Sensex closes at record high; Nifty recaptures 9650 mark

Indian equity indices commenced the week on an optimistic note as the benchmarks showcased an energetic performance on Monday and settled with gains of around three fourth of a percent. Investors continued to build hefty positions across the board as sentiments got a boost after Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said India will launch a new national Goods and Services Tax (GST) as planned on July 1 and gave return filing breather to India Inc for two months. Adding optimism among investors, the industry body Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) said India Inc is ready for the implementation of the GST from July 1, as the new indirect tax regime will contribute significantly towards economic growth, job creation and exports expansion. Besides, firm global cues, after French President Emmanuel Macron's party won a parliamentary majority at the weekend, too added to the optimistic sentiments.

Some support also came with the report that Net income tax collection grew at a healthy 26.2% to Rs 101,024 crore from across the country as of June 15 this fiscal from Rs 80,075 crore in the year ago period. Meanwhile, lenders such as State Bank of India gained after the central bank asked banks to start banktruptcy process against 12 large loan defaulters, raising hopes that reduction of bad debt will start to quicken. Also, Capital market regulator SEBI is again extending a helping hand to the government and the RBI in their fight against bad loans. According to the reports, Securities and Exchange Board of India is planning to ease the acquisition rules to allow investors to buy distressed assets from banks.

On the global front, Asian equity markets ended mostly higher on Monday as weaker than expected US housing and consumer sentiment data tempered expectations for a spate of interest rate increases this year. Chinese shares ended higher as liquidity conditions have eased and data showed the property market continued to stabilize in May after stricter measures to curb demand. Further, Japanese shares hit two-week highs amid yen weakness as data showed Japan saw a surprise trade deficit in May because of a rise in imports. Meanwhile, European markets were trading higher in early trade, as markets geared up ahead of Brexit negotiations between the UK and the European Union, and as French President Emmanuel Macron's party won a parliamentary majority at the weekend.

Back home, after getting a firm start, the local benchmarks maintained their gains through the morning trade and extended it in late afternoon to end near day’s high levels. Finally, the NSE’s 50-share broadly followed index, Nifty jumped over half a percent to settle above the crucial 9,650 level, while the Bombay Stock Exchange’s Sensitive Index, or Sensex garnered over two hundred and fifty points to scale over the psychological 31,300 mark. Further, the broader markets underperformed their larger peers by a fat margin as the BSE’s midcap index went home with gains of 0.07%, while the smallcap index declined by 0.08%. The market breadth remained pessimistic, as there were 1197 shares on the gaining side against 1468 shares on the losing side, while 194 shares remained unchanged.

Finally, the BSE Sensex gained 255.17 points or 0.82 % to 31311.57, while the CNX Nifty was up by 69.50 points or 0.72% to 9,657.55. 

The BSE Sensex touched a high and a low of 31362.15 and 31163.35, respectively and there were 21 stocks on gainers side as against 9 stocks on the losers side on the index.

The broader indices ended mixed; the BSE Mid cap index gained 0.07%, while Small cap index was down by 0.08%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Metal up by 1.89%, Bankex up by 0.96%, Basic Materials up by 0.86%, Energy up by 0.74% and Capital Goods up by 0.74%, while Healthcare down by 0.48%, Realty down by 0.32%, Consumer Durables down by 0.22% and IT down by 0.09% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Tata Steel up by 3.43%, Adani Ports & SEZ up by 3.05%, Axis Bank up by 1.94%, Power Grid up by 1.67% and Larsen & Toubro up by 1.59%. On the flip side, Infosys down by 1.17%, Sun Pharma down by 0.77%, Dr. Reddys Lab down by 0.76%, Tata Motors down by 0.70% and Coal India down by 0.59% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, with less than 2 weeks remaining for the rollout of the Goods and Services Tax (GST), Industry body Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) stated that Indian industry is ready for the landmark tax reform, pointing that the new tax regime will bring significant gains for economic growth, employment and exports, terming it as the most significant indirect tax reform introduced in the country since Independence.

CII further noted that to encourage industry to be proactive in managing GST compliance, it has taken up a range of initiatives such as a series of around 100 two-day training programmes across India which is expected to reach out to about 5,000-plus enterprises. It has also initiated a helpline for clarifications of program participants and an awareness campaign to inform industry about the GST processes.

The industry body has been granted Approved Training Partner (ATP) status to impart GST training by National Academy of Customs, Excise and Narcotics (NACEN) with Institute of Company Secretaries of India. Technical partners are GST Street and Tax Sutra.

Meanwhile, the GST Council relaxed return filing rules for India Inc for the first two months of the rollout of the new indirect tax regime to obviate any lack of preparedness. As per the revised return filing timeline decided by the Council, for July, the sale returns will have to be filed by September 5 instead of August 10. Besides, companies will have to file sale invoice for August with the GST Network by September 20 instead of September 10 earlier.

The CNX Nifty traded in a range of 9,673.30 and 9,614.90. There were 33 stocks in green as against 18 stocks in red on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Tata Steel up by 3.68%, Hindalco up by 3.05%, Adani Ports & SEZ up by 2.89%, Vedanta up by 2.07% and Bosch up by 1.97%. On the flip side, Dr. Reddys Lab down by 1.25%, Eicher Motors down by 1.10%, Yes Bank down by 1.04%, Infosys down by 1.01% and BPCL down by 0.87% were the top losers.

European markets were trading in green; UK’s FTSE 100 increased 34.8 points or 0.47% to 7,498.34, Germany’s DAX increased 86.33 points or 0.68% to 12,839.06 and France’s CAC increased 41.13 points or 0.78% to 5,304.44.

Asian equity markets ended mostly in green on Monday as weaker than expected US housing and consumer sentiment data tempered expectations for a spate of interest rate increases this year and French voters gave President Emmanuel Macron's upstart party a solid victory in Sunday's second-round election. Macron's party won a clear parliamentary majority at the weekend, giving him a strong mandate in parliament to pursue his pro-EU, business-friendly reform plans. Brexit negotiations with the European Union are set to begin today after Britain bowed to EU pressure for a formal opening to their long-awaited negotiations rather than first holding technical talks between civil servants. Chinese shares ended higher as liquidity conditions have eased and data showed the property market continued to stabilize in May after stricter measures to curb demand. Further, Japanese shares hit two-week highs amid yen weakness as data showed Japan saw a surprise trade deficit in May because of a rise in imports.