Indian equity benchmarks have made a gap-up opening and are trading jubilantly in early deals on Tuesday with frontline gauges recapturing their crucial 27,700 (Sensex) and 8,550 (Nifty) levels. Sentiments remained up-beat with private report stating that India’s current account deficit is likely to stay below 1 per cent of GDP this year, largely due to a sharp fall in the trade deficit as against last year. Buying in PSU counters too aided sentiments, as the cabinet is expected to clear the plan to cut majority stake in around 20 state-run firms on Wednesday, including several profit-making entities, signaling a restart of equity sale in public sector companies after a 12-year gap. Consumer goods stocks too remained on buyers’ radar, on an Assocham report that riding high on an uptick in the economy and improving perception of job prospects, coupled with steady lowering of interest rates, consumer demand may soar 40 percent in the ongoing festive season.
Rally in regional counterparts too were supporting domestic sentiments on hopes that US monetary policy will remain accommodative after some disappointing economic data including a smaller than expected increase in industrial production in September. Back home, there was broad based buying witnessed in the markets and apart from the blue chips, the broader markets too participated strongly in the rally.
The market breadth remained in favor of advances, as there were 1,549 shares on the gaining side against 462 shares on the losing side while 104 shares remain unchanged.
The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 27740.15, up by 210.18 points or 0.76% after trading in a range of 27652.76 and 27761.37. There were 27 stocks advancing against 3 stocks declining on the index.
The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index surged 0.89%, while Small cap index was up by 0.91%.
The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Metal up by 1.49%, Realty up by 1.28%, Finance up by 1.05%, Bankex up by 0.85% and FMCG up by 0.84%, while there were no losers on the BSE sectoral front.
The top gainers on the Sensex were Tata Steel up by 2.67%, HDFC up by 1.97%, ICICI Bank up by 1.51%, GAIL India up by 1.32% and Adani Ports &Special up by 1.30%. On the flip side, Asian Paints down by 0.84%, Bharti Airtel down by 0.33% and TCS down by 0.08% were the top losers.
Meanwhile, the crucial three day meeting of all powerful Goods and Services Tax (GST) Council will decide on the tax rate and sort out the issues like compensation formula for rollout of the new indirect tax regime from April 1, 2017. The meeting will also deliberate on the vexed issue of the Centre retaining power to assess 11 lakh service tax filers under the new dispensation.
At its previous meeting, the GST Council, which has all state finance ministers as members, had finalized area-based exemptions and how 11 states, mostly in the North-East and hilly regions will be treated under the new tax regime. Further, two states dithered on approving the minutes of the meeting, saying they are not in favour of losing power of assessment of these assesses. As the Finance Ministry has set November 22 as the deadline for building consensus on all the issues in the Council, this meeting is significant as it will decide on the most crucial aspect of tax rate that will have a bearing on the common man.
Last year, a panel headed by Chief Economic Advisor Arvind Subramanian had suggested 17-18 per cent as the standard rate for bulk of goods and services while recommending 12 per cent for low rate goods and 40 per cent for demerit ones like luxury car, aerated beverages, pan masala and tobacco.
The Finance Ministry will try and reach a consensus on the key issues so that the subsequent central GST (CGST) and integrated GST (IGST) legislations can be introduced in the month-long Winter Session of Parliament beginning November 16. He has also said that tax on environment-unfriendly products will be 'distinct' from others in the GST framework.
The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 8582.40, up by 62.00 points or 0.73% after trading in a range of 8555.90 and 8586.70. There were 43 stocks advancing against 8 stocks declining on the index.
The top gainers on Nifty were Tata Steel up by 2.70%, Zee Entertainment up by 1.93%, HDFC up by 1.92%, Aurobindo Pharma up by 1.75% and ICICI Bank up by 1.45%. On the flip side, Asian Paints down by 0.87%, BPCL down by 0.52%, Bharti Airtel down by 0.45%, Ultratech Cement down by 0.37% and Tata Motors - DVR down by 0.11% were the top losers.
All the Asian markets were trading in green; KOSPI Index gained 4.66 points or 0.23% to 2,032.27, FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI increased 6.82 points or 0.41% to 1,660.53, Shanghai Composite jumped 15.71 points or 0.52% to 3,056.87, Nikkei 225 rose 18.94 points or 0.11% to 16,919.06, Taiwan Weighted added 20.1 points or 0.22% to 9,196.32, Jakarta Composite strengthened 31.89 points or 0.59% to 5,442.19 and Hang Seng was up by 202.43 points or 0.88% to 23,239.97.
