on 66 steel products for a period of two months. The MIP regime introduced for a six-month period in February 2016 which was due to end on August 5, will now be applicable on these items till October 4, 2016. The 66 steel products include flat-rolled non-allow steel and plastic, zinc or lead-coated steel among others.

Government in February had imposed MIP, ranging between $ 341 to $752 per tonne on 173 steel products for a period of six months, in order to guard domestic steel producers against cheap in-bound shipments. The Directorate General of Foreign Trade in its latest notification said that 66 out of 173 products will continue to remain in MIP regime for two more months.

The move to extend MIP comes after the Directorate General of Anti-Dumping recently recommended a tax of up to $594 per tonne on imports of hot-rolled flat steel products, specifically from China, Japan, South Korea and Ukraine. Also, the Directorate General of Safeguards proposed a safeguard duty on about 107 steel products for two-and-a-half years that were imported from China, Ukraine and Indonesia. The domestic steel majors JSW, Essar Steel and Tate steel too had pitched for extension of this barrier for a further six months to curb cheap imports

The government has however not changed the MIP price range of $341 to $752 per tonne, on ingots and billets, blooms and slabs, the MIP stands at $362, $352 and $341 per tonne, respectively. On flat-rolled products of iron or non-alloy steel of a width of 600 mm or more, clad plated or coated, the minimum prices will be $ 643 and $ 752 per tonne on different items. Similarly, bars and rods, hot-rolled in irregularly wound coils of iron or non-alloy steel, the figure stood at $ 449 per tonne and $ 451 per tonne on different products

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 8645.60, up by 94.50 points or 1.11% after trading in a range of 8590.15 and 8652.15. There were 47 stocks advancing against 4 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Grasim Industries up by 3.41%, SBI up by 3.21% , Axis Bank up by 3.11%, Eicher Motors up by 3.06% and Hero MotoCorp up by 2.99%. On the flip side, Sun Pharma Inds. down by 0.67%, Power Grid Corpn. down by 0.34%, Infosys down by 0.10% and ITC down by 0.04% were the top losers.

The Asian markets traded mostly in green, FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI increased 3.35 points or 0.2% to 1,658.64, KOSPI Index increased 17.91 points or 0.9% to 2,017.94, Jakarta Composite increased 42.93 points or 0.8% to 5,416.79, Taiwan Weighted increased 67.41 points or 0.75% to 9,092.12 and Hang Seng increased 280.18 points or 1.28% to 22,112.41. On the flip side, Shanghai Composite decreased 5.84 points or 0.2% to 2,976.59 and Nikkei 225 decreased 0.44 points or 0% to 16,254.45.