Benchmarks trade modestly in green

Indian equity benchmarks continued their modest trade in green in late morning session on account of buying in frontline blue chip counters. The market was broadly flattish and witnessing stock specific action ahead of derivatives expiry for the month of March. Scaling 65 level for the first time since October 2015, the rupee strengthened against the dollar in early trade on Wednesday, led by dollar selling by banks and exporters amid surge in foreign inflows. Foreign Portfolio Investors (FPIs) bought shares worth a net Rs 6,415.38 crore on Tuesday, as per provisional data released by the stock exchanges. Domestic institutional investors (DIIs) bought shares worth a net Rs 356.23 crore. The marketmen were eyeing the parliament proceedings too, where the government has listed the Goods and Services Tax (GST) Bills for discussion and passage in the Lok Sabha today. Traders were drawing support with Finance Minister Arun Jaitley terming the GST bill revolutionary and hoped all the political parties would pass the related bills through consensus in the current session of Parliament.

Meanwhile, putting a final lid on the Planning era, the Niti Aayog is gearing up to launch the three-year action plan from April 1 after the end of 12th Five Year Plan on March 31. Also, the government will borrow Rs 3.72 lakh crore from the market in the first six months of the next fiscal beginning April. The borrowing represents 64% of the full-year borrowing target. The April-September borrowing is slightly more than previous year because the finance ministry and the Reserve Bank of India expect spending to pick up pace early. Traders were seen piling position in Telecom, Capital Goods and Industrials stocks, while selling was witnessed in Oil & Gas, Energy and Healthcare sector stocks. In scrip specific development, multiplex operator PVR was trading in green on eyeing at around 90 percent jump in revenue to around Rs 4,000 crore in four to five years driven by expansion across the country. The market may remain volatile this week as traders may roll over positions in the Futures & Options (F&O) segment from the near month i.e. March 2017 series to next month i.e. April 2017 series. The near month March 2017 derivatives contracts will expire on Thursday i.e. March 30, 2017.

On the global front, Asian shares were trading mostly in green, taking a cue from Wall Street overnight. Bank of Japan board member Takehiro Sato said labor market reform and other measures to boost Japan’s growth potential must accompany monetary easing to raise the country’s low long-term inflation expectations. Japanese retail sales were effectively flat in February as consumers cut back on food and durable goods after employers offered the lowest spring wage increases in four years. Back home, the NSE Nifty and BSE Sensex were trading above the psychological 9,100 and 29,400 levels respectively. The market breadth on BSE was positive in the ratio of 1254:1005, while 159 scrips remained unchanged.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 29474.05, up by 64.53 points or 0.22% after trading in a range of 29439.42 and 29494.44. There were 18 stocks advancing against 12 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.15%, while Small cap index was up by 0.40%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Telecom up by 1.08%, Capital Goods up by 0.73%, Industrials up by 0.47%, Consumer Durables up by 0.47% and Basic Materials up by 0.42%, while Oil & Gas down by 0.29%, Energy down by 0.22% and Healthcare down by 0.04% were the few losers on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Asian Paints up by 1.41%, SBI up by 1.19%, Axis Bank up by 1.07%, Larsen & Toubro up by 1.07% and Bharti Airtel up by 0.59%.

On the flip side, Adani Ports & Special Economic Zone down by 1.01%, Wipro down by 0.49%, Reliance Industries down by 0.45%, Mahindra & Mahindra down by 0.42% and GAIL India down by 0.40% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, the leasing of land, renting of building as well as equated monthly installments (EMIs) paid for purchases of under-construction houses are eligible for tax credit under the proposed Goods and Services Tax (GST) regime. This system will commence from July 1, when the GST is implemented. However, sale of land and buildings will be out of the GST ambit. Purchase of land, payment of stamp duty will continue as before, while electricity is also excluded from the GST scope.

The government is planning to roll out GST from July 1, 2017, it will subsume central excise, service tax and state VAT among other indirect levies on manufactured goods and services. According to the Central GST (CGST) bill any lease, tenancy, easement, licence to occupy land will be considered as supply of service. Also, any lease or letting out of the building, including a commercial, industrial or residential complex for business or commerce, either wholly or partly, is a supply of services as per the CGST bill. The GST bills provide that sale of land and, sale of building except the sale of under construction building will nether be treated as a supply of goods not a supply of services. Thus, GST can't be levied in those supplies.

In the earlier draft of the bills, 'Goods' were defined as every kind of movable property other than money and securities but includes actionable claim. 'Services' were defined as anything other than goods. It was thought that GST may be levied on supply of immovable property such as Land or building apart from levy of stamp duty. But now the situation is clear with the bill introduced in Parliament.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 9119.60, up by 18.80 points or 0.21% after trading in a range of 9109.10 and 9134.05. There were 33 stocks advancing against 18 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Bharti Infratel up by 3.44%, Tata Power up by 2.14%, Asian Paints up by 1.51%, SBI up by 1.24% and Larsen & Toubro up by 1.21%.
On the flip side, Adani Ports & Special Economic Zone down by 1.06%, Aurobindo Pharma down by 0.62%, Kotak Mahindra Bank down by 0.58%, Mahindra & Mahindra down by 0.57% and Reliance Industries down by 0.49% were the top losers.

The Asian markets were trading mostly in green; KOSPI Index increased 2.85 points or 0.13% to 2,166.16, Shanghai Composite increased 4.6 points or 0.14% to 3,257.55, Nikkei 225 increased 8.51 points or 0.04% to 19,211.38, Hang Seng increased 34.51 points or 0.14% to 24,380.38 and Jakarta Composite increased 41.32 points or 0.75% to 5,582.52.

On the other hand, Taiwan Weighted decreased 32.22 points or 0.33% to 9,844.23 and FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI decreased 3.79 points or 0.22% to 1,750.63.