Benchmarks trade slightly in green; Nifty holds 8200 mark

Indian equity benchmarks traded slightly in green in late morning session on account of buying in beaten down selected front line counters. The market started on negative note taking cues after the US Federal Reserve hike of interest rates by 25 basis points and hint at a faster pace of interest rate hike going ahead. However, the benchmark indices recovered from intraday lows on the back of buying in IT and TECK stocks due to strong dollar against the Indian rupee. The sentiments took some support with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s statement that presently, cleaning the system from black money and corruption is very high on his agenda and added that India is currently witnessing an economic transformation. Traders took some encouragement after global rating agency S&P in its latest report said that as per it’s base case scenario, the disruption from demonetisation should be short-lived with demand revival in the next one to two quarters, limiting the impact on Indian banks and corporate and in the long run, demonetisation and the GST could result in a wider tax base and greater participation in the formal economy. Meanwhile, Nomura Holdings in its report said that though India’s growth will be lower than earlier anticipated because of the adverse impact of demonetisation, the economy will bounce back in 2018 mainly as the government will have more money to spend due to a wider tax base and higher taxes. Traders were seen piling up position in IT, TECK and Realty stocks, while selling was witnessed in Oil & Gas and FMCG sector stocks. In scrip specific development, Mandhana Retail Ventures (MRVL), the demerged entity from Mandhana Industries which listed on Wednesday, was locked at upper circuit limit amid reports that Rakesh Jhunjhunwala bought about 13% stake in the company. Selected stocks of liquor companies were trading under pressure after Supreme Court banned sales of liquor along the national and state highways. The existing liquor license for the highway will lapse on April 1.

On the global front, Asian shares were trading mostly in red, after the US Federal Reserve overnight indicated it would raise interest rates faster than expected in 2017. The rate hike in US would lead outflow of money from emerging market equities into US bonds which are considered as safer investment options. This is only for the second time in a decade that the Federal Reserve has raised its rate. Japan’s stock exchange was trading in green as its manufacturing activity grew at the fastest pace in almost a year in December as new orders improved in a sign that domestic demand is gathering strength. Back home, the NSE Nifty and BSE Sensex were trading above the psychological 8,200 and 26,600 levels respectively. The market breadth on BSE was positive in the ratio of 1349:715, while 104 scrips remained unchanged.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 26675.05, up by 72.21 points or 0.27% after trading in a range of 26407.58 and 26737.86. There were 15 stocks advancing against 15 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.38%, while Small cap index was up by 0.73%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were IT up by 1.71%, TECK up by 1.30%, Realty up by 1.09%, Bankex up by 0.64% and Metal up by 0.50%, while Oil & Gas down by 0.59% and FMCG down by 0.38% were the losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were TCS up by 2.50%, Infosys up by 1.60%, Mahindra & Mahindra up by 1.39%, Tata Steel up by 1.38% and Adani Ports & Special Economic Zone up by 1.37%.

On the flip side, Sun Pharma down by 1.70%, Tata Motors down by 1.18%, ONGC down by 0.96%, NTPC down by 0.92% and Bharti Airtel down by 0.91% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, competing against time to meet the April 1, 2017 target to roll out the landmark Goods and Services Tax (GST), the government has come out with a report card detailing the efforts being made to reach a consensus on support legislations for timely implementation of GST bill.

Finance Ministry's report card on GST implementation has said that all efforts are being made to meet the April 1, 2017 deadlines for rolling out GST bill. It also said that government lost no time in implementing the GST so far and agenda items pertaining to 'GST related draft laws' and 'Provisions for cross empowerment to ensure single interface under GST' are under consideration of the GST Council at present. It further said that Ninety-nine Sections the Model GST Law have already been considered by the Council and remaining Sections will be discussed in the next meeting of the Council scheduled for December 22-23, 2016.

Report card further said that GST Council, which took over the job of rolling out the new indirect tax regime after the Parliament passed the Constitutional amendment and half of the states approved it, has taken key decision on fixing tax rates, compensation to states and threshold of exemption. It further said that as compared to the time taken in arriving at a consensus on the Constitutional Amendment Bill for GST, the subsequent events after the passing of the Bill indicate that the Government of India and the States have done remarkably well in taking all necessary steps for implementation of GST. 

It also said that the discussions in GST Council have been very cordial and all decisions till now have been taken by consensus and noted that all members of the Council are participating in the meetings with a very positive attitude and are working towards the implementation of GST bill as per the deadline.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 8206.10, up by 23.65 points or 0.29% after trading in a range of 8121.95 and 8225.90. There were 26 stocks advancing against 25 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were TCS up by 2.58%, HCL Tech up by 2.17%, Infosys up by 1.58%, Mahindra & Mahindra up by 1.54% and IndusInd Bank up by 1.54%.

On the flip side, Sun Pharma down by 1.58%, Tata Motors down by 1.17%, Bharti Airtel down by 1.04%, BPCL down by 1.03% and NTPC down by 0.98% were the top losers.

The Asian markets were trading mostly in red; Hang Seng decreased 395.72 points or 1.76% to 22,060.11, Shanghai Composite decreased 14.79 points or 0.47% to 3,125.74, Taiwan Weighted decreased 8.17 points or 0.09% to 9,360.35, FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI decreased 7.03 points or 0.43% to 1,636.26 and Jakarta Composite decreased 6.37 points or 0.12% to 5,256.45.

On the other hand, KOSPI Index increased 0.79 points or 0.04% to 2,037.66 and Nikkei 225 increased 92.84 points or 0.48% to 19,346.45.