Benchmarks trim gains in late morning session

Indian equity benchmarks trimmed their gains in late morning session after equity benchmark Nifty 50 touched a fresh record high to open above 9,200-mark for the first time ever. The rupee opened down against dollar on account of selling of American currency by banks and exporters. Foreign Institutional Investors stood net buyers in domestic equity markets on Thursday as the bought shares worth Rs 1418.11 crore with gross purchases and gross sales of Rs 6,066.88 crore and Rs 4,648.77 crore, according to the data available with depository NSDL. Traders were finding support with the Goods and Services Tax (GST) Council, finally giving its nod to all the five draft legislations needed for implementation of the unified indirect tax, paving the way for the model laws - central GST (CGST), state GST (SGST), integrated GST (IGST), Union Territory GST (UTGST) and Compensation Act - to be presented in the ongoing Budget session of Parliament after it is approved by the Union Cabinet. The new tax structure will be revenue neutral, and broadly keep the rates that apply to businesses in line with existing levies. Still, it is expected to boost the rate of economic growth by about 0.5 percentage points; broaden the revenue base; and cut compliance costs for firms. Meanwhile, Economic Affairs Secretary Shaktikanta Das said that the Indian economy is strong enough to absorb the impact of the US Federal Reserve’s interest rate hike.

Traders were seen piling position in FMCG and Metal stocks, while selling was witnessed in Telecom, PSU and Capital Goods sector stocks. In scrip specific development, NOCIL was trading in green as the board of directors has approved expansion of capacities of rubber chemicals and their intermediates at the company’s plants situated at Navi Mumbai and Dahej. The total capital expenditure envisaged is around Rs 170 crore. Music Broadcast saw stellar debut on BSE, as its shares got listed at Rs 420 compared with the issue price of Rs 333 apiece. The IPO, which was sold between March 6 and March 8, received nearly 8.5 lakh applications and was subscribed 39.67 times.

On the global front, Asian shares were trading mostly in green, as investors keyed into the next set of steps for US economic policies as the Trump administration gears up its healthcare and tax cut plans. Back home, the NSE Nifty and BSE Sensex were trading above the psychological 9,150 and 29,700 levels respectively. The market breadth on BSE was negative in the ratio of 1132:1151, while 142 scrips remained unchanged.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 29707.57, up by 121.72 points or 0.41% after trading in a range of 29671.47 and 29824.62. There were 10 stocks advancing against 20 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading mixed; the BSE Mid cap index was down by 0.21%, while Small cap index was up by 0.09%.

The few gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were FMCG up by 3.58% and Metal up by 0.04%, while Telecom down by 1.49%, PSU down by 0.50%, Capital Goods down by 0.48%, Bankex down by 0.47% and Utilities down by 0.45% were the losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were ITC up by 7.42%, Maruti Suzuki up by 1.09%, Lupin up by 1.00%, Tata Steel up by 0.77% and Reliance Industries up by 0.44%.
On the flip side, Bharti Airtel down by 1.65%, SBI down by 1.11%, GAIL India down by 1.11%, Bajaj Auto down by 1.06% and Mahindra & Mahindra down by 0.86% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, with an aim to provide assured health services to all, the union cabinet has accorded its nod to the much-awaited National Health Policy (NHP). As a crucial component, the policy proposes raising public health expenditure to 2.5 percent of the GDP in a time bound manner from way below 2 percent GDP expenditure on the sector at present.

In order to provide access and financial protection, it proposes free drugs, free diagnostics and free emergency and essential healthcare services in all public hospitals. Reduce mortality rate of children under 5 years of age to 23 (per 1000) by 2025 and maternal mortality rate (MMR) from current levels to 100 by 2020. Reduce infant mortality rate to 28 by 2019. Reduce neo-natal mortality to 16 and still birth rate to 'single digit' by 2025. To improve and strengthen the regulatory environment, the policy seeks putting in place systems for setting standards and ensuring quality of healthcare.

Health Minister J.P. Nadda has said that NHP would aim at increasing life expectancy to 70 years from 67.5 and reduce fertility rate to 2.1 by 2025. He added that this policy has come after a gap of 15 years to address the current and emerging challenges necessitated by the changing socio-economic, technological and epidemiological landscape.

Highlighting some of the key targets of the policy, Nadda said that the NHP aims to raise public spending on health besides revisiting public private partnerships in the health sector. The policy envisages providing a larger package of assured comprehensive primary healthcare through the 'Health and Wellness Centers'. It is a comprehensive package which includes care for major non-communicable diseases (NCDs), mental health, geriatric healthcare, palliative care and rehabilitative care services.

Nadda further said that the policy aims to ensure availability of 2 beds per 1000 population distributed in a manner to enable access within golden hour. It also looks at reforms in the existing regulatory systems both for easing manufacturing of drugs and devices to promote ‘Make in India’, as also for reforming medical education. The policy advocates development of mid-level service providers, nurse practitioners, public health cadre to improve availability of appropriate health human resource.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 9166.05, up by 12.35 points or 0.13% after trading in a range of 9163.00 and 9218.40. There were 15 stocks advancing against 36 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were ITC up by 7.54%, Lupin up by 1.14%, Tata Power up by 1.05%, Tata Steel up by 0.83% and Maruti Suzuki up by 0.80%.

On the flip side, Idea Cellular down by 2.92%, Bharti Airtel down by 1.80%, Aurobindo Pharma down by 1.59%, Hindalco down by 1.46% and Tata Motors - DVR down by 1.35% were the top losers.

The Asian markets were trading mostly in green; KOSPI Index increased 6.46 points or 0.3% to 2,156.54, FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI increased 10.63 points or 0.61% to 1,747.77, Jakarta Composite increased 15.06 points or 0.27% to 5,533.31, Taiwan Weighted increased 35.24 points or 0.36% to 9,873.07 and Hang Seng increased 61.02 points or 0.25% to 24,349.30.

On the other hand, Nikkei 225 decreased 70.75 points or 0.36% to 19,519.39 and Shanghai Composite decreased 7.3 points or 0.22% to 3,261.63.